Poor Shot

I will find some of the advertising from Hull when I have a chance. It was mentioned in a lot of youtube content at the time by Hull via Ed Solomons and TGS. I would disagree that BASC announced the ban. I think the only thing that BASC did was give a heads up on what was coming our way and set out a voluntary transition away from lead and S/U plastics. Whether BASC were involved or not HSE/UK GOV etc were going to be implementing a ban regardless. These multiple rounds of consultations are little but pantomime and process, lead is dead. It's a bit **** to bash BASC for making a decision to head off the ban and start a voluntary transition and sticking with it. I believe that BASC did not, in any way, ban or encourage the banning of lead use in ammunition. Just like many toxic substances before it, lead is slowly being phased out of all products in which it is used. Most solder is now lead free, water piping is copper or plastic, gasoline fuel supplied with alternative octane additives, lead free flashing systems etc.. It was only a matter of time. What the manufacturers should have done at the time of the announcement was set to work developing a product lineup for the UK market which catered for all from the antique 12 bore user to the 410 and 28 gauge users. Instead they set about doing almost nothing apart from lining their pockets on the back of increasing the cost of lead products and now we are stuck against a potentially incoming hard stop with very little product development having taken place. Having a very limited, expensive and 12/20 bore only lineup of alternative products is where we should have been 2 or more years ago. By now we should have cost effective alternatives to lead for all popular gauges and a workable and cost effective solution for rifle and air rifle ammunition. 22LR is one of the most popular calibres in the UK, Europe and USA but to date the only lead alternative is wildly inaccurate, scarce and very expensive. Hortonium is a step in the right direction but is still extremely expensive and as yet, not available for general purchase. The market for shotgun ammunition in the UK is about to be turned on its head. The first manufacturer to make widely available a cost comparable steel/non toxic and bio wad clay target cartridge will take the market practically overnight. Anyone who has ever played monopoly will know that isn't good and if the solutions comes from outside of the UK then it could spell the end of a lot of the UK cartridge (assemblers) manufacturers.

Seems like the blame lies mostly at the door of the manufacturers and not BASC. They have had the last few years to make the required changes to their product lineup and have done relatively nothing. While it appears that BASC aren't being entirely honest with their try sustainable ammunition project, they can only work with what the manufacturers can provide. If the likes of Hull and Lyalvale haven't bothered to develop their own bio friendly wad systems then BASC can't do anything about that. What we are seeing now is a panicked and rushed move to non toxic and biodegradable wad systems that only a few of the home manufacturers have bothered to put any effort into the development and manufacturing capability for. I'd like to know for certain what the latest Hull wad is made of as they did a small advertising campaign not long back to advertise their new water soluble wad (earthy green and fibrous material) and that they had moved away from their previous bio product (brown and smooth to the touch). They do advertise that their new wad is 100% plastic free which would be completely false if they were made from PLA which is a plastic material.

I should clarify that the pattern testing was carried out during what can only be described as a complete deluge. The wad was thoroughly soaked by the time I got to it. That particular cartridge had been in my fowling cartridge belt for most of last season and this one in which I experienced more than a few soakings. The barrel appeared to be clean after firing with no sign of the shot breaching the wad material. I'd say that it's had more than enough exposure to conditions in which a cartridge could get damp than I would reasonably expect a manufacturer would design for and was fine. I did drop one in the sea a few weeks back but I couldn't retrieve it which is a shame. It would have been useful to leave it to one side for a few weeks and inspect the wad and shot and see if the wad had degraded or the shot corroded at all.

As it turns out, the specific definition of biodegradable in reference to plastic materials is that the material will breakdown under its own devices when left to nature, no timescale mentioned. Compostable is defined roughly as a material breaking down when subjected to an industrial composting process (controlled heat, humidity, O2 and temperature plus the introduction of specific microorganisms). PLA is, in some cases, determined to be biodegradable as it breaks down completely (fully degraded into its component materials, lactic acid etc) naturally in span of up to 80 years. Its not ideal but up to 80 years compared to the hundreds, if not thousands of years that an HDPE wad would take to breakdown is a step in the right direction. As an aside, have Hull not changed the wad material to a water soluble material rather than a bio degradable or compostable material similar to the EcoWad used by Eley? I have noticed that the terminology on the cartridge box has changed from BioWad to HydroWad. I have a Gamebore wad collected from some very rain soaked pattern testing I did on the weekend. Within the time it took from firing to collection (2-3 mins) it had become quite malleable and sticky to the touch. I have thrown it into the hedge in the garden and I will check up on it in a few days.

What are specifications of the Biodegradable term? Are these simply expectations by the user that the WAD will completely disappear within a short timescale or are there specific guidance as to what qualifies as biodegradable? Lets not forget that felt wads and overpowder cards aren't exactly short term biodegradable in every scenario in which they are used. Take a walk around a fibre only clay ground and it's not uncommon to see fibre wads that have been in situ for a long time if they end up somewhere dry and out of direct sunlight (under trees, hedges, thick brush etc).

Are those not the HMRC claimable expense rates? Your company can pay you as much or as little as they like but you can claim the allowances stated by Ducksandwing above as tax minus the amount that the company pays. Don't quote me on it but I believe there is no statutory rate for mileage expenses hence the claimable allowance from HMRC. For example: Company pays £0.10 per mile of private use. You can then claim the remaining £0.35 per mile from HMRC. I would however be firm and demand that unless a satisfactory amount is paid to you in exchange for the use of your own private vehicle for the companies benefit then they had better arrange taxi travel instead.

Still for sale £285.

I had booked a half day to go clay shooting this afternoon. The shooting ground has read the forecast as wet and very windy for this afternoon and decided not to open as a result. Typically, its currently dry/ occasional showers with a light breeze. Unless the weather goes very south in the next few hours then it will have been very miscalculated forecast from the met office.

I've used Pellpax in the past. Good price and the gun arrived at my door exactly when they said it would. It may take a few weeks to get your delivery as they batch postcodes and work through then in order.

I think the issue that really sticks with people on this is the fact that not too long ago the government asked us all to practise restraint in not asking for pay rises to help stem the rising inflation. This request was aimed at all from those working cleaning toilets and having to chose between heating and eating and those top earners including bankers. It seems to a lot of people that yet again, those at the bottom are forced to suffer while those at the top take the lions share. Trickle down economics doesn't work when the little that does actually trickle down is taken back in taxes and inflation. Why can that not apply wholesale? Surely millions of people earning a medium percentage more and paying more income tax as a result is far better than very few earning a lot more (while also likely having access to mechanisms to offshore or otherwise avoid income tax). As I just mentioned, not long ago we were all asked to practise restraint and not demand pay rises to help stem inflation. Why are bankers then being given a free pass to up their earnings in addition to the increased base wages they will have been awarded during the cap?

One can only assume that they know that they're on the way out so are busy doing their mates some favours in exchange for a cushy job when they lose the next election.

I meet these sorts quite often as a lot of my training is done in the back end of a country park where most cannot be ***** to go as it's quite far from the visitor center. I quite often find myself wanting to place the best part of a sized 9 Le Chameau into the dogs ribcage but realise that it's not the dog but the moron owner that needs a good kicking. There are some that think this behavior is acceptable and treat the whole park as their own personal dog park in which their dog has the right to run where it pleases and 'play' with the other dogs. 95% of people there are respectable, have their dogs under control and use common sense. I quite often see an older bloke and his Thai bride who walk a grossly overweight beagle, the dog is always on the lead but it's obviously in control and they go where it pulls them. I do laugh when I hear her trying to reason and plead with the dog to stop when it's pulling them across a muddy bog or toward a river. It's like something out of 00's comedy sketch show with Matt Lucas as the Thai bride and David Walliams as the older Jimmy Saville looking bloke.

Gutted for you lads.. A real shame that Marler and Cole had near dominated the scrum only to see it slip away in the hands of others in what will probably be their last ever England game.

I'm rooting for England in this one. I'm Welsh and it pains me but anything is better than another 4 years of Boks fans being absolute ***** in every rugby discussion. SB to put a sock in Owen Farrels mouth? Not sure the ref will take another ear bashing from him.

We still have tips collapsing every now and then. Only a few years back the tip above a small village called Tylorstown collapsed after some heavy rain. Fortunately this time it only trashed a cycle way and the rear car park of the leisure centre. It's since had a millions or so £'s spent stabilising it to ensure it stays put. Aberfan was the worst and most famous tip collapse but it's far from the only one. They are all ticking timebombs waiting to go off and I believe that councils still spend a lot of money every year monitoring them. At some point someone will need to stomach the bill to remove them completely. The village I grew up in had a whole street destroyed by a coal tip collapsing back in the 60's. Luckily it resulted in no deaths and only required the compulsory purchase of the whole street and subsequent demolition by the council. Same village that the The Crown television series recreation of the disaster was filmed. It was filmed in the same primary school I attended.

I would walk down a country lane from one peg to another with an unsleeved gun while out on a shoot providing that I was well out of town and only a very short distance. Last years DIY shoot, all of the drives were within 150 yards of base so It wasn't uncommon for people to walk out to a drive without slips. With that said, we did have a visit from plod on one of last years shoots as some ramblers had reported the guns walking down a lane (out of one farm gate and into another) with guns out of the slip. It's likely they would have done so even if the guns were slipped. Local plod turned up in a panda car, gave the vehicles a once over while we were on break and had a word with one of the guns who went over to investigate.

Not that 30 Y/O is really considered as young but I certainly wouldn't turn my nose up at that. I would also have had 5-6 rounds of wholemeal bread for haddock and mash sandwiches and mop up the sauce afterwards. My mother used to make similar dishes every week, scratch cooked from fresh. All while working a 40 hour week in a supermarket. Scratch cooked food is something that you rarely see these days.

Box is still here. I will take £285. These are well over £400 new and this box is as new.

Crazy price for a relatively modern multi choke sporting gun considering most RFDs are looking for £750+ for a completely shagged 525 or silver pigeon.

Yes, please learn from our misfortune. Despite the words of one single Labor MP, they are not your friend and will certainly have the destruction of fieldsports, farming and any other country based pastime/hobby/pursuit very near to the top of the agenda. Like it or not, Labor are in at the next GE so you'd better buckle up and keep your Org subs up to date. Fieldsports will be an easy win for a party desperate to prove that they didn't just win by default.

To add to the OP question. Does your workplace, workmates etc know you shoot? Personally, the only person who knows I shoot is my immediate line manager, who has competed at international level at his sport and is great source of advice for competing under pressure at a top level, confidence boosts etc. I work for an international company with over 450k employees world wide. I'm at at a lower/ middle management level and It would only take one do-gooding HR rep or upper management to make my life hell and end my career. We all know how evil and vindictive those tree hugging vegan types can be and my company is rife with them.

I would assume that all of my neighbours know I shoot. I openly carry slipped guns, kit and dogs out to the car. Carry shot game back into the house and hang game outside the rear of the house. I'm not all that bothered as most are old and from the generation where open carry of shotguns and a bloke going door to door with some rabbits and trout was a thing. As they pass on and are replaced with younger neighbours then I may reconsider. I imagine that if I lived in the inner city or even in the local town then it would be very different.

Agreed. I will also stand on peg, gun loaded and barrels up vertically when action is imminent. At any point where the gun must move from the barrels straight up position or the drive has just started the gun will be broken and safe. Gun closed stock upwards when the time comes. When walked up the gun is carried broken in the right hand barrels forward, left hand directing dog, holding whistle etc. Upon a flush, the gun is closed with the stock upward and gun mounted in a smooth action.

Jesus, some holier than thou attitudes by members who should (but probably don't while casting the illusion that they do) know better... OP wanted to know how to disable an auto safety and not a berating in the non use of a safety catch. IMO a gun is either broken or dangerous. There is no in-between, safety catch included.

What a complete nipple that guy is. "The danger is break-ins and then these weapons get into the wrong hands." What difference would having an individual license for each firearm make to them getting into the wrong hands should they be stolen? Imagine the demand that administration of 37,000 individual licenses would put on an already deprived and struggling dept within each police force? Just another bell sniffer councilor trying to garner votes amongst his constituents based on the campaigning of one misfortunate individual.