Poor Shot

The semi permanent gridlock found in most urban areas is quite often the fault of those in charge anyway. Take Cardiff for example, a city chock full of uneeded bus lanes, traffic calming measures and many 100's of sets of traffic lights which seem to be timed purely to slow traffic. All the fault of the local highways planning dept. Don't even start on the city wide 20mph zones! Many raging stiffies are being cradled by Cardiff Councillors over the thought of being able to bleed the motorist dry with congestion charges to enter the city. We don't even have a functioning public transport system. I can't remember the last time I went into the city via train for an event where it didn't bypass at least one station due to overcrowding.

Protecting themselves from unsafe drivers by purposely making vehicles unsafe to drive? Purposely deflating tyres on car at least a ******* dangerous and stupid act and at most an attempt to injure or kill people.

One farmer ceased all corvid control when the first announcement was made until I explained that it was still (and will continue to be) lawful to shoot crows to protect his livestock. This was at a time where his flock was being particularly hammered by crows. What does puzzle me is the restriction of the control of carrion crows to 1st February- 31st August. They don't cease to become an issue to livestock farmers outside of those dates? And surely control of crows is most effective in the lead up to the lambing season where they do the most damage?

We have a miniature as a pet. He's a lovely thing, the most affectionate and loving dog you could find. A perfect companion for the other half while I'm away shooting on those dark winter days but Jesus christ he likes the sound of his own voice. A common problem among daschunds apparently. We also had one hell of a problem getting him to sleep downstairs during the nights, more so than any other dog ive had. He now sleeps in the bedroom with us... Other than that he's ok and I actually quite like him.

If your going to dedicate a lot of your time to villifying a whole community then you'd best be squeaky clean or that same community is going to nail you to the floor at the first opportunity. More power to those who have taken the time to complain. The man's a pest and needs toppling from his platform. He and his followers would certainly have done the same.

Nothing wrong with that. I read a piece a few weeks back that reckoned that people share a closer bond with their dogs than they do members of their own family. I'm sorry for your loss. Its not an easy task but I'm sure you'll look back and know you did the best thing for him. You'll also be able to look back at the good times you shared and maybe even look back at the times when he was being a pain and just smile.

As per thread title, for sale is my Hatsan Escort Magnum PS Synthetic. Latest model, purchased new roughly 11 months ago. The gun has seen less than 1000 cartridges and is in excellent condition. It has cycled anything from 26g clay cartridges to 35g 3" steel cartridges. Selling because the stock is too long for my frame and can't be made shorter. Comes with factory supplied box, 5 hatsan external chokes, stock spacers and shims. Based in CF44 £200.00 buyer collects. Images to follow shortly.

What he said. Unless your car was specifically modyfied and mapped to or has the ability to adapt to and benefit from the higher octane rating then your likely just throwing money out of the exhaust pipe. If the car has a performance orientated, modern, high compression turbo charged engine (not your average shopping car) then it's unlikely that the car is equipped with the hardware and software required to adapt and use the higher octane fuel.

MGA is very over priced. 100's of dollars for a fairly basic experience. We used Shooting Gallery Range based about half hour out of Kissimmee area. Rent whatever takes your fancy from the rack and as long as you are able to show some basic competency (loading/ unloading mag, making the gun safe etc) after a brief demonstration then your free to go on the range and blast away. It was a few dollars per box of 9mm pistol rounds and 15 dollars for a box of 5.56 if I remember correctly.

I shot a Barret 50 cal there a few years back. $25 a round but worth it to say I'd shot one.

That's kind of what I was getting at. Power stations and gas production facilities which are owned by companies and operated by or under the direction of national grid to produce enough power and gas meet demand. This power is then sold to us via the 'energy companies' who skim a little (lot) off the top of the pence per KWH or M3 of gas. I don't really see what the part of the energy companies is in this? Can we not buy directly from National Grid at a cost suitable for everyone? I'd rather take a little hit for the inefficiencies brought by a government controlled utility rather than massively over inflated costs which allow companies like British gas to make hundreds of millions of £'s of profit each year.

I'm not all that sure of how the whole process of energy supply works in the UK * but it all stinks a bit. Would it not be more effective to reduce the price cap to a level manageable by all consumers and then let the market work itself out? If BG, SSE, EON etc were able to turn a decent profit 21-22 (example - Centrica/BG parent company @ £948 million for 21-22) then why the need for another increase in the cap? I don't really see how handing the poorest a whole load of one off payments is really going to help in the long term? I'd much rather support a permanent and long term solution to the problem than a temporary fix of the effects of the problem. *It's produced at source by X and then sold to Y at wholesale and then passed onto the consumer Z by Y at wholesale rate + margin simplified. I'm sure it's more complex than that in real world.

For those who missed out on this particular space the 'Game Syndicate Places Available and Wanted' group on Facebook is a great place to advise yourself and register your interest in syndicate places for the coming season. It's quite active at the moment.

Definitely, most people can mould themselves around most guns and get an ok result but a good gun fitting session can really make the difference.

I just don't have a consistent enough mount to mount repeatedly on the same 5p sized piece of tape with my eyes closed. Always close but not exact. Apparently most people would struggle and it's an excercise Ben Husthwaite recommends that everyone tries regardless of level.

Also worth mentioning that your mount needs to be consistent. I went through a stage of spending 30 mins a day practising in the mirror. When you think you have cracked it, place a small square of tape to a wall a few meters away, mount your gun to the tape with your eyes open. Close your eyes, dismount the gun and try to remount to the tape with your eyes closed. Only when you can consistently mount to the same point over and over with your eyes closed can you consider your mount to be consistent. I still can't do it after a year of practice and shooting a few times a week. You can also try a 12 bore laser bore sighter to confirm you're aiming where you need to be. A few quid on eBay.

Get your gun fitted. There are many gun fitters out there. I used Nigel Teague (Of Teague chokes fame) based near to Dursley. Having my gun fitted made a huge difference to my scores, going from 35 to 65/100 post fitting. I would use someone who is able to manipulate the stock permanently via heat and not just some coach who is going to fiddle with the adjustable bits. Cost about £140 to have the stock bent to alter cast and comb height.

It's relatively soft steel and it's application does not require all that much accuracy in it manufacture. Therefore its probably stamped using a press from sheet or steel wire in the same way nails are produced. As this is quite simple and only requires someone to feed, empty and maintain the machine then it's probably produced somewhere in the third world where labor is costed in pence per day rather than pounds per hour and no one gives two ****s about the pollution caused during the manufacture of the steel.

I miss my ferrets. Really cheeky little things. We used to house them in the garden but bring them inside for a couple hours a day. They would have hours of fun just sniffing about and play fighting. If you do buy some then it's worth considering neutering them as it takes away the smell almost completely. They will also only toilet in one corner of the hutch so its worth cutting out the floor and replacing it with mesh so the mess falls through into a bucket and can be easily removed. They are also escape artists and are incredibly persistent so if the enclosure has any weaknesses then they'll be gone. I used to work them as well and there's not much more exciting than being stood silently above a burrow, hearing the rabbits running about underground and waiting for a bolt to a waiting gun or net. Kits will nip (as do puppies) but some patience and time spent handling them will stop the nipping. When they do bite it's quite mild and they usually let go if you push into the jaws rather than pull away. Always remember (and have the scar to prove it) a mates adult hob sinking it's teeth into the knuckle of my index finger. Damn thing near enough pulled the skin off of my entire knuckle before it let go. That thing was a rescue if I remember and incredibly unpredictable, especially when working.

I follow the 'syndicate places available' group on Facebook to get a heads up on any local openings on DIY syndicates. There was a good ratio of posted ads that had shooting every other Thursday or some such. A lot of comments on those adds saying they were unsuitable but otherwise perfect only due to the weekday shooting. No doubt the places were filled but it's unlikely that they would have been filled by anyone that wasn't of retirement age. Also got in touch with the owner of a prospective syndicate shoot that was charging £4000+ (plus whatever the cost of birds and feed would settle to as costings hadn't yet been finalised) for 10 days shooting based on 50-60 bird days (very poor retention rate based on 1500 pheasant and 400 partridge released) but the owner assured me it was a good shoot because his wife personally made butties for the guns at midday. Though was no work parties required but then again, no pest control permitted. Again, I'm sure the places available were filled but it probably wasn't anyone who had a family to provide for. Perhaps that's the going rate but it was a bit rich for my tastes.

Young-ish shot, literally could not find a place on a local game shooting syndicate here. My saving grace was a last minute space opening up on a small syndicate I did some beating on last year. Average age on that syndicate is probably mid 30's. Probably because they aren't charging £2k+ for 10 35 bird days and shoot Saturdays. If shoots want to attract a young membership then they have to realise that the young guns won't have £2k+ to pay the shoot owners wife to make bacon butties for lunch and will likely be working 40+ hours a week to keep a roof over the families heads. Game shooting is a rich man's sport and if us 'poor' people want to remain in the sport then we'll (syndicate committees and guns alike) need to adapt.

Government buying up land for future carbon offsetting? Net 0 by 2050 is going to need a whole boat load of trees to offset the carbon we produce and they are going to need somewhere to plant them. I can't Imagine that the public will appreciate vast swathes of public land being taken up for carbon offsetting but dumping those rich farming families off their land for a relative pittance? Yep, very palatable to those who enjoy a spot of envy politics.

That's good but as you stated, you only really get that because you are already sick or have a long term illness which requires additional and more frequent attention. Now imagine that the same service could be extended to the masses in the same way that a dental checkup is then improvements in the overall health of the nation could be made and would probably be cheaper overall. I'd even be willing to pay towards it in the same way that I pay for my NHS dental checkup. That's not to say I would be willing or be able to pay hundreds of £'s to go private or be able to pay the true full cost of that appointment unfortunately.

Toxo may be onto something there. Not necessarily periodical blood tests but I'd say having periodical checkups and a chance to talk with with a GP would be a good idea. I know there are millions of people out there who wouldn't bother to see a doctor about most minor ailments until they actually turn out to be serious but would probably would mention something like a recurring headache or cough to them in an annual checkup. How often do you see news stories about the young mum dying from lung cancer or a brain tumor because her months of headaches or coughing turned out to be serious and now it's too late to really do anything apart from provide very expensive palliative care and pick up the pieces afterwards. I'm not sure if your standard NHS GP does offer this but the last time I seen my GP was to have a vaccination to enter Mexico In 2011. Apart from a mass text to tell people to stop calling the surgery about COVID vaccinations I haven't heard from them since. I can't recall ever having a call to remind me to book a checkup from my GP but my dentist pesters me every six months. I don't know what the answer is but I think only having access to healthcare when your sick is not the way forward. So much more could be picked up earlier if actually seeing a GP wasn't such a pain in the ***.