Poor Shot

One this morning who I found wrecking a bird feeder at the top of the garden. He'd tipped most of it over the floor by the time I got the gun out the cabinet. Total - 950

To answer the OP 🤣 , they are of course a compromise between both pure EV and ICE engined vehicles. You have what is, in most cases, a pure ice engined car with a small battery shoehorned somewhere into the car. In most, you give up a little space in the boot and your spare tyre as the batteries are usually placed under the boot floor. Your typical phev (plug in hybrid electric vehicle) will be lugging about many kg's of batteries and electric motors when you are running on fuel or lugging about a great big engine, gearbox and many litres of fuel when your running on electric. As a plus, you can normally get 30+ miles of electric range which is more than enough for the day to day stuff with a few hundred miles of petrol range to back it up should you need to venture further away.

They mostly use foreign components anyway don't they? They are probably waiting on cheddite or someone developing a sub guage bio wad before developing their loadings.

I've been looking into this over the last few weeks and there is plenty of home loading materials available for the steel 28 and 410 guages. B&P have even developed a sub guage bio wad for use with steel but no solid release date yet. As far as commercially available non toxic loads there isn't anything other than "We're working on it and plan to have some available soon". I've been looking into home loading 28 Bore 21g steel cartridges for clay shooting and depending on what and where you buy the components, they aren't a million miles away from a mid range 12 bore clay cartridge in terms of cost.

On the price list I have been sent from the RFD I've been buying the Cheddite from, the Smart Strike 28G Fibre are £285 per thousand. I accept that there will be some added costs due to shipping, currency differences and import arrangements etc but not £70+ per thousand. As per usual, we are being ripped off. The RFD claims to earn a few % from each thousand sold so I suspect that the manufacturers are real issue.

Vote with your feet and move onto a new cartridge that suits what you are willing to pay. The only way that we'll be able to get this across to the manufacturers is when they start to see the amount of bulk orders from RFDs slowing down because the RFD still has 10s of thousands of carts left unsold on their shelves. I moved from Eley to Fiocchi and then to Cheddite cartridges from different RFDs because the price rises were getting ridiculous. Eley Selects went from sub £200 per thousand to £230+. Fiocchi TT1s and Litespeeds went from sub £200 per thousand to £220+ (And were junk, only cartridges that I've ever had issues with). Now the Cheddite Universal Trap cartridges have risen from £220 per thousand to £234 on the last batch I ordered. I received my SGC in July last year to give you an indication of the timescale of these rises.

I can't see why they wouldn't be suitable for use with HP steel, especially the guns that were sold in the USA at the same time. I can't imagine any of the manufacturers would have changed barrel/action thicknesses to suit the USAs lack of any real proof laws. They would have built to suit the highest pressures they could reasonably expect and then sold worldwide on the same design. This obviously doesn't apply to old SXS guns with paper thin barrels and full and extra full chokes but your average 1980's/90's Beretta or Browning O/U would be fine.

Thanks All. I appreciate the time you've put into posting the images of your squirrel feeders. Additional thanks to Walker570 who took the time to post out some plans for sheet metal feeders. I'll have to get imaginative and take the best of what I can see on this thread and make it work with the scrap materials I have lying around. I'll get an image posted once I have put some together and hopefully get some posts on the How Many Squirrels thread soon.

My 28 bore Sceptre sxe also has quite good looking wood (for £500 at least). The only complaint I have about it is that the wood somehow feels less dense than that of my 12 bore Berretta. The forend has a more tinny feel to it to that of the 12. It could be that that there is a lot more wood on the 12 with the 28 being a true to size action or the differing shape fills the hands differently. Either way I'm more than happy with what I got for £500. If I wanted perfect wood on a sub guage gun i'd have payed 6 times the price and got a Caesar Guerini.

As long as Welsh Labour continue to get away with making Westminster the common enemy then people will keep voting them in. Unfortunately the current government are doing absolutely nothing to combat this. Even today people in Wales still believe that Westminster (Evil Tories) is to blame for the state of the NHS in Wales. Health in Wales is a devolved issue and has been for a very long time. Welsh Gov 100% controls and funds the NHS in Wales yet Boris still gets the blame when a pensioner spends 12 hours on the floor waiting for an ambulance.

Should that last piece become common knowledge amongst the potato sympathisers then I'd be willing to put good money on seeing Plaid Cymru etc using it as an excuse for Welsh independence to gain the young, metropolitan vote. I am Welsh and very proud of it but independence would see Wales sink below North Korea in many areas and not just GDP or removal of basic freedoms. A ban of field sports would see vast parts of the rural economy die overnight. I think Welsh Gov underestimate just how much of Wales exists outside of Cardiff.

Also, what are you putting in the feeders? I can pick up wheat relatively cheap but I need something thats going to be more valuable to squirrels to get them to visit the squirrel feeders over the pheasant feeders. Wheat with peanuts mixed in? Aniseed oil mixed in? I also have a separate piece of land to shoot over on which we are hoping to establish a flight pond so I'll potentially have barley available.

Yeah, I will be doing that also. A lot of the feeders on this shoot are out of the way and only accessible by quad or on foot. We also have them visiting the pens and it will be less than ideal to be blasting squirrels sat on the ground when the birds arrive and are in the pens. My thinking is I could cover a lot more ground by placing the feeders towards to the edges of the woods and then using the farm tracks to drive between them. They don't seem too bothered by vehicles so I could potentially forego setting up hides and shoot from the car.

Thanks Walker570. Have you got more images of that? Is that style a flip top or is there a feed hole I can't see and that is the lid? Many thanks Sam. The stainless tube design is a bit rich for me😅 but I like the wooden design you have. Have you fitted the metal plates to ensure they aren't chewed into or do you use the feeder itself as a back stop? The wire mesh is a good touch. How you are attaching them to the trees? I doubt the farmer would be pleased with me driving 200mm bolts into the trees to hold the feeder.

While I do agree with what you have wrote, there are two things that spring to mind when this topic comes up. Firstly, how far will this way of thinking go? If people who shoot need to have a marker on their medical record to flag them to the authorities should any mental health issues arise, then should pilots, lorry drivers, train drivers (professional drivers may already have to do this), people who operate rides at theme parks, stadium security staff, those who wish to hire a van and so on need to have this facility placed on their records? Each of them has the potential to cause or allow mass devastation on the public should their mental health take a turn for the worst and they decide that if life no longer has any meaningful purpose for them then they are going to take a whole load of people with them. Secondly, I do fear that this method of operating together with the over zealous and mass confiscation of firearms by forces following the Plymouth shooting will stop shooters with even a minor mental health issue seeking help for fear of losing their hobby (way of life for a lot). Should, for example, you have a well mannered and perfectly stable family man feeling a little down, maybe struggling to sleep following a bereavement or something else minor. He requests some sleeping tablets and perhaps some therapy to help him get back to a normal sleeping pattern and then is awaken in middle of the night by the police banging his door down requesting he 'voluntarily' surrender his firearms and certificates. Personally I think that this procedure serves no further purpose other than for the authorities to show the public they have done something to make firearms licensing safer. It doesn't really work for either party and is just another layer of paperwork or another hoop to jump through to allow people to enjoy what is a relatively safe and very enjoyable sport. I'd say many more people are injured or killed playing rugby union/league (a few deaths and life changing injuries in local leagues in the last few years) or motorcycle riding but those don't have the same public perception so are relatively free from government regulation.

Good evening. I've never put used a squirrel feeder before so I'm looking for some inspiration and ideas in the form of pictures or plans for wooden constructed squirrel feeders. I'm planning to put some time in over the coming months to thin out the squirrel population on the shoot. The place has plenty of squirrels as evidenced by the chewed pheasant feeders and feed bins. With feed costing what it does then cutting down on the amount of mouths taking the feed is more important than ever. I've plenty of 6x1 gravel boards left over from a fence installation and hopefully these will be great for putting together a few feeders. Many thanks in advance.

I've seen the same being discussed on social media this evening. I wonder if we'll see anything in response from BASC?

Thanks all, I appreciate the time you've taken to reply. I'm going to try both and see what's what. Sounds like both options are a good bet.

Thanks for the replies. Those who are claiming extreme longevity from their boots, over what conditions are they used? My main haunts are heavily wooded, brambles, streams etc and not soft game cover and open fields (sadly). Also, what model boots were they? I know both LC and Aigle make boots from £150 - £500+. Unfortunately I am at the bottom end of that scale.

Good Afternoon. I've been stung by the 'buy cheap, buy twice' thing after having a cheap pair of Jack Pyke boots split after less than 10 outings. Luckily the retailer was very understanding and offered a full refund on the spot, I even got to keep the boots which will do nicely for a spot of upcoming gardening work I have to do.. I'm torn on the old Aigle vs Le Chameau debate (I went Beretta by the way) and I would like to get some views on this or any alternatives? The boots will be used for everything from a muddy clay ground and dog walking to beating, walked up and driven shooting. They need to be able to deal fairly well with brambles, rough terrain and lots of use. I have small feet and quite narrow calfs so an adjustable boot is a must have. I've been looking at the Aigle Parcours 2 Vario or the LC Vierzon boots to give an idea of budget. Also been looking at the Percussion Rambouillet boots as an alternative which specification wise look to be a level above the other two. I look forward to seeing what you have to recommend.

Very sorry to hear that WalkedUp. What I've quoted above is the most important part. He's had a life doing what he was bred for and has probably loved every second of it. For a working dog there is no better way.

This! If eating game ever became popular for the masses then I imagine that some enterprising poultry farmers will spare a shed for a few months and raise poults directly for slaughter. Cut out the shoots and their flakey food handling procedures. Probably more profit in raising game birds over your standard broiler chicken. I can also see a market for farm raised venison. I would be surprised if this didn't already happen given you can buy ready prepared meals with pheasant year round.

The promise of a good reference to their future (unlucky) landlord if they leave when agreed usually does the trick. I would also refuse any further tenants that are claiming housing benefits, it's really not worth the hastle and cost to put right the state they will leave your property in. Alternatively let the properties long term to the housing associations. They'll have responsibility for the maintenance, rent, etc and repair any damage at their cost at the end of the contract. At least thats how it was when I looked into it.

I had the same email offer this evening but £24.99 per month is taking the ****. The shame is I actually have a gundog in training and could probably make use of the app. If it was a sensible cost, say £9.99 a month I would consider it and cut down on sessions with the gundog trainer instead. Though I do feel that having someone in person watching over me and correcting my mistakes and observing my interactions with the dog is many times more effective than a few videos and online consultations.

Yeah, I did visit their website following my comment. Practically unlimited, year round pigeon shooting over many thousands of acres for only a £200 membership fee. So what is the catch? Is it the sort of club where the regulars have the best spots sown up every weekend for the next 10 years or have priority based on seniority or something where newcomers are left to fight over the fields that haven't seen a pigeon for years? I did also try to find a similar club or organisation operating in South Wales/ South West but drew a blank.