Poor Shot

I like it, I wouldn't trade in my 694 for one but it's a nice looking thing. It's probably nothing more than a clap back at the recently released Browning 825, they share a similar price point, target market etc.. If they can get the stock and barrel weight kits in with the £3k price mark then it'll blow the Browning out of the water. I'd say that a regular walnut stock as well as plastic stock options will become available with time and also plain steel and non blacked versions. It could really have done with the Steelium Pro barrels from the 694 as the standard Steelium are a bit old tech now. I would imagine that the next Gen 694 and DT11 will move to the Steelium Pro X barrels and 3&1/2 choke systems to match the SL2 or a variation thereof. 686 and 687 sporting versions will probably be retired and silver pigeon retained as game only versions. If not then they have a lot of guns on sale that step on each others toes. As someone else mentioned, it's probably quite hard to break the mold with a technology that was near enough perfected 60 years ago. How long has the basic 686 action on which the 686, 687, 688, 690, 692 and 694 models are based been around for? It's pretty much bomb proof, easy to maintain and should the worst happen then nearly all gunsmiths in the land can work on them and hold spares.

Probably the best way to go about it. Just a polite request for a single day's shooting with no obligation for ongoing permission. Let your performance speak for itself. They'll be over the moon if you came back 4 hours later with a 100 bag of pigeons.

Another member of the forum once invited me out to shoot on one his permissions. It look a good while of scouting to ensure the birds would be there and sure enough there was a good flight line on one the fields when we chose to shoot. I can easily see how it could become embarrassing if the pigeons had decided be elsewhere practically overnight.

Exactly that.. There are some areas locally with arable land such as the Vale of Glamorgan, areas to the east of Cardiff and west of Newport and some small patches in west Wales. There is also a lot of arable in the areas along the A40 and M50 towards the border with England. All this totaled probably wouldn't equal a half of the amount of arable land some of smaller English counties have and there are a lot of certificate holders in the area all trying to get a foot in the door. There are two lads from our game syndicate who travel to Lincolnshire to shoot pigeons such is the competition locally.

I'd love to but I'm sure spending £80 on diesel each visit would get wearisome quite quickly. I find Horsey people to be on the extreme ends of the anti shooting spectrum. Some are very welcoming and happy for you take care of rabbits and other pests providing the horses aren't disturbed. Some are absolute bat**** crazy and you'll never know which until you talk to them. They do love their animals though so I can respect that at least.

Mainly because she's got better things to do than hang around while two boring blokes talk guns and shooting. Last time round she spoke to the FAO and said she could not care less about shooting and that we both have our own things going on but she respects that the guns aren't to be bothered with under any circumstances. FEO was happy with that. The doting wife is a thing of the past and I'm glad that she's got just much going on in her own life as I do mine. The last bit regarding ammo was a reference to the article by Bill Harriman in the last BASC magazine in which a fellow got caught out on a home visit when an ammo box was misplaced during a home renewal inspection. Chap lost his certs I think. I'm also a non drinker so unless the FAO is concerned about the amount of coffee grounds in the food recycling hamper then I'm quite safe. An FAO who visited a while back did mention that he had started an investigation into a certificate holder when he noticed a few recycling bags filled with empty containers outside of his house. No idea on the biscuits thing. Bit of a recurring joke I think. Not one single member of firearms dept has ever accepted an offer of a drink while at my (very clean, tidy and organised) house.

I wasn't too worried about the biscuits. It was more the amount my would be able to spend in the couple hours that she would have been shopping. That could buy you an container load of custard creames. It's coffee or tap only in our house so they would have been a disappointed tea drinker.

It's a step in the right direction and a much better use of the limited resources. My FAC interview was done over the phone and IMO covered everything that we otherwise would have covered if the FEO was sat at my kitchen table for an hour only I didn't have to spend out on expensive biscuits and send the wife shopping for a few hours while the interview took place. How many more cabinets checks can be done in a day when you replace commuting an hour between each appointment with time sat at a desk checking off a list of quick 20 minute video calls. I'm sure some will be along shortly to say that it's worth it just so the FEO can take a quick sniff around the house and pick up on the recycling bag filled with beer cans outside the front door or the odd box of ammo misplaced outside of the locked cabinet but these are luxuries that most depts cannot afford at the time where backlogs of ancillary responsibilities like cabinet checks can extend out past 2-3 years. These are issues that can be picked up at renewal every 5 years. Last FEO that came out spent 10 minutes checking serial numbers against a tick sheet and then a further hour and 20 minutes talking about shooting. Lovely chap and I'd have him round again anytime but not a good use of expensive FEO time.

How far is West Midlands, west of the M5 away from CF44? 😅 I have a very understanding wife who knows shooting will always come first. You are right in what you are saying. Right place, right time and you could walk into hundreds of acres of permissions from an old boy looking for an out. I make an effort to speak to anyone and everyone on a shoot, clay shoot etc. Not only because You never know who you may be speaking to and that old boy in the beating line with the ancient spaniel just may be the one but I quite often find the beaters more interesting than a gun ******* off about his new range rover or whatever.

Right you are but that doesn't mean that there is a lack of young people wanting to get into pigeon shooting which is the post I first responded to. More supports my argument that there are plenty of people out there but a lack of available land to shoot over. IME to date is you can knock 20-30 doors and be met with rejection and further digging will reveal that the same person shoots over every single one of them. When talking to other guns between drives it not uncommon for one to boast about having all the land they could ever wish for but very little time to actually shoot there but will also never give up the land or concede to others shooters who would. It's a very strange boast but a change from I once shot a pheasant at 450m with a 9 shot clay shell or whatever.

It's not too far away but out of my 'area'. I'd say you got lucky and it really does tend to be a case of dead mans shoes around here. Whenever I'm around farmy people I always try to bring shooting into the conversation and at times it ends with a result like you outlined in your post and others it ends in an hour conversation about shooting but nothing more. I once had a not too nice lady give me a proper dressing down because I mentioned shooting in a conversation. The Schoffel gillet and le chameau wellies she was wearing while tending to her horses certainly hid her massive anti shooting opinions quite well. Shame because there looked to be a lot of rabbits tearing her paddocks to pieces and a lot of corvids helping themselves to the stables.

Much the same there but you've no reason to shoot pigeons which would be outside of the GL. Fox shooting is fiercely protected and we have much the same problem of individuals holding onto every farm in a particular area and not letting anyone else shoot.

Yes, plenty. In my neck of the woods we have real problems with individuals land banking many hundreds of acres of land which prevents anyone else from shooting. We don't have back to back rolling miles of arable fields so what arable there is, is in huge demand. It seems to be the done thing that anyone holding land becomes incredibly and very aggressively defensive over that land even if they only shoot it once or twice a year during the high season. Farmers have more to worry about than people squabbling over who gets to shoot the pigeons so they more often than not turn anyone else away to save the agro they'll get from the incumbent because someone else had a go at flighting pigeons in November. One of the best things the old timers could do to help sustain pigeon shooting is to start bringing younger people into their permissions and passing on the baton. While we still have 80 year old men holding many hundreds of acres of land to shoot a handful of times a year and preventing anyone else shooting then we'll still have a problem with pigeon shooting being the preserve of the old and retired.

We went to the shooting gallery last time we were in Orlando. It looks quite rough and intimidating from the outside being located next to a few bail bond shops but the people inside were as nice as can be. Simply walked in, explained we would like to shoot and that I shoot shotguns, rifles etc at home and away we went after signing some forms and handing over passports as ID. From memory we used a glock of some sort to warm up with and had quite some time with a sig M4/AR lookalike type rifle. Other than a brief explanation of how each gun worked, safety catch locations, mag release etc we were left to our own devices when in the range room. There were other shooters as well as a range officer present. Dad had only ever shot a shotgun before and only once so it was quite an experience for him. I remember ammo costs being quite reasonable as well compared to the UK. A box of 25 5.56 was certainly a lot cheaper than a box of 20 .223 in the UK. 9mm were dirt cheap and I reckon we were still paying tourist pricing. It was one of the cheaper ways to spend a morning in Orlando when compared to the cost of entry to the parks. Thats probably not too different from rocking up to the likes of Barbury or Ian Coleys without an SGC and having a caddied round of 50 targets.

Happened not too long ago in Tylorstown following storm Dennis. Luckily there was nothing below the tip to be consumed other than a cycle path. Works are still ongoing more than 4 years later to clear the debris and stabilise the remainder of the tip. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-53185569.amp Another Aberfan disaster was narrowly avoided where I grew up. The Debris damaged homes and spilled through doors and windows. Effects were limited as the street was mostly abandoned by that point following the Aberfan disaster. https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/entire-valleys-street-demolished-prevent-17534531 There are hundreds of spoil tips still remaining in the UK which costs an enormous amount of money to monitor. As local council budgets are tightened monitoring and maintenance of tips will no doubt become neglected opening up the possibility of further tip slides. There are more than 2500 coal spoil tips in Wales alone, mostly in the south Wales valleys. There is a map on the welsh gov website showing the cat C and cat D (most at risk) tips. You can see from the maps that they nearly all reside above densly populated areas. https://www.gov.wales/find-disused-coal-tips#133910

I'll rephrase it then. I won't have to worry about my own dog being in season during the shooting season. I can't help if others choose to bring an in season bitch onto a shoot. If he still turns out to be a bit of a horndog then I'll get him a cold shower or something.

Nothing quite spoils your season like your only working dog, which happens to be a bitch, coming into season in the third week of December. Regular as clockwork and just in time for Santa to arrive and just at sweet point of the shooting season. Not keen on spaying, It ruined our other (non working) dog and sapped the energy and drive right out of him. We only did it on medial grounds as he had undescended testicles. My next dog will certainly be a dog and then I won't have to worry about seasons.

From the CPSA Dear Members You may be aware of the recent letter regarding Super Sporting, issued by FITASC Paris. After review of the facts, discussion with fellow associations and FITASC Paris, we cannot agree with the FITASC position on this matter, considering the many differences between the two sporting disciplines. We can therefore confirm to our members, grounds, and shooters, that our position and plans for Super Sporting have not changed. We will continue to support and promote the discipline, with the goal as always to bring more people into our sport of clay shooting across the various clay target disciplines. Finally, we can confirm to our members, competitive shooters, course setters, grounds & referees that any ban or sanction issued by FITASC specific to this matter, as quoted in FITASC communication (4th September 2024), will not be recognised for our competitions organised by the CPSA. CPSA Board of Directors Iain Parker CEO – CPSA

Depends on the gun and the child I suppose. I was tiny as a child (still am as an adult) and would have probably benefit more from the lightest gun possible until past 12 Y/O but there are kids in the extended family who are 5'5" and 45kg at 12 Y/O who could probably use either with no bother. The youth stocked 26" kofs guns are near enough the same in both 410 and 28 bores. It only takes so much extra material for additional bore diameter after all and the actions are identical for the small bores. As said, if they're out there making noise with a gun, are comfortable and hitting a few things then I'm sure they aren't bothered what the diameter is of the cartridge going in or what's coming out the end.

To quote the article directly. Many shooters of my generation cut their teeth on .410s. When I look back on this practice, I am hard pressed to come up with a less suitable gun with which to train a youngster. There was this misplaced attitude that as .410 shotguns were small and light then they must be the gun-of-choice for training small people. However, .410 cartridges contain such a small quantity of shot that it requires very accurate placement to hit a target. There is nothing more disheartening for someone learning to shoot than to keep missing a target. A bit of success builds confidence and creates a desire to do better. Thankfully these days, most coaches start novices of small stature with a 28 bore which to my mind is a proper shotgun and a far better choice. That said, a .410 is an ideal tool to teach nippers safe gun handling and to thrill them by letting them shoot at tins on a fence post. Seems to be at odds with other areas of BASC if BASC are indeed using .410s as training and experience day guns. I partially agree with what was said in the article, if you just want to get a gun in the hands of a very small child for the very first time, aged younger than 8 lets say and let them shoot a few static targets or some balloons rolling about in a soft wind then 410 is perfect. Very light, usually very small, no real recoil and relatively quiet for a shotgun. If you have an older newcomer of say 8-12 or a child that wants to start shooting clay targets that are more than just a going away or a crow target then a child sized 28 bore is the better tool. Options for clay loads from 18 to 24 grams widely available, still quite light at around 5lbs (for a youth stocked Kofs Sceptre), relatively recoil/ report free and a shorter, thicker shot column which should produce better patterns. 28 bore can be used right up to point where the child wants to change to a 12 bore with 21 or 24 gram loads. That's not to say a 410 isn't also a good tool for introducing youngsters to shooting, it probably is and I'm sure as long as you keep the cartridges supplied the youngster will be having a ball regardless. Just IMO the 28 bore would be the better option. If it wasn't for the cost I would probably shoot my 28 bore a lot more at clay targets than I do now. I remember my first exposure to a shotgun as a child was with an antique, double barrel SxS 410 hammer gun with some foam duct taped to the comb to raise the comb height, probably choked super full and super, super, extra full. I was shaking like a ****ting dog with this thing in my hands and extremely nervous. I got to take two shots at a static plastic water bottle just to get over the nerves. I was ok once I realised that it wasn't too dissimilar in noise and recoil to the Chinese spring air rifle I had, probably less recoil thinking about it.

I sometimes lay awake at night with that thought in my head. It must be the single most terrifying thing to be faced with the situation of no escape in which you either jump to a certain death from hundreds of feet in the air or are consumed in the horrific and agonising death of being burnt alive in a jet fuel fire. The only relief being the possibility that they didn't jump but were rather pushed out by baying crowds of people trying to escape the fire and smoke. Truly horrific. I went to New York a few years back and couldn't escape the thought while trying to sleep in my hotel room on the 32nd floor of one of the smaller buildings in the Manhattan skyline. I had the chance to visit ground zero while there but having taken a girl I was keen to impress on the trip, I'm not sure me coming across as emotional and teary eyed was appropriate.

I've shot a 410 a few times but never owned one. I much prefer a 28 bore gun, it's almost as good as a 12 bore in terms of load and ballistics but still light weight and nimble. Perfect for walked up shooting. I did try a single barrel, hammer actioned Turkish 410 a little while back and I couldn't hit a thing with it. It was impossibly light and super difficult to control. It reminded me of the replica cowboy lever action cap guns that used those paper rolls you used to see as a child. Felt, swung and sounded just like one with no perceivable recoil from 2" cartridges. I do agree with the article in as much as giving a 410 to young child and expecting them to do well with it is really quite cruel. It really takes some skill to use them properly and an appropriately sized 28 or 20 with light loads would be a much better option.

It's 2024, if someone pokes fun at your bra and panties then just call them a bigot, write to the daily mail and get them cancelled. If they do it in the form of a Tweet then the Labor party will have them imprisoned.

No odd comments from me.. I still have some 'onesies' from when they were popular loungewear a few years back. I wear them under a hoodie and jeans when clay shooting or under my formal attire when shooting game in the winter months. Means that you can keep the overall thickness of your clothing quite thin which is great as thick and cumbersome upper body layers can restrict movement and hinder shooting and affect gun fit. They keep me really warm, sometimes too warm and can be picked up for pennies in charity shops or online.

I was 8 at the time and remember the teacher turning on a tiny CRT television that was in the corner of our classroom and never used. The teacher and several others crowded around that TV and watched for hours as the events unfolded. No further teaching took place that day. We may have been sent home early, I'm not sure. I'm not sure the US government/ CIA etc are 100% innocent and have some involvement in this. I often wonder when the next '9/11' will be. The first world seems to be spiralling out of control at moment and it's only a matter of time.