ChickenFarmer

UPDATE: Guess what! We found the body of a wild rabbit, totally unmarked, between the sheds. We had a major fox raid 3 days ago and this mystery creature has been around since then.. I suspect a fox was after the rabbit, which ducked under a house. The fox then turned on the chickens instead. Anyway, I got a large female fox yesterday with a dose of #4 so that evens the score a tad.. (This is the first time I have ever seen a rabbit on our 11 acres - the foxes sort them out pronto!)

Yesterday as I approcached our chicken houses I noticed a creature run between two of the houses and then disappear - presumably below one. It looked rabbit sized, a sort of brown cylinder. This evening I saw it again out of the corner of my eye : I glimpsed a rabbit sized body, with two long thin legs stretched right back ... then it was gone. What could it be? Bigger than a large rat I think, maybe rabbit sized ... but who knows - perceptions can be odd ... Could it even be a fox? Or would the odour freak out the chickens? This thing is taking eggs - but NOT killing chic

Hi, If I drop in at a pub (for a non-alcoholic drink) or at McDonalds to/from shooting should I leave the shotgun & ammo in the car? Or can I take the gun (in a slip case) into the restaurant/pub? Or can I can my ammo belt in? (I like to keep the ammo & gun separated) Also, what's the situation if I were to accidentally be wearing the ammo belt when say going into a petrol station? Note: One of my London customers visited me where I live deep in the county. On the way he had lunch at a rural pub - and suddenly a load of shooters came in and threw guns and ammo

>> What browning do you have? A mate of mine had an Auto 5, but it used to really hurt my trigger finger, no idea why! I have the same problem with my A5 when firing heavy loads! Every few shots something whacks my trigger finger .. HARD!

And minimum length of gun is 40 inches, if a semi or pump action.

Even if you have a terminal ilness, as long as your GP believes you won't top yourself you have a good chance of getting a certificate.

I ordered some A5 parts from Brownells in the US ... total disaster as they only shipped some of them due to legal issues. Midway sorted me out. Took a bit of time 'tho IIRC.

Try that with three shotgun slugs mate! Game over!

Hmm. I feel that my Remington 870 pump action is not exactly the safest thing around. I'm happy using it when after Mr Fox on my own land ... but I'm nervous when anyone borrows it. You simply can't tell if it's safe or not. However my Browning A5 semi has a clearly (?) open chamber when empty. Not perfect - but better. .A local clay shoot says I can take either along ... but I'll get some of those brightly coloured dummy 'flag' cartridges to shove in the chambers first!

UPDATE: I set up a large paper target to check the patterns ... I used paper tablecloth draped over a sheep hurdle standing on end! Anyway this is what I have found. My US BB 42 gram 2.75" semi-magnum give a very tight on-target pattern in any gun I've tried them with. The 3" magnum 50 gram UK BB give a 'tidy' pattern - but it's twice as wide ... and is indeed 3 or 4 feet higher than where I am aiming ... and a friend experienced the same problem. I suspect that I have simply found - and got used to - a well-performing and well-matched cartridge in the 42 gram semi-magnum.

>> If thats right, it's not ya gun/carts that need checking but ya fecking eyes fella! LOL Ha ha! Seriously, it's all the place .. certainly several feet too high. I suppose I could be holding the gun wrong so it's 'rolling' on the shoulder or something. Or maybe the friction rings are set up wrong. Anyway, once I've done the recommended pattern test I'll know more! PS The Browning A5 3" Magnum only cost me £125 so maybe that tells you something!

>> The semi-auto with 3 inch mags seems to fire 1ft high at say 50 yards I did of course mean 10 feet high! The whole experience is very sloppy.

With the 42g semi magnum BOTH guns fire & aim perfectly & identically. I can knock over metal plates almost every time at 65 yards! The semi-auto with 3 inch mags seems to fire 1ft high at say 50 yards ... and the pattern seems a lot wider & more ragged ... but I need to confirm that. Err .. what is a pattern 'blowing'? Of course, I get your drift ... but can the pattern go nuts or something?

Hi, I'm not sure where to post this ... I shoot heavy 42 gram US BB 12-ga 2.75 semi-magnum out of a Remington 870 pump action. Very nasty recoil, but I can shoot accurately. However shooting a 3 inch 50 gram BB magnum out of a Browning A5 recoil operated semi-auto leads to very variable results ... the very busy action plus the recoil are very disconcerting! (I'm not flinching or scared of the recoil - it's just that my accuracy has disappeared!) So how do YOU deal with heavy recoil? Have I perhaps reached my 'natural limit' with regard to recoil?

4000 fps in a small calibre? Isn't there a real risk of ablation (bullet burnup) at this sort of velocity?