To Mr & MRs Mole and everyone else who may be interested

[pianoman 3,587]

Mike and Mary. And all else here.

 

There is a recent thread gotten out of hand that will probably and wisely be deleted by now so, I'm putting this here Okay? I'm not doing PMs for some, where others will be wondering what's going on. It was aired openly, it will end openly.

 

I am not such a head-up-my-arse prat that I hold grudges, or ill-feelings towards you two folks or anyone else on this forum. I am more than delighted to continue correspondences and discussions here with you both and put the current sorry saga to an end. I am indeed a plain speaking no-nonesense guy and I do not pull my punches. I do call a spade a spade. It is not a Terrain Redeployment Facility. It's a spade! End of!

 

But I am not the boorish overblown pillock I might seem to some. I speak with a quiet, some say posh accent, with not much of a trace of my Yorkshire accent. And, unlike a few Rock Apes I knew, I have a very well educated, very well read mind. But I have my flaws and weaknesses like everyone else.

 

As for this accusation of bullying people here? Where is the evidence of your correspondants of this? I would be reprimanded or banned by the Mods surely? It clearly would breach the forum's rules of conduct. I have never to the best of my knowledge, ever turned on anyone without provocation from them first and I will never pre-judge or single out someone to victimise them. I just do not wake up on a morning and think.

 

"Hmm, I think I'm going to bait Moley today !"

 

Well, that's my idea of a bully. Just not me at all Mary. I have way too much going on in my life and on my mind. Have I done that to anyone? Your post suggests there is more than one correspondant I apparently have so offended.

 

As you Chaps, as my apparent victims, will know who you are. Would all those of you who contacted Mrs Mole in this way, kindly identify yourselves here to me so that we may get this sorted out once and for all? And I will apologise unreservedly.

 

Until you do, you don't exist .

 

I will tell you both a little about myself as to what makes me tick.

 

I have been shooting regularly since I was 8, taught by my father, himself a former Coldstream Guards sniper who fought in Europe during WW2. And an avid shooter until infirmity has now rendered him house-bound. My first air rifle was an old Webley .22 springer that belonged to my Australian cousin. Very nice rifle and very powerful. possibly over the limit, but they were nicer times then. At age 12, I was shot in the face by an idiot of another cousin with a .22 Relum Tornado underlever. He had no idea it was loaded when he pointed it at me for fun, from about ten feet away...until he pulled the trigger....I still have the pellet lodged in my cheek, less than an inch down from my left eye.

 

Not one of you, God forbid, should ever know how much blood your face can pump through a pellet-hole this way .

 

At 19 I was a qualified RAF Regiment marksman. And the following 12 years in the service took me to places and events where the experiences of it are somethings best left in the past.

 

 

As a consequence of these experiences in my life, it doesn't leave you with a head and a taste for fanciful idiots fannying about with firearms for a hobby. I am not naturally the worlds best at tactful, how-nicely-can-I-put-this? Jargon. I do not suffer fools with air rifles or any firearm lightly, they tend to accidentally shoot you! I detest anyone who engages in conversation littered with cryptic clues as to what the bloody hell he's on about; armchair snipers who claim to be shooters and do nothing for the sport or for anyone until the sun's bloody too hot to sit indoors playing Call Of Duty Bullshit. I have a thorough disliking of anyone who does not say what they mean, or mean what they say. And I detest incompetence where killing a living creature is concerned. To say nothing of where wanton cruelty is concerned. A clean, accurate, beautifully placed shot into the brain is not difficult to achieve with some dedicated practice behind it, no matter what the range is. But the rifle we choose to do it with had better be up to the task.

 

That's why I only use Weihrauch and Air Arms spring rifles. And I'll be adding a couple of Dianas to the list someday. They are absolutely proven to bits, honest-to-God effective hunting arms. It has nothing whatsoever to do with money or status. They are better than anything else for humanely killing as living creature, in my hands. The great days of Webbley & Scott and BSAs spring rifles are sadly over. Those made now are all right, but, they won't compete with AA and HW as once they could.

 

 

Until I find Hatsan make a rifle with the same level of quality, accuracy and reliability, it's a fecking Hatstand; because that's all it's fit for as far as efficient air rifle hunting goes.

 

My opinion is purely from how humanely accurate is an average guy's shooting at a rabbit's head with one? From what I have seen, they are bloody awful. More likely to end up with a bodyshot than a swift despatch through the head, if you hit the poor thing at all. That's not bloody good enough and it's not bloody fair!

 

It's got nothing to do with you personally or your choices or your money Mike and Mary. It's just about the competent accuracy and reliability of this thing.

 

 

I believe anyone can learn to shoot well and get the most from their sport. And I have been very proud to have read of my help to some guy has paid off well for him. I'm not a friggin know-all everything, that's impossible. I know a lot of what works and what doesn't. More than some, but certainly not as much as certain others on this forum do.

 

If that makes me an overbearing bully, that's too much to take, then those of you offended by it know what to do. Don't fecking read my stuff and do not add your correspondance to it! But, don't go trying to pull the wool over good lads eyes with crap! When I want to know something about something, I like to hear it as I would give it; tell it straight and factually to the point.

 

I give it how I do because there ain't another way I know how.

 

And that's why Mike, I told you straight to the point and honestly that you seem to be going through a lot of cash and a lot of runaround, needlessly at risk from getting scammed, on gear that doesn't appear to be working out for you as well as it should. How I put it to you is how I would have told my own brothers -if they could hit a barn door, but they choose to be golfers, God fecking help them!

 

Had I known in advance of your ailments both of you, this debacle could have been handled more sympathetically. But, as it is it is water under the bridge as far as I'm concerned.

 

So, to you both, Mike and Mary, I wish to offer my sincere apologies to you for any offence I have doubtless caused you both. You are clearly a sensitive man and I should be more thoughtful of this in future. And to anyone else who thinks of me as a bully. Sorry, I'm not really. Honest.

I'm a fecking pussycat really. I have absolutely no fear of anyone and I should realise perhaps my self confidence and self-belief system is maybe more than some can take. You lashed out as a response and I lashed back more harshly than I should have and that was wrong.

 

It does land me in the stew now and again but hey, what the f**k! It's only words and the internet. Sticks and stones y'know

 

I just wish to see everyone enjoy this wonderful all-consuming passion I have, that shooting can be and nothing gives me greater pleasure than to be able to help anyone achieve their full potential. Particularly in the presence of more than a few remarkebly gifted shooters here. I give a totally honest and straight answer to everything because the company we keep here is of a very high calibre by the evidences I have seen and actually witnessed. Particularly with two great shooting men who have become good, close and valued mates of mine.

 

And there is another aspect.

 

I am 53 years old now. That means I have 25, maybe 30 years of shooting life left to me if I'm lucky. Not much more if at all. I'd like to see younger people get the same level of enjoyment and satisfaction I have from my shooting and make the very most of the skills they have. I am really not looking forward to the certain and ever-approaching day when some well meaning Grandchild starts telling me to hang up my shooting gloves and take up..Christ knows!

 

Time is so precious and so short. It is the one thing we lose that can never be replaced.

 

I'm sorry I've rambled on here but, I really love my shooting sport. And I'm darn bloody good at it too. And I'm passionate about folks getting the very best they can from their own view down the barrel.

If you want bollocks and bullshit in spadefulls of nicely written, non-offensive sentences, there's always Airgunner and Airgun World, down at the newsagents.

 

Or there's guys like me you can run whatever you need to know, past. You may not like my candour, but you'll be no doubt as to whether it's any cop or not!

 

Now, let's forget the whole sorry thing and go on as before. What do you say?

 

Yours Aye!

 

Simon the Pianoman

Edited April 3, 2011 by pianoman

[davyt63 1,845]

Fair play Simon

 

regards

 

Davy

[lady hunter 162]

re pianoman i do not think anything you said to mr and mrs mole could be taken out of context, imho they should stay under the rock they crawled from and have now scurried back to. atb lucan

[chimp 299]

nice life story lol

[BASE JUMPER 18]

personally buddy you have no reason apologies but dam decent of you to do so of your own back you say things how you see them and i like you for that its there problem they went on one or should i say 11 page rant, i wish i had your knowledge or your tuition for one day and what i could learn of you in one day would take 2 years to self teach myself

[77 si 21]

Fair play Simon, thats one heck of a life story

 

ATB Si

[secretagentmole 1,701]

I am very sorry for what I said Simon, I was a damned fool!

[Mrs Mole 74]

Simon, I also wish to apologize to you, I have been equally outspoken, and this has gone too far.. I will take my time, think things through before I reply in full.

 

But may I suggest to all other forum members that the continuation of posts on this subject would be unhelpful..

 

 

Regards,

Mary

[fry 209]

"I am 53 years old now. That means I have 25, maybe 30 years of shooting life left to me if I'm lucky" haha nice apology simon but my main reason for 2.2 is at 48 years old i can hardly see a 177 pellet if your still shooting at 83 fair play to you. but you are right to lighten this nonsense up. ATB fry

[festa 206]

this just shows really what kind of people we are on here ..well done to both parties it takes a bigger man/woman to apologize than it does to hold a grudge like my father said to me in life you will have the odd fight/argument or even just heated words but at the end of it shake hands forget it and get back on track life really is to short

 

 

atb gary

Edited April 3, 2011 by festa

[andyfr1968 772]

Nicely done

 

All of you....

[gurtwurz 792]

i've been offline all day due to unexpected lappy demise, but i may have been a tad harsh too, so sorry for being so blunt folks.

 

looking forwards to THL returning to its normal happy go lucky self, and reading your future posts one and all.

 

mrs mole, your new super ten looks lovely, hope you have much success and enjoyment from it.

 

cheers, wurz

[shepp 2,285]

Yes about time the airgun section returned to being the boy scouts of THL.

Edited April 3, 2011 by shepp

[Daz 7 563]

Mike and Mary. And all else here.

 

There is a recent thread gotten out of hand that will probably and wisely be deleted by now so, I'm putting this here Okay? I'm not doing PMs for some, where others will be wondering what's going on. It was aired openly, it will end openly.

 

I am not such a head-up-my-arse prat that I hold grudges, or ill-feelings towards you two folks or anyone else on this forum. I am more than delighted to continue correspondences and discussions here with you both and put the current sorry saga to an end. I am indeed a plain speaking no-nonesense guy and I do not pull my punches. I do call a spade a spade. It is not a Terrain Redeployment Facility. It's a spade! End of!

 

But I am not the boorish overblown pillock I might seem to some. I speak with a quiet, some say posh accent, with not much of a trace of my Yorkshire accent. And, unlike a few Rock Apes I knew, I have a very well educated, very well read mind. But I have my flaws and weaknesses like everyone else.

 

As for this accusation of bullying people here? Where is the evidence of your correspondants of this? I would be reprimanded or banned by the Mods surely? It clearly would breach the forum's rules of conduct. I have never to the best of my knowledge, ever turned on anyone without provocation from them first and I will never pre-judge or single out someone to victimise them. I just do not wake up on a morning and think.

 

"Hmm, I think I'm going to bait Moley today !"

 

Well, that's my idea of a bully. Just not me at all Mary. I have way too much going on in my life and on my mind. Have I done that to anyone? Your post suggests there is more than one correspondant I apparently have so offended.

 

As you Chaps, as my apparent victims, will know who you are. Would all those of you who contacted Mrs Mole in this way, kindly identify yourselves here to me so that we may get this sorted out once and for all? And I will apologise unreservedly.

 

Until you do, you don't exist .

 

I will tell you both a little about myself as to what makes me tick.

 

I have been shooting regularly since I was 8, taught by my father, himself a former Coldstream Guards sniper who fought in Europe during WW2. And an avid shooter until infirmity has now rendered him house-bound. My first air rifle was an old Webley .22 springer that belonged to my Australian cousin. Very nice rifle and very powerful. possibly over the limit, but they were nicer times then. At age 12, I was shot in the face by an idiot of another cousin with a .22 Relum Tornado underlever. He had no idea it was loaded when he pointed it at me for fun, from about ten feet away...until he pulled the trigger....I still have the pellet lodged in my cheek, less than an inch down from my left eye.

 

Not one of you, God forbid, should ever know how much blood your face can pump through a pellet-hole this way .

 

At 19 I was a qualified RAF Regiment marksman. And the following 12 years in the service took me to places and events where the experiences of it are somethings best left in the past.

 

 

As a consequence of these experiences in my life, it doesn't leave you with a head and a taste for fanciful idiots fannying about with firearms for a hobby. I am not naturally the worlds best at tactful, how-nicely-can-I-put-this? Jargon. I do not suffer fools with air rifles or any firearm lightly, they tend to accidentally shoot you! I detest anyone who engages in conversation littered with cryptic clues as to what the bloody hell he's on about; armchair snipers who claim to be shooters and do nothing for the sport or for anyone until the sun's bloody too hot to sit indoors playing Call Of Duty Bullshit. I have a thorough disliking of anyone who does not say what they mean, or mean what they say. And I detest incompetence where killing a living creature is concerned. To say nothing of where wanton cruelty is concerned. A clean, accurate, beautifully placed shot into the brain is not difficult to achieve with some dedicated practice behind it, no matter what the range is. But the rifle we choose to do it with had better be up to the task.

 

That's why I only use Weihrauch and Air Arms spring rifles. And I'll be adding a couple of Dianas to the list someday. They are absolutely proven to bits, honest-to-God effective hunting arms. It has nothing whatsoever to do with money or status. They are better than anything else for humanely killing as living creature, in my hands. The great days of Webbley & Scott and BSAs spring rifles are sadly over. Those made now are all right, but, they won't compete with AA and HW as once they could.

 

 

Until I find Hatsan make a rifle with the same level of quality, accuracy and reliability, it's a fecking Hatstand; because that's all it's fit for as far as efficient air rifle hunting goes.

 

My opinion is purely from how humanely accurate is an average guy's shooting at a rabbit's head with one? From what I have seen, they are bloody awful. More likely to end up with a bodyshot than a swift despatch through the head, if you hit the poor thing at all. That's not bloody good enough and it's not bloody fair!

 

It's got nothing to do with you personally or your choices or your money Mike and Mary. It's just about the competent accuracy and reliability of this thing.

 

 

I believe anyone can learn to shoot well and get the most from their sport. And I have been very proud to have read of my help to some guy has paid off well for him. I'm not a friggin know-all everything, that's impossible. I know a lot of what works and what doesn't. More than some, but certainly not as much as certain others on this forum do.

 

If that makes me an overbearing bully, that's too much to take, then those of you offended by it know what to do. Don't fecking read my stuff and do not add your correspondance to it! But, don't go trying to pull the wool over good lads eyes with crap! When I want to know something about something, I like to hear it as I would give it; tell it straight and factually to the point.

 

I give it how I do because there ain't another way I know how.

 

And that's why Mike, I told you straight to the point and honestly that you seem to be going through a lot of cash and a lot of runaround, needlessly at risk from getting scammed, on gear that doesn't appear to be working out for you as well as it should. How I put it to you is how I would have told my own brothers -if they could hit a barn door, but they choose to be golfers, God fecking help them!

 

Had I known in advance of your ailments both of you, this debacle could have been handled more sympathetically. But, as it is it is water under the bridge as far as I'm concerned.

 

So, to you both, Mike and Mary, I wish to offer my sincere apologies to you for any offence I have doubtless caused you both. You are clearly a sensitive man and I should be more thoughtful of this in future. And to anyone else who thinks of me as a bully. Sorry, I'm not really. Honest.

I'm a fecking pussycat really. I have absolutely no fear of anyone and I should realise perhaps my self confidence and self-belief system is maybe more than some can take. You lashed out as a response and I lashed back more harshly than I should have and that was wrong.

 

It does land me in the stew now and again but hey, what the f**k! It's only words and the internet. Sticks and stones y'know

 

I just wish to see everyone enjoy this wonderful all-consuming passion I have, that shooting can be and nothing gives me greater pleasure than to be able to help anyone achieve their full potential. Particularly in the presence of more than a few remarkebly gifted shooters here. I give a totally honest and straight answer to everything because the company we keep here is of a very high calibre by the evidences I have seen and actually witnessed. Particularly with two great shooting men who have become good, close and valued mates of mine.

 

And there is another aspect.

 

I am 53 years old now. That means I have 25, maybe 30 years of shooting life left to me if I'm lucky. Not much more if at all. I'd like to see younger people get the same level of enjoyment and satisfaction I have from my shooting and make the very most of the skills they have. I am really not looking forward to the certain and ever-approaching day when some well meaning Grandchild starts telling me to hang up my shooting gloves and take up..Christ knows!

 

Time is so precious and so short. It is the one thing we lose that can never be replaced.

 

I'm sorry I've rambled on here but, I really love my shooting sport. And I'm darn bloody good at it too. And I'm passionate about folks getting the very best they can from their own view down the barrel.

If you want bollocks and bullshit in spadefulls of nicely written, non-offensive sentences, there's always Airgunner and Airgun World, down at the newsagents.

 

Or there's guys like me you can run whatever you need to know, past. You may not like my candour, but you'll be no doubt as to whether it's any cop or not!

 

Now, let's forget the whole sorry thing and go on as before. What do you say?

 

Yours Aye!

 

Simon the Pianoman

 

 

 

Very Eloquently put Simon, As a fellow Member of HM Forces and what i've read in your posts your a very Passionate man in Love with the sport of Air Rifles, I find your Posts informative and you only give

honest information that you have built up through years of Experience Which can only help us all achieve better under standing of the Sport.

 

 

ATB Daz.

[markha 99]

It always takes broad shoulders to take the weight of standing by ones morales, convictions and ones humility, being straight to the point, never suffering fools gladly and making an accurate and informed comment on others is never taken well by many, seconded by fewer but always admired by most.

It always makes people value your thoughts, but doesnt always lead to making friends, such is the position of those who have enough strength to say what they think and how they feel.

 

In then end when all is said and done, you find yourself with many on your side, who value straight, honest opinions with no other intent than being as honest and transparent as possible.

 

Its difficult to always say how you feel, to tell the truth and to be completely honest, and this starts with being that way with yourself, something you have done Simon, and done many years ago.

 

Im not going in to my life, however, suffice to say, I have found telling the truth upsets people, being honest upsets people, and having morales invariably upsets people,This you would already know.

I have learned this lesson over a 25 years, I just dont understand the need for bullshit, its always transparent as it smell so much! So basically just tell the truth, cant go wrong

 

You mention those who are armchair shooters, those who talk in hushed comments of make believe military service or other bullshit... Ill add my thoughts to that , and not for the first time on here, I bloody hate 'walts' and if I come across wanabees Im going to be openly hostile to them.

 

You should never had to make such an open post Simon, you spoke your mind and everyone knows what you thoughts are, So what, If Mike cant handle a slating for acting like someone who has not learned anything from life, then tough shit basically, thats the way it goes.

 

In short, fair play to you, but you shouldn't have had to feel that you needed to post this.

 

fair play bud.

Mark