The PH Gun Cabinet - Shooting Matters

[Saddle bum]

MKnight702 said:

Well, I expect to receive my FAC in the next few days and I want to buy my first rifle.

I hope you are not holding your breath?

[MKnight702]

vinnie01 said:

I would imagine the UK FAC spec is a straight pull rather than semi automatic in the 223 calibre?

Yep, straight pull.

Saddle Bum - It's been nearly 2 months already! Surely, it can't be much longer, especially as they took my shotgun certificate with them so I can go co-term.

Edited by MKnight702 on Monday 16th November 12:53

[FurtiveFreddy]

Currently >6 months for a renewal in my area, although new grants may be quicker...

Unless your FEO or the force HQ has actually said it's going to land on your mat soon, you might want to ask them to give you an idea of how long just so you don't get your hopes up.

[RedLeicester]

If you've surrendered your SGC, at least get a temp cert so you can still buy ammo. Chase your FEO or better still the office fairly regularly. Have you had an inspection visit and interview yet?

[MKnight702]

RedLeicester said:

If you've surrendered your SGC, at least get a temp cert so you can still buy ammo. Chase your FEO or better still the office fairly regularly. Have you had an inspection visit and interview yet?

Had the inspection and interview, cheque cashed, all supposed to be in order. It usually takes 6 weeks or so here so it should be any time.

I know the two rifles are very different prospects, I was hoping someone has experience of either. Never shot a bull pup but they always look good to me. Most of the bad reviews relating to the M17S seem to be about two things, the trigger, which can be fixed and the front getting hot when rattling through a couple of magazines on full auto, not really an issue in the UK!

The Mosina, I have shot a non sniper version and the cheap running costs do have an attraction.

[Dan_The_Man]

MKnight702 said:

I know the two rifles are very different prospects, I was hoping someone has experience of either.

The Mosina, I have shot a non sniper version and the cheap running costs do have an attraction.

I have a couple of Nagants, one M44 and a 91/30 sniper, the M44 is a flamethrower and loads of fun, stick on a rubber butt pad and you can blat away all day without any shoulder/retina dislocation worries, they are only £130ish. ETR targets at Lydd/Sennybridge are perfect to knockdown without stressing MOA's all day. The Sniper (~£650) is more refined and you can get decent accuracy - same as No4T etc but the ammo is ever so cheap - 27p per bang makes excellent financial sense.
If you buy the M17S you will always regret not buying an AR15.

Did I mention the Mosin carbine fireworks ? they sound like artillery going off and you always draw a crowd.

[StangGT]

Any of you chaps into reloading? I'm looking at getting into it in the new year, and I currently have my sights set on a Lyman Turret press.

The only gear I have so far is vernier calipers and some electronic scales, so I need to buy everything else...

I'm aiming to start with .44 mag for my Marlin and .308 for my Howa 1500.

what kit are you guys using?

[vinnie01]

StangGT said:

Any of you chaps into reloading? I'm looking at getting into it in the new year, and I currently have my sights set on a Lyman Turret press.

The only gear I have so far is vernier calipers and some electronic scales, so I need to buy everything else...

I'm aiming to start with .44 mag for my Marlin and .308 for my Howa 1500.

what kit are you guys using?

.44 Mag and a Lever action rifle? A classic combination sir!

[StangGT]

vinnie01 said:

StangGT said:

Any of you chaps into reloading? I'm looking at getting into it in the new year, and I currently have my sights set on a Lyman Turret press.

The only gear I have so far is vernier calipers and some electronic scales, so I need to buy everything else...

I'm aiming to start with .44 mag for my Marlin and .308 for my Howa 1500.

what kit are you guys using?

.44 Mag and a Lever action rifle? A classic combination sir!

I've only just got the thing; but it's far too much fun not to want to shoot it loads. Trouble is, it's 55p a bang, which is what has lead me to reloading to be honest. Although I understand I may not ACTUALLY save any money

[aeropilot]

StangGT said:

vinnie01 said:

StangGT said:

Any of you chaps into reloading? I'm looking at getting into it in the new year, and I currently have my sights set on a Lyman Turret press.

The only gear I have so far is vernier calipers and some electronic scales, so I need to buy everything else...

I'm aiming to start with .44 mag for my Marlin and .308 for my Howa 1500.

what kit are you guys using?

.44 Mag and a Lever action rifle? A classic combination sir!

I've only just got the thing; but it's far too much fun not to want to shoot it loads. Trouble is, it's 55p a bang, which is what has lead me to reloading to be honest. Although I understand I may not ACTUALLY save any money

Classic case of saving money per round means you can justify expending more rounds

I'll be looking to get into reloading as well towards the end of next year to fuel the .45LC for the 1873 that I'm planning to get

[MKnight702]

Dan_The_Man said:

they are only £130ish, The Sniper (~£650)

I wish, cheapest carbines are £200, snipers £750 plus in the UK. If you see any cheaper please pm me!

[-Pete-]

aeropilot said:

StangGT said:

vinnie01 said:

StangGT said:

Any of you chaps into reloading? I'm looking at getting into it in the new year, and I currently have my sights set on a Lyman Turret press.

The only gear I have so far is vernier calipers and some electronic scales, so I need to buy everything else...

I'm aiming to start with .44 mag for my Marlin and .308 for my Howa 1500.

what kit are you guys using?

.44 Mag and a Lever action rifle? A classic combination sir!

I've only just got the thing; but it's far too much fun not to want to shoot it loads. Trouble is, it's 55p a bang, which is what has lead me to reloading to be honest. Although I understand I may not ACTUALLY save any money

Classic case of saving money per round means you can justify expending more rounds

I'll be looking to get into reloading as well towards the end of next year to fuel the .45LC for the 1873 that I'm planning to get

I'm reloading .357 mag and .38 on a pair of lee single stage press, using lee dies and powder measure. I bought all the equipment for about £250 (Two presses, dial caliper, 2 sets of dies, powder measure, powder trickler, primer tool, reloading blocks etc and a new ultrasonic cleaner).

I save my brass which is typically half the cost of a round, so it works out ~15p per round, and unlike necked rifle cartridges you can reuse them over and over again. I can do about 25 rounds in half an hour, in batch mode. No doubt a progressive would be quicker, but I want to avoid spending too much until I know I need to.

The Hornady GS-1500 electronic scales I got were too unreliable (they switch off too quickly, then take time to zero after being turned on again) so I bought an RCBS beam scale, £50 second hand. I read reviews about other digital scales in the £30-80 price bracket and I don't think they're good enough for reliably measuring to the nearest 0.1 grain. And although I already have a digital caliper, I found that I prefer the mechanical one for similar reasons.

Knowledgeable friends tell me it's worth paying more for rifle reloading equipment, so RCBS, Hornady, Lyman etc and then you need more tools for things like trimming, lubing, maybe even annealing. It'll take you more than twice as long to prepare and reload, you can only reuse brass a few times, so you'd need to shoot a lot of rounds to make it worth it.

Buy two reloading manuals to cross-check your recipe, work in batch mode so you can check every powder load is to the same level with a torch, and write eveything down in a log book.

Now I just need a Magnetospeed Chrono, a private range, and a lot of spare time

[StangGT]

Thanks for the post Pete!

I'm with you on the private range thing!! I wonder if it's in any way possible in the UK (without owning a 1000 acre scottish estate!)?

[smack]

StangGT said:

Any of you chaps into reloading? I'm looking at getting into it in the new year, and I currently have my sights set on a Lyman Turret press.

The only gear I have so far is vernier calipers and some electronic scales, so I need to buy everything else...

I'm aiming to start with .44 mag for my Marlin and .308 for my Howa 1500.

what kit are you guys using?

I do. I have a few Dillon Presses, which are the Rollers of the press world. Great engineered kit, and they have a great replacement policy. I had bought a 2nd 44 Mag set of dies, but the Sizing die was to wrong size for some reason, possibily the previous owner screwing it, who knows.... Anyhow, I was in Phoenix last week, brought it along with me and dropped into Dillon who was 3 minutes away from where I had visited for work, and they replaced it no problem even when I honestly said I had acquired it, and it was an old version from years ago, so clearly wasn't recently bought.
One guy had a smashed up press from act of dog, the press 2nd hand, and the replaced the broken bits for free
http://ultimatereloader.com/2011/06/27/dillon-no-b...

I do, a load of pistol calibers, and and a handful of rifle including 223, 308, 300WM. I load for a couple of mates and myself, and load about 8-10k a year - we are a trigger happy lot, Dan with his flame throwing Nagant being of them
Biggest issue is supplies, as consumables can get thin on the ground with delayed shipments, and the Yanks going nuts stockpiling when ever someone coughs the word shortage. Loads of US powders have been hard to come by over the last few years, and while there is European made suppliers (none is the UK apart from Radway Green, which is BAE, who make ammunition for the MOD, but can't/won't sell it to the shooting public), it isn't as easy as picking up the phone and ordering 500kg of powder, or 10k rounds of ammunition for overnight delivery, as the shipment needs a Hazmat permit for every country it travels through - this is loads of fun if the shipment is starting the old Soviet Block....
So I end up buying in bulk, and often clearing our RFD's of the stuff I use.

Best to do loads of research, speak to people who do it and ask for their advice, get Reloading books with load data, and get someone to show you how to do it first hand. When you get to the stage of begining out, take it slow and check everything you do. A double charge could result in you blowing up a gun, or worse, damaging yourself. Don't load when you have otherthings on your mind, distracted like half watching the tv, or talking to the OH/kids etc., or drinking!

Feel free to drop a PM if you want to chat to someone about it.

It ends up being a hobby that feeds a hobby Anyhow, the end result, a load of fun to make noise and send down range!

[FurtiveFreddy]

StangGT said:

I've only just got the thing; but it's far too much fun not to want to shoot it loads. Trouble is, it's 55p a bang, which is what has lead me to reloading to be honest. Although I understand I may not ACTUALLY save any money

A lot of people think they'll save money by reloading and it is possible to do so, but on the whole it's considered a way to improve on factory ammunition and fine tune loads to suit your gun/barrel in order to get better accuracy or suit whatever particular form of shooting you prefer.

There are people who dig lead out of backstops to cast their own bullets, re-use brass until it splits and use the cheapest powders and primers.
Others carefully test and select the most accurate bullets, use a number of different powder/primer combinations to get the best accuracy and use the best available brass.
It's really up to you to decide.

Like Smack, I have had several Dillon presses over the years and would highly recommend them. Despite what some others may say, they are not only suitable for advanced or experienced reloaders. You can start off with something like a Dillon square deal, which costs around $400 and will be perfect for your .44. It's simple enough to allow you to learn reloading basics but you're getting the same quality and customer service as you would if you bought one of their larger presses.

You could start off with a single stage or turret press and there's nothing wrong with that, but loading pistol calibres really isn't rocket science and once you've mastered the basics, you could find yourself getting frustrated at the amount of time it's taking to produce the finished rounds....

Reloading for a rifle calibre such as .308 is a different matter, however and you do need to spend more time on it, but then you won't usually be firing as many rounds in a session, so a single stage press is probably the best choice.

Right now, I shoot less pistol/carbine than I used to and more full bore rifle, so I've got a Dillon square deal in .38/.357 permanently set up to produce .38 ammo and an RCBS Rock Chucker + an RCBS Partner, which are single stage presses capable of loading my rifle calibres.

You'll end up with lots and lots of tools, dies, measuring devices and various bits and bobs as you go on, but to start with just invest in a good quality press and the best dies you can afford as these will last you a lifetime if you treat them well.

[StangGT]

https://ukshootingnews.wordpress.com/2015/11/18/br...

What do you reckon chaps, are we going to lose our .22 semi autos?

[aeropilot]

StangGT said:

https://ukshootingnews.wordpress.com/2015/11/18/br...

What do you reckon chaps, are we going to lose our .22 semi autos?

I would say, it's more likely than not would be my guess. Once the political retards get their claws far enough into this sort of knee-jerk rubbish legislation, there will be only one outcome.

I'm hoping that with he combined shooting fraternities of more than one country though, it won't happen, but I'm not holding my breath.....we've all been here before.

[MKnight702]

aeropilot said:

I would say, it's more likely than not would be my guess. Once the political retards get their claws far enough into this sort of knee-jerk rubbish legislation, there will be only one outcome.

I'm hoping that with he combined shooting fraternities of more than one country though, it won't happen, but I'm not holding my breath.....we've all been here before.

FFS, what a rubbish piece of proposed legislation. Banning guns that look dangerous? What about if I paint it pink and stick fake fur on it? These anti gun nuts will use any excuse, it's not as though the guns used in Paris were legal.

Why do the powers that be seem to want to use every opportunity to take yet more guns away from us when they and us are not the problem? Oh yes, and the other element about not allowing private sales, just how many legally held guns have ended up in illegal hands via a proper sale? All it will do is drive down the second hand values punishing us yet again.

Edited by MKnight702 on Friday 20th November 07:54

[RedLeicester]

I have to say I've always been mildly amused / amazed that one can saunter in and purchase something like this, but then I'm not into range shooting as a hobby and you'd get laughed out of the field going ratting with one.



I do know of several people who have been reported on their permissions for carrying similar, whereas they had been untroubled for years carrying a traditional rifle.

[StangGT]

RedLeicester said:

I have to say I've always been mildly amused / amazed that one can saunter in and purchase something like this, but then I'm not into range shooting as a hobby and you'd get laughed out of the field going ratting with one.



I do know of several people who have been reported on their permissions for carrying similar, whereas they had been untroubled for years carrying a traditional rifle.

I bought mine as my club does timed mini rifle stages on steel plates.

They are brilliant fun. Nice cheap ammo and very reliable and easy to maintain. Lots of upgrades out there but I havent really bothered. Just stuck a red dot on top and bought a moderator (range regulations).

It'd be a great shame if they're banned due to a political knee jerk.

My RFD uses his for rats and rabbits and he's never had a problem as far as I know...