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Night Hunter
If you have to control vermin in low light conditions, then Jim Royce has the scope for you
Cunning Edge
There’s a place in Italy called Maniago which is to the Italians what Sheffield is to Britain. It has a long and proud history of making cutlery and is home to Fox Cutlery, a company founded in 1977.
CHEAPER SHOTS
Not only am I loving the hunting medium hereafter known as static lamping, I’m already involved in a crusade to bring it to the masses. Well, sort of. I had a read-through of what I’ve written so far on the subject of static lamping, and it seemed to me that I’d over-enthused a tad about the Idleback chair, and specifically the essential blessings it brings to the method.
KWiC THRILLS!
My new favourite handgun sport of Iron Plate Action Shooting (IPAS) is shot with CO2 powered replicas of fullbore pistols from around the world. These pistols fire .177 lead pellets which splatter when they hit the plates, ensuring no danger of rebounding ammunition hurting anybody. Some people have asked if we could accept airsoft guns that fire 6mm plastic balls and the IPAS organisation is having discussions to see if there is a workable solution that would welcome and include all the folks who own such pistols. This aroused my interest in trying a 6mm pistol just at the time Highland Outdoors showed me some new guns from KWC, a Taiwanese giant that makes guns for some very famous brands. Highland’s sister company in South Africa has been selling these for some time and reported just how amazingly reliable they are. They sell around 4000 a month, and seldom, if ever, see one returned. This gave the UK operation all the encouragement they needed to add them to their catalogue. They selected two models, the 2022 and the 24/7, both of which can be supplied in 4.5mm steel BB or 6mm plastic ball firing options. The steel BB version is set at 2.5 Joules and the 6mm at 1.6 Joules, meaning plenty of power for paper punching or plinking.
Ben’s S410
I’d always wondered why people - especially young men – bought a car like a VW Golf and then festooned it with aftermarket kit. I met one such chap called Wayne or Kevin or something like that (not that I’m stereotyping), when I worked for a car magazine. He’d bought a new Renault Clio and spent another £35,000 ‘pimping it up’. I was aghast at the expense. Who in their right mind would spend that sort of money on an ordinary car when they could have bought a Porsche? Well, I’ve done something similar with my Air Arms S410. My justification being that in these straitened times it’s cheaper to invest in the rifle I already own and enhance its performance, rather than buy a new PCP.
BEST WEST ‘UN
Sometimes, I think life is made more complicated than it needs to be. I’m all for clever things that do a better job, but sometimes I really need to keep things as simple as possible and just get on with the job.
THE UMAREX BOYS’ CLUB
We’re back with our latest competition: PIPAS! This is an acronym for Paper Instead of Plate Action Shooting.
MY AIRGUN HEROES
Steve Harper’s a hero of mine on several levels, and, truth be told, I’m a tiny bit envious of him. Make that hugely envious, and for good reason. You see, Steve is one of those priceless, gifted people who somehow combines the opposing talents of slightly mad scientist, and laid-back, seriously cool guy. It’s a fine state if you can do it, and no one I know does it better than Steve Harper.
NOT A BIRDIE IN SIGHT!
This month sees Team Wild tackling an age-old pest and probably our most sought-after quarry, the rabbit; the Latin for which, is ‘Oryctolagus cuniculus’ so Wildy informs me, and I’m pretty sure he must have Googled that one! We’ve been carrying out pest control in its various forms for many years including pigeon, crow, fox and deer, to name but a few. However, the rabbit stays on our quarry list all year round.
Elite delight
Bushnell tends to be a pretty steady kind of company, sticking with well proven models rather than jumping from one new idea to another, so I was a little surprised to receive the first of their new and shiny E Series models. This new range is in fact the old 3200 and 4200 models combined with some tasty upgrades in terms of coatings and internal gas. I guess I should have known that a leopard doesn’t change its spots. ‘Evolution not revolution’ is more Bushnell’s style.
NEWTON’S LORE
As I write this (end of November) much of the leaf has fallen from the trees, and there is a real nip in the air most evenings, signalling the onset of winter. By the time you read this the shooting season will be over but currently we are doing very well with our wild stock and I really can’t complain about the season so far. The woodland is continuing to disappear on a regular basis but the birds are settling back into previously cut woods, although how long they’ll stay in an area with so little shelter when the weather really gets cold only time will tell.
IPAS Nationals
The 27th of November saw the finest Iron Plate Action Shooters (IPAS) shooters from across the country converge at the Sywell shooting ranges near Northampton, for the much awaited National Competition. The ranges there are huge, accommodating many different disciplines, from our low powered CO2 handguns, to top flight shotgun competitions, but on a cold November morning I was glad to get inside the building to get away from a chilling wind. The clubhouse boasts a comfortable reception area with plenty of seating and a range that had been temporarily divided in two to allow four IPAS stages to be run simultaneously, thereby allowing the day to move on at a good pace. This is to be well commended, as getting some 40 competitors through eight stages in a reasonable time is no mean feat.
Black with a vengeance
So, it’s here, then; the FX Airguns Verminator MKII that was unveiled over a year ago. There’s only one question, really – has it been worth the wait? Well, there’s only one way to find out, and that’s to shoot a couple of thousand pellets through it, then compare it to the MKI Verminator I’ve been using for years. Here we go, then.
All Go For The Show
The British Shooting Show still feels new but February 25 and 26th 2012 will bring us the fourth running of this oh-so successful event.
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- *VIDEO* Make a rabbit out of a tea towel!
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- *VIDEO* Camo It Visit
- *VIDEO* Las Vegas 2012 Shot Show
- *VIDEO* SmoothTwist at FX Airguns
- *VIDEO* Phill’s Plinking Pistols
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Blog - Hot Air
A busy start to the year ...
Now that 2012 and the Airgun Shooting website is really up and running, I thought I'd bring you right up to date with what's been going on around the Airgun World and Air Gunner office, which in a word, amounts to 'loads'.
First, there are times when I think I may have overreached myself a tad, as projects, write-ups, test sessions and what I believed at the time were bright ideas, become part of my monthly 'to do' list...
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