OT and far-away as well....

[tac]

...but I thort that a couple of you might be interested in what I get up to over here when I'm not in Oregon putting holes in YOUR landscape....from a post I made last night on another forum....

'Evenin', All. Just to let you know that over here in a sunny UK we have had a great day shooting in sunshine! [for those who live in the PNW it's when the big yellow thing appears in the sky, y'know, the thing that's usually hidden away until you go on vacation someplace else].

Since it was a day with a lot of noobs - ten all told - I took a car-load, like a few of us did.

This was my shooting list for today -

1. Anschutz model 1407 three-position .22cal target rifle with Unertl 2" SuperVarmint scope [gun from 1967, scope from 1952].

2. Mauser ES350B .22cal with all-matching Ajack scope and see-through mounts [all from 1937].

3. BSA .22cal boy's take-down target rifle by Alex. Martin of Glasgow in fitted travelling case and all accessories [1909]

4. July 1897 DWM/Loewe Mauser 7x57 Boer War carbine bring-back, captured at the battle of Korannafontein in 1901 by the New South Wales Mounted Rifles [Boer name on stock].

5. Schmidt-Rubin K96/11 in 7.5x55 Swiss [1914] and K31 from 1954.

6. Krico 650SS .308Win with 8-32x56 Nightforce NSX illuminated scope gun 1990, scope 2006].

and lastly, my trusty Ruger Old Army .44 BP revolver, and my Second-series Colt Walker.

Every noob got to shoot everything that I brought along, as well as everything that everybody else had with them - that included -

1. Sharps long-range rifle in 45-90.

2. Lots of underlevers - Marlin, Winchester and Rossi.

3. A few military Mausers - including Brazilian and Spanish contract models.

4. A few Lee-enfields, including a very rare Longbranch sniper model No4[T]

5. A SAKO TRG and a couple of SAKO sporters with moderators [legal here in UK, in fact, mandatroy in some places].

6. A couple of Martini-Henrys in .450-577 and a couple more Martini-Enfields in .303British,

7. A couple of Russian mosin-Nagants and a Finnish M-39.

8. Blaser straight-pull in 25-06.

9. Accuracy International set-up in .308win and an Armalon version in .223.

and a beautiful Savage .22 High-power [sigh]........

Lots more, mainly straight-pull variants of the black rifle...

Enjoyment was great, as was the craic. And to answer one other querent [not seen here], there were fifteen Schmidt & Bender, three Leupold, one IOR, three Kahles and three Swarovski scopes, apart from my scopes already mentioned.

tac'

BTW - The day cost me over $200 in ammunition...and was it worth it?

You betcha. the looks on the faces of the noobs made it all worth while. AAMOF, last year, one noob was so impressed he introduced a few pals from work so we now have the entire 'Blue Watch' from a local fire-hall as club members.

Best to all there, from us here

tac

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[Wierzbowski]

Sounds like a great day. Do you have any pics?

I've got a friend/ex-co-worker who moved to Hull about 2 months ago. He loves it there so far! Says I ought to move the family over there. I told him I might consider it if I could bring all of my toys!

 

[Trlsmn]

I told him I might consider it if I could bring all of my toys!

You can't even own a pellet gun in the UK.

 

[tac]

Sounds like a great day. Do you have any pics?

I've got a friend/ex-co-worker who moved to Hull about 2 months ago. He loves it there so far! Says I ought to move the family over there. I told him I might consider it if I could bring all of my toys!

If that is Hull, Quebec, I can understand it - the Gatineau Hills are very beautiful, especially in the Fall.


If you mean Hull, England, you have to be kidding me.

All I have to say about that is the map-makers spelt it wrong.

Remove the 'u' and insert an 'e'.
'Hull - twinned with Podunk' is more like it. The only good thing about Hull is that you have a great road out over a beautiful suspension bridge.

As for bringing all your toys here, if you have anything else other than bolt action, under-lever, muzzle-loading or similar long arms, you can forget it. The only semi-autos you can own here are .22RF. Centre-fire semi's have been prohibited since 1988. Have a look on southern gun company's website to see what we do about things that look like Black Rifles -all VERY popular here.

Don't even think of bringing a handgun of any kind that is not a front-stuffing BP type.

Oh yes, you have to be a member of a club for six months before you can apply for a firearm's certificate for your firearms, which will have been at a local RFD [our version of an FFL] since they were relased into his caretaking by HM Customs.

On the plus side - we can have moderators and shoot all night long with any kind of image-intensifier you care to spend your money on. In fact, as I noted, in some locales the use of a moderator is compulsory!

Best wishes

tac

 

[tac]

You can't even own a pellet gun in the UK.

Sir - you are totally wrong.

How do you think I own fifteen rifles and going looking for another one in the morning?

And three handguns - sure, two of them are black powder revolvers, but the third is a 14" bull-barrelled Ruger Super Redhawk with a 2-7 Burris scope.

FYI - the UK branch of the .50cal Shooters Association is second in size only to that of the USA.

tac

 

[Trlsmn]

I believe you, but can you own these and keep at your home or do they need to be stored at the club? Can you use a gun to protect your home?

 

[tac]

I believe you, but can you own these and keep at your home or do they need to be stored at the club? Can you use a gun to protect your home?

Hmmm, if you believe me, then why the disbelieving post? :huh:

But let's move on and answer your questions with an open mind -

1. Of course they are in my home - I am totally responsible for my weapons and ammunition in exactly the same way that you are in the USA, and I have to safeguard them in gun-safes and ammunition lockers, just like you do. My home is also alarmed.

2. No gun-club in the ordinary sense is authorised to safeguard YOUR firearms - YOU, the holder of the Firearms Certificate [we call it an FAC or simply the 'ticket'] detailing the weapons and their serial numbers are the one responsible for their safe-keeping. 99% of gun-clubs in the UK have no armoury facilities - only those adjoining Territorial Army units [our National Guard].

3. And answering your last question, since our firearms are required in law to be locked away when not in use, the answer to that is no. But then I have a feeling that you already knew that.

Please, don't let's get into a shin-kicking contest on the rights and wrongs of gun-ownership in UK v US. It won't work. I'm here to share a long-distance love of guns and shooting, and to bat the internet breeze with like-minded folks in a part of the USA that I know pretty well. Unhelpful and sarcastic responses to my first few posts were what nearly made me give up on this site, in spite of it reflecting the interests of folks in my favourite part of the USA. There are parts of the UK where handgun ownership is permitted, and parts, like mainland GB, where it is not impossible, but as near as darnit MADE impossible. Ownership of long arms, even .50cal BMG, as I pointed out, is widespread.

Let's not forget that there are similar places in the United States where rather odd firearms laws prevail...and leave it at that for the sake of peace all round, eh?

tac

 

[Trlsmn]

Sorry I'm not shin kicking, this is totally different from what I have heard of the gun control laws in the UK so I do value the provided information straight from the source.

 

[Wierzbowski]

If you mean Hull, England, you have to be kidding me.

All I have to say about that is the map-makers spelt it wrong.

Remove the 'u' and insert an 'e'.
'Hull - twinned with Podunk' is more like it. The only good thing about Hull is that you have a great road out over a beautiful suspension bridge.

That's funny! He used to live in Woodburn, so maybe it's not such a stretch for him in Hull.

He moved over there because his wife has family there and they wanted a change. It took him about a month to find an IT consulting gig, and now he's loving it. I believe he just attained permanent residency status last week.

He said that he's traveling all over England with his new job and he'll get to go to Belgium next month. I'm a touch jealous as I've wanted to see the UK for years. Ah well, someday.

 

[tac]

Sorry I'm not shin kicking, this is totally different from what I have heard of the gun control laws in the UK so I do value the provided information straight from the source.

You're welcome.

Meanwhile, over here in UK we hear that your stage-coaches get shot up every day by injuns.....

...but that most of you are looking forward to the coming of the railroad pretty soon.

If I get this out of the way right now, perhaps we can all settle into a better understanding.

I own fifteen rifles and three handguns here in England.

I can have ANY kind of rifle, ANY calibre, ANY action, except a semi-auto centre-fire - after an massacre in hungerford in 1988, where a guy with illegally-held weapons, including a semi-auto centre-fire, killed 16 people, including his mother, before killing himself.

I cannot easily possess any cartridge-firing handgun on mainland UK, after the 1996 massacre of 16 1st grade schoolkids and their teacher by a known pedophile with a personal grudge - he is said to have killed himself at the scene, but the jury is out on that one.

So modern [post 1918] cartridge-firing handguns are prohibited on mainland Great Britain - that's England, Scotland [where the massacre happened] and Wales. Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands, parts of the United Kingdom, but with their own legislature, decided to go against the wishes of the Parliament and there you can still own a modern handgun of any kind. Same with the Isle of Man - a Crown Dependency halfway between Ireland and mainland UK/GB.

What I CAN own, and do, is a long-barrelled revolver, in any calibre from .22RF up to .454Casull. The barrel must be at least 12 inches long [mine is 14"] and the overall length must be no less than 24" - this is acheived by having an extension sticking out of the butt. Mine also has a 2-7 Burris scope on it. Single shot pistols in any calibre you can think of are also there to have.

Any kind of black powder revolver or pistol or long-arm is permitted, except, in the case of handguns, those that use cartridges.

Shotguns may be single-barrel, side-by side, over and under, pump action, hammer or semi-auto up to three shots, and with a different kind of permit, up to nine shots - we have a VERY thriving practical shotgun movement here in UK.

In addition to inventing long-range pistol-shooting in the late 60's, we also invented practical rifle in the early 70's, and still do it with a bewildering range of straight-pull rifles that look astoundingly like AR's of all kinds, and have some very fine builders who will make them for you...

Our target rifles and specialist hunting and sporting rifle builders are, again, as many as the leaves on a tree, and as highly regarded as yours are.

I'd appreciate any more questions, particularly about the methods of licensing and permissions, to be via PM, to save boring folks fartless.

Graders

tac

tac

 

[Trlsmn]

You're welcome.

Meanwhile, over here in UK we hear that your stage-coaches get shot up every day by injuns.....

...but that most of you are looking forward to the coming of the railroad pretty soon.

tac

Yep! specially in these here Orygon territories. Course I'm related to those injuns, we scalpum some pale face at the injun casino now though.