Deep in thought...

[tomsmurf 104]

So after I put in the 'wanted' section I was after a.410 on another forum. I had plenty of a replies with advice for my 10yr olds new gun. 

After a message from 'stoat' we arranged to meet up and I bought his investarm off him in 28g.

My lad was over the moon with it when he got home after school as he had no clue he was getting a new (to him) gun. 

Here are a couple of pictures from out in field

[bob.243 7,512]

Start em young., nice looking gun. 

[philpot 4,925]

Spot on, now you will not get the chance for a peaceful hour or two on your own .  Some great times ahead for dad and son.

Phil

[tomsmurf 104]

5 minutes ago, philpot said:

Spot on, now you will not get the chance for a peaceful hour or two on your own .  Some great times ahead for dad and son.

Phil

The peaceful hour or two have long gone, this is a follow on from his. 410 single

[Sausagedog 7,381]

Lucky lad, wish my dad had been as good. Half as good would of done!

Well done Tom.

[Meece 1,957]

28  bore is a far better calibre than a 410 due to better load and pattern. The only thing that I  would watch out for is him being short is that he doesn't catch the barrels in the mud.  It's easy to do. I slipped going up a bank and had a partial block in one and fully blocked in the other.  I used a thick dried stem of cow parsley as a rod. Great memories of when I took  my girls out shooting.

[tomsmurf 104]

1 hour ago, Meece said:

28  bore is a far better calibre than a 410 due to better load and pattern. The only thing that I  would watch out for is him being short is that he doesn't catch the barrels in the mud.  It's easy to do. I slipped going up a bank and had a partial block in one and fully blocked in the other.  I used a thick dried stem of cow parsley as a rod. Great memories of when I took  my girls out shooting.

I could see this happening when I took him out in the yesterday so I stopped him and explained about it, after that he held it higher in his arm and was very conscious about it

[Meece 1,957]

It is a real joy to be out with the kids but there is always a risk and there are so many situations that could be fatal which could happen in a flash.  There are the incidences of two people in a hide resulting in a fatal discharge and one of my daughters had a negligent discharge when we were out on our own practising clays.  She shut the gun and took the safety off and in the process had pressure on the trigger.  This resulted in the shot blowing a hole in the ground about 2 ft in front of here. Luckily no one else was with us. But !  My fault for not foreseeing this. A serious fault and a lesson instantly learnt.  I've seen some stupid dangerous things by adults on shoots.  I bought one of those 28g investarms in a job lot at an auction. I didn't want the gun, it was the cartridges and other stuf that was interesting to me because I have an AyA #2ra in  28 .  The investarm is a solid little gun that will be his friend for a long time and the 28 performs really well and if he puts the lead on the target it will chop stuff down as well as anything..

[toxo 160]

Good stuff. I had five girls  Well being a lazy b*****d it's easier to make girls cos you have a pattern in front of you whilst you're working.

[Meece 1,957]

The downside of the smallbores is the cost of cartridges. And the availability of different types. To get round this I got a A Mec size master. To reload the different stuff and the amount that I  want. I don't keep a check on the price but I  know that the just cartridges price is about £270 a thousand which works out around £13 a box. So if you just bought a few boxes the price would be higher. This why I would always go for a light loaded 12.

Edited February 5, 2020 by Meece

[tomsmurf 104]

8 hours ago, Meece said:

The downside of the smallbores is the cost of cartridges. And the availability of different types. To get round this I got a A Mec size master. To reload the different stuff and the amount that I  want. I don't keep a check on the price but I  know that the just cartridges price is about £270 a thousand which works out around £13 a box. So if you just bought a few boxes the price would be higher. This why I would always go for a light loaded 12.

I know they aren't cheap but his happiness is priceless! 

We've tried a light loaded 12g and 20g and it was too much for him but this seems perfect for him 

[Meece 1,957]

1 hour ago, tomsmurf said:

I know they aren't cheap but his happiness is priceless! 

We've tried a light loaded 12g and 20g and it was too much for him but this seems perfect for him 

Yes,  its not like he'll be banging off hundreds.   It's the memories that will last a lifetime and more, .. about how we used to go here, and we used to do that and when we got soaked in the rain  and the journey back home to a nice dinner ect, ect.  Only the other day one of the girls recalled the day when we were out in the beating line and it started to snow and she was so cold that she was physically sick. And one of the women put her in a hilux to get warm. I recalled how I had to stay out there. And how someone slipped over and slid all down a bank into a puddle.  All character  building stuff. Will his school mates remember the Saturday when they played Mario bros or some time staring at their phone screen ?  It's the photos li,e those that will put the memories into context about the places and the people and dogs ect. I look at the pictures of us and the people have died, moved on and the land that we used to roam has changed ownership and some of it is  now housing estates or pony paddocks. A snap shot of times gone.

Edited February 6, 2020 by Meece

[Sausagedog 7,381]

I remember taking my Mrs beating on Hales estate when we were still in our twenties. She emptied the contents of the gaffers rather large hip flask carried by his chauffer who was also in the beating line.

All we could hear was her shrill laughter and giggles all afternoon. Every one was laughing. She giggled all the way home and fell a sleep zzzz

Priceless memories.

[Meece 1,957]

  Did she ever go again?    Was she sent off the field to sit it out in the beaters transport and fast asleep.    I remember there was this semi dormant alky who used to come occasionally when he wasn't completely blotto.  one of the guns brought a bottle of slow gin to the beaters trailer and he was into that like a flash and it had to be prised out of his grasp before he sunk it   he used to prise the metal caps off of beer bottles with his teeth.  One Christmas he was getting a couple of Hilux loads of logs off of the shot for his home.  His partner gave him a load of money to go and get a load of food shopping en route, Fatal !!  he was all loaded on his second trip and on his way back when someone said about going in the pub to have a Christmas drink !! Fatal.  He got tanked up in the pub, started a ruck with one of the guns in the toilet.  some anti had seen cartridges on the back seat of a truck and had called the plod.  plod turned up just in time for this bloke kicking off and arrested him for disorderly conduct, resisting arrest  ect.  Anyway later that day his partner was wondering where the hell he was.  She made a few calls and eventually was told of his fate.  She contacted plod who didn't seem to have any info about this and eventually was tracked down to a cell in Canterbury.  Because  of the Christmas shift pattern and low staff levels that was the only place available to plant him at that time.  Because he kept kicking off they kept him locked up and he missed all of Christmas  for several days and there was no trace of the money that he had been given to get the Christmas shopping.  They didn't know if it had been leaked up the bog wall by him or the people that he bought rounds for, or he had dropped it somewhere or plod had bought the sausage rolls with it but she wasn't best pleased by his performance.  All you could say was .. MISSING , LOST WHILST ON PATROL .

I wonder if this immortal words were said ... GET IN THE MOWTAAH..NAAH. .YOU WAIT TILL I GET YOU OME..  

[Meece 1,957]

A couple of pictures from a summer friends clay shoot.  a couple of friends watch on as one of my daughters uses my 686 ss Beretta in 20. The day was quite warm and humid giving rise to a sort of blast haze when the shots were fired like a decompression wave from an aircrafts wing.  She is quite a good shot but hasn't shot for several years now because she has her own family now so enjoy the times that you have and keep the memories like this. because time speeds on and they soon grow up and move on to live their own lives. but these times are still with them.

 

Edited February 6, 2020 by Meece