This does not fit this forum but I think most of you see this forum.

From what I can see Americans, Australians and the Europeans are playing about with big bores, wildcats etc. In other words, calibers that are not specific to the animals they shoot.

But the English members don't seem to be doing that, yet England was the home of the big bores.

Does this type of thing get done in England or are there gun law restrictions etc.

Mike

[ 06-13-2002, 16:00: Message edited by: Mike375 ]

Mike375,

From what I can see Americans, Australians and the Europeans are playing about with big bores, wildcats etc.
But the English members don't seem to be doing that, yet England was the home of the big bores.
[/QUOTE]

Do you mean than English persons aren't European

BER007,

In Australia we call the English "pommies" and we would call you "some sort of wog"

Mike

Mike375,

I love Aussie people.

Why?

For hunting, we are governed by what is accptable for the type of animal being hunted. You could not own a .404 for shooting foxes for example.

For range work (as a memeber of a shooting club), you can own just about any manual action rifle you want although the powers that be are trying to ban .50bmg "Material Destruction Rifles" at present.

Peter

[ 06-13-2002, 16:15: Message edited by: Pete E ]

Peter,

Does that mean you could own a 375 or 416 etc. for the range but not take it hunting if it were only foxes or deer?

Mike

As an expatriot Brit, now in the US these last 30 years, let me try and answer some questions. My information may be a little out of date.
1. Brits are certainly NOT Europeans. A famous article in the (London)Times many years ago said it all. It seems that there was some serious fog in the (ENGLISH) Channel (!)so no ferries were running. The headline in the Times said "Fog in Channel, Continent isolated"!
2.At least when I was in England, reloading was very unusual, and equipment hard to get and expensive. At the time, I had to specify how many rounds of ammo I would buy at any one time, and how many in the course of a year. Clearly, with reloading, these kinds of numbers are moot.
3. Obviously many of the Brit posters here live in rural England. In the cities, it is very difficult to find places to shoot ie. ranges. These tend to be rather formal affairs geared to target shooting, not unlike some of the ranges in the US, and hence it is not easy to haul out your double and practice double taps at milk jugs at various ranges!
4. Firearms are not as readily available in England due to the applicable laws, and are certainly not as inexpensive as in the US. I suspect the availability of imported firearms is limited, unlike the US.
5. Disposable income may be less in England than in the US. While incomes have risen significantly, the cost of living may well be comparable if not higher, than in the US. Having said that, certain things like fringe benefits (vacation time for example) are much better in England than in the US. Unfortunately, this does not translate easily into guns!
peter.

Peter, you forgot to mention that your insular compatriots are still convinced that the rest of the world drives on the wrong side of the road

Mike, good question to BER007 And, about our playing around with calibers, just playing, as expected from gun nuts...

Regarding nationality I'm English, can't answer for the other 3 countries that make up the UK.

Experimenting with wildcats and using big bores on the range here is the preserve of the gun nut. Gun nuts are viewed with an amount of disdain by stalkers. I would bet that Pete E, Deerdogs, Griff etc are first and foremost stalkers who happen to enjoy rifles.

Reloading for an established calibre is about the limit in most stalkers eyes, we tend to judge on how good someone is at stalking not how well they can shoot or what they shoot. This is borne out by the fact that here most shooters of the weird and wonderful spend 90% of the time at the range

1894...you got there before I did. Those of us with a very strong Welsh heritage always try to make it clear that while the Welsh are certainly British they are not English....no offense to the English.

Mike375...I think people "like" Australians for a variety of reasons most of which are probably not representative of the truth but more in the way they are portrayed in movies and T.V.......mostly as amiable idiots whose lack of social graces are perceived as being "charming".

It is like Pete says - the law requires gun ownership to be linked to having a valid reason for use. If the valid reason is a love of converting big bore live rounds into empty cases then have at it – but you would need to do this at a shooting club unless you happened to own a BIG acreage.

I have friends with big doubles for use in Africa but shooting them a lot soon gets expensive.

Hence my desire for a 375H&H rather than anything bigger. I enjoy shooting but I am a hunter first and I want to hunt with my rifles, not use them for plinking. I will be able to justify having a 375 for deer without too much of a problem. I could not get a license for a deer rifle bigger than this.

I think in the main Mike is correct – there are not as many big bore shooters here are one might expect…

Another reason may be that we have 60 million people stuffed into a small island.

Richard,

It is quite interesting to think that all the big bangers are either based on the H&H case, 404 case or 416 Rigby case or are 500 Jeffrey and 505 Gibbs.

Is it difficult to buy 375 H&H components in England and also, are there many 338 Winchester owners over there.

Mike

Mike

We have got access to all the main components - bullets, brass ,powders but you need to travel to get them. Some of the more obsure big bores need to be ordered well in advance.

I do not know anyone here who uses a 338. It is too big for our deer but too small for a Africa nut. Interesting point.

Mike,

With regards your question, you are correct. The Law is actually even more silly.

I have what is termed an "open" ticket for my .223 for foxes and roe deer. That means I can shoot anywhere I deem safe and I have permission to hunt. (New shooters have a clause where the land has to be inspected & deemed suitable by the local Police)
Now even though I am trusted to be sensible enought to hunt roe and fox at my disgretion, if I wanted to hunt Feral Goat, I would have to apply for a "variation" to my certificate to allow that. Even if the goat was standing next to a deer on the same hunting ground!

I would also agree that tradionally we have been more hunters than shooters...expirimentation in loading ect was largly carried out by target shooters. That distinction is tending to blurr these days as British hunters are becoming more influenced by the American hunting/shooting scene via magazines and the Net.

Regards,

Peter

[ 06-14-2002, 13:10: Message edited by: Pete E ]

This one of my favourite web pages.

http://freespace.virgin.net/kynoch.ammunition/cartridge%20range.htm

Don't you just love it, especially the 300 H&H flanged.

Mike

Just a couple of followup comments:
1.While the target shooting fraternity is relatively small (and perhaps rather "elite") they seem to be very effective. The English team always seems to perform very well in the various Commonwealth, Palma and Wimbledon matches. Precision Shooting always reports on these, and the matches are highly competitive. Curiously, the US, with its vast number of gun owners and "shooters" does not seem to be able to translate this into target shooting medals!Also, I don't believe that Australia features strongly in the winners circle, though I may be wrong here.
2. While British gun laws may be very restrictive in terms of firearms, they seem to be much more "liberal" for sound suppressors (silencers, for the great unwashed). Britain seems to be in the lead for sound suppressors for skeet and Sporting Clays (presumably due to the population density). Also, sound suppressors for hunting firearms may be easier to obtain than in the US. Perhaps the current residents would comment on this?
Peter.

Peter,

Australian won medals in shotguns and that raises a point about rifle target shooting with Americans and Australians.

I think you will find America is imilar to Australia in that the rifle range will be more for trying rifles out across a benchrest. Shotgu ranges are different

Would range shooting in England be perhaps more geared around formal target shooting of the type done in the various games?

Even with benchrest shooting, nearly every benchrest rifle our gunsmiths make never goes to any form of competition. Mainly palying aout at the range and the used in the field.

Mike