marklestrange
Active Member
The conundrum is ....
My FAC conditions:
I've just passed my DSC1 and am waiting for the official pass paperwork to come through, which will take over a month, to send in so I can have the "in the presence of an experienced centre-fire user" condition taken off and even possibly the 'only on land deemed suitable by the police' .. any advice?
My Permission:
The only 'deer' permission I have is a small copse with I believe 4 or 5 Roe on it as I see one every time I go.
This has not been shot for ten years but was previously used for raising pheasant.
The owner is adamant that I cannot bring anybody else there, I know that sounds 'convenient' but it's very inconvenient as at this stage what I need to do is shoot and gralloch a deer 'with advice' as I go, certainly on the gralloch. I also need to get good at foxing, something I've never done as the buggers will eat 'my precious' (funny how I'm already getting possessive lol) feral pheasants.
How can I get good at foxing?
Rifle:
I've got a bit of a nail... but it did only cost me £100. [poor with 3 kids]
I figured I could do with a rifle that I could 'fix' so I could learn rather than something that 'worked out of the box', and boy did I get it.
The barrel and bolt are both well used with the lands looking consistent all the way down but not looking either wide nor deep.
It's a well used 308 Midland Parker Hale with a Mauser/Springfield action and a bad bad threading job - somewhat off the centre of the bore and with a very poor crown and no proof.
I've fired a couple of dozen rounds of different weight though it and it didn't blow the old T8 (£75) Mod off so I guess it's OK. I have discovered though that it will only hold a handful (5?) in a group before it starts dramatically wandering off to the left so as I'm not planning on shooting that many deer at a time that my rifle barrel gets hot, then should I just accept it's not a range gun but is fine for deer?
I'm planning to 're-crown' by polishing the crown with a brass round head bolt and paste - it can only make the hole rounder and smoother, you should see it now! The trigger is 'acceptable' to 'good' until the pin vibrates out after a few shots and gets 1/8 inch of grind to give you a clue it's happened, so I was going to put a drop of Ducati thread lock on it.
The barrel channel 'just' touches on the middle right as it heats I think, (when cold the note marginally binds as it passes] it makes contact therefore throwing the shots ...or it could be the non concentric bore with bad thread job expanding unevenly... or both lol. I'm planning to refinish the 'glossy' polyurethane like stock finish to a less bright oil finish (the wood is pretty good) and top and tail the stock with some African hard wood (ebony) as well as a couple of disks to cover the recoil lug nuts (?) on each side when I take out the barrel channel a bit to get a consistent float.
I may make an adjustable comb as it's present hight is perfect for iron sights but a good inch low for a scope.
I'm planning to do some limited bedding taking out the high spots where the action presently pivots very slightly on the wood (which could be a cause of problems too) by bedding the pillar and rear tang, then give one inch of support to the barrel.
I'm already getting some help machining a full rail for the top of the action so that I can get the correct eye relief off my very short scope on the rifles very long action. [It's got a floppy bolt - that can be a problem with long ones.]
Any ideas guys?... on how I might fox or god forbid shoot a deer within my 'conditions' (of course) .... I can make a quick website for anybody that wants to take me out for deer. [Web Lecturer = day job]
My FAC conditions:
I've just passed my DSC1 and am waiting for the official pass paperwork to come through, which will take over a month, to send in so I can have the "in the presence of an experienced centre-fire user" condition taken off and even possibly the 'only on land deemed suitable by the police' .. any advice?
My Permission:
The only 'deer' permission I have is a small copse with I believe 4 or 5 Roe on it as I see one every time I go.
This has not been shot for ten years but was previously used for raising pheasant.
The owner is adamant that I cannot bring anybody else there, I know that sounds 'convenient' but it's very inconvenient as at this stage what I need to do is shoot and gralloch a deer 'with advice' as I go, certainly on the gralloch. I also need to get good at foxing, something I've never done as the buggers will eat 'my precious' (funny how I'm already getting possessive lol) feral pheasants.
How can I get good at foxing?
Rifle:
I've got a bit of a nail... but it did only cost me £100. [poor with 3 kids]
I figured I could do with a rifle that I could 'fix' so I could learn rather than something that 'worked out of the box', and boy did I get it.
The barrel and bolt are both well used with the lands looking consistent all the way down but not looking either wide nor deep.
It's a well used 308 Midland Parker Hale with a Mauser/Springfield action and a bad bad threading job - somewhat off the centre of the bore and with a very poor crown and no proof.
I've fired a couple of dozen rounds of different weight though it and it didn't blow the old T8 (£75) Mod off so I guess it's OK. I have discovered though that it will only hold a handful (5?) in a group before it starts dramatically wandering off to the left so as I'm not planning on shooting that many deer at a time that my rifle barrel gets hot, then should I just accept it's not a range gun but is fine for deer?
I'm planning to 're-crown' by polishing the crown with a brass round head bolt and paste - it can only make the hole rounder and smoother, you should see it now! The trigger is 'acceptable' to 'good' until the pin vibrates out after a few shots and gets 1/8 inch of grind to give you a clue it's happened, so I was going to put a drop of Ducati thread lock on it.
The barrel channel 'just' touches on the middle right as it heats I think, (when cold the note marginally binds as it passes] it makes contact therefore throwing the shots ...or it could be the non concentric bore with bad thread job expanding unevenly... or both lol. I'm planning to refinish the 'glossy' polyurethane like stock finish to a less bright oil finish (the wood is pretty good) and top and tail the stock with some African hard wood (ebony) as well as a couple of disks to cover the recoil lug nuts (?) on each side when I take out the barrel channel a bit to get a consistent float.
I may make an adjustable comb as it's present hight is perfect for iron sights but a good inch low for a scope.
I'm planning to do some limited bedding taking out the high spots where the action presently pivots very slightly on the wood (which could be a cause of problems too) by bedding the pillar and rear tang, then give one inch of support to the barrel.
I'm already getting some help machining a full rail for the top of the action so that I can get the correct eye relief off my very short scope on the rifles very long action. [It's got a floppy bolt - that can be a problem with long ones.]
Any ideas guys?... on how I might fox or god forbid shoot a deer within my 'conditions' (of course) .... I can make a quick website for anybody that wants to take me out for deer. [Web Lecturer = day job]
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