Talk about rip-off Britain.

[Fergie 307]

Fair play to you shooting a pistol at that range, no way my hands are steady enough.
Agree with the Scorpion had one for a bit but far too heavy, and as you say a beast to cock. I have a couple of modded Crosman 2250's which are good fun. Can't get a decent group at anything over about 20m, but down to my shaky hands rather than the fault of the guns!
Always wanted the semi auto Crosman 600, but lots of money now. Early ones had a disconcerting habit of occasionally going full auto, and could empty the magazine in about a second. Quite alarming when it happened. They modified the trigger on later ones to prevent this.
And somewhere have an old Webley junior which I was given as a kid, good fun.
Thanks for the picture of the Airsporter, must have sold mine in the early 80's and always regretted it. But agree is is heavy to cock compared to something like the 97.
Unlike yourself I do hunt, not so much now but still the occasional rabbiting expedition. Great advantage to me of a PCP is not having to move to reload, cocking and reloading a springer whilst lying prone is a PITA, much easier when you have a magazine and just have to work a bolt.

 

[ey_tony]

Fair play to you shooting a pistol at that range, no way my hands are steady enough.
Agree with the Scorpion had one for a bit but far too heavy, and as you say a beast to cock. I have a couple of modded Crosman 2250's which are good fun. Can't get a decent group at anything over about 20m, but down to my shaky hands rather than the fault of the guns!
Always wanted the semi auto Crosman 600, but lots of money now. Early ones had a disconcerting habit of occasionally going full auto, and could empty the magazine in about a second. Quite alarming when it happened. They modified the trigger on later ones to prevent this.
And somewhere have an old Webley junior which I was given as a kid, good fun.
Thanks for the picture of the Airsporter, must have sold mine in the early 80's and always regretted it. But agree is is heavy to cock compared to something like the 97.
Unlike yourself I do hunt, not so much now but still the occasional rabbiting expedition. Great advantage to me of a PCP is not having to move to reload, cocking a springer whilst lying prone is a PITA, much easier when you just have to work a bolt.

My one biggest regret was discounting air pistols as a substitute after the firearm versions were banned in 1997.
I was about to give up shooting my 97 and BRNO as they're so accurate that they become boring and as I have no interest in killing anything I thought about giving up shooting completely.
It was less that three years ago that I finally looked into shooting air pistols and quite frankly it was the best thing I ever did as I love shooting them now and all they lack is the kick or the old centrefire which I can do without these days.
Shooting my handguns back in the day at 50 metres was just as challenging as it is with the air pistols today.

I bought the Scorpion s/h for about £25 but never used it and when I came to use it, it had seized so I gave it a complete strip down and repair and it's very good at 25 metres but it's just too big and bulky but it packs a punch.
The CP1 and CP2 are both CO2 as I couldn't be bothered with PCP and springers on a regular basis. I get around at least 25 full power shots with each Co2 caplet when using the CP2 so for 3 or 4 caplets I can get up to around 100 rounds for about £1.00-1.40-ish plus a couple of pounds for the actual ammunition.
I usually reload my own centrefire but the last time I bought any ammunition for the Winchester it was around £0.60 per round.

The CP1 has a custom moderator fitted to reduce the noise as I use it in my garden and CP2 are often mistaken for rimfire on the range when I'm shooting them without a moderator.

 

[Fergie 307]

People often underestimate the noise, my PCP makes a heck of a bang without the moderator. I think in the old days people didn't really think about it as a lot of spring guns made enough of a racket you couldn't actually hear the report!
How do you find the co2 for temperature variations, or do you just rezero? I have an SMK 98 rifle somewhere, basically a Chinese clone of the old Crosman 160, which uses twin CO2 bulbs. I found the variation in pressure with temperature a nuisance, so rarely use it now. On the pistols I just tweak the sights over the first few shots. But the difference from say a 10 degree shift in temperature is quite noticeable.

 

[ey_tony]

People often underestimate the noise, my PCP makes a heck of a bang without the moderator. I think in the old days people didn't really think about it as a lot of spring guns made enough of a racket you couldn't actually hear the report!
How do you find the co2 for temperature variations, or do you just rezero? I have an SMK 98 rifle somewhere, basically a Chinese clone of the old Crosman 160, which uses twin CO2 bulbs. I found the variation in pressure with temperature a nuisance, so rarely use it now. On the pistols I just tweak the sights over the first few shots. But the difference from say a 10 degree shift in temperature is quite noticeable.

To be honest I don't really shoot during the colder winter months as I only shoot targets so I'm stood or sat still most of the time unlike hunters who are very often on the move for miles.
I don't find the temperature power shift too bad with CO2 at down to 10C which is about as cold as I shoot. Obviously there is a difference but like you say you can adjust for it to a certain amount.
I have an A3 sized wall mountable target holder/back stop which I use in the garden during my regular 'close season' if we have a particularly warm couple of days so that's when I use the CP1.
With my CP2 which is essentially the same gun as my CP1 and Diana Chaser I find that I get about 24 shots accurate at 50 metres from each caplet at regular temperatures whereas I can get 30-35 shots at shorter distances such a 25 metres so while fall-off may not be so noticeable at shorter distances, it certainly shows up much earlier at 50 metres with the CP2.

With my CP1 I get around 40+ accurate shots at most temps as I only shoot at 25 or sub-25 metres so you don't notice any fall off really until it gets to up around 50.

 

[Limey Lurker]

It's almost 5 years since I last renewed my licence under the old system but from what I can gather the new online application system including the doctor's reference was introduced in the last 12 months.
The firearms club of which I've been a member since around 1990 must report anyone who doesn't have a set minimum number of visits annually. I don't shoot over land as I don't enjoy killing birds or animals so I have to be a member of a suitable club in order to maintain my firearms and shotgun licences.

I have several guns including a centrefire Winchester 94 underlever rifle which you see in every cowboy film. I used to own a full range of handguns from .22 rimfire to .357 & .44 magnums before they were banned.

These days I quite enjoy shooting at targets with air pistols at 50 metres...not quite as lively as a .357 or .44 but an awful lot cheaper to run and just as much fun.

50 metres?

 

[ey_tony]

50 metres?

Yes my mistake I should have said 50 'metres.'

 

[Fergie 307]

I have always had the greatest respect for the skill involved in shooting a pistol accurately. When you see the olympic shooters putting round after round through the same hole, it may not be particularly exciting to watch but the skill involved is impressive. I can happily shoot penny groups with a rifle at 50 yards, using a bipod or rest. Freehand with a pistol at that range I doubt I could reliably hit a dinner plate

 

[ey_tony]

I have always had the greatest respect for the skill involved in shooting a pistol accurately. When you see the olympic shooters putting round after round through the same hole, it may not be particularly exciting to watch but the skill involved is impressive. I can happily shoot penny groups with a rifle at 50 yards, using a bipod or rest. Freehand with a pistol at that range I doubt I could reliably hit a dinner plate

I used to be a decent shot when I had centrefire side arms as I was much steadier than now though the only gun I could never get to grips with where accuracy was concerned was my 9mm Star semi-auto I owned ( I think it was the Spanish version of the Browning).

For some reason I just couldn't get on with it and preferred revolvers. As I said previously the best gun for me was the S&W Model 28 .357 Highway Patrolman...it was an absolute dream to shoot .
I had an ex-police S&W Model 13 .357 with full underlug and 4" barrel + Pachmayr grips but it could be a nightmare when loaded with full magnum rounds. It was a gun more for protection than accuracy. It would stop any attacker as long as you could hit them LOL.

The other odd gun I owned was a .44 magnum but can't remember the manufacturer (maybe Taurus or some obscure ) and it had an usually long 10" barrel which made the Dirty Harry S & W look relatively short. In some ways I preferred it as I used to load it with .44 Specials and it was quite a pleasure to shoot as the long barrel and its weight kept it quite steady when shooting at targets.

At the club I belonged we had an indoor 25 metre range fitted with turning targets but when the range was quiet I started shooting at 50 metres with my Highway Patrolman all those years ago by shooting at balloons tied to strings. The range was often windy so it was challenging but it helped get your eye in.

These days I find shooting rifles relatively boring if I'm honest as with a scope it's difficult to miss a bullet patch at 50m but stick a pistol in front of me and it's quite a challenge. Some days are better than others but if I'm not as steady handed as usual I just rest the pistol.
With an 8" barrel it still takes some effort to hit a 20cm diameter disk at 50 metres using only a cheap Chinese red dot sight costing £14.95 on eBay.

 

[woodieallen]

It's not a rip off. The police are putting the onus and in effect liability on the doctor to state that you are not a nutcase. The doctor has to be certain that there is nothing in your medical history that crosses the boundary of the list of conditions. It's not therefore just a simple decision and the practice has to keep a record of the checks they have done. Some doctors refuse to take the risk.