David Hancock

Contact James Fowler on Facebook. He's at Ruag and wil advise

Del - I went to a Sauer Varmint 100 (from the Keeper package) in 20 inch barrel, 1 in 10 twist. Personally love it and the trust it has give back. I prefer the Sauer safety to the Howa.

I invested in a Weihrauch HW 66 Jagd-Match. I rifle I absolutely love. Not cheap, but there again, I'm a brand tart / can afford certain things. I sold a "cheap crappy" Howa 1500 .223 for the 17H. My Howa shot bugholes. WHAT A MISTAKE. The .17H was quiet. Moderated very well. No recoil. No "feel". Shot into 1MOA with the ONLY available round out there pretty much - Hornady 17gn Vmax. I've never had a rifle that shot into 1 MOA. 0.3 to 0.7 perhaps but not 1MOA. I don't reload. I got suckered by the American bullshit. 50 rounds in, I sold it and went back to .223. Pissed me off as I like fast little pills. Cost me money but IMHO, it's not a 200 yard fox round through a windy valley perm. 17 Rem, 20 Tac, .204, .222 anything but .17H

For me, I do love a "classic" rifle. Lovely work. More !!

PS - no marking on the barrel

I love my Wildcat Evo on my Sauer .223 Varmint fluted barrel. The threading is perfect, Alison Green at Wildcat is a star, and the engineering quality is sublime and the suppression much better than a couple of other mods I've tried. Just a couple of thoughts

A man of character who always was true to his word. His passion and honesty will be missed.

Soggy. Pleased I could help. I like Michael, Phil and David at The Country Store. Phil in particular, knows his rifles and reloading and I trust his for honest, pragmatic advice. They also have all the requisite cleaning rods, jags etc which the other shop I i use and like is Eastern Sporting in Great Baddow. Let me know how you like the S&B. Stalking at Hockwold on Friday with the 6.5cm. A rare day off !! All the best.

Soggy. Give The Country Store a call. I recall seeing some the other day. Tel - 01223 837977

As much as I love the team at Optics Warehouse for great advice and stunning service, IMHO, they blew from one scope to another in a short space of time. It was Vortex - which I find has a very finickity eye relief, then Athlon then Delta, now Rudolph. The lower price Athlons - great glass - have a very annoying habit of the windage turret moving - thus changing zero, which is why all my scopes now have locking turrets. A classic scope with great UK back up from Deben is the Hawke Sidewinder. Different mags, locking tactical turrets SFP and FFP and choice of rets. Worth checking out for your budget.

I have a Bergara B14HMR in 6.5cm which smoooooooooothly shoots Hornady 143 ELD-X into 0.4MOA. My Mike Norris datum load with 142smk's puts the pills through the same hole. £1045 rifle. Job done.

I have a CZ. It is stunning and honestly the bolt and action is better than my last Anschutz. If looking at new, then the new Tikka at £450 is one hell of a great rifle. Other than that look at Gun trader. .22's are ten a penny.

I seriously looked at buying this scope but could not get the reticle I liked so I bought a Tract Toric instead. Both the scope and the customer service from CEO Jon LaCorte in the US is stunning. Check out Tract Optics.

"For the price of a Howa barrelled action, throw it away and buy a new one" Yep !

Thirded

Humphrey. Forget the bikkies. I was asked, who else would have keys to your cabinet. In your case not relevant, but no-one else is to have knowledge of your key location, eg your partner unless guns are noted on a shared certificate / cabinet. Stability of home environment, children in the home and a check of home security / neighbours / relationships. I was asked about shooting on a cold morning and over water !. A slight trick, but frozen ground and water can cause a richochet - particularly with a non-frangible bullet like a 40gn .22LR round. I was also asked how I would securely transport my rifle from home to ground and security if I popped into a shop. Also - "how do I feel about loading a magazine at home in good light and to save time when you arrive" . Another slight bit of trickery !!. The carrying of a loaded magazine in your pocket on the way to your permission. A legal no, no. It's deemed a loaded weapon. (some people say no, but I err on the side of best practise) My interviewing FEO also liked the fact I had a plain black ring binder (no camo or gun brand stickers / same with my car - no BASC or my other gun is a Browning sticker !!) with copies of BASC insurances, letters of permission with ICE numbers, some cheap vistaprint business cards with contact details on, attended ranges days, rounds shot and calibres, and OS maps of my perms with public access and no shoot zones marked. Liked the fact I shot on a range - particularly to test different ammunition at different ranges / establish drop charts / and had mentors. All calm, pragmatic common sense stuff, properly conducted and no sloppy matey matey stuff but the FEO made me carefully consider my application in the interview. Good luck.

I agree with the quietness. It's funny when you just don't "feel" it, and I didn't with the .17H. The HW66 was my second. Great rifle. I just love the Sauer and .223 allows me to snipe at the 200 I thought the 17H would give me. Have a great weekend. Weather looks OK

I've gone back to .223. .17Hornet frankly is a marketing load of puffery with one available round (that being Hornady 20gn v-Max. Great !!!!!) HW100 .177. // .22LR. // .223 - 40gn to 56gn, and 6.5 Creedmoor big smiley face !!

I had one of the first 17HMR's in the UK and Met police went nuts as it was such fast round - until I presented the fact it was frangible. I've had two. I sold my last one 6 years ago due to poor ammunition - a fact which still exists on occasions today. At 60 - 100 yards I dispatched over 400 foxes on a hill top pig farm in three years - head shots, three ran more than five feet. The cost of ammunition - £14.00 per box did not bother me as 20 fags are a tenner!!!!!! I recently purchased a stunning Weihrauch HW66 Jagd-Match in 17H having sold my .223. 100 rounds in and I have gone back to .223 (God it feels SO good) The 17H is a great round. As Richy rightly states, a rimfire (17HMR) is more likely to get clearance on smaller parcels of land / near houses than a CF. My rifle was so quiet - Wildcat Panther mod - compared to the kerack of a 17HMR and no recoil with - pretty much the only available factory pills, Hornady 20gn V-max, it would shoot in a 50p at 100 yards. I do not reload. I do not see the point of the 17WSM. Why sell the Hornet ? On two of my fox perms, I personally do not consider 17H to be a confident round to shoot in windy valleys at 200 yards. My opinion. My comfort zone. I'm much happier with a .223 with a 40gn V-max - or on Saturday shooting GECO 56gn into clover leafs at 100 and the ammunition / range of ammunition / availability is cheaper / better than 17H. The .223 also covers me for deer as a bonus. To answer your question - yes it does have a niche and a good one as a cheap 50 - 200 yard crow / rabbit rifle and 50 - 100 yard fox rifle.

.222 was THE Benchrest calibre of choice the God was a lad !

Stephentri, I'm in agreement with Rob. I was looking at the Kahles 624i with a SKMR3 ret (at£2240 or thereabouts) - as I could not get my head around all the divided opinions regarding S&B. Do I break open my piggy bank and go Swaro with Tactical turrets, IOR's are fugly, The Bushnell DMR is great BUT for £1245 - optics warehouse 10% off - the Delta Stryker is a darned good piece of kit. Eye relief - tick, turrets - tick, 34mm tube - tick, sexy bugger - tick, ret - tick, glass - tick, tick

Article today on www.6mmbr.com about the PRC calibre. Worth a shuftie . . .

"I think a Zeiss V6 is what I'll look into" Very clean and simple, with good glass but SFP. MOA only and no IL in the ZBR ret. I don't think I can live with that. The Delta is a steal.