Plecotus

Seems that, in my effort to be concise, I didn't give enough background. Apologies. I think the word 'bookings', without context, was misleading.... This is for one of the clubs I belong to. It has an indoor range. Currently, there are a number of more or less regular shooting nights and a number of ad-hoc sessions run by RCO-keyholders. Members have no way of knowing, currently, if the range will definitely be open on a particular day/night and, if it is, whether whoever is opening it will have access to the armoury to be able to sell ammo and/or make club firearms available as not all range keyholders have armoury keys. Equally, if an RCO plans an ad-hoc opening, perhaps because someone has asked if the range can be opened to do something specific, there is no way currentlly that said person can find out if anyone else will already be using the range when they get there. We don't need to manage commercial bookings or anything like that, just a simple(!) system whereby members can see when the range is booked, what it's booked for, what will be available in that session and, for RCOs, the abilty to post when they are opening and what will be available.

Does anyone have any suggestions or, beter still, experince of an online booking system that coulld be used to allow members to book range slots and see when the range is already booked etc?

Thanks for that - very informative. I'm going to have another go. RS80 is the only powder I've really had any problems with so, if I can crack that, I'm sorted and if this worked for you, no reason why it shouldn't work for me. I have looked at the V3 but I've not had the V2 a year and loathe to spend the extra cash, no matter how tempted I am. To be honest, I load relatively few rounds with RS80 (I only use it for .338) that I would always manually charge and auto-trickle up but it would be nice to get it working properly. Fingers crossed that we get back on the MOD ranges with HME calibres soon. I think you shoot with ODRC so maybe catch up(!) with you there.

Thanks for that. I have tried adjusting that screw a bit but it didn't seem to make a great deal of difference. I ust admit, I didn't lube the inside but, based on your experience, it's probably worth trying. I've never used graphite of HbN before and I had to look up what HbN was. I presume with HbN you just dab it onto the plastic? All the products I've seen thus far seem to be powders so perhaps I'm missing something? Sorry if I'm being thick....I just want to make sure I don't end up contaminating my loads with lube.

Could you tell me what screw you adjusted, please? I keep having problems with RS80 in my V2.

I didn't say I ever actually hit anything 🤣

Not true for me, Pete. It's only 1,200yds at Bisley I believe.

Not 2155 - these: http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2008/12/sierra-introduces-new-308-155gr-palma-bullet/ I've never actually shot at Severnside although have been to Rogiet Moor, with Offas's Dyke RC quite a few times. My home range is Monmouth. I won't be shooting anywhere today though. Did my back moving a bag of cement on Thursday and several hours of gutter cleaning and repair yesterday didn't help either. Hope you have a good day.

I regularly shoot the SMK 155 (2156) and found, after a lot of experimentation, that in my rifle, with my load, .015" will give me a sub-0.5MOA group at 100yds. Might not be right for yours of course. Only testing will determine but that's half the fun. Very close to the Monmouthshire border....and also, very damp!!

I'm all sorted now but many thanks

Hi Sean, I'll take the ammo boxes if they are still available please.

Would be very grateful indeed if those brave early adopters on here could post their experiences with whichever of the upgrade components you've ordered. I've generally found the V2 kit to work well with most of the powders I use but, like a couple of posters on here, when using RS80 for my newly acquired .338, it kept having problems which required eveyrthing to stop while messed about with it.

It's a great shame that QL is so far from reality with RS powders. I've found it excellent with many other manufacturer's products so I'm guessing it's to do wth the data that RS have provided more than anything else? I find RS powders excellent in every resepct and I too use them for just about everything.....would be great to see the QL problem sorted out.

Plenty of options there - thanks chaps. I very much appreciate all those who took the time to comment. Now I just need to make a decision!!

Can anyone recommend a lading tray/block that will actually take this cartridge case? I have a couple here which were all advertised as being up to the job but all were too small. Ideally, something that's available in the UK or EU. Thanks.

Not sure if you're splitting this yet but i'll take the 100 Lapua 338 cases and the 50 Berger 300grn bullets if you are.

My .308 is one of Mik's and it shoots incredibly well. .338 on order and eagerly anticipated. Top bloke.

It's not a bad job really although I do more commercial (i.e. non-conservation and/or research) work than I would like these days. Barn Owl is a prolific breeder. When the population crashed in the 1960s/70s, this was almost certainly a conequence of organochlorine pesticides. Once these were banned, the population started to recover but there have been mroe recent declines too. Lots of likely reasons behind this.....lack of food and a reduciton in available nesting sites have all been implicated. Swallow numbers in the UK have been falling for close to ten years now. Most likely culprit is reduciton in insect food availability. Almost all of our insectivorous specialists are doing badly. For both these two birds, another problem has been a reduction in avaiable nesting sites. We use both thermal and infrared cameras for bat work. Thermal cameras are excellent but none of them have a sufficiently large field of view to replace a human observer but they are great for locating roost entrances in buildings and particlarly so, roosts in trees. Bat detectors are still used extensively because we can use the recorded calls to ID the bats. Cameras can help with ID but cameras and recordings together are a powerful combination. You're spoiling your ringers cutting paths for them. We almost always have to sort such things out ourselves and, after all, what else are trainee ringers for 🙂

We've got several in my business now and they are used most weeks. Barn Owl chicks spend a long time in the nest so you should be able to watch the adults carrying foor in for a good while. They may well have a second (or more) brood too. They's been recorded breeding in every month of the year in Britain! They are also one of the most widely distributed species in the world - they are found from here to India and many places in between. If you werent so far away, I'd be asking if I could come and ring the chicks.

Among other things, I do wildlife surveys for a living. We use thermal scopes and cameras a lot, often for the kinds of things you descrbe here. Lovely to watch too - sometimes it's not just about the science!

In Focus Optics have a place at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Centre at Slimbridge, which is just off the M5 so pretty convenient. They have a very wide choice from cheap and cheerful to wallet wringing. You can try any and all out and they are very helful and knowledgable. https://www.at-infocus.co.uk/in-focus-shops/gloucestershire/

I have a .338 on order. Single shot Nesika M, 32", 9.5T barrel. I'm planning to use the Berger 300gr Hybrid. I'm new to reloading for this calibre. My objective is to work up to shooting out to 1,500m and beyond. I've seen some potentialy useful discussion her and there about loading for the higher end MVs but some of what appear to be the best powders aren't available in the UK any more (e.g H1000). I use various RS powders for those calibres I currently load for but have not been able to find any real-world load data for either oft he RS powders in a longer barrel like mine. I do have QL but I've not found its predictions for RS powders very reliable. Can anyone offer any personal experience and/or sugest what load(s) I could consider and what real-world MVs I might expect?

I do, frequently, and am just about to do so again. Trouble is, he's not exactly local and you know what it's like when you want ot play with your new toy NOW NOW NOW. I've got a branch of SGC not too far away. HPS, New Avon Arms and Dauntsey are within an hour's drive and they are all excellent. The one I mentioned is much closer than any of those but his comment about .303 doesn't really inspire confidence.

My nearest RFD/shop sells firearms, ammunition and fishing tackle. Last year, not long afer buyng my No.4, I fancied a range day but didn't have the dies for that calubre yet. I 'phoned the RFD and asked if he had any .303 in stock. His comment was "no idea what that is mate, we don't sell it". I've not been near the place since.

I'll take at least 100...I've responded to your email.