Thought I'd doff my cap

[Pointer]

Hello to one and all. I am a 52yr old, recently retired from the military (RAF Regiment) after a 34 year career. 9yrs of which saw me on the front line of one conflict or another. I have a vast array of small arms and heavy weapons experience and I have been a very keen fisherman/hunter since I was a young boy. Being in the military and a keen shot, saw me competing at Bisley and I even managed to walk away with a few pieces of silverware, particularly in team events. I have always had a passion for countryside pursuits and have run some small syndicate game shoots and worked as a gamekeeper on a local Estate in much of my spare time. Being involved in vermin/pest control I never really saw the need to hold anything heavier than a Hornet on my FAC as most of my work was done with a trusty 22lr/17hmr. I hand loaded for the Hornet and like most hand loaders found myself tucked away with ballistics programmes and scales chasing the definitive pet load. Since recently retiring I thought I would step it up a tad and put in a variation and spent hours upon hours pondering wether to go 223 or 243 and eventually decided on 223 as it would be cheaper to run and still legal for small deer. I am still waiting for my variation to materialise through the letter box so a I can go and collect the Howa stealth combo I ordered from my LGS. I thought the Howa represented excellent value for money and I have shot with a friends 243 combo and was suitably impressed with its performance. I do like punching holes into paper and if I can get it to shoot sub MOA then I will be a happy boy! and if she doesn't then I will enjoy tinkering until she does. I think I would have preferred a rifle with a 1 in 9 twist for heavier heads, but the price of the Howa unit was a no brainer, maybe I'll learn the hard way, we'll see. I would like to reload the 223 and surfing the net I stumbled upon the FB UK forum, so I am hoping to find some information and friendly advice that will point me in the right direction. I might even be able to add my own advice to others posts on here. I forgot to mention that I am based in Lincolnshire and have over 6k acres of land to shoot over.

Anyway that's enough rambling from me......back to trawling this forum.....

[dromia]

[ovenpaa]

Welcome to the forum. Was that the .22 or .17 Hornet?

[Christel]

Hi Pointer, welcome to FB

Thank you for the intro.

[Pointer]

Welcome to the forum. Was that the .22 or .17 Hornet?

22 Hornet.......although the 17 seems like good fun to shoot, I can't really see the point of it as a working tool.

[northumbrian]

Hello & Welcome

[ovenpaa]

22 Hornet.......although the 17 seems like good fun to shoot, I can't really see the point of it as a working tool.

I do like the 22 Hornet and it has been around for such a long time, sadly not seen as much as it used to be.

[20series]

Hi and welcome, until last year I lived in Linconlshire most of my life and its nice to see the County represented on here :goodjob:

Alan

[Pointer]

Hi and welcome, until last year I lived in Linconlshire most of my life and its nice to see the County represented on here :goodjob:

Alan

I did notice you were now missing from Lincolnshire's most wanted

[sconie]

Welcome to the party2