Well where do I start?, explaining where my user name came from perhaps.. I road-raced motorcycles back in the late 1980's - a bad crash at Donington Park (TZ 250) had me in hospital with a fractured skull, internal bleeding, etc, etc.. I visited the consultant a few months later, and he described my condition when I was admitted in to A&E as very 'flat', i.e. not a lot going on!!
My interest in guns/firearms began as a teenager in the 70's; air-rifle, and then .22 LR (rabbiting)..
It got a bit more serious - even professional, when I joined the French Foreign Legion in the early 80's; 5.56mm FAMAS, 9mm Luger, .303 & 7.62mm and a go on a .50 Cal. BMG when I was on secondment as a 'chauffeur' - driving a Jeep whilst a Sergeant's course was being run - all this with the 13th DBLE in Djibouti N.W. Africa (basic training was in Castelnaudary, S.W. France).
I returned to the U.K., and a few years later joined the pistol club at Abingdon, Oxfordshire. After the probationary period I obtained my FAC & bought my first, a 6" stainless-steel Colt Python .357, then a bull-barrelled .22 Remington, then a CZ85 9mm and finally a .44 mag Desert Eagle. I also had a Remington 700 7.62mm, (synthetic-stock, bi-pod) that had already been modified for the 'race-gun' discipline. I used that at Bisley, and had permission to shoot on the Isle-of-Mull (long story).
As we all know we lost the full-bore pistol privilege, and the Remington 700 went a year or so later as my life changed direction.
I took up SCUBA, became an instructor and began cave-diving in the flooded sections of the caves on the Mendip's, Swindon's Sump 2 was my first dip, then a few weeks later on to Sump 12. Wookey Hole to Sump 23, and then cave-diving holidays in The Assent, N.W. Scotland, the Lot Region in S.W. France (the 'Ressel' was a highlight) and then a year later to Florida, which has extensive flooded cave systems.
more recently whilst (temporarily) working for the Royal Mail a chance meeting whilst delivering a 'small but heavy' parcel I found myself chatting to a member of the local club, the BDRPC. A fascinating discussion about the sport and I soon submitted my Probationary Membership Application, which I understand is going to take some time to process, probably in to 2026.
Back in the 1990's I reloaded my own ammunition: 9mm, .357/38, .44 and 7.62mm. I would like to take this up again as I found the science of ballistics fascinating - and the process itself quite therapeutic!! To this end I have a ordered a copy of 'Modern Reloading' by Richard Lee - something to immerse myself in whilst I wait for my probationary membership application to be processed.
So, that's 'me' .... I am looking forward to browsing the forum
