TargetTalk

Hello all,

Sorry to bother you but I heard a rumour over on "uk.rec.shooting.target"
I am a bitter British ex-pistol shooter!
I used to shoot 22, 22 rapid, & FP as well as centre fire diciplines. Up to "county" standard. I competed in the nationals at Bisley every year.
Untill............you know when. (don't get me started!)

Am I to asume that some sort of pistol shooting (not air) is being allowed in England again now?

Thanks

chris@keylight.co.uk

Free Pistol shooting is allowed using the Long Arm Free Pistol being made in small numbers. These have rear-ward extension bars which extend the pistol's length to the extent that it no longer comes under the ban. These bars have to be fitted at the time of manufacture - they cannot be retro-fitted. Morini, Pardini and SAM have all produced Long-Arm free pistols for the British market.

There is also a chance of the Centrefire event being reintroduced using the UK designed .32 "Patriot". This is a weird beast that looks like a semi-auto but requires cocking after each shot and actually comes under the "muzzle loading" rules (thus it's "allowed").
"Rounds" are loaded into a block magazine and there are no cases (saves having to pick up brass I guess...). Only time will tell whether the Patriot will take off, but I take my hat off to the designers for their lateral thinking in getting around the problem of the pistol ban.

http://www.patriotpistol.com/index.htm

Plenty of land, liberty, and opportunity on the other side of the Atlantic. Heck, in some parts of the midwestern U.S., they're even *giving away* free land, as long as you live on it.

You have got me slightly confused Chris (some may say that isn't too hard). If you are still involved in shooting in the UK then I am surprised you don't know the position.

If you are talking about the ISSF disciplines then, apart from air and modified rules competitions to allow the use of legal guns (air or muzzle loading), the only event that can be shot is Free Pistol using the Longarm.

Every now and then I hear rumours that the top GB shooters are allowed to keep their guns and train in the UK. As someone who is heavily involved with GB and England (and Wales) Centre Fire and Standard Pistol teams I can assure you that is total bull. All of the guns are stored in Switzerland and training with them is done abroad (at the team members expense). Even our team to last week's European Championships had to travel via Switzerland to collect and return the guns.

[quote="David Levene"]You have got me slightly confused Chris (some may say that isn't too hard). If you are still involved in shooting in the UK then I am surprised you don't know the position.

Not involved anymore. I walked off in disgust when the fecking govenrnment confiscated all my precious pistols. Including my target pistol (Igi Domino) with which I had won (my lowly class) at Bisley Nationals, and my centre fire, & rapid fire target pistols together with some others of great sentimental value. I was just getting into free pistol.

Apart from lurking on "uk.rec.shooting.target" and occasional bitter & twised outbursts about spiralling U.K. gun crime that's it.

I just miss it! I had an inate natural ability (very slight) and used to practise a couple of times weekly at a great local club & do the odd postal comp & a bit of rapid-fire and Mander at Bisley. I have tried air-pistol (Feinwerkbau), which is o.k. but not really a substitute. Also. if truth be known, it annoys me not to have my choice of pistol!

We intend to leave Britain anyway soon so I will perhaps take it up again in my dotage.

Pip pip

After reading the thread about the Patriot .32 and Mr. Notton's post, I have to take my hat is off to you Brit shooters . . . despite all the crap you have been subjected to over there, many of you manage to persevere. You people are the most tenacious culture on the face of the earth.

It makes the rest of us really appreciate what we commonly take for granted.

Chris and the rest of you guys and gals - if any of you ever decide to relocate or visit Colorado, I'd be honored to introduce you to our shooting community.

F. Paul in Denver

On behalf of the Brits, many thanks.

F.Paul,
Cheers from another Brit :)

More important is that we all need to thank those guys here who did the hard donkey work (at not inconsiderable expense) of producing the patriot and those who negotiated with the FP manufacturers so that we Brits have at least a few 'proper' pistols to shoot.

I never shot pistols prior to the ban but I consider myself fortunate to be able to experience at least some proper pistol shooting here in the UK. I hope to try out some other disciplines as well when I can get over to Switzerland or elsewhere in the future.

Rob.

Hi All,

Just a reminder to all those poor people in the adjcent Islands that cartridge pistol shooting is alive and well in the Isle of Man and that you don't have to travel to Switzerland (Sorry we don't do duty free!!),however if you insist then try Jersey or Guernsey


Regards


Ian Hodgson

Unfortunately there are other factors to be considered e.g. storage of non-residents' guns, availability of paperwork and transport links to enable the guns to be used elsewhere, range availability, cost etc.

If however you think you have a suitable alternative to Switzerland for the National Squad then PLEASE contact me.