Pellpax, Author at Pellpax Blog

The Big Interview: Kate Griffiths

kate-griffiths-shooting — Award-winning Olympic hopeful, Kate Griffiths

This month, we spoke to Kate Griffiths, winner of the Kent County HFT (Hunter Field Target) Pistol Championship and the SEAC (South East Airgun Club) HFT Pistol Championship. Kate told us about her shooting career so far, her love of Umarex and Steyr airguns, and her hopes of competing in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

When did you start shooting? Were you very young?

No, I’ve only been shooting seriously, as a sport, for a few years. I’d handled guns before, of course, during my army training, but it wasn’t something I had a great interest in. And then I started watching the shooting events at the 2012 London Olympics – and I got hooked. I actually got the opportunity to go to the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, where the shooting events were held, and I really felt the urge to have a go. So I joined my local gun club and found I was pretty good at it!

In 2014 I took part in a talent-spotting event – Target Tokyo, they called it – in Bisley, organized by British Shooting, which is an umbrella organization for the five national governing bodies for shooting in the UK, and I was picked out as a potential Olympic contender.

Tell us a bit about your army career.

I served in the 2^nd Royal Tank Regiment as musician and medic.

Musician! What do you play?

Cornet and trumpet. I’m very fond of Big Band music, and I’ve played in a couple of Big Band orchestras. It’s traditional, in the army, for musicians to receive medical training, because, historically, the band was always there on the front line, leading the way into battle. It was the bandsmen’s job – those who survived – to tend to the wounded. Although this combined role doesn’t apply nowadays, it’s just a tradition that’s stuck. I was in service during the Gulf War in 1990 to 1991. I saw some terrible things. I was only nineteen.

What shooting disciplines do you enjoy the most?

There’s a relatively new shooting discipline called Iron Plate Action Shooting (IPAS), designed specifically for multi-shot CO₂ cartridge pistols. I’ve had a lot of fun with that. The objective is to hit all five metal targets in as short a time as possible. You start in the ‘surrender’ position – hands raised, either side of your head. The official asks if you’re ready, and then says, “Stand by,” and when the starter signal sounds, you draw your gun and fire until you’ve hit all five targets (or until you’ve run out of pellets!). You do the course of fire five times, and the fastest four times count towards your score. This is normally done 10 times in a match.

Promotional photoshoot with Katherine in Leeds — Kate with an Air Force one Trophy Pistol.

And what’s your choice of gun for IPAS?

I use a .177 Umarex Colt M1911 airsoft semi automatic pistol with a circular eight-shot magazine. This is a superb reproduction from the German manufacturer, Umarex. In fact, the original model is a real classic – it’s still in production today.

What event are you hoping to compete in, in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo?

The 10 metre Pistol Target Shooting – an event for single-shot air pistols. You shoot a set number of pellets at a standard target, from a distance of 10 metres. Each shot must be taken within 75 seconds. The scoring is a standard 10 points for the bull, down to one point for the outermost ring. Training for 10-metre competition is basically putting lead down range and working on technique. I do an actual Olympic match – i.e. shoot 40 pellets in one hour.

What gun do you use for this event?

I have a new gun – a Steyr LP 10E air pistol. It’s made by an Austrian manufacturer, and it has a great track record. It was used to win all the gold medals in the 2004 Olympics, the 2008 Olympics, and the 2012 Olympics, as well as the ISSF World Shooting Championships in 2006 and 2010.

British firearm laws are pretty tight. Is that a problem in competition shooting?

Yes, it can be. There was an incident during the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Rachel Carrie, a British shooter who was taking part in the competition, arrived late at night at a hotel in Dundee for an event the next day, and the hotel staff called the police because she had her shotgun with her. Rachel produced her shotgun licence and explained that she was a competitor in the Games, but she was questioned for hours, and her gun was kept at the local police station overnight. She didn’t get a lot of sleep that night.

You’ve been very active in the campaign against transgender discrimination in sport. How have the regulations affected you?

Until 1996, shooting was a mixed sport. But the 2004 ruling – which is actually documented as ‘recommendations’ – puts a blanket ban on transgender participants until two years after genital surgery. Another condition is that enough hormonal therapy has been received to ‘minimise gender-related advantages in sport competitions’. Well, it was only twenty years ago that there was considered to be no gender-related advantage in shooting. Very importantly, the final recommendation is that there will be a ‘confidential case-by-case evaluation’.

I’ve been working with British Shooting on the development of their policy regarding transgender shooters competing in the UK. I’m now turning my attention to the ISSF (International Shooting Sport Federation), in the hope that I can get them to modernise their transgender policy.

What’s the make-or-break factor when it comes to your chances of making the 2020 Olympic team?

Sponsorship. Training and competitions cost an awful lot: there’s range time, pellets, air or CO₂(for the pistol), travel, entry fees, accommodation … Corporate sponsorship isn’t easy to find for this sport, because many companies are reluctant to be associated with shooting. On my website there’s a sponsorship appeal, with a link for donations. I’m hoping that enough people and businesses will be behind me to help me achieve my dream.

Both the Steyr LP 10 E and the .177 Umarex Colt M1911 are available to buy at Pellpax. We’ve got a range of Steyr air pistols here. You can find Kate’s site here.

Face Off: Lincoln Premier vs Webley & Scott 900 Game

Here one of our up and coming shotgun enthusiasts, Steph Brooks, compares two excellent over and under shotguns….

The cost of attaining a new shotgun license has increased in recent years from £50 to almost £80 as of the 6^th of April 2015. Nonetheless, the number of legally held shotguns in this country has increased year on year, thanks to the popularity of both game hunting and clay pigeon shooting, and shows no signs of slowing down.

Buying a new shotgun can be a daunting task, particularly for those new to the hobby as there are many things to consider when shopping. Attributes such as gauge, barrel length and action can be easily assessed, but there are more personal concerns, such as the amount of recoil felt, or how well a shotgun fits into the shoulder, that can be hard to measure, particularly when buying online. Because of this I am putting two over and under shotguns to the test, and will attempt to guide you through the maze of terminology to help you make a successful choice.

Looks

WandS 900 - 2 — Clean Lines and no clutter: The Webley & Scott 900 Game

Out of all the attributes to consider when buying a new shotgun, looks are perhaps the most personal and, in my view, the least important. By this I mean that, so long as the shotgun is accurate and reliable, it can look like an old log, and I would return to use it.

As it turns out, both of these shotguns are far better looking than that, and actually broadly resemble one another in terms of shape. These shotguns both utilise a walnut stock, but the colouration on the 900 is more clearly defined than the Premier with the latter using silk varnish that doesn’t enhance the grain as much as a simple oiled finish. This gives the 900 has a slight edge in terms of appearance, but also a more tactile feel in the hands.

The receiver of the 900 and the Premier are both manufactured from a single piece of steel and both feature laser inscription that is of a very high standard. The Premier features various patterns that while clearly inscribed, seem to be somewhat unrelated. The birds I understand but what is that medallion looking thing meant to be? A clay? In any case I prefer the simple branding on the side of the 900, with its clean lines and less clutter.

Winner: Webley & Scott 900 Game

Comfort

Lighter, with a good recoil pad: the W&S 900 Game

The Premier weighs in at a shade over 3 kilos with the 900 weighing 2.6. This may not be too noticeable when first picking the shotguns up, but after a few rounds of shooting with shoulder fatigue playing a part, I assure you that this will become a noticeable difference. The chequering on the 900 seems to be deeper and better positioned as well, ensuring a secure grip at all times and providing better control between the hands.

This is also aided by the better balance that the 900 provides, although it worth pointing out that this particular 900 has 26” barrels, and still retains a positive bias towards them. Models of the 900 are available with barrel lengths up to 30” and it would be fair to assume that these models would be more top heavy than the Premier.

The 900 also features a far thicker recoil pad than the premier and with both shotguns capable of firing significant 12 gauge loads this seems to me to be somewhat of an oversight. Despite gun’s added weight, which should slow the gun down when firing, the Premier kicks particularly hard, like many Lincoln shotguns, and lacks the amount of rubber required at the butt to soften the blow, leading to increased fatigue and, in the hands of an inexperienced shooter, more flinch and worse accuracy.

However the Premier does have the edge when it comes to the trigger. The 900 features a trigger with a larger length of pull at almost 14 ¾” and a pull weight of 6lbs compared to the Premier’s 4 ¾lbs. This made the Premier’s trigger seem crisper and more responsive and gives better control over shot placement despite the increased recoil. Whilst the trigger is better I can’t understand the decision to forgo a rubber recoil pad on the Lincoln so I would recommend the 900. Trust me, your shoulders will thank you.

Winner: Webley & Scott 900 Game

Performance

The most important thing to consider when buying a shotgun is how well it shoots. This seems like somewhat of an obvious statement, but you would be surprised by the amount of people that are swayed by lasering on the receiver, or a goldplated trigger.

This has always seemed counter-intuitive to me and reminds me slightly of the heavily customised cars you see being driven around proudly that underneath all the Halfords body kits and stickers are still just a 1 litre Corsa bought on finance. After all, it is tight spreads and high pellet energy that kill birds, not how the prestigious the gun looks when nestled above the fireplace.

The action of the Premier seems somewhat stiffer and harder to use than the 900, but I put this down to it being a new gun and nothing that some repeated use and a little lubrication won’t fix.

The Premier and the 900 both produce tight spreads, with the Premier slightly edging it terms of shot pattern thanks to its longer barrels, and slightly tighter choke. This rewards good shooting and ensures more clean kills and less “wing” shots. The 900 also, while well centred, seems to shoot a little high compared to where the sights are pointing even when aiming as though the bird was perched on top of the front iron. This can be somewhat corrected with a full choke but never seemed to be as dead centre as the Premier.

All in all I think the Lincoln Premier wins this one, although I would like to see a test conducted between a Premier and a 900 Game with similar length barrels for comparison.

Winner: Lincoln Premier

Conclusions

Overall, I think that there are many things to like about both of these shotguns, the 900 is undoubtedly more comfortable to shoulder and fire but when it comes to all round performance I think the Lincoln shotgun just edges it. This was a particularly close run comparison however and it is easy to see why these shotguns are available for almost identical prices. Despite its heavy recoil, the Lincoln features a crisp trigger and better degree of accuracy and tighter spreads and no amount of stained walnut will make a shotgun better than that.

You can grab a Lincoln Premier here, and a Webley 900 Game here. The full range of Lincoln shotguns is here. For further advice, you can call us on 01263 731585, or email at [email protected].

Brand New: Air Arms Galahad

We preview a brand new air rifle from Air Arms, the Galahad….

Air Arms have a reputation for making sure that each of their products has been rigorously tested and designed so that it is absolutely perfect when it is released. Their premium models like the XTi-50 show how attention to detail can lead to air rifles that people love. Unfortunately, that can sometimes mean many months between new product launches. However, that makes it all the more exciting when a new item is announced, and today we heard of the latest announcement from them in the form of the Air Arms Galahad!

The Galahad Specs

The Galahad is multi-shot Bullpup rifle, which means that the action is seated right in the back of the stock, to minimise overall length and maximise manoeuvrability. The information that we received today hinted that it will be available in either Beech, Walnut and Black Soft Touch Rubber stocks, with a choice of lengths, either carbine or standard length, as most of the Air Arms rifles are. I’ve also read reports that it will be available with either a regulated or unregulated action, which I am surprised about as I have spoken with one of the engineers at Air Arms before, and he isn’t particularly keen on regulators, but I know many owners of Air Arms do aftermarket conversions on the current range of rifles.

Unique Handling

The cocking action is totally different to anything I have ever seen before, and it looks as though it’s a lever, which moves downwards, to cock the action back, and then returns to a horizontal position to load the pellet and arm the rifle. Air Arms claim that this ‘assists the shooter in staying on target as well as reducing overall movement’ which is essential when shooting targets, or attempting to be stealthy in the wilderness. This cocking lever can be moved to either side as well, to make the rifle fully ambidextrous.

Other features include a pressure gauge, options for either a 9-11mm dovetail rail, or a 22mm Weaver rail, and a fully adjustable rear butt pad.

An Air Arms Original

All in all I think this rifle does look totally different to anything on the market at the moment, which is a good thing as it can get to a stage where you struggle to tell rifles apart, and something like this really stands out from the rest. As with all Air Arms rifles you know the quality will be absolutely sublime and the accuracy spot on, so I’m quite looking forward to getting my hands on one!

If you have any questions about the Air Arms Galahad rifle, please do not hesitate to get in contact with us here. Additionally, if you would like to reserve an Air Arms Galahad, head to our airguns store. or give us a call on 01263 731585, and we can get that arranged.

Check out our whole Air Arms range here. And for more details, you can head to the official site.

And to learn more about the company, you can read our ‘Brand Focus’ about Air Arms and their range of airguns.

Brand Focus: Crosman

Crosman is a US manufacturer with a proud history.

In the first of a regular new feature, we zoom in to look at a particular manufacturer in the airguns, firearms, archery and outdoor space. This month we shine a light on Crosman, famous for their Rat Catcher airgun, and much more…

About Crosman Air Rifles

Crosman are an American airgun and outdoor equipment company, that design and manufacture a range of pistols, rifles, pellets, and scopes all in the USA. Their base is in East Bloomfield, Rochester which is near to the East coast in the State of New York. Crosman also have several other highly popular brands which they produce airguns under, including Benjamin, and Sheridan. The Benjamin range or airguns are of a higher quality, and more aimed towards the hunting / pest control side of the market.

Crosman first started production back in 1923, with the introduction of the ‘First Model’ rifle which was a pneumatic rifle. It used what was essentially a bike pump below the barrel, which pressurised the chamber, and this in turn fired the pellet along a rifled barrel. This weapon was of the first of its type, and Crosman has never forgotten this heritage, as a large percentage of their range today is pump up pneumatic rifles, although they no longer need to make use of a bike pump!

Crosman 2240 & 2250

Crosman are perhaps best known for their range of pest control rifles and pistols, such as the Crosman 2240 Rat Buster Co2 pistol, and their range of Ratcatcher rifles, namely the Crosman 2250 XL. These are all powered off the 12g Co2 capsules that Crosman began experimenting with back in the 1930s. In 1954 they introduced the standard 12 gram capsule as we know it today, and are now a standard in almost all airgun manufacturers of today.

Crosman also produce some ‘Big Bore’ airguns in calibres up to .357, making them immensely powerful and aimed primarily at the American market, although they are available in the UK with an FAC. One of their attempts was the Benjamin Rogue, which fired a .357 lead pellet at up to 1000 FPS making it immensely powerful. It also had an electronic controller for the firing mechanism which increased the shot count and consistency.

Crosman 2250 XL with 4x32 Scope — Crosman 2250 XL with 4×32 Scope

In my opinion though, you can’t really beat the Crosman 2250 Ratcatcher. The latest model, the 2250 XL, is a much improved model with a metal breech kit, and a longer barrel with a ½ inch UNF thread for fitting a silencer. The beauty of the 2250 is that it is so elegantly simple, with disassembly taking a few minutes, and a wealth of customizable parts available, which can be found on the internet. There are multi-shot kits, new bolt and probe assemblies, and you can replace literally everything on the rifle for a custom part! It really is the rifle if you like tinkering and improving, as the possibilities are almost endless.

Or, if you prefer something of a smaller size, the Crosman 2240 Rat Buster pistol is great, as it is almost exactly the same as the 2250, the only being difference being the inclusion of a smaller barrel. For instance, take a look at this Crosman 2240 (pictured) pistol where pretty much everything has been customised, apart from the Co2 tube!

Crosman 1077

The Crosman 1077 RepeatAir is a fun, fast and easy to use air rifle. Powered by Co2 capsules, it’s as easy and loading the magazine, loading it into the rifle, and firing to your heart’s content. With a velocity of 6ft/lb, it has enough power for youngsters to play with, and for the learner. A rail is included for optics and other additions.

760 Pumpmaster

Crosman 2240 air pistol. Credit: Carl, Lancs, England.

Other Crosman air rifles which are particularly popular are the 760 Pumpmaster which, as the name suggests, it is a pump air rifle which fires either pellets or BBs. The small frame size is ideal for juniors and female shooters, but can quite easily be used by adults as well, and is an excellent choice for teaching marksmanship skills as well as safe firearm handling.

A firm favourite of pistol target shooters over here in the UK is the Crosman 2300T, which is a CO2 powered pistol, based on the 2240, but with a longer competition barrel, and high quality sights, making it ideal for those wanting to start in target shooting, or teach it to beginners.

Just recently Crosman have released a new product under their Benjamin line called the Pioneer Airbow, and instead of a barrel that fires pellets, it fires arrows from a tube from an airgun based platform. The idea behind this is that you can use a scope, and finely adjust the trigger just like you can on a normal air rifle, to achieve the same high level of accuracy. Unfortunately it’s not available in the UK, but I think it’s pretty cool and shows the innovation that Crosman have.

To learn more about Crosman products, head over to their collections page now. Or check out their full range of Crosman air rifles and accessories on their brand page. Or head to their official site to learn even more.

The Big Interview: Mat Manning

Here at Pellpax, we’re proud to bring you an interview with a very special featured guest. In the world of airguns, Mat Manning is that rarest of things: A bone-fide celebrity. Mat works for Blaze Publishing Ltd, and is deputy editor of Airgun Shooter magazine. You may recognise him as being presenter of The Airgun Show, which regularly airs on Youtube. He is also the author of Air Rifle Hunting Through the Seasons: A Guide to Fieldcraft and Hunting with Air Rifles: The Complete Guide.

Tell us about your childhood, and what brought you to shooting?

I was outdoors for most of it. My grandad was a herdsman on a Somerset farm, not far from where I grew up, and I spent a lot of time there, helping grandad and doing a lot of fishing with my uncle Kevin – Mum’s little brother. Kev was actually closer in age to me than he was to mum.

I started shooting when I was ten. I loved it. Kev would lend me his old Webley Vulcan airgun, and I’d tag along with him whenever I got the chance. Kev and I still go out shooting together – he’s one of the cameramen on The Airgun Show.

Having a grandad in the farming network was a great help when it came to obtaining shooting permission. My ears would prick up at the mention of pests, and I’d be in there!

You’re coming up for forty. Career-wise, are you where you planned to be twenty years ago?

Well, yes. As a youngster, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do. I wasn’t a good scholar – I messed about too much – but I loved writing, and I knew I was good at it. At sixteen, though, I went off to Cannington College (a residential agricultural college) to study Countryside Management. I already had a very keen interest in wildlife and conservation, and I was familiar with the concept of balancing wild and domestic habitats. I never forgot about writing, though. In 1999, I went off to Glamorgan University to study journalism.

How did you do?

Got a First.

Excellent!

So yes, I wanted my career to be a combination of writing and shooting. Talking to a camera, though … that was a shock to the system! It’s a lot less forgiving than having time to compose your words on a keyboard, but it’s a challenge I’ve embraced, and I reckon I’m getting the hang of it now. Some of our films have had around 300,000 views, so we must be doing something right.

Tell us about your early career – those first jobs after studying.

For three years, after agricultural college, I worked for a woodland management company and also on a game farm. The work was seasonal, so these two occupations complemented one another well.

During the colder months – September to April – I’d be working on a chainsaw. This included the regeneration of hazel coppices, hedge-laying, and woodland thinning. You see, when the canopy is dense, there’s not enough sunlight on the woodland floor – nothing can germinate, so you don’t get any regeneration. By taking out some of the mature trees, you let the light in, wild flowers and young trees flourish, and biodiversity is improved.

Mat out filming with Tom O'Carroll from the BASC — Mat out filming with Tom O’Carroll from the BASC

Summer work was game rearing, and I also played an active role in pest control. The introduced grey squirrel population is detrimental to a lot of native wildlife – and not just the red squirrel. Greys are very partial to eggs, and they’ll even eat newly hatched birds. This has a destructive effect on songbirds and game birds. The squirrel’s taste for tree sap also causes major damage when they strip bark to get to the syrupy liquid beneath. It deforms trees and can also kill them. This habit makes the grey squirrel an enemy of foresters and also impacts on the habitat needed by our indigenous wildlife.

During these three years, I wrote an occasional article for shooting and fishing publications. I was itching to write, so, at twenty-three, I went off to Glamorgan to study Journalism.

My first ‘proper’ job as a journalist was with the Blackmore Vale Magazine. As a news reporter, I was thrown in at the deep end, covering anything from crime to planning and business, from sport to food and farming. It was great; bashing out 10,000 words of news a week is pretty good grounding for a career in what is a very hectic industry.

I also had my own shooting and fishing page called ‘Field and Stream’. At twenty-six, I had a lot of knowledge and experience when it came to wildlife and countryside issues. And I loved writing. This was a really good job for me – especially with the extra training provided by Trinity Mirror, which owned the magazine at that time. I spent twelve years at the Blackmore Vale magazine in various roles, including Content Editor.

You’re really busy at the moment with Blaze Publishing. Tell us about what you do.

Well – I’m Deputy Editor of the Airgun Shooter magazine, which is a four-weekly publication dedicated to all aspects of airgun shooting. I’d been a freelance contributor for shooting magazines for more than ten years, but presenting on The Airgun Show was completely new to me – as you can see if you look back at the early episodes!

Normally, I’d be hunting alone. Moving around with someone else, who’s weighed down with camera and sound equipment, is very different to your usual shooting experience. And it’s even trickier when we use the scope camera. This is a marvellous bit of equipment that allows your audience to see what you’re seeing, as you’re actually shooting. It takes some getting used to, though. The camera is fixed to the scope, while the shooter has to look off to one side at the little monitor. This means that the gun isn’t nestled snugly into your shoulder, and you find that it’s more difficult to hold it steady.

I try to make the best use of shot quarry that I possibly can. If it’s good for the table, I take it home with me and make burgers, sausages, pies, pasties, stews … and I save magpie and jay wing feathers, and squirrel tails too – the fibres are great for tying fly hooks and are always gratefully received by fly-fishing friends! It’s important to understand why you are killing. Conservation depends on achieving a balance. Population growth in a struggling species can sometimes only be achieved by the suppression of another. However, I feel that it’s vital to make the best use of culled animals.

Mat – we all want to know: what’s your favourite airgun?

Not telling!

Only joking. It’s a Daystate Mk 4 – a PCP (pre-charged pneumatic) air rifle, fitted with Daystate’s patented MCT – that’s ‘map compensated technology’. That’s my favourite at the moment, though I’m also very impressed with the latest incarnation of Daystate’s electronic firing system in the Pulsar. My Mk 4 is FAC-rated, but I also have several legal limit (sub-12 ft/lb) airguns in my collection. My Air Arms Ultimate Sporter and BSA Ultra SE see a lot of action.

You can grab a Daystate Mk4 PCP air rifle, Air Arms Ultimate Sporter and BSA Ultra SE from the PCP Air Rifles section on our webstore.

Pellpax Competition Time!

Here at Pellpax, we pride ourselves at building a great relationship with our incredibly passionate customers, who hail from all over the UK. As part of that commitment, we’ve built this blog to share our knowledge and expertise, and provide a useful resource for those passionate about airguns, bushcraft, and much more.

Another step in our commitment has been our first ever competition, which has been an outstanding success. With thousands of entries from across the UK, it’s clear that there is lot of enthusiasm for airguns and for Pellpax.

Dan Wesson Competition Winner

In October, we launched the competition to win a gold 2’5″ Dan Wesson revolver. This eye catching and highly desirable airgun is much sought after by enthusiasts. And so we’re happy to announce that the winner of the competition is Phill Akehurst of Water Orton, Birmingham. He will be receiving his airgun courtesy of our unique RFD door to door delivery service shortly. If you missed the comp, or didn’t win, but still fancy buying the revolver, you can find it here.

Win TWO Heckler & Koch Xmas MP5 Special Kits

The next competition will be to win not one, but TWO Heckler and Koch MP5 A5 AEG Two Tone Xmas Kits. They include 1000 BBs, and 50 Airgun targets. To claim your chance to win, keep an eye out for the special competition entry page where you can enter to win.

Pellpax Supports Our Heroes!

glen-henderson-pellpax — Former Marine and Pellpax staff member Glen Henderson

Here at Pellpax, we have an exciting announcement about one of our staff, who will be doing a 350 mile bike ride across England, for a very special cause.

Each and every week, Pellpax delivers airguns, shotguns, and other products to our array of customers across the UK using our very own fleet of drivers. Many of these personnel are ex-servicemen and former police officers, who help us fulfil our requirements as a Registered Firearms Dealer, handling the weapons, dealing with customers and checking their ID, as we are required to do by law.

One of our team is Glen Henderson, a brave ex-Royal Marine who has served his country during the First Gulf War, and has an incredible story to tell. Back in 2012, he suffered localised bleeding to the brain, while cycling to work, and fell quite seriously ill. The AVM (Arteriovenous Malformation), caused this bleeding inside, and the family man was left with 3 tough choices presented to him by medical staff, all of which carried the risk of death.

Battling through this tough time with the help of his wife and two children, while in a confused state due to the injury and the situation, he elected to have a craniotomy. After the operation and prolonged recovery, which he was nursed through by his wife, he made a full recovery. Now, back to full fitness and having returned to work, Glen wants to give something back.

help-our-wounded-logo2 — Help our Wounded Royal Marines And Supporting Arms is Glen’s nominated charity for the bike ride

The former marine has summoned the courage to cycle across England, from Barnham Broom in our home City of Norwich, to Bickleigh Barracks, in Plymouth Devon. It’s the home of 42 Commando of the Royal Marines. Glen’s aim is to make the most of his return to health, and raise money for Help Our Wounded Marines And Supporting Arms. It’s a charity that assists ex servicemen and women, suffering who have made huge sacrifices for our country, and now suffer with serious conditions, such as amputees, blindness and mental health issues.

Pellpax’s Director, Darren Kirk, has been vocal in his praise for Glen’s efforts, both in nursing himself back to recovery, and also in making such a major personal commitment to help his less fortunate former comrades. “Glen has been incredibly brave throughout his ordeal”, explains Darren. “He has handled his health problems with such courage and doing something like this, for charity, just shows how lucky we are to have him. We want to use our resources and our reach as an organisation, to help in any way we can”.

Pellpax are proud sponsors of Glen’s bike ride, and we will be using our resources to help with fundraising during the coming months leading up to the event. The bike ride itself will take place over between Saturday 18 June 2016 through to Monday 20th June. This is to allow for rest times, and ensure the journey is a safe one.

If you’d like to donate to Glen’s charity bike ride, then click here, to go to his Just Giving page.

To read more about his story, and stay updated as he prepares for the journey ahead, go to his blog.

How Can I Get A Shotgun Licence?

You may be tempted by the impressive array of shotguns we sell here at Pellpax. Unlike many shotgun retailers online, we can deliver them direct to your door. However, you will need a licence, as it’s a requirement of law here in the UK. We take a look at how you go about acquiring a shotgun certificate here.

A Licence is Essential

A shotgun, under section 1(3) a of the Firearms Act 1968 (as amended), is defined as a smooth bore gun (not being an air weapon); having a bore less than 5.08 cm and a barrel not less than 60.96 cm; having either no magazine or a non-detachable magazine incapable of holding more than two cartridges; and not a revolver gun.

It is a legal requirement that anybody who owns a shotgun or buys a shotgun for sale, must hold an up-to-date licence. A first shotgun licence, valid for five years and issued by the Firearms Licensing Unit of the local police force, can be obtained at a cost of £79.50 on completion of an application form (201) and a follow-up interview with a police officer.

Form 201, application for a firearm and / or a shotgun licence, can be downloaded from various websites, including the BASC (British Association for Shooting and Conservation), and your local police force’s website.

Security & Vital Info

It is good practice to arrange security immediately, ensuring that your locking cabinet, or alternative storage, complies with safety regulations. The application form includes questions about the provision of storage and security – proposed or in place – and the visiting police officer will need to be satisfied that your arrangements are appropriate; the application process can be slowed down by a lack of adequate security measures in place.

When completing form 201, you will be asked to give personal information regarding contact details, previous names and addresses, place and date of birth, nationality, convictions, and place of work. There is a section concerning personal health. It is a legal requirement that the applicant discloses all physical and mental health issues, both current and historical, and the signing of the form gives the police permission to contact the GP in order to verify the information given.

Any person who has known you for at least two years may act as a referee. The referee’s personal details (full name, date of birth, occupation etc) and contact details must be provided, along with four passport-style photographs of the applicant – one of which must be signed by the applicant.

The Next Stage

After four to six weeks, you will receive notification about your application. If this first stage has been successful, a police officer will visit you at your home to discuss safety arrangements – proposed or in place – and your reasons for owning a shotgun. It is perfectly reasonable to say that you want to take part in shooting for sport.

If the officer is satisfied with your security instalment, he will notify the Chief Officer of Police, and your certificate will be issued. If everything else is satisfactory, but your provision for safe storage is not yet in place, your certificate will be hand delivered by a police officer once he has seen, and is satisfied with, your gun security arrangements.

If successful, the certificate you will be issued with will last for 5 years. If you’re unsuccessful, you will receive a letter from the local Chief of Police, with the reason, and detail of the appeals procedure.

You can check out and buy a shotgun for sale from our online store right here. We sell shotgun accessories, too.

The Big Interview: Darren Kirk

To kick off the first in an occasional series of interviews with people in the world of airguns, shotguns, archery and outdoor gear, we talk to the director of Pellpax, Darren Kirk.

A dynamic leader who has turned this online business into a multi million pound organisation within two years, Darren has his sights on making it the biggest player in the airgun market. We chatted to him to find out more.

You’re running an airguns website right now, but what’s your background?

My background is actually IT: sixteen years as IT manager for Dupont. It was older technology – way older technology. I’m a certified Novell Engineer, but nobody uses Novell anymore! When I left that job it was early days of Windows, and very early days of anything Internet related. We had wide area networks – nothing like there is today, of course – but even in those early days I realised the power of IT, especially in a business like ours, where we’re a warehousing and online business, and the website is effectively our shop front. That’s where we need to invest the money. Whereas other people would invest it in infrastructure – things like dummies and shop windows and displays – our shop front is the whole of our website.

What’s a typical ‘day in the life’ for you, as the director of Pellpax?

Each day I do some work to keep control of the finances, sorting out things like who gets paid when, so in that sense, I keep a very tight control on the purse strings. We’ve got so many projects on the go at the moment, and we can’t bring them through as quickly as we’d like, so it’s just a matter of spending a little time on each project, trying to move it forward. Then there’s a lot of day-to-day stuff like paperwork and so on. It’s so easy to get diverted, and then at other times you just get held back. It can be really time consuming. For example, at the moment I have 1018 unread emails! I scan through them, pick out the most important ones, and reply to them. And whenever I get time, I start from the oldest ones and work my way forward – which is not a good place to be. It’s just that there aren’t enough hours in the day to physically do everything at the moment.

How has Pellpax grown in the past few years? It seems to have experienced a rapid period of growth.

It’s actually been only two years. The current website went live on Feb 13 2014, so we traded for six months on a different website. The biggest achievement is that we’ve achieved that growth without borrowing any money. Everything is paid for. All our stock is paid for upfront. We pay our suppliers pre delivery, before we get our products in. That’s the biggest challenge: juggling the money. You want to be sure you’re safe in the bank for anything that happens, but at the same time you don’t want to be holding back too much money and stopping the business from growing. It’s quite challenging at times. It’s a juggling act, but we’ve managed to keep the balls in the air so far – and without needing any financial help from anybody.

Tell us about the type of customers you get.

We do have two main types of customers. One group is the professionals or the ones who are seriously into their shooting. We have people working here who are very knowledgeable and know what they’re talking about. We’ve got three gunsmiths on site. We’ve got a guy who has three British archery records. We’ve got a guy whose business is hunting, managing deer herds, and game keeping. So we’ve got the in-house expertise in all the areas our customers are interested in. But then we do have a large number of customers who are first time buyers. Or maybe they’re retired, and they had an air rifle as a child, and they’ve got a bit of spare time and a bit of spare money. Our experts have to look after these customers in a different way. So we have two ends of the spectrum: people who really know what they’re on about and what they’re looking for, and people who have no idea beyond a budget and a rough idea of what they’re going to use it for!

We don’t always sell people the most expensive gun or the item we can make most profit from. If they say, ‘we want to use it for pest control’ or ‘we want to use it for target practice’, we do advise them, and they end up with a product that’s most suitable for the purpose. So really, the level of qualifications, knowledge and expertise in the staff team is a big advantage for us.

Tell us about Pellpax’s unique delivery service.

We have our own fleet of five vans, and occasionally we’ll hire an extra one if we need it. They’re all caged and high security, with cameras and lights inside. We have two full-time drivers, who go out every weekend, and then we have a bank of seven ex-policemen – drivers that we pool from, depending on how many we need. Most of them are former fire officers and ex-marines. They know the guns anyway, and they’re used to dealing with people in difficult situations. So we take the security very seriously. We try and give as good a service as possible. When you’re planning routes that cover the whole of the country, it’s very difficult to be at a certain person’s house at a certain time with no room for error. There’s always going to be traffic problems or whatever. But we do achieve over 95% hit rate on getting to the door at the time we told the customer we’d be there.

A couple of things that have happened over the last few months: we’ve had our explosives licence through, so we can deliver powders and ammunition, and if we turned our hand to it, even fireworks too; but we also do quite a lot of canoe deliveries, believe it or not. It’s really expensive to courier a 15-foot canoe anywhere, but our vans are going everywhere every weekend anyway, so it’s very easy to strap one onto the roof. We’ve got a canoe trailer too, and we can tow that. So we’re making a fair impact on the canoe business at the moment!

It seems like there’s a lot of innovation in the business. How important to you is trying new things?

I think, in a lot of businesses, if you stand still, you’re actually going backwards, because other people are coming along and doing things bigger and better and faster than you are. So there’s no room to stand still. We’re constantly moving ahead, looking for new suppliers, looking for new products, investing money in improving the website, investing the money in doing the email marketing and blogs and facebook and twitter, and all the other things we’re doing at the moment.

A lot of it is going to take years before we become big players with some of those products, but the whole point as far as I’m concerned is that if people are searching for something, and they end up at your website, they’ll then see what other products you supply. You might just get somebody coming along for a boat box, for example – a Dragons’ Den boat box – and they come onto our website, and they’re into their shooting. And they might never have found us if it hadn’t been for some relatively obscure product they were searching for.

We’ve got the development of the show trailer at the moment, with an idea that next year we’ll be at a lot of shows. The base is on order and the first money has gone to the carpenter who’s building this thing for us. So the emphasis isn’t just on new products and how we expand the range, but also on how we get those products in front of potential customers, either electronically or physically.

Finally, tell us about the new warehouse plans that are underway.

Yes, we broke ground about eight weeks ago now, and we’ve got a new warehouse that will be split into three sections. One will be a small retail unit, and then there’ll be the main warehouse to one side of it and a further warehouse, for bulk product, on the other side. So the three units that are being built are in total well over three times the space we’ve got at the moment. And there will be a full-length archery and gun range built down the back of them. So, customers will be able to come along and look through what we’ve got in the retail unit shop, and if it’s not there, we’ve got the warehouse next door, and we’ll be able to fetch something off the shelf for them to look at. And if they’re seriously interested, they can go down into the range to test fire the guns before they buy.

With exciting times ahead at Pellpax, stay tuned for announcements on the blog, or sign up for our regular emails for news, features, and info on the latest products in our range.

Three Of the Best: Famous Guns & Their Airgun Equivalents

With the release of the latest instalment in the James Bond franchise, Spectre, recently released into UK Cinemas, we thought it might be a good time to share with you a range of famous guns that have been made iconic on the silver screen. Let us give you a rundown of three of the very best!

Gun #1: Desert Eagle

Movie: Snatch (2000)

The Desert Eagle provides the focal point for one of the many comic scenes in this classic cockney caper movie, when Vinnie Jones’ character ‘Bullet Tooth Tony’ confronts the hapless duo of Vinnie and Sol in a face off, guns pointed at each other, with some fairly memorable dialogue:

“You are shrinking, and your two little balls are shrinking with you. And the fact that you’ve got “Replica” written down the side of your guns…And the fact that I’ve got “Desert Eagle point five O”…Written down the side of mine…: Should precipitate your balls into shrinking, along with your presence. Now… Fxxx off!”

The scene boosted the popularity of this robust, iconic handgun, which has appeared in many movies before and since. Originally designed by Israeli Military Industries, and redesigned by legendary US gun manufacturer Magnum, the good news is that there is a Co2 air gun equivalent. Cybergun have retained all of the heft, and features of the original, with their premium Desert Eagle air pistol.

Gun #2: Walther PPK

Movie: Casino Royale (2006)

The legendary Walther PPK is the gun most associated with James Bond, and appears in a host of the movies in the franchise, as well as of Ian Fleming’s books.

One notable example is the 2006 outing, the first for Daniel Craig in a Bourne-style reboot, which took the secret agent back to darker, more dangerous leanings more reminiscent of the original source material. The gun makes an appearance in the brutal opening scenes where Bond gets his double-o stripes with two kills.

Bond uses the Walther in the opening fight sequence, by hitting his adversary, Agent Fisher, on the side of the head, with the hefty German gun. A violent fight ensues after it falls to the floor, before Bond grabs it to complete the kill, setting off the legendary gun barrel introduction sequence that graces all Bond movies. The incredible violence of the scene introduces a Bond that is worlds away from the campy, softer performances of Piers Brosnan and Roger Moore, and reminds us what a badass Bond really is. The appearance of this gorgeous, robust gun is a bonus.

You can check out the Walther PPK co2 replica, produced by Umarex, here.

Gun #3 Colt M1911

Movie: The Big Lebowski (1998)

Nothing could be more iconic than one of the most quoted cult movies of all time – and the most famous guns to go with it. An internet meme favourite, John Goodman’s character famously loses it and brandishes a Colt M1911 air pistol when his friend Smokey tries to hand himself a bowling score he doesn’t deserve.

‘You’re entering a world of pain’ Goodman growls, in a raging fit of fury to enforce the rules. You’ll have seen the impressive gun he’s brandishing in 1001 other movies, but none quite as funny. You can check out our range of 1911s by Colt, Remington and Swiss Arms, right here.