Pellpax 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.

Watching Wildlife in Winter

Our resident professional deer management expert, David Ward, shares his insights from spending time observing the natural countryside habitat.

Barn Owls

If you’re out at sunrise or at sunset, at any time of the year, you might spot a hunting barn owl, flying low over grassy land. The barn owl has a highly developed sense of hearing. It patrols its hunting ground, listening for the rustling of small mammals, ready to swoop down for the capture. You won’t hear a thing, though – and nor will the voles that make up the larger part of the barn owl’s diet, because its incredibly soft feathers are adapted for perfectly silent flight.

But the secret of success in temperate climates becomes a feature of destruction in the cold, wet season. The super-soft feathers are not water resistant, and on wet days a barn owl can’t hunt; unable to store much body fat, the birds often die of starvation. Forced to hunt during the day, when voles and mice are taking advantage of a slight rise in temperature and are foraging for their own food, the barn owl will perch on a post or a tree, listening for its prey. This is the only energy-efficient method of hunting in cold weather, when a long period of flying could very well result in no catch at all. Sometimes a barn owl is compelled to venture beyond its home range. Sadly, when this happens, survival rate is low.

During the summer months, fields of crops and grassland are home to large populations of voles. As the temperature drops and food becomes scarce, voles lead a more sedentary life, burrowing into nests to preserve energy and to avoid predators. Historically, this is a time when barn owls hunted in the warmth of farm buildings, where rodents were also seeking shelter. However, recent changes in farming practices, particularly feed storage and rodent control, mean that barn life is now not such an easy option.

Kestrels

A kestrel will cache its food – an economical system, whereby hunting is done in favourable conditions and food is stored for later. With its exceptional eyesight, a kestrel is capable of spotting a beetle 50 meters away and has the unusual capacity to see the ultraviolet light given off by urine, enabling it to follow the trails of its prey.

Unlike the barn owl, the kestrel is more confident in venturing beyond its home range, moving to lower altitudes during the winter when there is a shortage of small mammals and invertebrates. It will even eat carrion. Although, like all birds of prey, the kestrel is loath to be near human beings, it will, when desperate, take meat from human refuse.

It’s a thrill to see these lovely birds close up, but rather sad to realise that this is a reflection of their desperation. There are many kinds of living creatures in the countryside, and you can learn a lot by observing them.

You can find out more about David Ward’s services as a professional deerstalker, by heading over to his site, Norfolk Deer Management.

Face Off : CZ 455 Varmint vs Marlin XT

One of our staff, and up and coming reviewer, Steph, takes us through a comparison of two leading rim fire rifles, going head to head. Read on to learn much more….

There are a few things to consider when it comes to buying a rifle. The first is whether or not you want a rimfire or a centrefire and whilst there maybe slight differences in performance between the two, this choice will largely come down to what you are using the rifle for. Rimfires chamber smaller calibres and are generally used for target shooting or hunting vermin or other small animals whereas centrefires are used to tackle much larger game such as deer.

Not being a big game hunter myself, despite my love for venison, I have opted to compare two rimfires in this blog post, as they are more readily available, chamber a smaller variety of calibres and, perhaps more importantly, are quite a bit cheaper to both buy and maintain. Because of this, the two rifles I have chosen to compare are the Marlin XT chambered in .17 HMR and the CZ 455 Varmint chambered in the larger .22 WMR round. Both of these rifles are moderately priced with the Marlin coming in around £400 and the CZ at £550, and are perfect for anyone looking for their first rimfire.

Best Looking Rifle?

This is perhaps the most divisive of topics as a lot is down to personal taste, and most serious shooters would consider this topic to be secondary to almost any other. However the aesthetics of a rifle are important when it comes to creating a first impression and make all the difference between someone asking: “oooh what is that?” to “what is that!?”
Both of these rifles follow a similar shape and design, and imitate classic bolt action designs of the past, with the Marlin being slightly more angular and the CZ more curved, the Marlin also features a synthetic stock as opposed to the walnut wood of the CZ.

This, for me, makes the CZ a clear winner in looks department as the graining and quality of the wood used in its stock is simply fantastic with subtle pattern variations and a varnished finish that gives the colour real depth and, in my mind, is far more attractive than plastic will ever be. This is one of, perhaps the main, reason for the price difference between the rifles as polymer stocks are far easier to produce.

Winner : CZ 455

Comfort

Despite the quality of its walnut stock, this feature does make the CZ almost half a kilo heavier than the Marlin,. This is even though it is significantly shorter, and with neither of them weighing in at more than 3.2kg, it is a very noticeable difference, and something to bear in mind when taking on long hunting trips. A heavier rifle makes shoulder firing more fatiguing and will lead to less accurate shooting as the hunt progresses.

The CZ also fires a larger round than the Marlin which requires more force to propel it the same distance. This will start to wear on your shoulder as shooting progresses and, despite the thicker rubber recoil pad on the CZ, is still a noticeable difference. Now this is somewhat negated by the fact that these rifles are rimfire and not centrefire, but the increase in recoil is still surprisingly apparent and something to bear in mind. Despite the more ergonomic stock design of the CZ, the Marlin would be marginally more comfortable for me, especially on long shooting trips.

Winner : Marlin XT

Performance

Here we go! This is the big one. A rifle can be gorgeous and comfortable but if you can’t hit a barn door with it, you may as well use it as a very expensive walking stick. Yes, I’m looking at you Mini-14… The majority of shooters will tell you that the biggest deciding factor in whether a gun is accurate or not is the the big fleshy attachment on the end of it, and whilst I tend to agree with this statement, there are some factors that can make one gun inherently more accurate than another.

A Comparison Of The 2 Rounds

The first of these factors is the ammunition used. Now I’m not going to go into great detail about the advantages and disadvantages about different brands of ammunition, but suffice to say when it comes to picking you ammunition, like anything, you get what you pay for.

When it comes to calibre however there are some generalisations that can be made. The larger .22 round of the CZ will drop off more rapidly than the lighter round of the Marlin although a good scope will be able to compensate for this. However, this weight can have it’s advantages and due to the heaviness of the round it is moved far less by a crosswind and as such is more suitable for hunting conditions where the conditions are changeable.

The second factor when judging accuracy is the barrel of the rifle itself. The Marlin features iron sights for better out of the box accuracy but I’m going to assume that no one reading this is Chris Kyle and will be fitting a high powered scope to assist their aiming.

The barrel of the Marlin is 2 inches longer than the CZ which gives the bullet more time before it is ejected into the turbulent open air which should improve accuracy.

However, in my experience this was not the case, as the CZ features a far heavier varmint grade barrel, which more rigid than the Marlin’s standard grade design and makes the bullet more stable when it leaves the barrel leading to less movement in the air.

The CZ shot so well, in fact, that it left one hole in the target with an entire 5 round clip shot at 50 yards – impressive stats indeed. The Marlin was not far behind but certainly is not the tack driver that CZ is.

Winner : CZ 455

Reliability

The stock of the CZ is a thing of beauty. Now, I was not really given enough time to properly assess this attribute of the rifles in question, as reliability can only truly be measured after years of use, and thousands of rounds. However, what I will say is that with rimfire bolt action rifles, there is not a lot that can really go wrong. Both rifles feed and eject reliably, with the bolt of the Marlin perhaps being a little more clunky to operate, but this may be due to out of the box stiffness, something that should clear up after a couple of shooting sessions.

CZ rifles have been some of the most consistently reliable rifles on the market and are noted for their workhorse nature, round after round. Marlin rifles are not as well renowned for their reliability but have improved vastly in recent years thanks to their acknowledgement that their lack of quality control allowed bands such as Rossi and Henry into the market. The rifles that they produce now, having been effectively bought out by Remington, are simply of far better build quality than a few years ago.

Winner : Draw

Conclusions

In conclusion I would say that the CZ is marginally the superior rifle. Whether it is £150 better is debatable, as Marlin really seemed to up their game since the acquisition by Remington was completed. Those accuracy tests don’t lie however, and I myself am inherently drawn to a walnut stock, especially one as finely crafted as the CZ. Overall the CZ might be a heavier, more expensive rifle with a firmer recoil, but the level of trust I have for their brand for making quality products is something that tips the balance in the CZ’s favour.

Overall Winner : CZ 455
You can find links to both the rifles here : CZ 455 + Marlin XT

How to Take Care of Your Airgun

It’s important to take care of your air pistol or air rifle, in order to ensure that you get the most out of it.

An airgun is a precision instrument – a complex piece of machinery. Rough treatment will cause irreparable problems, shortening the active life of an airgun that should, in the best of circumstances, last for many decades.

When transporting an airgun, ensure that it is settled securely in your vehicle, protected from bumps, falls, and collisions with other objects. Parts of the airgun’s mechanism can be knocked out of alignment, and there are some parts, perfectly adequate for normal use, that will break under stress.

Cocking a break barrel airgun can take quite a lot of force, especially in modern models such as the Gamo Hunter 440 .22 and Hammerli .22, whose powerful locking mechanisms are built to contain intense pressure in the firing cylinder. But once the pellet is loaded, do not slam the barrel closed. If the locking mechanism is damaged, the barrel will be nudged out of position, and accuracy compromised.

When cocking an underlever airgun, like the Air Arms TX200, the lever must be pulled back as far as it will go, and only at the final stage will the safety button engage. If you stop pulling too soon, and attempt to close the lever, it will seem as if the lever is stuck. It is important not to force the lever back to the closed position, but to continue pulling the lever back into the cocked position.

It is advisable to wipe the bore of your airgun, after use, with a dry cotton flannel patch. This serves to remove particles of lead or any moisture. Never use solvents in the bore, because there is a danger of it getting into the valves and damaging the plastic or rubber materials of the valve seats.

bcsha-8822 — To protect your airgun from damage, use Birchwood Casey Barricade Rust Protection

External metal surfaces should be treated with a thin film of Birchwood Casey Rust Protection, and wooden surfaces with a smear of oil.

When changing the cylinder on your CO₂ gun, never over tighten the cylinders, for this can damage the threads. Brush dirt from the threads with a toothbrush and apply a very little synthetic grease to the threads every 20-30 times that you change the cylinder.

Lubrication is important. A dab of Crosman Pellgun Oil on the end of each new CO2 cylinder is sufficient to lubricate the seals that engage the neck of the cylinder. But beware of over lubricating – the gun’s mechanism can be clogged up and damaged by excessive grease.

Airguns seldom need dismantling for cleaning. They burn no powder and therefore produce no residue. They fire clean lead bullets at comparatively low velocity, and so only in the more powerful of airguns is there ever any metal fouling. An airgun can be fired tens of thousands of times between cleanings. If your airgun is being used infrequently, it won’t need a check and thorough clean more than once in six years. Those who shoot on a daily basis, however, should have their guns checked and cleaned annually.

First vital point in caring for your airgun: read the owner’s manual and follow the guidelines.

Second vital point in caring for your airgun: if a lever or button isn’t moving as easily as it should, don’t be tempted to force it. Find out what is preventing normal operation and fix that problem.

To check out our wide and growing range of Airguns, head over to the Pellpax Store.

Six Awesome Shooting Tips for Your .22 Air Rifle

You’ve taken the plunge and gone out and finally bought that .22 air rifle for sale online, that you promised to yourself – ideally from us!

But now you’re in your backyard, plinking away at targets to discover that you’re not the natural gunslinger you’d assumed you would be. Have no fear. Shooting takes practice, and a little knowledge of technique can go a long way.

Here are some tips to help you on your journey to being a top shooter.

Use a decent air rifle scope: There is a huge world of difference between shooting using open sights, and any scope. This will increase accuracy by 50% at least. You may wish to challenge yourself by shooting using open sights, but in general, it’s best to use a scope if you want to hit the target. Look out for higher levels of magnification and spec if you’re serious, and have the budget.

Let the airgun point where it wants to: this may sound a little like ‘use the force, Luke’, but there is truth in it. By standing naturally with your airgun, holding it as you would normally, and then seeing where it points, you will find it naturally points in a certain direction. By adjusting your body accordingly like you and the gun are part of one big mechanism, you will be far more likely to hit the target than if you try to move your arms around to zoom in your quarry.

Shoot From The Prone Position: The easiest way to learn how to shoot accurately is to lie down on your front, with the rifle resting naturally in your hands. It’s known as the ‘prone’ position, and is a good way to develop your accuracy. Not to be dismissed, you can always use it as a building block to grow your shooting style, before you learn to shoot on your feet.

Use a Rifle Sling, Bipod or Tripod: If you’re shooting from the upright position, then a rifle sling can help you to carry the weight of the rifle more comfortably, leaving your hands to focus in on fine tuning your aim. Equally, if you’re down on the ground, a bipod or tripod attachment can take the load off your hands, and let you dedicate your energies to finding the sweet spot.

Relax: Tension, in the mind, body, or both, is going to ruin your aim. By relaxing the body and mind as much as possible, particularly with deep breaths before, and after the shot, you can keep your arms nice and loose, and zone in on what you’re trying to hit.

Spread your Shots: When aiming at a target, if you constantly try to hit the centre of the circle, you will find you quickly create a hole which makes it difficult to discern whether you’re hitting subsequent shots correctly or not. By aiming at different points on the target board, you will distribute them more evenly, and be able to see whether you’re hit what you were aiming for, more easily.

So there you go. Happy shooting, and if you need help, advice or more gear, be sure to get in touch, or check out our site for .22 air rifles for sale, and shooting accessories including Scopes, Slings, Bipods and Tripods, to help with your endeavours!

Gaining My Archery Achievements

James Hancock is the resident archery enthusiast and expert at Pellpax, where we have recurve bows, crossbows, and all kinds of archery equipment and accessories for sale. He’s on hand to give advice and help customers most days. Here he shares how he got into archery, and won several high level competitions and awards in the sport.

I first started showing an interest in archery when I turned the age of eight, Lord Of The Rings – The Fellowship Of The Ring had just come out in the cinema (2001) and I remember all of my friends, including me, wanting to take up archery due to this.

I had already shown skill with hand-eye coordination from a younger age when my father brought me my first airgun, an old Baikal IJ 38 .177 Stamped “Made in USSR” down the side of it. This was keenly used to shoot bottle tops in the back garden using the open sights, and I must admit I was a demon with this gun.

Moving on, after showing an interest in archery, Dad bought my first bow for me as a birthday present. It was a little green Sherwood bow with only about 12lbs on it, and with this we would go across into the fields opposite our house, where we would walk the dogs and just shoot at tree stumps or hay bales. After seeing that I was shooting so well, Dad then took up archery himself and found us a local club so we could take this new found hobby further, so we joined the Fakenham Bowmen.

Joining GNAS

This was a target archery club and was run under the rules of GNAS (Grand National Archery Society). Whilst here I was constantly pushed by the club to take up Recurve or Compound style bows, that using sights on the bow, etc. I saw this as cheating and so refused and instead went in the direction of Barebow. This is where a Recurve style bow is used, but without any of the sights, weights or stabilisers. Using several of the club bows and trying all sorts of beginner recurve kits; Dad decided that if I were to enter competition then I would need a higher quality of bow to see me through, so he brought me a Hoyt Gamemaster 1 with a 40lbs draw weight. Through this he received a lot of criticism from by some of the clubs members because it was such a highly powered, challenging bow. The club hadn’t noticed, though that by this time I was very strong for my age and could use this bow all day with ease.

Winning Awards

After winning several club events in my category, we then started signing up for other competitions around the county, and then all over the country. By this point I had turned 12-13. Whilst doing this, I won four Norfolk County awards in a row as well as various different club events. Whilst shooting at Taverham Archery Club on 8th January 2006 in a Stafford round I was informed that I had just defeated the previous record and was now the current national record holder for this category. With this, I went on to setting a few more national records, first back at Fakenham Bowmen in a Junior Warwick Round on 30th April 2006 Short, then Taverham Archery Club again in a Stafford round on 14th January 2007, then once again at Fakenham in a Short Warwick Round on 6th May 2007.

After all this there wasn’t much more room for me to progress within the target archery world as all the organisations and clubs were only really interested in the other junior archers who were using bow sights on recurves and compounds, grooming them ready for Team GB and Olympic shooting. So we left these clubs and shoots, and instead turned to field archery. First impressions of this different form of shooting were good, the people were friendly and the whole atmosphere was more relaxed and enjoyable. We had joined Broadland Bowmen in Norwich and as such it was a requirement for us to either join the NFAS (National Field Archery Society) or the EFAA (English Field Archery Association), so we joined both.

Entering NFAS & Other Competitions

Shooting mostly in the NFAS to begin with, I won several different club events, both local, and many around the country. These shoots were a lot more enjoyable because the targets weren’t like in GNAS, where you have a fixed target repeating the same round as the last. These types of events instead involved walking around a set out woodland course which had 3D animal targets at unknown distances. This suited me and my shooting style down to the ground. However, all this traveling and commitment to the sport began to make my hobby feel more like a obligatory task, and I rapidly began losing interest in the sport. One of the last serious competitions I shot at was hosted by Worlingham Field Archers in Suffolk which was a weekend shoot over the 6th and 7th June 2007. Here my category was Junior Bow hunter Recurve and over the two days I won the highest score and so received an England medal.

I shot a few more local competitions after this but truth be told I had completely lost interest and it all fizzled out. For about two years I didn’t touch a bow again or even think of doing archery. After this time I then picked the bow up again and still shoot for my own pleasure on some family woodland. Only one of my national records in GNAS remains, the Junior Short Warwick.

Given all my experiences, I’m still very much a handy archer, and despite all previous thoughts of immense dislike towards compound-style bows, I have recently bought one. I must admit it is both fun and accurate! I no longer have my Hoyt Gamemaster 1 but instead enjoy shooting an old style Mongolian Flatbow for which I buy all the arrow parts and assemble myself. This is a simple but enjoyable form of shooting, and a lot better for those who like shooting fast and being an instinctive archer.

I am very much considering the idea of competing again soon, and trying to win a few more trophies, this time in the gentlemen’s category. The only thing I now need to think about is what style and what bow I’m going to use!

James is one of the many experts that work with the Pellpax team. If you’d like to get into archery, check our range of recurve bows, crossbows, archery equipment and accessories for sale, or call us now for advice.

David Ward on Norfolk Deer Management

David Ward of Norfolk Deer Management gives us insight into a slice of countryside life by telling us about his service.

My name is David Ward and I’m a professional deerstalker, trading under the name Norfolk Deer Management. I’m passionate about what I do, and I offer a free but professional service to farmers and landowners, managing deer numbers on their land. I simply keep the carcassof any deer that I shoot. I’m registered as a food business with North Norfolk District Council, and I process the carcass myself and supply the venison to local pubs and restaurants.

I’m looking for more land over which to manage deer numbers, so if you think you could make use of my free service, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me so we can have a chat about what you require and how I can help. I use a range of calibres in my work, the Browning X Bolt in .308 calibre being the mainstay. I also keep the rabbit numbers down on a couple of farms and use a CZ .22LR and CZ HMR17 for this work – both great calibres, despite the issues around the defects in HMR 17 ammunition.

Advising & Working With Pellpax

I load my own ammunition and was very happy to advise Pellpax on reloading supplies and equipment for them to stock. Pellpax is a Registered Firearms Dealer and offers a unique service in that they carry out face-to-face deliveries to their purchasers across the country every weekend. This includes powder and expanding ammunition. I have also agreed to carry out impartial reviews on some of the products they sell, and these can be found on my website.

As to the future: well, I’m looking to create a deer park. So I’m looking for property owners – of stately homes or events venues – who might want such an attraction on their land. It would make a great photo shoot backdrop to a wedding. Also I’m looking to rent the deer shooting rights from a large estate in order that I can take clients out to cull deer under my supervision. I’ll keep you updated on any developments.

If you’d like to contact David, you can find out more, and get in touch with him, over at his website>>>> http://www.norfolkdeermanagement.co.uk

Intro To Shooting Accessories: Air Rifle Targets

If you’re a passionate airgunner for hunting, pest control, sport, or hobbying, then you’ll know that you can’t just stop at your chosen weapon. Shooting accessories are essential, for a whole variety of reasons.

To get the most out of your airgun shooting, getting yourself some air rifle targets is vital, whether you’re tracking down pests, or competing with others. By drilling yourself to hit the target, over and over, you can ensure that you will be ready when time comes, whether it’s for competition or catching the varmint that’s chewing up your vegetable patch.

Paper Shooting Targets & Holders

Today’s targets come in a range of designs, and include simple paper targets like these practice targets.

These Practice Targets come in packs of 100, and are are inexpensive. The concentric circles help you clearly see where you’ve hit the target, and the smaller targets all over the shooting target area allow for longevity and a greater variety of targets to aim for.

These items are purchased in large volumes, a minimum of 50, but it is essential to have a place on which to rest the paper target. This can be something as simple as an old pillow, but these can be unreliable and messy. To be practical, it’s better if you can invest in target holders and pellets catchers such as this one:

This is great for backyard hobby plinking, but also helps to improve your aim, to keep you sharp for competitions, pest control and hunting.

Note the manner in which your many hundreds of shots will be caught, allowing you to keep things tidy, even as you fire at the target again and again. The material that these are constructed from is robust and will ensure that they give many years of service.

Refresh Your Target Shooting With Furry Pests Pictures!

One way of keeping things fresh and interesting is to mount images of pests and hunting animals on your pellet holder. This can stimulate the imagination and keep you focussed as you fire shot after shot, as well as preparing you for the real thing. Rats and squirrels are some of the main reasons people purchase airguns, from amateur pest control all the way up to professional usage. So it’s something that makes perfect sense. To do this, you can also head on over to the BASC to download some realistic looking airgun targets like these:

Knockdown Targets, Zombie Targets & Snooker Targets

These are a good halfway house to some of the field targets that are set out in woodlands to mock up a representation of pests and small live targets normally faced by airgunners. You can also find metal knockdown targets that resemble pests, for example, this knock and reset rat target (below), which allows you to get some of the realism of your quarry while practicing and zeroing in on the rats that might be chewing on your vegetable patch!

In order to keep things interesting, shooters may wish to train their rifle on something a bit different, and this is why a fun trend for things like snooker targets has allowed airgun enthusiasts to keep interesting. Target shooting should always be done on private land, or with the full permission of the owner or tenant. If you’re headed off to a range, be aware that airguns should always be transported in a secure case which does not allow the gun to be fired. As is always the case with firearms, keep yourself familiar with UK gun law to be safe.

Pellpax has a huge range airguns and related equipment. Check out our range of air rifle targets and accessories today.