An everning of Henry,Metford ,Enfield

 Last night was a bleak ,Wet ,Thundery night ! No good for Foxes but a chance to spend a Everning in another Shooters camp ! THe gent in question is called Bb Fisher & is a gentleman of the Old school ! I found out last night his in his early 90's & started out as a rabbit trapper at the age of 10 ! He has always used .303's & their off spring to hunt so as we were settled for the night I decided to pick his brains on the subject of .303's !
        He started with, where shall we start ? (I knew then I was in for a long night )He pointed out in the early days of his career that there were still Metfords avalible & that if you were'nt carefull & brought one You would burn the barrel out in n time with cordite charged ammo & most shot round corners ! Martinis were a faverite Of the Buff shooters of his day as they hunted from horse back riding up to the animal & shooting it in the spine & then on to the next animal ! It was'nt a case of good shooting it was a case of good horsemanship! Some of the ammo they would get in those days was still Black powder & it was a hit & miss affair !
       After WW2 there was mil surplus galore avalible & Bob once brought a Ton (yeah a Ton) of .303 ammo for 5 pound !!!!!! Now the problem was it was both Ball & Belted ammo so there was Amour piecing ,Normal MK7 & Tracer & who had the time or inclination to sort it ? Bob asked me if I had ever had a .303 go through a Buff ? I mean in one side & out the other!!! at 100yrds  Oh course I had'nt !!!!! He pointed out  I'd never fired AP ammo !!!!! Another funny one  was taking a dshot at a Buff & watching the tracer  go right in front of it's head  (tends to startle both victiam & shooter ) Or shooting in long grass in the dry & starting a grass fire after shooting a Tracer (not so funny when you in the grass at the time Bob assured me of this to stop me chocking I was laughing so much)
        Bob got me my first start as a Buff shooter up North! Up til then I had only worked Rabbits & was just getting into the Roo industry & I had a hell of a time getting my Parents to let me go with him (I was 16 ) I found out last night that He & my Father had shot Crocs together & I think I have found the answer of why my Dad Has never forgiven me for becomming a Pro shooter ! It used to be a common practice to cut about a 1/8 of a inch of the end of MK7 ammo to make it expand  (Dum-Dum) but if you cut anymore away the core continues on & leaves the jacket stuck in the Barrel  Apparently Dad found this out the Hard way once & on another occastion whilst out in a boat ,spotlighting Crocs (the prefered way of shooting them ) He & Bob had picked up a set of eyes on a high bank ! Now Bob reckons that he was'nt sure if it was a Croc ,but Dad being pig headed shot it anyway to prove that it was ! Anyway after the Prize Stud bull that had been hit between the eyes hit the water they agreed that (A) it was'nt a Croc & (B) this would never be mentioned again ! I'm really looking forward to a visit with dear Old Dad & bring ing the matter up !
      Yes a great way to spend a everning even if there were several  mentions of little mistakes I have made over the years !

       Dave

Yes it's a funny thing Ed As Pros we seem to spend our working lives in solitude & it's not often that yo get a chance to roll out your swag( a type of weather proof bed roll ) with another shooter ! It's great when we do though

     Dave  

Dave,

Agreed, But what do you do stay up for hours and type a book?

Cookie Monster

dave h,

Dying art? The sport will only die if we let it. We must keep the next generation interested in the sport.

Cookie Monster

GOOD ON YA DAVE H ,   at home,sick with a cold enjoyed your story!  my grandad started me shooting a .22 at 10years old,in our back yard. had a big butter box full of wet news papers.(and the occasional rat).in the yard,Not the box. at about 14, we had a local HERMIT ,teddy huff, was his name.lived in a shack. had old fish nets and hooks and other wonderful things hung around his place,used to drop off the fish my grandad did not want,and spent a lot of time listning to his tales. at14,that september,old teddy had purchased a 12 gauge single shot shotgun for me to use.that fall,hunting licences be buggered,i became a duck and grouse hunter for teddy. alot of misses but enough hits to keep teddy buying shells.when the snow fell,the big white snowshoe hares had me to worry about

Sorry to hear it Dave. Sometimes doing the right thing is hard.
Ed  

Hey m8 - I just had to do that last month.Really tugs @ the old heart strings.Puts a real damper on life for a while.
Sorry for your loss, Dave
Hoadie