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SOAPBOX ITEM : USE IT OR LOOSE IT To qualify as a Home Office approved club there must be ten or more members, BUT some police forces are now insisting that all members are active members. A person who claims that target shooting is a good reason for possession of firearms should be able to demonstrate the use of firearms on a reasonably regular basis. The police in their misguided opinion will weed out those shooters who do not use their firearms very often. Therefore I urge you to attend your club as often as you can. We must do as much as we can to keep shooting a legitimate sport for all ages to participate and enjoy. REMEMBER THE PRICE OF FAILURE, IS TO LOOSE ABILITY TO CONTINUE SHOOTING FOR OUR AND THE NEXT GENERATIONS. SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT HAS THE TIME COME TO AMALGAMATE ALL SHOOTING INTERESTS UNDER ONE ASSOCIATION ? It is a well known fact that at least 75% of all shooters do not belong to any shooting affiliation, the reason given in the majority of cases is what do they do for me. The problem is that we have selective shooting associations who look after their own interest only. This in effect dilutes the effectiveness in trying to stand up to our prejudiced government and police. What we need is a umbrella organisation to look after all aspects of shooting, i.e. political, legal, recruitment, education and competition. If we have to set up a US style NRA SO BE IT!! MY SAD STORY: 29 months ago I ordered a custom rife from America the order was accepted (which amounts to a contract). I contacted his U.K. agent to check on the delivery date of the rifle, his agent informed me that the gunsmith could not be bothered to supply my rifle because of the paperwork he would have to undertake to ship the rifle to the U.K. What I want to know is why did he accept the order in the first place and why did he not inform his agent sooner. Does he not give a sod about customer relations or does he think customers are an inconvenience and too much trouble for him to be bothered about (customers in the U.K. ) If that's his attitude does he deserve to be called a custom gunsmith or stay in business. I therefore feel well and truly pissed off, which I feel is justified. IS THERE A HAPPY ENDING? YES THERE IS!! I have contacted the SPORTSMAN GUN CENTRE in PAIGNTON and after some discussions and checking the availability of parts, have ordered a single shot 30-338 WINCHESTER MAGNUM built by R.P.A. PRECISION ENGINEERING in a benchrest configuration. I will update my guns page later. 34000 reasons to celebrate!! The latest Home Office figures show the following encouraging trends, 26,100 successful new applications for Shot Gun Certificates and 8,600 for a Firearm Certificates. These are the highest figures recorded for Ten Years and Seven Years respectively - 34000 newcomers to our sport!! WONDERFUL!!
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