John Bowkett Custom Rifle has arrived!

OK as some of you know I have been having a rifle made for me by John Bowkett. It arrived last week but I have only been out with it twice, once in my GINB custom stock and once in it's own original stock. I have had some issues with it in the GINB Custom stock which I believe to be harmonics related (I will do a video on this later) but in the standard stock it is a tack driver! Today it was hitting the 3x4 inch bell at 100yards time and time again with CPTV's driver/assistant Lisa Roberts behind the gun.

This .177 air rifle based on a BSA Hornet action (John Bowkett's design) features a custom regulator capable of incredible consistency.

Couple that with the new special edition non BSA barrels that John is importing and you have custom rifle that really is something else! I will of course be doing a full review of my new rifle once I have got to grips with it properly.

First indications are that John Bowkett when unencumbered by financial restraints can design and build a world class rifle that will stand side by side if not above any other air rifle in the world. I am honored to own such a superb example of his work.

Topping the rifle is the brilliant and hugely underestimated Hawke Optics Panorama 4-12 x50 EV AO and BKL single strap mounts. This version has the MAP 6A reticule which I was a little dubious about using. I have spent some time using this reticule now and feel we are going to get along just fine!

For more details about custom rifles visit John Bowkett's website http://www.johnbowkett.co.uk/

or his Facebook fan page http://www.facebook.com/pages/John-Bowketts-Official-Fan-page/178352388876311

Here is the link to the Hawke Panorama EV = http://amzn.to/I3ZE1G

For full details of the Hawke optics range click here = http://www.hawkeoptics.com/

Testing the Jack Pyke LLCS (Light Leaf Concealment System) Ghillie suit

I popped over to Jack Pyke HQ to do some business last week and Glenn Lewis (sales and marketing manager for JP) asked me if I had tried the LLCS system? I had not had the opportunity to use this system yet and informed Glenn that I would be very grateful to be given the chance to check it out.
The suit is very light and packs away into a very small pouch that I have in my hunting bag. It also allows the air to circulate through it making it very cool in the warmer weather we're having. I am going to be wearing this suit a lot this summer! The pattern and leaf combo works better than any other LLCS suit I have ever used. I will be updating you all on this suits performance from time to time to let you know if there any issues.


Here is a short video showing the suit off in the field

Rabbit Hunting in the 21st Century....

The 25th March 2012 provided a great evenings shooting with my buddy Tharek. We met up at one of my permissions that has a few rabbits on that nobody can get near with lamping gear. I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to give the NiteSite NS50 an outing. Tharek was quite eager to shoot the Daystate Air Wolf that Country Pursuits TV has on test too so I decided to marry them together. 

The Air Wolf & Nitesite in their cases waiting to be brought together.

Something dawned on me after fitting the NS50 to the Air Wolf This rifle and NV add on combo represents the absolute cutting edge of air rifle hunting technology. This really was going to be Rabbit Hunting in the 21st century.

Daystate Air Wolf & NiteSite NS50 turned out to be a deadly combination

It is difficult to explain the buzz you get from using a set up like this but I will try. The Rabbit population on this particular permission have seen it all. They have been lamped, stalked and ambushed.  The younger Rabbits have the older wiser ones to look to for warning signals making them very hard to shoot. However with this Rifle/NV combo they do not know you are there. The Daystate Air Wolf with it's shrouded barrel and optional mk5 Airstream silencer is so very quiet. The tactical version with it's rubberized matte black stock lends itself perfectly to this kind of task.

The Daystate Air Wolf CPTV has on test came in this brilliant hard case.

Tharek and I were only shooting for a couple of hours but having state of the art technology had paid off. On this difficult permission we had bagged 6 of it's wily inhabitants.

The Daystate Air Wolf & NiteSite combo has proved itself to both Tharek and I on a number of occasions now being successful with Rat & Rabbit. The NiteSite has also accounted for four fox kills in three outings. Below you can see the NiteSite mounted to a Remington 700 .17 centerfire. This is the rifle I like to use for fox control when using the NiteSite NS200.

 NiteSite NS200 mounted to the Remington 700 .17 centerfire

The Daystate Air Wolf and NiteSite NS50 with six unlucky Rabbits, they did not know we were there.

Watch the video here

Anti-kink airgun charging hose from Solware

I had a new product hit my doorstep this morning that is going to turn my frown upside down. If you charge your PCP with a micro-bore hose (like most of us do) you will be familiar with the picture below.

A poorly Micro-Bore hose 

The micro-bore hose is capable of handling massive internal pressure but hang a gun or bottle off it when charging a few times and the hose will get kinked like the one above. This can greatly reduce the pressure handling of the hose making it dangerous to use. Now most of us accept that and buy a new one once the old kinked hose looks like it is getting to unsafe to use.

Click here to go to Solware

However Solware are distributing an anit-kink hose that is simply brilliant. As you can see from the pictures (below) all that was needed was the wire coil which allows movement and flexibility but refuses to let you kink the hose. I actually tried to cause a kink at the weak points (Where it joins the fittings) while testing and could not get it to fail.

Even with the heavy bottle hanging the hose refuses to kink

The hoses are coiled at both ends protecting the hose

Click here to go to Solware

Shooting live blank shotgun cartridges with air rifles

Here is a video showing my buddies and I shooting at shotgun cartridges with our PCP's.

Custom HW97 @ The Shooting Ground (Formally Broomhills)

I met up with some friends today at The Shooting Ground formally known as Broomhills. I was there testing the FF10 and Ogive pellets from Pax guns (More on these soon) and I could not help taking some pics of this superb "home made" stock designed and carved by Roger Martin. I think you will agree this guy has some skill, especially when you hear he did this using a router, an angle grinder and a chisel! 

Great job Roger!

Roger Martin with his home made stocked HW97

New .22 pellet from Pax Guns named the "Ogive"

I visited Pax Guns Friday last week to pick up the Phoenix FF10 for review and while I was there Hugh and Bob asked me I would like to try the new pellet they were releasing called the O-give (pronounced oh jeeve). The word ogive is from the French language, it pertains to the angle of the head of a bullet/pellet. This new .22 version is a 16grain air bullet style pellet that is not unlike the Dynamic and Defiant PCP range of pellets already manufactured by Pax. The quality and finish of the pellet looks excellent and on the scales they match up very well. I am told they do favor a clean barrel so I am scrubbing my test rifles barrel before I start as they tell me this pellets stability relies heavily on it griping the rifling. I will be posting test results on CPTV's YouTube channel and of course writing about it in more detail here if you're interested in this new design.

New Pellet available from Pax Guns soon....