the BLR in cabinet was made by miroku..... think about it like this
during 80s cars out of Japan were referred to as jap crap as the steel bodies would rust....that was early automotive industry sorting itself out whereas miroku have been in the game for a long time and the Japanese have been making some of if not the very best blades for generations so when it comes to steel they know thier craft well.

A little bit of history: www.browning.com/news/...ctory.html

Many years ago I asked FN an extra barrel with screw-in-chokes for my cal 12 FN Special Chasse superposé (over & under). They answered that they didn't make barrels with screwed chokes, so for such request they had to import a barrel from Japan (and they wouldn't do that).

I have a .22 FN-Browning lever action in my collection. My friend has the same rifle but from Miroku. Even the parts are exchangeable (and I know, because the first time I took this rifle apart was in my garage. I'll never do that again in a place with a floor covered with all kinds of stuff laying around. My rifle has a handmade extractor since that time as this was the only part I couldn't recover after a halve day search on my knees... a good donkey doesn't hurt himself twice on the same stone)

tikkat3 wrote:

Great buy Vince You should be able to get enough cast on with the adjustable comb Just don't keep adjusting things I can't coach or teach but would love to come along for a session on the clays However my poor form can be contagious

Mate, you are more than welcome to join us anytime. As for poor form, I’d be worried that I didn’t drag you down. There are days when I couldn’t hit the ground with my hat in three throws.

This is the year I am not going to adjust my stock [much]
So hopefully my scores will improve

Hey Vince,

you did good, that is a beautiful shotgun you've got there!

I'm left handed too, so there's nothing wrong with that!

What brand and type of loads do you shoot clay pigeons?

I dove hunted last year with a Beretta Silver Pigeon I 12 ga. with 32" barrels and killed a limit of doves and even had a couple of shells left over from just 1-box of shells!!! Over 40 years of shooting doves and I have never even came close to doing that, and probably never will again. It was also my first year for shooting factory ammo, which was Remington Premier Nitro Gold in 7 1/2 shot size. I really like the velocity of these shells, and at 1,300 fps. it didn't matter if the birds were at 20 yards or a little over 50 yards...

Mine Ruger O U 12 ga. Red Lable

Deer Sniper wrote:

Hey Vince, you did good, that is a beautiful shotgun you've got there! I'm left handed too, so there's nothing wrong with that! What brand and type of loads do you shoot clay pigeons? I dove hunted last year with a Beretta Silver Pigeon I 12 ga. with 32" barrels and killed a limit of doves and even had a chance ouple of shells left over from just 1-box of shells!!! Over 40 years of shooting doves and I have never even came close to doing that, and probably never will again. It was also my first year for shooting factory ammo, which was Remington Premier Nitro Gold in 7 1/2 shot size. I really like the velocity of these shells, and at 1,300 fps. it didn't matter if the birds were at 20 yards or a little over 50 yards...

Gidday mate, Thanks for that...it is certainly a beautiful gun.

I don’t often use factory loads, but when I do it is a brand a mate gets made in Spain called Trust or HighGun. With the assistance of a small cartridge maker in Spain he developed a number of loads for clay target shooting. He has loads for Trap and Skeet at 1250 fps loaded with #7 1/2, #8 or #9 shot and he also has a Sporting load at 1320 fps with #7 1/2 or #8 shot. In addition to this he has 28 gauge offerings. He also brings in the wads they use in their loads.

The ammunition is very good and he is very quickly gathering a big client base, quickly selling everything he imports, with some customers buying a pallet load at a time...currently about $8k for the pallet. He is also exporting to NZ for their clay shooters.

Mostly, I reload my own rounds using an Aussie powder, ADI AS30, my mates straight wall wad and #7 1/2 shot I cast myself from a mix of 1:2 Linotype and lead. I used to use 19gr of Allianz PROMO, but it became a tad expensive and wasn’t always available. The ADI offering is always on the shop shelf and works out cheaper. My loads are doing around 1250 fps, are pleasant on the shoulder, and when I hit the Clays they are very authoritative. Now all I have to do is put the shot stream in the same place as the clay target on a more regular basis.

Vince wrote:

Deer Sniper wrote: Hey Vince, you did good, that is a beautiful shotgun you've got there! I'm left handed too, so there's nothing wrong with that! What brand and type of loads do you shoot clay pigeons? I dove hunted last year with a Beretta Silver Pigeon I 12 ga. with 32" barrels and killed a limit of doves and even had a chance ouple of shells left over from just 1-box of shells!!! Over 40 years of shooting doves and I have never even came close to doing that, and probably never will again. It was also my first year for shooting factory ammo, which was Remington Premier Nitro Gold in 7 1/2 shot size. I really like the velocity of these shells, and at 1,300 fps. it didn't matter if the birds were at 20 yards or a little over 50 yards... Gidday mate, Thanks for that...it is certainly a beautiful gun. I don’t often use factory loads, but when I do it is a brand a mate gets made in Spain called Trust or HighGun. With the assistance of a small cartridge maker in Spain he developed a number of loads for clay target shooting. He has loads for Trap and Skeet at 1250 fps loaded with #7 1/2, #8 or #9 shot and he also has a Sporting load at 1320 fps with #7 /2 or #8 shot. In addition to this he has 28 gauge offerings. He also brings in the wads they use in their loads. He is very quickly gathering a client base and quickly sells everything he imports, with some customers buying a pallet load at a time...currently about $8k. He is also exporting to NZ for their clay shooters. Mostly I reload my rounds using an Aussie powder, ADI AS30, my mates straight wall wad and #7 1/2 shot I cast myself from a mix of 1:2 Linotype and lead. I used to use 19gr of Allianz PROMO, but it became a tad expensive and wasn’t always available. The ADI offering is always on the shop shelf and works out cheaper. My loads are doing around 1250 fps, are pleasant on the shoulder, and when I hit the Clays they are very authoritative.

How do you go about casting your own shot matey?

I thought this involved "shot towers" & other expensive doo-dads.

“English Mike” wrote:

How do you go about casting your own shot matey? I thought this involved “shot towers” & other expensive doo-dads.

I was lucky enough to acquire a shot dropper called Shotmaker. It has an electric element under a small reservoir, about 1/2 a pound. I couldn’t find a video of my brand of shotmaker, but this is a link to the one my mate has...a Littleton that he imported from the US...

Littleton Shotmaker

The molten lead goes through the big hole in the centre of the bolt and drips out through the tiny hole in the head of the “bolt”. The size of this small hole sets the size of the shot. You can see the drippers in the pic below, although mine are on single drippers, not double.

I drip my shot into a quart tin filled with a 85% mix of fabric conditioner and water.

I can easily churn out 15 - 20 kgs of shot a day.

That thing is pretty cool...I never knew such a device existed. I just assumed all you shotgun guys bought your shot in 25# bags.

Vince,

when you make your own shot, how far do you let it fall, before it lands in your container?

Deer Sniper wrote:

Vince, when you make your own shot, how far do you let it fall, before it lands in your container?

The shot drips from the dripper from about 3/4”, landing on an angled “ramp” at maybe 45*, bounces a couple of times (I rub the ramp with ordinary school chalk) then drops about 1 - 1.5” into the coolant. I use fabric softener because it slows the cooling process down enough for the shot to form into a neat ball. I made a little scoop from a large plastic bottle lid and drilled holes in it for the coolant to run out easy, scoop and tip the shot onto a piece of flyscreen over a 4 litre ice cream container to catch any excess coolant.

I’ve heard of guys letting the shot drop up to a couple of metres before landing in the coolant, but I don’t think it makes much if any difference. I’ve also heard of some dropping it through a blowtorch flame to supposedly help with forming as close to a perfect sphere as possible, but again, I don’t think it makes any difference to the end product.

When I “made” the tin to catch the shot, I put a drain spout on the top to allow me to catch coolant that overflows when I top up things up with cold coolant. I catch this overflow, let it cool and reuse it as necessary.

My setup is by no means as flash and big as some you will see on you tube, but it serves my needs admirably.

I’ll post a couple of pics later today.