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Hello from Oxfordshire

Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 11:46 am
by Dark Skies
I expect I'm a fairly typical member. I started off as a very keen pistol shooter, unjustly had my handguns taken off me for a crime I didn't commit back in 1997 whilst the NRA idly stood by and watched, obliged to take up rifle shooting instead.

I own a fairly typical array of rifles.

The obligatory Ruger 10/22
A couple of M44 Mosin Nagants
Lee Enfield No.4 (doesn't everyone have one of these?)
SGC Speedmaster .223
SGC M4-alike .22
Winchester 94 in .357
Marlin 94 in .44
Saiga AK47 - alike in 7.62 x 39
A Remington 710 in 30-06 which seemed like a good idea at the time - it was cheap.

Aside from .22 rimfire, obviously, I roll my own.

Have gradually become more fed up with the NRA - I begrudge them the excessive range fees on top of membership.
Their latest wheeze of having the NRA Portal handed over to a private enterprise fills me with horror - I have serious misgivings. Any website that first introduces you to reams of legal 'not our fault if things go wrong guv' and obliges you to accept their conditions before logging in has 'DISASTER IN THE MAKING' written all over it. The NRA should have just left their membership lists on a train like the civil service and cut out the middleman.

Their recent post urging people to sign a petition in favour of reinstating .22 pistol shooting rubbed me up the wrong way. WAY WAY WAY too late - this is what they should have been doing in 1997 instead of keeping their heads down and calculating how well things would move in their direction. I'm sorry. Rant over. :)

I'm on the cusp of selling my full bore rifles and concentrating on my local club and gallery guns / long barreled pistols.

Anyhow ... hello. :)

Re: Hello from Oxfordshire

Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 11:55 am
by Christel
Welcome Dark Skies to FB :wave:

Like your intro :lol:

Please read rules which can be found at the top of the index page.

Re: Hello from Oxfordshire

Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 12:07 pm
by dromia
Image

Re: Hello from Oxfordshire

Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 12:12 pm
by Dark Skies
Thanks for the welcomes.
I'm reasonably sure I won't break the rules.
"People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks" :)

Re: Hello from Oxfordshire

Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 12:13 pm
by karen
Dark Skies wrote:Their recent post urging people to sign a petition in favour of reinstating .22 pistol shooting rubbed me up the wrong way. WAY WAY WAY too late - this is what they should have been doing in 1997 instead of keeping their heads down and calculating how well things would move in their direction.
Hello

Um the petition is nothing to do with the NRA (see http://www.full-bore.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=16913) - they are just supporting it.

I'm from Oxfordshire too - do we know each other?

Love

Karen

Re: Hello from Oxfordshire

Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 12:16 pm
by Dark Skies
Hi Karen. We may if you are originally from America.

I am aware that the petition is merely supported on their site and, some might say typically, not of their own initiative. It just winds me up that now, many years too late, do they get on board.

Re: Hello from Oxfordshire

Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 12:22 pm
by DW58
Welcome.

Re: Hello from Oxfordshire

Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 12:50 pm
by karen
Dark Skies wrote:Hi Karen. We may if you are originally from America.

I am aware that the petition is merely supported on their site and, some might say typically, not of their own initiative. It just winds me up that now, many years too late, do they get on board.
They have always supported petitions like this and haven't just "got on board" - read the other thread if you have a spare day or two :lol:

But this isn't a thread to argue what the NRA may or may not have done - hope you're enjoying Oxfordshire (and no I'm not from America but going next year - got any good info about things to do near Camp Perry?)

Love

karen

Re: Hello from Oxfordshire

Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 1:13 pm
by Dark Skies
Hi Karen, we'll just have to agree to disagree regarding the NRA as I have now read your profile and your connection. Suffice to say pistol shooters have a long memory regarding the NRA.

I was born in Oxfordshire - hope you're enjoying it. My reference to America was because the only other shooter in Oxfordshire called Karen that I know of is from America. I've never been to Camp Perry. I have been to Knob Creek though and thoroughly recommend it http://www.knobcreekrange.com/

They do all the things the NRA wouldn't let you do in a million years. :)

Re: Hello from Oxfordshire

Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 1:46 pm
by DavidRees
Welcome, Dark Skies, from another robbed pistol-shooter.

Your point about the NRA Portal is well-made; I share your concerns. I've simply decided not to use it, because I consider it compromises MY security, and I'm not prepared to do that. Fortunately, I now live in Scotland, so don't shoot at Bisley that often, and belong to other clubs which can maintain the records I need to prove good reason for ownership.

Since you shoot gallery rifle, which is my chosen discipline these days, I hope to see you at one of the gallery rifle shoots, at Bisley, and around the country (not all are at Bisley). My club (JSPC) hosts the two Scottish Opens for G.R. per year; we're near Lauder, if you ever get the chance to head up this way.

David.