Blondes, brunettes and redheads. Tried several of each and have concluded that attitude is everything! Brithunter: your pictures confirm my hypothesis that the British can muck up any good looking thing! Merry Christmas to all!
Ahhh I see just another Anti British yank
Please notice that the sound moderator is removable, this is required for cleaning and also storage as if you leave them on they rot the barrel
, not a legal requirement for storage I might add
. For fox control mainly done at night with a lamp the sound moderator means:-
1) one does not upset the neighbours and the anti brigade.
2) one does not disturb the ground too much so more foxes are shot in one night off a piece of ground than could be achieved when not using a moderator.
3) when used for deer culling again less disturbance of the ground means less stress for the deer and more can be shot in the same area
. Oh yes Deer stalking takes place all year except on Christmas day. With Six species to hunt at least one species/sex is in season at any one time. Does are part of the annual cull and it does not make one less of a man for shooting a Doe depsite what the old fellers Like Whelen would have us believe.
4) no tax stamp to pay just a normal variation as yes they are licenceable but that's it. Owning a sound moderator does not make one a "Sniper" or Assasin
.
5) a benefit is that with most normal cartridges one can actually see the bullet strike on target or beast and of course one does not need to wear hearing protection and ones hearing is not at risk from not wearing hearing protection.
There are those in America who would love to able to use Sound Moderators for one or more of the reasons mentioned above but find the federal mentality surrounding sound moderators oppressive and even suspicious to say the least let alone darned expensive with the federal transfer tax.
The drawbacks of the sound mods are the weight which yes it does unbalance the rifle and carrying a rifle with one fitted slung on the should needs some extra thought. The Biathlon sling is a good idea to stop the muzzle slipping back and pointing behind instead of up if you carry muzzle up. If carried muzzle down then care is needed to make sure the extra length does not mean it's hit upon the ground. A lot have their barrels shortened to help with this. My 25-06 has 24" barrel the 6.5x55 has a 22" barrel. The .280 AI when finished will have a 23" barrel. One reason I adpted the 6.5x55 is that the P-H 1200C in 25-06 is darned heavy. That wood stock is dense and without the mod fitted the rifle weighs over 9lbs with mod and bi-pod it goes nearer 12lbs. The .280 AI will weigh scoped with sling less that 8lbs.
As for British syle well the 6.5x55 has an American stock and really needs thinning at the wrist due to being a bit club like the same can be said of the Centurion sporter from Century Arms it too has a horrid stock profile but nothing a spoke shave and rasp cannot sort out
of course old Col Whelen would not approve as the fore stock is not round and full enough or club like for his tastes. Don't get it wrong I admire the man just don't agree with all his ideas
I would have loved to have met him.
