BigAl

Shame about that site. mind you it would be good if they had actually put the details of the correct company. AJP and PH were two completely separate companies, which it would seem neither now no longer exist. Although John Rothery Wholesale now own the rights to the Parker Hale name. Alan

That looks to me like the Parker Hale sight, not the AJ Parker. IIRC the PH has the triangular looking dovetail fitting for the windage arm to slide in, while the AJP has the rectangular dovetail slide. When I was shooting in the RAF the issue L39 (No4 target rifle conversion in 7.62) had the Parker Hale sight, of the type in those photos, while my Fulton Mauser has the AJP, specifically the TZ80. The one pictured in the ebay link is the same type as my AJP TZ80. The elevation block and windage arm look to be the same on that M80 as on my TZ80, but the mounting block, which is what I believe is the issue is the difference. As I now have a scope fitted to the rifle, to shoot it in F/TR I have the sights sitting in a box, if reference to them would be of use. The Mauser K98 mounting is very different to the Lee Enfield fitting though. Alan

When I needed the unit on my Fulton Mauser fixing about ten years ago AJP were still going in Birmingham. I was able to get a reconditioned replacement from them for quite reasonable money. IIRC I "found" them in an online telephone directory listing. Alan

Price?

Like Tim mentions I would try looking for a late 1811 prone rifle. If you are only shooting prone then you are unlikely to notice nay difference to a similar vintage 1813. There are fewer of them as many prone shooters bought the 1813 anyway, but if you find one it is likely to be a bit cheaper, as it hasn't got the expensive hooked butt plate, etc which pushes up the price of the 1813. The pistol grip on the late 1811 is the essentially the same as for the 1813, except that where the top of the thumbhole on the 1813 is the 1811 has that bit of wood removed. This is the same as for the concurrent design of stock for both Standard Rifle (1807) and even the match air rifles of the period. Alan

Not bad, and it seems to have the short 500mm barrel. Being a BR rifle though it won't come with the standard extension tube that the short barreled 2013's came with so you would have to figure that into the price. Alan

I quite like the way the standard forum works on my phone. I was using the default browser on my Samsung Note, but when I upgraded to a Note 3 I switched to Chrome which is nice as it now shares my desktop favorites list. The layout of the forum on the mobile device is a little different and suits the smaller screen, although it offers a link to the standard page at the bottom of each page. Alan

Is this for air rifle standing or prone? as it makes a difference to what may be suitable. Many prone only jackets don't have anything on the left chest area (for a R/H shooter) to help the arm stay still in the standing position. Alan

I hate to say this but I have one in exactly the same condition as the one in the attached picture. I actually managed to break one within 6 months of owning the rifle from new. Fortunately back then I was able to get a spare on from the Anschutz. It seems like it is a very delicate design, and they go and make it from a monkey metal casting. The one on the rifle currently "only" has one of the fingers broken off so still does the job, for now. Sorry I cannot be of more help. Alan

A new firing pin should still be avilable from Anschutz. I know that Ruag UK have only recently taken over the importation of Anschutz from Frank Dyke, but they should be able to order you one if they do not have one in stock. It is only the 16xx series rifles that Anschutz nolonger make parts for. The older 14xx and later 18/19/20 series match rifles are all fully supported still. From the look of the bolt in the picture it is a 14 series bolt, so you should be OK. Alan

When it comes to things like including a rear sight with a rifle it depends on when in your shooting career you are. If it is a first rifle, well yes you are most likely to want it to come with sights. That is also when you are most likely to accept a "basic" sight unit. If you have been shooting for a number of years then there is a good chance that when it comes to sights you are actually going to know just what you want, and that may very well not be the basic unit that comes with many rifles these days. I seem to remember that the club FWB P 700 that Roise started with did not seem that well made, but having just looked at the Walther basic unit from a LG 300 that is actually very well made. The thing is though that for many years Anschutz included as standard with the majority of their rifles what many considered to be one of the best rear sight units that money could buy. This is not necessarily a good idea from a business stand point if you also sell the sights. Given the choice between dropping the sights, or starting to put an inferior product in I think from a PR view they took the right choice. Can you imagine the outcry if they had taken the other option? Now of course you are probably going to get a good deal from a dealer if you buy a rifle along with a set of sights. Now for a new shooter that can leave them open to getting what the dealer wants to sell them, but as target shooters (at least in the UK) HAVE to belong to a suitable club they should be getting good advice from the other members over what is good or not. Alan

Having many years ago stayed ar Budleigh Farm (which for those that don't know is in the Dartmoor National Park) and had some coaching with Arthur Harvey I asked him about Biathlon (he is the Biathlon teams shooting coach). He said I should try running around the field behind the range 3 times and comming back and try hitting the 50m aiming mark with 5 consecutive shots. I declined as the field was on the side of a 45 degree hill! That was enough to put me off to be honnest. Alan

Karen if the foresight is mounted to the barrel by a block it would be an 1807 and if it has rails milled directly on the barrel then it would be a 1907. I think that £600 is a reasonable price for a private sale for a 1907. A hundred to a hundred and fifty pounds less for an 1807 depending on age. It is easy to date manufacture as the proof marks on the barrel have a two letter date code. The code starts with A=0 and no letter I. Alan

We have someone at our club who is making stands for 10m air. He dosn't post on forums, but I will see him on Tuseday at the next club night. I'm afraid I do not have a price, or get pictures until I see him. Alan

Well yes it's not much cop round the edges, I got it for my kids to use at short range and was so surprised how well it worked I started using it and gave the kids my old Green Kat 22x60 instead. It has got wet a few times too. I can even just make out the scoring rings on the scoring rings on the 1000x target when I'm coaching. But then thats at max magnification, you get about the same resolution from the 20x scope on the rifle, so it's not that spectacular. All in all for what they cost it's amazing. Alan

Actually I use one of those Aldi scopes out to 1000 yards. About the only thing they don't do too well is show low levels of mirage. Alan

PM Sent. Alan

If the two Vostocks are lightweight rifles I could be interested in them for my ATC Sqn. At the moment they have two old BSA Mk III's that are really far too heavy for youngsters to learn with. Alan.

Thanks Jamie. The leg length would not have been a killer, you can always take some off, but unfortunatly the intended recipient will not get into a 34 waist. Guess I keep looking. Alan.

Jamie the trousers are a size 50, could you tell me what that translates to in terms of wasit size and leg length? Thanks Al

Fitz I was in the shop yesterday, looks like he has now sold them all. I really wish that Edgars still did the Opti-Mate scopes, I have four of them the two 36x's an 8-32 which is a zoom version of the target scope. I also have one of the 30mm tube 20x tactical scopes on my old Mauser 7.62 TR rifle. Great glass all of them. Al.

Well I actually stared shooting prone with a cheap (£200) Hawke 10-40×50 target scope prone, although that was more like looking through the bottom of a milk bottle really. Saying that it was a revelation in that at 100 yards you can easily see the scoring rings on your target, and of course most importantly you can see the hold pattern and exactly what it is doing. I also used it on my AA S400 at 24× standing for LSR comps. Due to ill health I now mostly use the 36× scopes for benchrest shooting, when I can get to the range to shoot which is not often these days. Actually for prone shooting the high mag scopes like the 36× that I use are very easy to get used to, if you have used low magnification scopes in the past that will help as you are used to what to expect. Prone you do not really jump around a lot while you are on aim, although it looks as if you are moving a long way as you breathe. I would not recommend it for a novice but if you have been shooting for a good while with reasonable results then working with that sort of magnification is fine. I guess that it is like any training aid in that you have to have a basic skill set before they become useful, just like the with the Scatt, if you can't at least reliably hit the black say (for standing) then you won't get much useful return from using it. Al

Unfortunately Edgar Bros. have dropped the Opti mate (EB) scopes. There are now only 3 or 4 four of the Opti-mate 36×44 scopes left new in the UK as my local dealer bought up the last of them, all the rest are now gone. It is a shame that they have dropped them, as they were very good scopes for the money, and totally Japanese made. They were not selling enough to make them worth while apparently, but then they didn't seem to want to make much of an effort to sell them! Deben have also dropped all the high mag "Target" scopes from their line up, seems they are now only interested in the hunting and "Tactical" market. I believe that Tasco still list a couple of target type scopes but they are going through another change of importer at the moment, so availability is likely to be difficult for a while, that is if the new importer actually bothers bringing any in. It certainly seems that the official British importers don't sell enough of the "Target" type scopes to make importing them worthwhile, and when they do get the higher end ones such as the Leaupold's they end up being so expensive compared to what they are in say the USA. None of the high end European manufactures seem to make a target scope either. I think for a 24× target scope then the Weaver T24 is probably the way to go at the moment, if you can find one for sale in the UK that is. Trying to get one from abroad is also difficult now due to the fact that any scope over 4× magnification needs to have an export licence and end user certification, even for personal export. This is thanks to the UN and makes legally finding a scope from a retailer say in the USA difficult as well, that is if you can find one that will send you one. If customs anywhere along the line find it without the expensive paperwork needed then at best you will loose it and at worst both of you could be doing time, probably in a US Federal Prison . This is because they consider any scope over the 4× magnification to automatically be classed as a military grade weapon, although it seems to me that most optics fitted to military firearms are actually under 4× mag, lots of assault rifles not may sniper ones in most Army's. Sorry to be so negative about this, I was luckier in one respect that when I was looking for a target scope I wanted 36× and there is at least the Sightron 36×42 BRD which is a really nice scope and the importers are really good to deal with, but they do not have a 24×, and I was able to get my local dealer to buy up the last batch of ten Opti-mate 36×44's so I now have what I need for the foreseeable future. I guess it might be a case of phoning around to see what people have available. Al

If you are looking for a really good scope for BR shooting then I would recommend the Optimate 36×42 FCH. It is almost identical to the Weaver T36, being totally Japanese made, with a fine cross reticule with a 1/8th MOA dot, and of course 1/8th MOA adjustment. As standard the parallax comes down to just under 25 yards, although it can be tweaked to come down to 10, without loosing infinity focus, or even affecting the range marking scale, well it stays the same anyway, and they are reasonably accurate on my two. I know it seems a lot of magnification, but with one of these you can easily make out the X ring on the UKBR22 50m target, which I find hard to do with a 24× scope. If you are interested in one I know that Youngmans in Great Yarmouth have the last six of these now discontinued scopes and they are only £219. I only bought two of them as I ran out of rifles to mount them on. they are as good as my Sightron BR36 scope that cost almost twice as much, and I thought that was a good deal. Al

Air Pistol (any off ticket air rifle / pistol infact) can be shipped vis RMSD direct to the purchaser as it is a private sale. RMSD is the only way to get any insurance on the item, otherwise you could just use Royal Mail Parcel. RM have to accept the item, although Parcelforce and all the other courier companies will only deliver firearms to/from RFD and only then if you have an account.