Unboxing Review The Shultz & Larsen Victory 7mm08

I've always wanted a Shultz & Larsen but they don't turn up secondhand at the prices I'm prepared to pay that often. The only time I was going to buy a new one the importer didn’t get back to me so I bought the money pit and took a moody Spanish chick on holiday with the change. To be fair there have been opportunities, but I'm an obscurest; I’m not after the comfortable logic of a .308 and I wouldn't be likely to  buy another secondhand .243, so it’s taken a while. The ACL bought a mint 6.5 x 55  at the lesser end of grade two for a considerable saving, I was more convinced than ever there was an S&L shaped hole in my gun cabinet, the itch was upon me.  At the range, one of the wealthier Who?'s from my club rocked up with a 308 in grade three. Southside D took one look at it and opined "that's a bit of you init" the itch got a little worse.  

I tracked down a 7x64 in the highlands, [cracking round], but it had one of the  crazy long barrels they like up there, its septuagenarian owner had used to shoot 'jackass prone' off the bonnet of a Landrover.  

I found  a 7mm08 in Yorkshire which hadn't really floated the boat of the young lad I spoke to over the phone, he was all about a black rifle that was the uk legal version of one he'd used to prop up the military industrial complex in a game he plays online. Ever the optimist I paid a deposit on the 7mm08, sent off my paperwork, and promptly forgot all about it. 

Empire's rose and fell, teenagers became grandparents, glass dripped from its frame, and the bureaucracy coughed up a variation to my licence. 

When I called the gun shop it had been so long the work experience lad I'd first spoken to was about to retire, but made a charming pretence of remembering me. 

He put me in touch with the rifle's owner, who told a much more compelling story of;  

'proper nice bit of timber that', 'wife wants takin' to Spain', 'cops want me to have less stalking rifles, had a pin though my wrist so I'm keeping the light one'.  

He mentioned he'd sent it off for the two-stage trigger upgrade. 

On one of our trips to Scotland I would be passing through Yorkshire so I popped in to take a look and either retrieve my deposit or ....

S&L do a range of mini rifles called Legacy in the 223 and 7.62x39 case families (there's a 6x45 and a Grendel, I know!) a working rifle called the Classic , The Victory - for the stalking gentleman who has to have a job, and the Ambassador for Oligarchs.  All come with really nice features: 

Three lug bolt; I've got a Tikka that'll shoot the lights out of almost anything, its only got two lugs, but if a three lug bolt doesn't stir something in your soul you don't like rifles, and probably haven't  got a soul. 

Takedown; that most beguiling of features, I've got two, never take either of them apart, but it's nice to know I could.  

Cut rifling: Another thing its possible to wax lyrical about, I refer you to my Tikka now wearing a button rifled tube. 

Magazine fed: The dual latches on this thing are really really nice. You don't care? Buy a Tikka and lots of ammo, you'll be happier. You have no soul. 

Sexy timber: Sometimes I just sit and stare at it, within its blotches, and swirls you can see the birth of the universe. I never take it out in the rain, or anywhere likely to be muddy. It makes me feel slightly unworthy. 

Pillars and bedding as standard: there nothing more to spend, just a lovely accurate rifle straight out of the box  

Shultz and Larsen have both long since gone to the happy hunting ground, but their spirit of Danish high end design, woodworking, and engineering live on. The company lacks the marketing punch of their German, Finnish, and Swiss rivals, but by making a really great product at the price of a mass produced rifle. They have a fan base who aren't about to dessert them any time soon. It's a different kind of offering.

These days what's commonly described as a 'custom rifle' is actually a rifle assembled from bought in bits, its pretty amazing that you can, for the same or less, have one from a company where the barrels arrived as bars, and the stocks arrived as planks. A lot like John Rigby Rifle Makers, but with almost ten large knocked off Rigby's price tag.  

More soon

Your Pal

SBW

Buying A Precision Rifle: Tikka Tac A1 Pt.1

How would you feel if I said you could have a no waiting list precision rifle that's served humble pie to some very very nice custom builds? For 30% of the cost of an Accuracy International? Yeah me too. Choice of three. Or five depending on who you listen to. What a time to be alive.

Some of the younger members of my club [which means people under 60] have been saying good things, very good things, about the Ruger Precision.
Not for the first time Ruger set the pace for the industry, to give them their due the RPR has done just that. Catching both the Precision Rifle and AR trends; a rifle you can customise at home with thousands of readily available options, it takes AR grips and stocks.  That's also ready to compete in precision matches right out of the box.

Now on Gen.3 there's a growing choice of factory calibers and aftermarket barrels, parts and it takes Pmags. Down on the south coast at OMR's club there's a whole cadre of owners. At both clubs .308 Nato and 6.5mm Creedmoor are neck and neck in numbers.

In Spain Bergara Rifles offer their riff on the idea. They have an excellent reputation for their button rifled barrels, and have wisely chosen to build their rifle on the Remington 700 footprint. If you wanted to develop a rifle from one; you can have your choice of 100's of stocks, triggers etc, and it takes the proven and readily available AI magazines. Money pit, fun money pit, but a money pit I can't allow myself to be sucked into. This time.

On every thread I read; where someone was asking where to drop their hard-earned, there was the 'That being said Now try the Tikka' comment. I have never shot a Tikka that wasn't accurate and amazing value for money. Asking about; people who wanted one because their mate has one shed out and bought the Ruger, people who have shot both bought the Tikka. The best review the Bergara got was 'its the equal of the Tikka'.  It might be different where you are but here there's less than £100 in it either way. No one I found in the UK is including extra magazines or postal rebate magazines from any of the brands.

The Howa guy is yet to return my calls. Not even sure you can even order the Savage here.

I was feeling pretty swayed, but you know, cash is king. There just weren't that many second hand Rugers in Creedmoor, even fewer Tikkas in general, and no sign of a Bergara.
I was becoming pretty much resigned to saving up to pay full-whack for a new one when I found a 20 inch Tikka in 6,5 CM with a Stalon advertised. The owner had a presence on a couple of forums where he'd posted enough to give me a bit of comfort. He's hanging up his spurs and offered to throw in the contents of his ammo boxes and a goodly pile of Lapua cases. Rude not to.

We had a couple of false starts while I traveled in the wrong part of the north, with my ticket back at home I couldn't take delivery. We prepared to do a dealer-to-dealer exchange, then the seller announced his work had scheduled a meeting for him in central london. We agreed to meet in a business traveler hotel just down the road from an office I myself am occasionally compelled to attend. I was envisioning something out of James Bond or Lord of War, with a sniper rifle laid out on the bed. Just in a cheaper hotel.

"Sorry it'll be a day later and they've  moved me to another hotel". The next day he found he had no hotel, 'but don't worry there are plenty of meeting rooms at the london office'.
It's not like this in the movies. The receptionist denied that he worked there or existed. I rang him. He was sitting on the sofa next to her desk. Frosty doesn't cover it. It's as though we'd been married already. My laughing didn't seem to help lift her mood.
Now we get to the paperwork, three lots; firearm, silencer/moderator, and ammo are all controlled, and need to be listed. The only available meeting room has a young fella working away at his laptop, we sit at the other end of the boardroom table.
Now for the moment of truth.
The seller walks over to the young fella, shows his office ID, and licence before he says "we're both licensed to possess firearms and I'm selling him a rifle, he needs to confirm its serial number" There's a slight pause, "I'm cool" says the young fella. We complete the transaction; re pack the Tikka back into its cardboard box, say our goodbyes, quick "thank you" to reception, and I'm back in the street.

Wondering if the Uber or the armed response team will get there first.

I''m going to test this rifle and take it for a few trips - follow our adventure on Facebook

More Soon
Your Pal
SBW

Unboxing Review: Heym SR30

Missing from the round up of European Sporting Rifles was the rifle I actually bought with my own money, the SR30 by Heym. Which in case you were wondering rhymes with rhyme.
Due to its inexplicable place far from the firmament of fashion this is; a handmade rifle you can still buy, preloved, for a lot less than the price of something plasticy and mass produced.

A by-word for old-school german engineering, Heym are famous for their; dangerous game rifles with stout Mauser actions. Their safari double rifles in calibers beginning with a 4 or a 5, and the SR21 a very nice iteration of the european sporting rifle theme, available in grades from 'working' to 'oligarch's heirloom'.
Just like at the office,  sometimes even the most conservative of characters can have an unexpected quirky side to them, so just because they could - Heym took the Fortner action of biathlon fame and scaled it up to centerfire dimensions. From the first time I saw one on a trip to that english institution  Holt's Auction I knew I'd get one later if not sooner.

The design does away with bolt lugs as we know them, or even Blaser's radial collets, and instead uses six ball bearings to lock up, making for an immensely strong straight pull action, that gives you a rapid second shot at that rampaging boar. The bearings might look diminutive, Heym have successfully tested the system at 110,000psi pressure, which is, give or take, double the 55,000psi pressure of a typical rifle cartridge.

Picture found online, I'm not taking my bolt apart, not sure I'd be a able to get it back together.

In Germany I'm told the rules state that you can't stalk with a cocked rifle, blocking the firing pin isn't safety enough, which lead to the de-cocking actions of several german brands. Here Heym excel themselves. As you push the bolt forward a seventh ball bearing on the side of the bolt snicks into place, acting on a shaft which pops the six radial bearings into their an indent, the rifle is now fully closed but still not cocked, slide the wooden-ball bolt handle that last few millimetres forward to arm the rifle.

 Pulled back - the ball bearings are fully retracted into the bolt
Pulled all the way back & under tension, with the bolt release disengaged - the bolt can slide free of the action.

 In the middle - closed but not hot

All the way forward- hot 'n' ready to rock

 The red and white tabs of the Cross Bolt system act as a second safety, allowing you to lock the action open or closed. When locked in the open position the bolt has absolutely minimal contact with the race way and can fall to closed under gravity.

Nice slim woodwork, rosewood snout on the fore end, bolt handle, and cap on the pistol grip. All checkering cut by hand.

Laminate, thumbhole (with or without adjustable cheekpiece), GRS Hunter, and a petite 'Dezima' are all factory options. I was on the verge of ordering a new stock but this one is an adjustable cheek piece away from ideal and I kind of like the fact that its got a few dings; I'm tough on stuff, and the first scratch I put on the new one would kill me.

Cold forged barrels, made in house, proven in competition everywhere north of Oberstdorf. My barrel dosen't seem to like PPU or 100gr bullets, 75gr it likes a lot more, but my start point for load development will be 68gr - if you've got anything meaningful to add leave a comment.

Heym's own trigger, super crisp at [a guess] not far beyond a kilo [2.2 lbs] with a single set-trigger function breaking a useful distance north of terrifying. I like the idea of set triggers more than the actuality. heym have gone for useful rather than 'keeps you regular'.

Please Note: The Suburban Bushwacker DOES NOT endorse the use of PPU brand ammunition.

More soon
Your pal
SBW

Unboxing Review: Helikon-Tex Raider 20L Day Pack

With the excuse provided by my long postponed return to the classroom I 'urgently needed' a new pack. It needed to be a little wider than the 5.11 Tactical Rush 12 and smaller than the Markhor Elk Mountain. All the usual contenders were considered, and rejected on cost grounds. One of my target shooting buddies who introduced me to Helikon-Tex gear from Poland and has their equivalent of the Rush 12 I already have that's not wide enough for the binders that my workbooks come in. [See how the reasons for a new pack just drip from my lips]

Then I saw helicon-tex's new pack The Raider, it was on pre-order and only available in limited colours, it's a bit wider and has a stretchy over-panel they call a 'beaver tail' which is like a little Mystery Ranch load-sling, built in. Small packs have always had one annoying snag to them: by the time you've packed all the rest of the crap you need to lug around with you, there's nowhere to put your jacket. We've all tried that threading-a-piece-of-550 para-cord-through-the-little-loops thing, kind of works but I've never really found it that satisfactory. The stretch panel solves that at a stroke. If you're cycling it's a neater way to store your helmet when you're not riding. Based on that, the dimensions, and price I ordered one, and got a pack that so far has totally exceeded my expectations. I'd even go as far as telling them they've under sold it, their description online doesn't even mention some of its best features.


With double duvet for scale.


Out of the box it's a solid little thing, and bit of poking around revealed an aluminium stay that stiffens up the centre of the back panel, I've not tried bending it to the contour of my spine yet, but I'll give that a go in the next week or so. I've had a few little packs they all tend to sag down your back, the Rush 12 being the only notable exception so far. The Raider sits well even without the sternum strap being done up, and with it is limpet-like. The stay-bending is only going to improve that. The slight increase in width over other packs in this size really seems to help stabilise the load.


Cheap, and many not so cheap, packs have those stretch cuff pockets for a Nalgene sized water bottle, but make them out of mesh, which; snags, rips and inevitably fails long before the rest of the pack. Not so the Raider. Looks like a good stowage for a fishing rod tube.


A soft-lined pocket on the pack's face, and in the main compartment there's a slip for your laptop, with a pad at the bottom to offer that little bit of extra protection.



I either live in london where while it rains less often we actually get a greater volume of water falling from the sky, or in Yorkshire where its either raining, or about to rain. So I was chuffed to bits when after a couple of days of carrying the Raider around I found another zipper which was hiding a rain cover.

Another other use for rain covers is to keep the packs straps and buckles from being caught in the conveyor belts and overheads when flying hand luggage only on the cheap airlines. They also make a useful improvised container for foraged roadside fruits, and when the amount of tat [school books] you're trying to lug around exceeds the bags capacity they keep everything onboard.



On design, cost, and, construction the Raider is an absolute winner, it's made of branded Cordura with YKK zips. Its even got a meaningful hip belt.

I hope they bring out an 'Airborne  Raider',  perfectly the dimensions of carry-on luggage for the cheap airlines, I've got packs I'd happily sell to finance buying one.

More Reviews, my long overdue return to both the target range,
and our archery camp very soon
Your pal
SBW

PS I've just looked and Helikon-Tex now have the Raider in five colours and six different camo's.

Unboxing Review: Hunter Balmoral Wellies

Hunter 'Balmoral' Wellies.
Zip Sides, aka 'Technical' Wellies. Like all english people I've had a few pairs of welly's over the years, from 'paddingtons' the red wellies I had age six, several pairs of Dunlop's simple unlined black wellies, and as the welly came of age, couple of pairs of excellent neoprene Muck Boots.

The Field Blazer's from Muck Boots I reviewed a while back were the best by a country mile, thick neoprene certainly made them a lot warmer that the Dunlops of the 1970's and 80's which kept you feet dry but stone cold. The soles were designed to shed mud, but lost a little in grippyness in the process.

Neoprene Wellies are next to the perfect tree-stand hunting/ woodland stalking boot; you're not walking that far, and you'll be sitting still for long periods of time.  Shooting in the club competitions there's a lot of hanging around to be done, much of it in inclement conditions. Warm dry feet go a long way towards keeping your spirits up on the windswept plains of Bisley.

The one thing that's always annoyed me about wellies is they're either a hassle to get off, or too lose to be comfortable to walk in. At the Archery Camp The Northern Monkey and I have in the New Forrest the precarious and slippery steps to the shepherd's hut are a less than ideal site for welly removal. When I saw Zip Sides, I knew I'd end up getting a pair.
There are a whole host of different brands, the Ex Mrs SBW and The Littlest Bushwacker both have pairs of Hunter wellies and they seemed a lot better made than the wellies of yesteryear.

So far I've only unboxed them. They are certainly more sculpted to your feet than the non-zipped /non-technical wellies I've had before. The tread is a lot deeper than the Field Blazers.

Lennox, The Northern Monkey's Labrador, and I are committed to a mass reduction program, and while TNM's mum is trying to feed us both up, we're going to be walking it off morning and evening for the next few months.

In truth I got the Hunter's on Amazon because they were half the price of the brand I'd been hoping to get, the bargain basement brand I'd been planning to get, are perpetually out of stock in my size, and I had a amazon voucher. These are without doubt the most middle class thing I own, and walking a Black Lab in them pushes me over the edge. I'll let you know how I get on.
More Soon
Your Pal
SBW

Unboxing Review: Markhor Elk Mountain 45l Pack

Would you like to review a pack that's lightweight, durable, and affordable?
Would I ever. Does, or could such a thing exist?

Most people have one pack, for people like BoB, Mr Grendel and myself this shows a cavalier attitude to foot travel and a lack of commitment to adventure. I asked BoB (brother of bushwacker) how many packs he and Mrs BoB have, his response 'Hard to say'.
Having spent the night in Mr Grendel's gear room I mentioned 'I saw you've got a few packs' and heard the words I've so often used myself to head off an argument  with the kind of person who has 4-5 thousand pairs of shoes but thinks everyone else can get by on a half a drawer full of clothes and camping equipment. Combined.  'They're all for different things".

Hunter to Hunter have launched the  range of Markhor Hunting packs. Where most packs are designed on the Alpinist model - lots of room for rope, a smaller space for clothes and attachment points for ice axe and or snowshoes. The hunting pack would do well to carry a rifle or a bow, needs to be waterproof and needs to carry loads of an awkward shape. It's quite a big ask. The Elk Mountain
pack in the 45l class seemed to fit my current needs so I accepted their kind offer of a pack for review.

I've got er, one or two expedition sized packs; the 45l class will just about swallow an double duvet 

This dart and compression strap are cut to push the content down towards your hips.

Clips on both shoulder straps for the tube from your water bladder.

A vertical compression strap means the lid's straps aren't doing all the work, so its easier to get things in and out of the lid's pockets when the pack is full.

Very nice, neat, and strong Bar Tacking at all the load bearing points.

The mesh panel is an extra, which adds to compression and if the pack is empty turns it into a carry frame for a chainsaw or trophy.

The extra straps give a lot more 'squish' which stabilises the load

Comes with a rain cover

Comes with a condom / hood thingy.

Excellent value for money, all the bits you'd pay extra for are included.
I would have made the lid detachable, and the compression straps longer.

Weather's getting a little warmer, lets get outside
More soon
SBW

Unboxing: Swarovski CTC Draw Scope

What 'drew me' to the draw scope? Boom Tsh! I'm here all week.

While I've not been posting much lately I've been preparing for a couple of adventures, working, and the Elfa is Spanish, er lets just leave it at that. Currently I'm off work with a bad back so I may have jinxed it all.

For the next trip I'll need to see the deer a fair way across open country, and on the one after we'll be mapping an orchard that encompasses a whole hillside, where terrain permitting we'll be scouting out a space for a 200m+ .22LR range. I've used a pair of Eden 8x42 binos for the last few years and don't see the point in upgrading them, they are so close to perfect I'm more likely to buy a spare pair. While the 8x42 class is wonderful for woodlands, they don't help so much as things get a bit further away. I wanted a decent spotting scope. 

The tools of a hunting guide have moved on from dressed in rags, lives on wallpaper paste and government cheese but owns a pair of $2000 binoculars, now he has a prismatic spotting scope, and prices have moved on from $2,000 too.  It's really become the must-have tool for guides working big landscapes, they are a wonder of engineering. At my place al wildlife in within bio range, at the Elfa's there are all sorts of things you could see. You can also attach an appropriately shaped piece of plastic which lets you clip on your smartphone to record proceedings or even attach a DSLR camera, if you've got any money left after buying it in the first place. Cheap they aint. I was stumped. 

When the chance to borrow the entry level  Swarovski CTC in 30x75 came up, I said 'thanks a lot' and slunk away to look this gift-horse in the mouth.
I'd seen a few pictures of Scots Ghillies in tweed Deerstalker hats using the traditional draw scope but I'd not considered one before. I actually didn't know Swarovski made one, I don't really associate them with anything so low tech. Seems sometimes simplicity is practicality personified. Prismatic scopes are weighty in the hand and need a tripod if you are to get comfortable. Whereas the draw scope is almost half the weight of the smallest prismatic scope.

Glassing the hill Ghillie style, seen from a distance in this position the keepers body loses its 'human' outline and the estate-tweed becomes environment specific camo, blending in to the landscape. 

Bisley 600 yards .308 target sights. Keep scrolling in, 600 yards is a long way, a very long way

While a tripod is almost essential for the range, where you're leaving the scope pointed in one place, out in the campo a draw scope rests so well on your knee, a fencepost or the top of a pack.  It's far more go-anywhere. There really isn't a lot to go wrong, with prismatic scopes all that precision gearing that feels so smooth in your hand,  is another thing to go wrong, jam or need costly servicing. The draw scope is two tubes and some O rings. Doesn't hurt that its literally half the price of their bottom of the range prismatic scope.

As you can see you don't get a lot in the box, a telescope, a cleaning kit, strap, and case with end caps. I thought the lens caps were missing but a quick read of the inventory shows Swarovski, relying on the case's covers, have done away with them. Not too sure how I feel about that.
How's it to look though? Goes without saying  Swarovski is the Shizzle!

"Buy the best scope you can, spend the change on a rifle" - attirb. Richard Prior

I've been spending a few evenings shooting .22 prone in a jacket, I can hit the targets well enough if I can get comfortable in the straightjacket, some weeks it's a big 'if' so discomfort lead me to the club's other shooting discipline: Lightweight Sporting Rifle, which has frustrations of its own.

"It ain't braggin' if yer really done it" v's  'It is a fluke if you only done it once'

LSR is ten round groups at 25m standing, no sling. With ranges stretching out in stages to a remarkable 400m!! Yep 400m with .22LR !! The two main choices of rifle are tricked-out 10/22's or AR15's  with dedicated .22 LR uppers by CMMG or Spikes. So far I prefer the ergonomics of the AR's.  I love the idea of .22 LR at 400m; its technical challenges are fascinating, it's ammo costs are bearable.  Most of my shooting experience has been of the dinner-bell kind with fixed power scopes,  so the bewildering technical aspects of today's scopes are all new to me. I found this guide to long range scopes about the clearest writing on the subject. I'm still nowhere near making my choice yet, and all the budget is spoken for by another project which I'll let you know about in the next few weeks.

Please: Never ever scan the terrain though a rifle scope with the bolt closed, just don't risk it.

More soon
You pal
SBW

Picture credit for the Ghillie and the estate

Unboxing Review: The Bush Buck Big Four

Well well well all those nice things I've been saying about New Zealand must has brought me some good Kiwi-Karma. Very good Kiwi-Karma. Toby from Bush Buck got in touch about his Big Four jacket. and was kind enough to send one for testing.

The saga of the search for that holy grail of jackets; Lightweight and Cheap and Durable and Quiet and Waterproof has long preoccupied me, and has never been truly achieved. I've fallen in and out of love with Ventile, its wonderfull stuff but its not as waterproof as its champions would have you believe, I've owned and loved some really nice wool hunting jackets from the US and NZ, but the lack of water resistance, its  ability to absorb 1.5 times its dry weight in water, and a series of unprovoked Moth attacks left me ready to explore synthetics.

As longterm readers may remember I did try to commission some alterations to a coat I really like, just a few tweeks to my own recipe - a service offered on the companies website, but was thwarted by the brand's angry proprietor. Twice. LINK 

The last coat I spent my heard-earned on that I've been really pleased with is the Hill Smock by NomadUK. Its a kind of thick fleece Kameez with taped seams - literally outdoor pyjamas. I would wholeheartedly recommend them.  Quiet, Lightweight, Durable (so far) and Waterproof. Cheap never came into it.

Meanwhile down under; New Zealand's hunters have developed their own hunting traditions and clothing to match the climatic conditions. no wooden capes and lederhosen for them, I guess their river fording's are a little deeper than Scotland as they've shortened Breeks (aka Plus Four's - as in four inches bellow the knee) to, well , shorts really and its the home of the hunters smock. I really like the smock concept, they keep the elements at bay in a way waist length jackets can't match. Toby sent me some pictures of his design and he's got most of the things I want a smock/coat to have.

Toby calls his jacket The Big Four. I'd assumed the big four were NZ's famously changeable seasons, but they turn out to to be Fishing, Bird Shooting, Deer Stalking and Pig hunting. My interest was piqued. A coat that will cover all bases, from super active to sedentary is quite a big ask, so I was keen to give it a go.

Fishing; in my experience usually takes place sitting on damp pebbles being lashed by wind and sprayed by surf. The minimum you can expect to get away with is damp buttocks. The longer cut of the Big4 would come into its own.
Bird Shooting; It's a well worn fact that I'm a complete lummox with a shotgun, from a design perspective as swing is the name of the game, any jacket for bird shooting must give a lot of freedom across the shoulders - bodes well for archery and beachcasting.
For Deer Stalking quiet and windproof will be appreciated- first you're sneaking, then you're sitting, sometimes for a long time.
Pigsticking; looks like beating only more so, you've got to follow the dogs wherever they take you, penetrating the briars and brambles. Any jacket that will survive that kind of punishment is tough.

First Impressions:

Long enough to sit on.
The hood is more than a nod to fashion, its cut to give cover without compromising peripheral vision, has a wire in the rim which despite being a fairly old idea is still missing from some hoods.

Its made in the same way as a US airforce issue jacket I've got somewhere, the layers of material are bonded together and then the seams are welded. I think its fair to say it will not leak.

Neoprene cuffs under storm cuffs, these really work for me. Toby has designed the cuff with a slight dart, which stops the inner edge of the cuff from snagging. Me Likee.

Pit-Zips - these are the first thing I'd add to my wish list, when you're active but its pissing down you'll not want to undo the front zip but you do need to regulate your temperature, pit zips are the way to go.

At first sight I thought the chest/binocular pockets looked a little small, but they're actually big enough for my Eden 8x42's (still blown away by these binos 3 years later, best affordable glass by miles)

I'm not a believer in drain holes on packs and rucksacks, but on a jacket that will be worn fording streams they come into their own.

So far I'm very happy with the BigFour, and in a surprising turn up of events both the Ex Mrs SBW and the Evil Elfa have commented favourably on how much smarter I look than usual, which has I suppose been an unintended consequence, but in a good way for a change! I'm not due to get out of town for the next few weekends so so a full foul-weather test will have to wait.

Toby's new website has gone live bushbuckoutdoors.com

More soon
Your pal
SBW

Unboxing Review: Scott Mongoose XT Bow Release

Posts on the SBW blog are like London buses you wait for ages then two come along back to back.

Sometimes the kit does make a difference, all the most accurate shots I've ever taken have been with rifles with triggers that have that sweet, crisp break, the break that's not a hair trigger and isn't scratchy either, my Parker Hale Phoenix, and the Blaser's (R93 and R8) spring to mind. 

When I bought my bow it came as a Ready To Hunt package from Hunter's Friend [who I can't recommend enough] with a Truball release [I think it's the cyclone]. It's OK, in fact it was perfect while I was getting my form together shooting in the backyard and at fifteen meters. At 25 meters I started to notice the long travel and scratchy feel which seemed to amplify with every wobble and waver I made.  

Bored with the sheer divisiveness of Archerytalk I posted to reddit.com/r/Archery/ asking for opinions on releases, only got two responses, both shouting out for Scott Releases. 

During a visit to an Archery shop I got to try out one of their thumb releases, so beloved by the target shooting crowd. Wow, so crisp, so sudden, so WOW! I was tempted, not by the price, but by the mechanics of the thing, then I had a disturbing vision of a repeat performance of the time when I dropped a round from a high-seat and it clattered off every effing rung of the effing ladder on the way down, it would also be fair to say that I don't tend to lose things that are tied-on, so that was a factor too. 

Looking online for reviews of Scott's  Mongoose XT certainly has its fans, I can see the thinking behind the single calliper concept. Don't know if it works, but I like the idea, so I pressed Buy Now. 

Fresh out of the box its in a different league to the other releases I've seen, so far I've only done the shoelace test (I'm at work) but it seems crisp, like R8 crisp.

Have I managed to spend my way to accuracy? I'll let you know after the weekend.

More soon
Your pal
SBW

Unboxing: Biolite Camp Stove Review

I've wanted one of these ever since I saw them as vapourware a few years ago. One thing lead to another and I've not ended up pressing Buy Now. But in a unprecedented turn up of events The Northern Monkey found himself inspired and ordered one. I think it was the offer of free electricity.

TNM had, in a stroke of genius, actually read the instructions before leaving the house so the Biolite had had its preliminary charge and was all ready to go. I was really exited to get this unboxing underway as my phone had already run out of juice, TNM clipped the parts together, filled it with very small sticks and sparked it up.
Once the smoke has finally cleared and its up to operating temperature the Biolite produces no smoke at all and roars with a beautiful spiral of flame which is a bugger to photograph. Phone charging was a little stop-start but did work. Next time I'd plug the stove into a battery pack which might work a bit better.

Following on from the good reception the camp stove has received  Biolite have brought out a 'Basecamp' which you feed from the bottom and takes much bigger bits of wood, this baby size suffers terribly from its small combustion chamber needing constant attention and feeding.  We were in deciduous woodland with an unlimited supply of dry-isn little-finger sized fuel, on a beach where the small bits of driftwood are often the dampest, or in a sparse-fuel environment where you'd have to cut fuel to size, the small chamber would be a major pain. We tried to burn thumb diameter pieces but the stoves efficiency was massively compromised. I hope to do some tests with dried dung [horse poop since you ask] which I have high hopes for as the stove's ideal fuel.

They say:
"Burning only wood, the CampStove creates a smokeless campfire that can cook meals and boil water in minutes. Setup is easy, fuel is free, and flames are hyperefficient with performance on par with white gas stoves."

SBW says:
Burning very small pieces of wood, the camp stove creates unbelievable amounts of smoke until it gets going when it burns very well, defiantly an outdoor gizmo [you would seriously regret lighting this puppy up in a tent], set up is indeed easy, fuel is free if you're in a woodland, anywhere else it'll be a lot of work to cut the pieces up small enough. "On par with white gas stoves" is pushing it.

The two must have accessories would be - bushcraft napalm [which I'll show you how to make in another post] and a pair of secateurs which would be the perfect way to keep it topped up with its preferred stick size of 6mm x 50mm aka quarter of. by two inches.

Redemption:
On the way home we have a 'petrol in a diesel' mishap and ended up by the side of the road with no phone charge, TNM fired up the stove while I walked to the nearest garage and got his phone working again, which was nice.

More soon
Your pal
SBW  

Unboxing Heavy Cover's Titanium Canteen

I have wanted one of these since the first day I saw one mentioned on BB. So here it is in all it's 'Tec-tro' loveliness. Hmmmmm Titaniummmmmmm.
Full review to follow shortly
SBW