Hi Gang 
JS invited me along for a look.
My initial impression is that it appears to be another forum like Enoughgun, is this place aimed in a different direction in some way? As Iām sure most of you have gathered a little of my firearms background in my time on EG, Iāll expand upon it here.
Iāve always been interested in firearms, and I still have some sketches I drew as a youngster (about all I do have from my childhood really), and had decided to join the Army when I was about nine or ten. Collected non-firing and blank-firing replica firearms as a kid, Marushin models that actually replicated all the parts, not the current Denix rubbish. Grew up in Tennant Creek and South Hedland, but had virtually no contact with real firearms outside of visiting the various warships coming through Hedland, where I spent the whole time playing with the firearms laid out for the purpose, but chained to the ship. Dropped the bolt of an F1 while my finger was over the ejection port, my first war wound
Moved to Perth, with my mum who immediately got me into PCYC (my first real contact with Police) shooting air-rifle competition, got my licence, bought a rifle, and put thousands of pellets into targets in the back yard in Como. Also shot a number of competitions against other clubs over four years. Joined Army Cadets at Wesley College as soon as high-school started. Three years of Cadets (finished as Corporal) was sufficient to kill the idea of the Army - being given orders to do things that made no sense by people that didnāt even know why they were telling you to do it - but it was a lot of fun. We were (I believe) the first unit to be issued demilled SLR rifles for drill. We were incredibly lucky to have an instructor who was ex-SAS, and a flaming nutter. We were abseiling once and he leaped face-first off a sixty-foot cliff without a harness, just with his giggle hat wrapped around the rope. My first contact with the SAS left a hell of an impression He used to bring a crossbow on our camps too
We went on bush camps on Army properties, in off-road Army trucks, got to shoot the M16, semi-auto only, but they showed us what full-auto looked like, and got lumbered with the PRC radio on one camp that put me right off radio work I still have my webbing, the first was the US Vietnam-era rig and AustPack, then we went to the AusCam padded-belt rig with Minimi pouches. I preferred the US gear which is what I used when I started hunting, the Aussie gear I preferred when riding interstate, more bulky but carried more gear on the bike. We also formed our own Smallbore team and shot .22 repeaters on the grounds of Wesley College in Como! The unit also introduced females into the ranks (from Penrhos College), which led to the blatantly obvious problems that reached a head on our first combined camp, the unit fell apart, and the college has virtually no record now of ever having had a cadet unit.
Moved to country SA and immediately started buying rifles and shotguns. I donāt know why but it just never occurred to me to buy centrefire ammo, I bought the LeeLoader and taught myself to load my own ammo. If I had an idea I would write to Nick Harvey and ask his advice, as Iām sure at least some of you also did
Moved back to WA to live with my dad while studying building, which meant leaving all my firearms in SA since I wasnāt going to be able to licence them in WA other than for shooting competition, which Iāve never been into. But I got into pistol shooting instead since I lived five-minutes from the club. Members had keys to the range and were free to go up anytime during the week to practice - without any fees, except Wednesdays. My pistol instructor lived a few-hundred metres from me (we stayed friends) and we would be up there at every opportunity. The club was used every Wednesday by Police and the military, and this relationship allowed us to join the SAS at Swanbourne for IPSC shoots, including their Three-Sixty Kill-House. Sadly, a number of these incredible blokes were killed in the Blackhawk training incident in Queensland that devastated the Regiment. I also raced motorcycles with some ex- and still-serving members - also nutters. Worked in the Kimberley for a while on aboriginal communities, which required me to fly around to keep my pistol licence, including rolling up to the range in Darwin once to find the Army training for the Brunei Cup, pistols, F88ās and Bren guns, and got chauffeured around the ranges by the LtCol in charge I also met an aboriginal girl and we spent all our free time in the bush getting bush tucker for the elders she was caring for on the community. We were together for eight years and she sadly died soon after we separated.
Now Iāve moved, with my girlfriend, to country Victoria to take over her family farm. Sadly, her dad died suddenly in late 2016. I still havenāt managed to make any serious effort to get out after deer, but that is my goal once we have the farm back up on itās feet, hopefully very soon. Primarily, I just love firearm design and shooting, with a particular fondness for the older ex-military firearms. Iām also big on encouraging other people to get involved with firearms.
I wish I could get out that often these days, but other factors of life get in the way.
