Pellet power and performance - Fast moving targets

[Music] We often refer to big boys and their toys. Well, for this particular item we are actually in a big boys' toy shop. A model shop. And we are hoping they have the technology to build a bouncy boar. A bit of a strange request, we’re looking to shoot a target and I need to make a moving target. It’s a new gun I am trying out it is a double rifle and what I need to do is try and simulate a pig running past, so I need something that is going to be able to go across rough terrain, quite fast and carry a bit of weight because I have got to put a target on top of it. Ok are you thinking of fuel driven or electric? Chris behind the counter barely flinches when Roy and Ian tell him they want to shoot at a Tonka toy on steroids. Well I would probably recommend something like this, it’s one tenth scale 4 wheel drive, nice and bouncy off road, I’ll take the top off so you can see underneath, 4 wheel drive with individual suspension all round so it will handle bumps and that will do about 30 – 25 miles an hour. So we know this monster truck is fast, powerful and can take on rough terrain. But can it carry a pig? What about weightwise will it carry a bit of weight do you think? Yes, it will pull, to give you an idea, about 6 bags of sugar behind it. Oh really? If it was on top you would probably get a bit more out of it than that. Six bags of sugar. Hmm. Hardly hogzilla - but then we've yet to see the A Team class engineering skills of this double act. [Music] That’s a bit of a bum really. So what on earth is this remote-controlled car business all about. Rifle is finally here, we have got a nice new shiny scope which has arrived from Zeiss and we’ve got the ammunition, so all the components we need to go and have some fun with some driven piggies. Before I do that though like with any form of shooting, you want to make sure you are proficient and make sure you are accurate rather than wasting a lot of money and making a lot of noise with this. We thought the easiest way to do it was get an air rifle and just practice with the air rifle because although the projectory and the velocity are going to be completely different from using the rifle, it is still the same base set of skills you are going to be using. So hopefully we will have a bit of fun and see if we can hit anything. Practicing driven boar like this is with an air rifle, is a lot safer than the other idea we heard of – shooting at a barrel towed behind a tractor. Please do not do this! Before we get a chance to mount any type of target, the boys want to give the granite muncher a spin just to get a feel of the handling and judge whether it'll do the business. It certainly ploughs through plenty of horse business as it skids across the paddock. Within no time it has the whiff of a pair of soiled jodhpurs. Right, into the pits to *** this ride. It's going to be a steep learning curve. There are plenty of suggestions, and thankfully we aren't looking for pig perfection. [music] Then we can have like piggy head – let’s see if it works. The prototype is not a thing of beauty but can it defy the laws of physics which are currently pointing and laughing at this top heavy monstrosity? Nature abhores a vaccum. It also abhores this tragic attempt at simulated boar. Never mind – it needs to lose the bulk and stiffen up for high speed shooting. Doesn’t work does it? I think it’s a little bit heavy for the car. We were trying to make a life size piggy, but I think we will have to go to stage 2. We will see what we can come up with this time. This looks more promising – but Ian's daughter's might not appreciate their father's lateral thinking. Boar mk III takes shape, and it could be a eureka moment. There's certainly plenty of confidence and backslapping in the pits – even with the comedy udders it looks as if we are ready for action. That drives like it would normally drive pretty much. A lot better than cardboard boxes. Is that your motivation in your hand. That is my motivation in my hand. We’ve got pictures of piggy, so once we’ve shot the faked teats then we can put piggy on there and away we go. We got the gloves we couldn’t find any balloons or anything else to use. We have got the balloons to start off with improvisation and then we are going to put pictures of piggies on there when we have got the accuracy down to a T. So we will see how we get on. As Roy's air-rifle is on the blink he's called in Jim to bring in a spare. We must apologise as there now follows a blatant plea to any air rifle manufacturer by Mr Roy Lupton. If any air-rifle manufacturers are out there and they would like to provide me with a nice, new, shiny rifle it would be lovely because my one is broken, so I’ve had to phone a mate and ask him to bring this one down, so that we can have a play with it so what have we got then? It is a Brocock Concept Super Six it’s a Six shot 2/2 rifle. Excellent. And it should do the job for your piggies. Little carbine – that’s nice isn’t it. Blagger. On with the programme and release the uddered boar. You were nowhere near that boy, you were about 6 foot behind that. Was I - never? It was. How can you say that I was 6 foot behind and I didn’t even have a pellet. I saw a pellet go up. There is no way I was 6 foot behind no, not having it, no way. [laughter] Yes! - thank you! – see it helps when you have a pellet in it. You are still getting a ???? Sorry? Nothing. It’s amazing how much....hang on, hang on I’ll wait for it to come round. You missed a boar. It was a little boar anyway like you. [laughter] You are not playing fair, hold on, I’m not ready yet, hang on give us a chance – yes! Now you have got the knack. I was giving a 2 or 3 foot lead on that, it always helps when you are trying out and just learning how to do something. If your mates drive it at a constant speed rather than mucking about and run it all over the place. Ian was taking great pleasure there and accelerating when he knew I was just about to take the shot. I suppose it is only fair as pigs won’t run at a constant speed. Everyone quickly realises this has the potential of becoming an Olympic event. Unfortunately Ian just can’t quite get into the groove. Oh no, you missed with the big balloon. Right come on then, ready? Yes. Oh he missed again. [laughter] I got that didn’t I? It’s still up. I gave that varying leads as well. Did you? You are just useless. Did you load that magazine? All who have a go nail the boar, and yet Ian struggles. Of course everyone is sympathetic... [laughter] We soon get bored with blowing up the gloves and move onto shots of swine. This is equally popular and who needs a spotting scope to see where your shot ends up, in this discipline you just drive the target to within arms reach. So what about the double rifle? Sorry to say we were having such good fun with the air rifle and our new hi speed boar we ran out of time. But time well spent, as Roy is doing all he can to ensure he doesn't make a pigs ear of things!