Great British Shooting Show 2023

What a year it’s been since our last trip to The Great British Shooting Show and what a time it was we’ve seen some new faces in the gun industry as well as some old favourites so we thought we’d go over a couple of interesting things we saw for those of you who couldn’t make it down to show.

Air Arms Kymira

The Air Arms Kymira is a celebration of the heritage of Air Arms, where they are now and where they are heading. This rifle embodies their many significant milestones, spanning four decades and delivers prestige and performance to the shooter. Using their current cutting-edge technology, they are proud to present the Kymira, a limited edition, truly unique rifle that represents our heritage of world-beating performance and our commitment to excellence throughout their 40 years.

The gun is a piece of living history, artistically crafted from Air Arms' most notable models.

We’ve got 8 of these limited edition beauties coming in roughly May / June time so hop onto our website to pre order yours in either .177 or .22 calibre!

FX Panthera

A dedicated, purpose-built air rifle made to win precision rifle competitions

The FX Panthera is unlike any rifle FX Airguns have made before. It is a dedicated slug rifle, purpose-built with precision competition in mind, and complete with airgun innovation that continues the FX Airguns tradition of pushing the boundaries of airgun performance. 

Designed for Competition Shooting

The Panthera stock is designed for competition. It features a 14.75” long Arca rail complete with M-LOK sections and a barricade block nestled next to the breech. Achieve an ideal balance point by adding external M-LOK compatible weights or internal FX Barrel Weights that attach under the shroud

World Changing

Truly the precision rifle world will forever be changed with the new FX Panthera. The rifle feels and shoots like a precision 22LR, enjoying straight back recoil, but with precision and accuracy only found with an FX Airgun!

We should be getting our first batch of these very soon so keep an eye out on our website and social media for updates!

HIKMICRO Alpex Night Vision

Winner of the Great British Shooting Show’s Budget Night Vision of the Year!

The HIKMICRO ALPEX A50T is breaking new ground when it comes to colour night vision performance, offering a true colour image in twilight to no light this pound for pound NV giant bridges the gap between ultra high performance and fantastic pricing. The unique 1/1.18 inch sensor and 3D DNR image algorithm provide clarity images even in low light conditions of 0.001 lux this is what helps you find a clear and detailed image of your target even in the dark and starry skies. The 1440x1080 HD CMOS sensor gives a ground-breaking image in both day and night. Making the HikMicro Alpex the obvious winner when it comes to LOW-LIGHT HUNTING.

The HIKMICRO ALPEX A50T with its advanced sensor technology and image processing delivers a detailed, full-color image throughout the day - automatically adjusting to twilight and continuing to display an amazing full-colour image up until total darkness.

We've already got one of these in store so if you want to see what's so award winning about the Alpex why not pop over and see what all the hype is about!

Air Arms S510 Tactical

Winner of the Great British Shooting Show’s Airgun of the Year!

The S510 Tactical (S510T) is the perfect blend of usability and functionality. The action is built around the extraordinarily successful S510, used worldwide in many disciplines from field sports to HFT.

This versatile action has now been coupled with an ergonomic stock based on the style of choice by governments around the world. The tactical platform offers an almost limitless choice of sizes, handling positions and accessories that make using and shooting this rifle a unique experience.

The functionality of the S510T Tactical air rifle comes from the fact that all mounting points are to international specifications, the grip mount, the M-Lok slots in the fore-end and the mounting location for the butt stock. This means rifle configurations can be adapted to any shooter and indeed changed in minutes to suit changing conditions.

The M-Lok system allows direct fitting of enabled accessories or the mounting of a rail to facilitate the use of equipment you may already own.

The fore-end has M-Lok slots on 3 surfaces, one along the underside and one each side at 90°. Mount a torch on the right, sling mount on the left, bi-pod and vertical grip on the underside, or simply fit rubber inserts to further enhance stability when shouldering the rifle in the traditional fashion.

The scope rail is to the picatinny standard making swap out sights easy and precise.

ASI Accumax

Accuracy has a new name...

The New budget rifle on the block the ASI Accumax is an open sight fibre optic rifle at a fraction of the cost of most other guns these days. Tuned to ASI's specifications this light weight rifle is perfect for both Juniors and Adults with a smooth full power spring. And with a lifetime warranty you won't have to worry about any problems with it either.

We've got these in store now so come down and have a look at the new name in Accuracy available in both .177 and .22

Well that just gives you a taste of what’s out and what’s to come in terms of new Airguns we saw at the show! As always we’d like to thank everyone that came to say hi to the team while we're at the show as well as all our customers who are just as excited as we are for the new Airguns and maybe even some Shotguns down the line… 

Drapers at the Shooting Show

As many of you have probably seen from our post Last Week Team Drapers went all out at the Shooting Show last Sunday. We saw a few familiar faces from the shop and it was lovely to meet you all as well as getting to know some of our suppliers so we thought we’d let you all know how our little trip went.

Starting on Saturday we closed up a little earlier than usual to make sure we all had enough time to get down to the show, the Team quickly getting changed out of their uniforms into something more show worthy. We sadly didn’t catch any of the show Saturday but arriving at the hotel we heard nothing but good things making us excited for the coming day.  That night we went out for a meal with the folks at Sportsman Gun Centre, who had kindly offered to show us around their stall the next day. We all enjoyed some wonderful food, the lads a little annoyed at there being no ribs but quickly switched to burgers instead, and had some great conversation before retiring for the night. 

Waking it up it was a quick hotel breakfast and then off to the show. Starting off we first made our way over to Edgar Brothers, as their wood panelled stall always stands out in a crowd, we were intrigued by their .22lr Rifles, specifically the GSG STG44 and Model 16 both of which offer a nice semi auto 22 at only a £450 price point. They also had a new model of the Hatsan Factor available with a shortened barrel which offered a large capacity and tactical stock for the same price as an entry level PCP, not a bad offering given the looks.

Moving on to what Sportsman had to offer and there was a lot. Given our current interest in shotguns as our licence changes over we all had a good look at the ATAs which we were absolutely shocked at the quality to price difference with these Turkish bad boys offering Italian Level Craftsmanship at American level pricing! Sportsman have even acquired CZ so the Czech are getting in on the action with lots of bolt actions on the way. Sportsman also revealed to us a new Pard Scope along with automatically upgrading the ones we already had on order to the new ones, talk about speed, meaning that Drapers Gun Centre will be among the first to see what this new 008 has to offer.

After talking with both Sportsman and Edgar Brothers we had a chance to wander around a bit for ourselves seeing what everyone else had on offer. BSA had once again put their historical foot forward showing off both the BSA of the past and the BSA of the future. We got a quick look at the new RAWS guns, the new breed of Theobens, definitely something to be on the lookout for those of you wanting to upgrade your old Rapid 7. Umarex had some interesting offers for those out there wanting accurate HK replicas with their blowback PSG1 being an almost exact copy of the real steel variant but at almost a 3rd of the cost of the real thing!

Finally we got to sample some of the smaller stalls, and their cakes!, before Josh had a go on the Tactical Training Scenario although he might need a few more tries to beat the top score. Overall we had a fantastic day out and hope you all did too and we can’t wait to see what next years British Shooting Show has to offer.

New for 2022.

Exciting times ahead! Here at Drapers Gun Center we have got an amazing Year in front of us, this year we have got many changes in the pipeline all for the benefit of you guys out there. 

So what are we up to?

Shot Guns and Ammunition

Coming soon we are changing our registered firearms license to incorporate the ability to sell Shotguns and Shotgun shells of different gauges to suit, as you may be aware from our previous Blog the Drapers team visited the Lyalvale Shotgun shell factory, this was to experience the making of the shells along side giving our team some valuable hands on knowledge in preparation for when our customers visit or call the shop, in order to assist in any queries or sales to make the transition smooth and pleasant.

We cannot wait to be making our first order and to get things moving and growing in the area of Shotguns, We are currently making provisions for our “classic room” to incorporate a full range of Shotguns that customers will be able to come in store to view, and providing you have the correct up to date license required, purchase.

Keep an eye out on our Website/Blogs/Facebook/Twitter/instagram for up to date news on this great new venture!

Website

Next to change this year is the website, the Drapers team have worked extremely hard to come up with a brand new layout, new ideas, easier access, to make the website a much better experience and more user friendly, including up to date stock information, new and exciting offers, easier ways to shop through the website itself.

We here at Drapers are aware of the ever changing internet needs and feel now is the right time to get fully up to speed. 

Utilizing outside agencies we have spent months preparing and going over ideas and readdressing issues we feel can and may have caused customers and staff problems with purchasing online and hope to eliminate a lot of these to make your experience with Drapers through our website be taken to a whole new level.

Airsoft

As some of you may already be aware in the last year or so Drapers has expanded into Airsoft, we will be expanding this even further over the coming months, We will be actively advertising and adding to our current stock and welcome feedback from fellow airsofters should you visit the shop, The gents here at Drapers currently attend regular Airsoft Games and have an extremely good level of knowledge and experience, whether to just have a good chat over new or existing Airsoft equipment or to guide any new starter on the best route to take or practical Equipment needed to start you off on this exciting sport.

Shotgun Cartridges: A Simplified Guide

Following our tour at Lyavale last week we thought that this week would be a good time to cover Shotgun Cartridges as a whole rather than one specific company. Being new to Cartridges ourselves it can come with it’s own set of jargon completely unrelated to air gunning. Words like Bore, Load and Wad can seem a bit confusing at first but hopefully after reading this blog we can all be a bit more knowledgeable on Shotgun Cartridges.

What’s in a Shotgun Cartridge?

Shotgun Cartridges are typically made out of the following components:

Primer - The ignition cap for the Cartridge

Powder - The propulsion component of the Cartridge

Wad - Usually either a fibreglass or plastic housing that protects the Shot from the Powder

Shot - The lead (or lead free alternative) that will be fired from the Cartridge

Case - The housing for the Cartridge usually coloured Red, Yellow or Blue depending on Gage and cost

What is Bore and Gauge?

The gauge of a firearm is a unit of measurement used to express the inner diameter (bore diameter) of the barrel. Back when shooting meant loading up a cannon full of shot and chucking it at any enemy of the crown it was common to deal with Pounds of lead, for example an 8 Pounder Cannon would fire 8 Pounds of Lead, so when the concept of Small Arms was being introduced it was weighed against this Pound of Lead so a 12 Gauge shotgun shell is 1/12 a pound of lead cannon ball, the same is true with 28 Gauge 32 and so on. The only exception to this rule in modern shooting is .410 Bore, which would be hypothetically 67 Gauge.

Can I shoot steel shot?

Steel has become a popular alternative to lead, along with bismuth, due to its reduced impact on the environment when shooting. As we all work towards making changes in our lives to reduce environmental damage so too has the shooting community been coming up with their own ways of keeping sport alive along with the Planet. But do be carful when picking up steel shot as some guns may not be designed for its use (If you are unsure of what your shotgun can fire look for a fleur-de-lis stamped on your gun to see if it is steel shot ready)

In conclusion there are many different aspects of Shotguns and we’ve only really covered the very basics on this post as with any other firearm or air rifle we always recommend double checking with a shop or supplier if you are unsure about what cartridges your gun uses and if you are making the right choice in ammunition not only know but in the future with all the changes.

Lyalvale Express Factory Tour

As part of our current move towards the expanding of our Firearms Certificate we were invited by the lovely people at Lyalvale Express for a tour of their factory in Staffordshire so that we could learn more about Shotgun cartridges in the hopes of stocking them in the future.

Established in 1983 Lyalvale has had a long history with Shotgun Cartridges and pride themselves on being able to deliver Gold Medal winning ammunition at a competitive price.

Our journey begins with the outside of the factory, split between two buildings. Lyalvale really gets into the nitty gritty when it comes to cartridges, sourcing the best casings, powder, and wadding all from various places across Europe to make sure that every cartridge they produce is of the highest quality. The sheer size of the storage room alone would have many people in shock but what grabbed our attention was the fact that the whole room would only last Lyalvale just a few weeks of Cartridges at most! Moving on to the lower floor we watched each of the cartridges being put together with their large machines making quick work out of an afternoon's worth of reloading to the casual shooter. Each batch of cartridges is tested and changed to make sure that the same level of consistency is across all their range, no need to go hunting for batch numbers now.

Moving onto the main storage building we were met with what seemed like a mountain of boxes of all their different kinds of cartridges, from the entry level English Sporter to the more bespoke Ultimate Steel, Lyalvale seemed to have it all, even a friendly rat protector. In this building many different orders are put together on palettes ready to be shipped all across the UK and we hope that very soon they’ll be adding Drapers Gun Centre to their growing list.

Overall we left Lyalvale with not only the information we needed on Shotgun Cartridges but also the knowledge that the team at Lyalvale would be there to help us and our customers with anything we needed as we expanded our Shop Licences. We’d like to thank Lyalvale Express for the wonderful tour of their factory and look forward to working with them in the near future.

- Team Drapers