I first picked up a serious modern blowpipe in Amsterdam in about 2003.
Through many 'adventures' I'm back in the extreme north of England now, and the holder of 6 pipes.
5' Magnum Pro .625
5' Magnum .625
4' Magnum Pro .625
5' Home-made .500
2 x 4' .500 - not sure of the makes, one was from France, the other 'specially obtained' from the USA
I'm a target shooter. I've been a member of the 'old' LeFora Blowgun forum since 2010, but had to start a new profile earlier today as I've long since lost all track of my login details.
Also a fairly decent freestyle/Olympic recurve archer.
Pushing 60, somewhat disabled, but still a big fan of 'human-powered marksmanship'.
With the Covid-19 lockdown, and the cancellation of all organised archery activity, I'm making use of the time to attempt to set up both a local target club, and a National governing body. The problem, of course, is the 'legal position' of the noble 'pipe over
here:-
....whilst it's against the law to "manufacture, sell or hire or offer for sale or hire, expose or have in one's possession for the purpose of sale or hire, or lend or give to any other person" " the weapon sometimes known as a "blowpipe" or "blow gun", being a hollow tube out of which hard pellets or darts are shot by the use of breath", the personal private use of the pipe isn't banned, nor is buying or making darts. "All" that will be needed to free British people to enjoy our fantastic sport is a small amendment to Schedule 1 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons) Order 1988. I know who I need to talk to about getting this done, it still won't be easy but it's certainly not impossible.
In the meantime, I'm getting in a few ends just about every day, trying out different combinations of pipes/darts/targets on my indoor 5m/8m range.
OK, that's enough to start with.
