Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2018 i Sporting Shooter

RANGE time for me is a precious commodity. While I live 15 minutes from the largest rifle range in the Southern Hemisphere, I get very limited time to shoot for more than 15-20 minutes to carry out load development, and that was the case with a new bullet I elected to use for an invitational 300 metre “Sniper” Match to cater for NSW Federation of Hunting Club members. I had spoken to Jim at OSA about trialling the new 125gn Tipped Match King in my M17 .308 in match conditions at my range, but needed to get some loads made up. My 20 minute load development session consisted if shooting six loads progressing in half grain increments from ADI recommended minimum up to maximum charges. I seated the bullets out…

I HAVE always believed in the old saying ‘if you haven’t got anything intelligent to add to the conversation, say nothing at all.’ However, having hunted rabbits for over 50 years I think I might be able to add to the conversation regarding the hunting of rabbits. Over that time I have hunted rabbits in every conceivable way and, probably a couple of other ways as well. I have trapped, ferreted using nets, shooting them as they are flushed from their warrens by the ferrets. Coupled with the ferrets a smooth handling shotgun makes for a great day in the field. I couldn’t ever conceive the number of rabbits I have taken with a .22 Rimfire, be it a single shot Browning designed for .22 shorts or long rifle cartridges…

THE small group by the fence moved away as the Suzuki drew near. Their colouring – so similar to that of the eastern grey kangaroo – blended easily with the bush. The rusa looked and acted as if they belonged. If it was not for the two stags in the group, they might have seemed unremarkable. “The stags had good heads. I estimated both around the 30 inch mark.” The stags had good heads. I estimated both to be around the 30 inch (76 cm) mark. One had amassed a pile of vegetation on his antlers in a typical rusa dominance display. But it seemed he had failed to impress. While the other stag drifted away with a couple of hinds, the challenger with his rack full of grass and…

WE WERE heading back to the camp in the Rodeo and I was feeling pretty damn pleased with myself. I had just taken a nice representative fallow buck and managed to get it back to the vehicle without doing any damage to what was a very nice cape, as I intended to get it mounted. That head still hangs proudly in my office in Darwin today as a reminder of the hunt and what hunting means to me. On this occasion I was with two mates, Rob and Col. We were chatting away as we quietly bounced along the track, I remember Col saying “So Brian, when are you going to take the next step in hunting?”, I knew what Col meant (go to Africa to hunt) but I answered…

THE LIBERAL Party has a hide trying to attract the hunter/shooter vote after they enlisted Howard and Fisher to scuttle certain success in recent NSW by-elections. Their offer is to allow deer-hunting in Tasmanian national parks and put deer back on the menu. Premier Will Hodgman announced a plan for licensed shooters to hunt fallow in national parks to control the population. The Libs' history in NSW on this issue is bad; the O'Farrell betrayal of the NSW Game Council and reneging on a negotiated National Parks Hunting deal in that state, Tassie's shooters would be mad to trust the Libs again, particularly when they have strong Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party candidates lined up to represent them. Search for tas govt pledges deer on sportingshootermag.com.au…

BEAR & Son Cutlery prides itself on all its products being American made by 91 American craftsman, who have come from Gerber, Case, Parker Edwards and Schrade. The once proud American Schrade and Marbles brands, among other icons, now only sell products manufactured in China; they look the same and cost less, but is that the type of knife you want to rely on? Bear &Son, however, make workmanlike knives at very affordable prices with blade steels which they heat treat and temper in house. The steels they use, depending upon the purpose/category of knife starts with 440C High Carbon Stainless Steel through 1095 Carbon Steel, Sandvik 12C27M and 14C28N Stainless Steels and high Definition Damascus Steel. The ranges available in Australia, through their new importer, C.R. Kennedy, range in…

“I’ve always shared an interest in dogs with my dad.” ALL photos taken by Rob Smith of ‘wowfactorpix’. I’ve mentioned before in this column that I love history. Thinking about how people lived in ancient times is fascinating to me, and while the differences in our lives are obvious, there are striking similarities. Looking at ancient artwork allows us to appreciate the things that society valued at various times, and the ways that these things contributed to their society. The presence of dogs in many of these artworks indicates a strong connection with them, be it for companionship, work, and of course, hunting. Some dogs have possibly been status symbols, but all dogs have been friends of humans in some form. I think it’s safe to say that many dogs…

AN ASSORTMENT OF HUNTING FACTS & FIGURES “Violent disruption of issue, occurs within the first 25mm.” THE wide range of .22 rimfire ammunition is not only superbly accurate, but has more hitting power than most shooters realise. Now magnum rimfires reign supreme. Few modern gun owners spare a fleeting thought to the humble .22 rimfire and now many small-game hunters prefer the hyper velocity loads over standard .22 LR hollow-point and solid loads. However, the standard high-speed loadings are powerful enough to deliver one-shot kills on small game out to 80 metres. At 50 metres, .22's may still retain 1000 + fps, and deliver over 100 ft/lbs of energy. A few years ago I carried out a tests at various distances into wet newsprint and yellow laundry soap and compared…

We’ve seen the huge deer culls many times in NSW.” IT called for culling feral deer in Victoria. It’s a story echoed in many regions where grazing and cropping land abutts national parks and state forests. And it invariably ends with wholesale slaughter of feral animals – usually goats, pigs and deer – invariably fallow, rusa and sambar. We’ve seen the huge deer culls many times in NSW. In the Hastings district of the mid-North Coast and the Illawarra around Wollongong (rusa). And the New England in the north and Lake George in the south-east (fallow). Commenting on the proposed adventure ride by the American Clemmie Wotherspoon on the Bicentennial National Trail from the high country to the nation’s tip, Duncan McDonald of Dawes Point, NSW, noted her trek will…

IT WAS the 14th of May 2017 and as we held our gear against the ground the chopper blades screamed a few metres above our heads as the pilot gave his machine more throttle and lifted up into the air on his way back to Glentanner Airport, within a minute we were left in the silence of one of the massive valleys in the mountains of New Zealand surrounding Mt Cook. Arriving at camp was like no other camp we were used to back in Australia, it was desolate, the land scape was rock with small patches of tussock but underneath that more rock. It was a harsh place, instantly we saw tahr running across the face above us and that’s what we were here for, one very nice bull…

“The founders spent many decades producing the well-known Celestron range of optics.” WHILE hunting fallow deer with a good mate on the Central Tablelands of NSW last year, I took a young buck for meat with one shot from my .270 WSM from way across the valley. Back at camp that night, he told our other mates about the shot, and they asked me about the scope I'd used. When I told them I was using a Styrker, they were absolutely dumbfounded. They asked: "What the hell is a Styrka?" Styrka is a Norwegian name meaning strength that's been given to a line of hunting optics made in China for a company based in Eagon, Minnesota, U.S.A and imported into Australia by Ground Force International in Fernvale, Queensland. Two years…

RUGGEDNESS and fit-for-function performance are bywords for the waterproof and shockproof padded hard cases Pelican is famous for. Now they have personal lighting gear including handheld torches and headlamps that are right down the hunter's alley. Here we review two of their current headlamps. With revolutionary downcast lighting, USB charging and battery level indicators, they are packed with features. Here we review two of their current headlamps. Pelican 2750 LED Headlamp The Pelican 2750 is a high-tech headlamp featuring two brightness levels (40 and 100 lumens) plus a red (night vision) LED. The 2750 is well-suited for use in pre-dawn approaches to hunting stands and glassing vantage points and the after-dark carry-outs trophy hunters are often forced to do. With a good beam spread and 12 hours battery life. The…

A little south of Normanton, we’d meet up with two other mates to spend 10 days hunting afor pigs and whatever other ferals we could find. The first three days saw us frustrated with the small numbers of pigs; we weren’t sure if it was the extraordinary hot weather or the lack of shady bedding for the pigs to escape the heat. So we decided to move on. My mate had hunted a property around the Croydon area a few years ago, so we decided to turn up on the doorstep and ask if we could hunt there. After getting the thumbs up, we headed off to set up camp. The days that followed produced a medium sized pig for my mate and a few sightings of small mobs which…