Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2017 i Sporting Shooter

IT is good to get out and see people in “gun world”, removed from the stale office environs in the “socially progressive” inner city. Nuff said. Tony and I flew into Brisbane before the recent SHOT Expo and caught up with our friends at Pro-Tactical, who import practical, well-priced gear for shooters. When principal David Auger met us, he asked if we'd like to join him in the “Rigby Room”. We hummed and ha’d for about a millisecond and started to salivate. Now for a brief Rigby history. In 1775, Irishman John Rigby set up the famous company and proceeded to manufacture beautiful rifles and shotguns for well-heeled British and Colonial sportsmen. A latter generation John Rigby was appointed Superintendent of the Royal Small Arms Factory. In 1898, Winston Churchill,…

NZ Forest Huts Kaimanawa Forest Park is made up of four mountain ranges dissected by a number of large river systems. It lies south-east of Lake Taup, between Tongariro National Park to the west, and Kaweka Forest Park to the east. Altitudes vary from 560 metres in the north, to the highest point Makorako at 1727 metres in the centre of the park. The Forest Park (77, 348 hectares) was gazetted in 1969 and is managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC). www.doc.govt.nz/huntsika Hunting permits are now available on line http://huntingpermits.doc.govt.nz and from the DOC office in Turangi. Permits are issued for 4 month periods. HUTS The four huts in the park operate on a first-come, first-served basis. Each is equipped with a coal/wood range, an axe, shovel and bunks…

MERKEL which has been building fine guns in Suhl, Germany since 1898, is a remarkable company that survived under the most restrictive conditions of the Cold War. While other traditional Suhl-based gunmaking firms like Sauer, Heym and Krieghoff relocated to West Germany after the Soviet occupation, Merkel stayed on to make fine guns under the East German communist regime. However, it wasn't until the wall fell and Germany was re-united that Merkel firearms became available for export. The Merkel RX-Helix is a slick and speedy, straight-pull bolt action which affords serious competition not only for Sauer and Haenel, but prestigious Blaser rifles. The company's latest rendition, the Tracker, was obviously designed for Biathlon, an Olympic sport that combines skiing and shooting. Basically, the RX-Merkel's action is fairly simple and uncomplicated…

Kimber – Open Country An ideal choice for the long-range varmint hunter, the new Kimber Open Country in 6.5 Creedmoor has a solid carbon fibre stock with pillar bedding and the new soft touch Gore Optifade Open Country stock treatment. The match grade stainless steel action, deep fluted heavy barrel and bottom metal wear a grey KimPro II finish for unmatched durability and resistance to the elements. Additional features include a 5/8-24 threaded muzzle with thread protector, Mauser style extractor and a match grade adjustable trigger at 3-3.5 Lbs. The Open Country is chambered in the legendary 6.5 Creedmoor, a relative newcomer that is continuing to gain the respect of long-range shooters and hunters all over the country. Offering Sub-MOA accuracy standard, this new Kimber Open Country features a 24…

AS the three of us sat there glassing the bush edge the last rays of an unusually warm March sun slanted over the distant mountains, bathing the landscape in an eerie golden light. The gentle breeze that had wafted in from the southwest was gone, leaving an unobtrusive stillness broken only by the mournful roars of a distant stag. It was the hour when the light starts to fade and the world of wild creatures is just coming to life. Already a small herd of red deer - does and fawns - had come out to feed on the edge of the tree line. And a number of stags had started roaring along the mountain across from us. Glassing, we could see two 12 pointers standing on a low ridge.…

“I have had a great time with no complaints.” TWO STRINGS of yellow balloons with smiley faces (“I don’t want any sadness at my funeral”) hung from each end of Bob Penfold’s coffin. His hunting boots, used passports and autobiography, “PENFOLD,” sat there, too as the Celebrant at Pettigrew’s, Wallsend, Carolyn Read told a packed parlour about first meeting the man. “It is rare meeting someone you are about to commemorate,” she said. “But I went to his house 14 months ago as he was dying and he auditioned me for the job…they threw away the mould when Bob Penfold was born.” At the same time Bob was vetting Carolyn, I was publishing his “Clayton’s obituary,” in this magazine, with his collusion all the way. Alita and I had visited…

HERE are snippets from a web -Facebook article that garnered over 30,000 reached wiith a phenomenol 1500-plus likes! I have seen this growth myself through friends that have in the past had zero interest in shooting or hunting. The latest health concious trend makes it easy to show the value of getting outdoors and hunting your own lean free range meat. A few well supplied BBQ's with quality game meat has been the catalyst to turning many people I know into hunters, shooters or at a minimum very tollerent to shooting sports and hunting. – Gibbo ADA executive officer Barry Howlett said Victoria had seen huge growth in game licences issued to hunters. Game Management Authority figures show 48,000 licences were issued last year, compared to just 30,000 in 2010,…

Letters containing questions for answering by Nick Harvey must be accompanied by a stamped self-addressed envelope. Mail your letters to: The Technical Editor, 3 Reef Street, Hill End, NSW 2850. LETTER OF THE MONTH The 8.5x63mm is Legit Q I recently read about a German cartridge designated 8.5x63mm which I naturally assumed to be a wildcat. But I have been told the Europeans don’t bother about wildcats being content to harvest game with standard calibres like the 7x57mm, 7x64mm and 8x57JS. So what can you tell me about this 8.5x63mm? Do you have any information about such a cartridge? If so, what are its origins, ballistics? If I had a rifle built for it how do I go about forming brass? – Arthur Reynolds A The 8.5x63mm is basically a…

FOR many a .308 or .30/06 class of rifle is a big one where the dreaded flinch can crop up. For others, they register as barely a push on their shoulders and don't find them a problem. For those blokes (and some women too, of course) bigger seems to always be better and in some way, the sky's the limit – to a point that doesn't include shoulder reconstruction. These chamberings aren't that necessary to hunt anything on earth, but maybe a few million years ago when the dinosaurs roamed, it could have been a different story. Now I am sure that a few animals have fallen to these rifles and I would love to see what the raw power of these calibres can do to a big animal like…

LYMAN has been in the rifle sight, handloading and bullet casting business since the late 1800s; they have also catered for regular metallic cartridge hand loaders for many years now. The Lyman E-ZEE Prime is what I consider to be the Rolls Royce of hand priming tools. First up though, why hand prime? I have chosen to hand prime since I graduated from Lee Loaders some decades ago because of convenience and the “feel” that you experience by the reduced leverage and close-in operation which I believe superior to physical “removal from process” you experience with press-mounted priming systems. Over the years I have used the original Lee hand priming tools and more recently an RCBS Universal Hand Priming Tool and both achieve the desired aims, but were not perfect,…

HERE’S one more foxy that I shot with my 111 Savage LH .260 Rem. It was just another Sunday arvo out whistling a favourite gully out near Rylstone. We had seen plenty of bunnies earlier, when we finally spotted a “Wylie” Fox trotting down the hill towards the creek in front of us, attracted by Nate’s excellent “distressed kitten bunny call”. With a first shot lined up through my Carson 3.5-10x44, she promptly disappeared into some blackberry in the creek gully. Oh well, keep trying and only five minutes later we spy a cat, just sauntering up the hill, away from the very same creek. A hastily lined up missed shot was to follow and a lot of cursing under our breath ensued. Having given up on that spot and…

DEAN Anderson, of Spika, sent me a pair of Spika Kosci boots to test out and report back on. I had been waiting some months to get them as they were only in prototype stage when we first spoke, and meantime, I had damaged my right knee, tearing my medial meniscus and spending some time hobbling with the aid of a stick and consuming Panadeines more than I'd like. When I opened the box, I was a bit hesitant as they looked “biggish”, my personal prejudice against high-cut boots came to the fore, but only briefly. When I had recovered from my injury sufficiently to walk short distances, I wore the Koscis to the rifle range for a full day of standing, walking, shooting in three positions and unlike my…

YOUR average hunter is not an expert stalker or skilled rifleman. Even the experienced hunter sometimes finds difficulty in some terrain to get as close as he'd like to. This is why he favours a magnum rifle. But a magnum is not the best choice for Joe Average, because it will not make up for lack of ability. A couple of my friends are outfitters and they have told me that a lot of magnum shooters miss game because they are scared of their rifles. Once when I was hunting with Les Bowman, one of Wyoming's top guides and outfitters, he told me that fully one out of five of his spring bear hunters that year had missed their shots. All used magnums and had a clear view of the…

“That BSA with an integral muzzle brake just about blew my hat off every time I fired it.” THE .243 Winchester and 6mm Remington are also recommended as being the perfect medium game rifles for a youngster or woman shooter. There are two reasons for this. One is their relatively mild recoil from a light sporter; and they are considered minimal calibres for deer hunting. Today they are commercial rounds, but they both started life as wildcats - the .240 Page and the .243 Rockchucker. While they are fairly compact, they are flat shooting, long range performers on varmints and adequate at mid-range on big game. Their relatively mild report and recoil make it easier for a beginner to place his shots and be more effective at taking game at…