Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2018 i Sporting Shooter

IN 2015 in the first Heart of the Huntress series was filmed in South Africa. In 2016 Australia was the setting for Christie Pisani (Qld Australia), Margaret Botha (South Africa) and Donna Partridge (NSW Australia) to again gather around the campfire after the day’s hunting, and share their experiences, not only as hunters, but as wives, mothers, daughters, sisters and friends. Here, Christie takes Margaret to the last frontier of big boar hunting, Cape York Queensland, for filming of series II of Heart of the Huntress. The roads were dusty, straight and boring. It had been 27 hours driving and our jokes were getting worse and worse. Every time Margaret asked “Are we there yet?” I would reply “Nearly. Just around the next bend!” I wasn’t lying. I just neglected…

I HAVE a friend and mentor who is a keen birdwatcher. He just also happens to have a passion for hunting, often taking a heavy barrelled .308 bolt action or a well-used 30-30 Savage lever gun with his avian equipment. ‘Birding with benefits’ he calls it, and given his tally of pigs over the years, and his intimate contact with Australian birdlife, I have to admit his approach is particularly complimentary to both pursuits. ‘Scratching two itches at once’, he says. Now being a keen birder myself, and inclined to hunt the odd chital for lean jerky meat, I thought I would have to give his dual methodology a try. “The 165 grain lead projectile did everything it was supposed to do.” I have been privileged over the past decade…

“‘In the salt,’ as Johnny says, another beautiful trophy taken by Jack.” IT WAS 1:30pm as I was boarding the plane for a flight to Atlanta Hartsfield Airport on my fourth hunt with Wintershoek Safaris. The balance of the group was boarding from other locations around the south to join me in Atlanta for our flight to Johannesburg R.S.A. We were met at Oliver Tambo Airport by Andrew to help us maneuver through customs and the police to get our firearms. The Northern Cape is a short flight from Johannesburg and Wintershoek Safaris is also renowned for the preparation for every safari. With five camps in this area, one dedicated only to bow hunting, but all offer 5-star accommodation, all “mod-cons”, fabulous meals and superior trophies and gorge scenery to…

IT ALSO routinely appears on our regular Friday E-Newsletter and our Facebook page and it continues to be one of our best rating regular entries on all threee; it's a symptom of LAFO's perceived victimisation and our over regulated firearm environment that continually punishes us for minor or non-existent breaches of our gun legislation and their associated devilish regulations. The police's liberal interpretation of regulations has landed very good people in hot water unnecessarily and LAFOs are heartily sick of the situation. In this particular blog, Simon advises that police treat different people differently, depending upon their prior knowledge of the LAFO or the area in which they live (eg South Western Sydney comes to mind) or for other reasons. Simon is prepared to have his contact details on 24-hour…

“Half-minuute accuracy is difficult to get in a light sporter.” Q I am planning a N.T safari for 2018 and will be hunting buffalo, banteng and pigs. I will be taking two Model 700 Remington rifles, one in .416 Rem. Mag. and the other in .30-06. Do you prefer to use solid or softnose bullets on buffalo? I’ve narrowed my choice of .416 bullets down to the Barnes 400gn TSX or Woodleigh 400gn RN SN or 400gn Solid. Barnes bullets are hard to come by, but I can get Woodleighs. Are they good choices? One American writer recommends placing a good soft-nose bullet of controlled expansion through the lungs of a Cape buffalo and then following up with solids to the shoulder. What do you think? – William Goddard A…

“.270 rifles are not choosy as to changes in bullet weight.” FAMOUS gun writer Jack O’Connor almost single-handedly elevated the .270 Winchester to achieve legendary status, so that it eventually became one of the most popular big game cartridges of all time. Although it is now 94 years old, the original .270 still maintains a big following despite facing stiff competition from the new .270 Winchester Short Magnum. A good many shooters thought that the .270 WSM which appeared back in 2002 would surely sound the death knell for the venerable .270 Winchester, but neither the .270 Weatherby Magnum or the new .270 WSM have been able to significantly lessen the oldtimers popularity. They may be faster and more powerful, but the .270 Win. is still rated one of the…

“I could hear a buck croaking in the next gully.” IT WAS 6.00 pm on a Thursday night and I was trying to explain to my mate Garry that my work trip had dragged out an extra day and there was no way I could make it up for the weekend. As I put down the phone I couldn’t get Garry’s last comment out of my head; “Nothing is more important than being up here this weekend for the height of the rut.” I worked until midnight, got up early on Friday morning and after another three hours of work, I set off. It was 3.00 pm when I arrived at the property and I wasted no time in unloading the car and heading out for a shot. I parked…

THEY take great care to market thoroughly safe products with comprehensive instructions contained in highly detailed owners manuals. Nioa imports their entire line -everything from the least to the most expensive. For the beginner looking for a trainer air-gun for youth purposes two of the best buys are the Diana 240 Classic 177 and the Diana 21 Panther. The two guns have basically the same power plant and method of operation; both traditional barrel-cockers capable of producing average muzzle velocities of 580 fps with a variety of pointed and round-head .177 calibre pellets. There are several variations of the 21 Panther, however the difference is only in sights, stock and similar externals. The Model 21 Panther sent for testing incorporates a black synthetic stock with high Monte-Carlo comb and a…

JUDE has been hunting with Paul ever since he could walk. Being around rifles from the beginning he was taught to respect a rifle always. Jude graduated from a stick to toy gun to an old stock with a piece of pipe taped onto it. Then to shooting off a rest with a little CZ .22 shooting cans and now he is proud custodian of a little Brno Fox 222. He has never done anything to or with his rifle that he was not taught to do by his dad. It was on this year's trip that Jude was allowed to finally be a part of the crew, carrying his own rifle (registered and stored by dad -Ed) and being one of the boys. Visiting the back corner of the…

STEINER'S new premium Nighthunter series of riflescopes features exceptional glass and four different models from which to choose: 1-5x24 for large-calibre dangerous game rifles where distances are usually short with the animal hellbent on destroying the hunter; 1.6-8x42 a versatile all-around scope for the foot hunter and stalker; 2-10x50 for the open country hunter who may have to take some long shots; and the far reaching 3-15x56 which delivers sophisticated performance for the varmint-predator hunter whose forte is zeroing in on small targets at outlandish distances. For testing Beretta sent one of the compact, lightweight 1.6-8x42 scopes with a second plane 4A-I electronically controlled illuminated reticle designed specifically for hunting in poor light conditions. Nighthunter scopes have a 30mm one-piece main tube machined from aircraft-grade aluminium alloy for the utmost…

SOME handloaders go about their handloading like a bull at the gate. Magical increases in killing power seem to be attributed to bullets moving 100 foot-seconds faster than is customary. Some handloaders have the idea that by simply driving a bullet faster than does the comparable factory load that they are achieving a significant improvement in performance. This may be true if you consider velocity the only criterion of ballistic performance, or a larger bra size the primary ingredient of feminine pulchritude. But, there are other things to be taken into consideration, and it doesn't do to try and get the highest velocity possible without giving serious thought to other factors. Few handloaders seem to realise that they are straining their rifle and shortening case life in order to squeeze…