Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2023 i Sporting Shooter

ONE of the deeper lessons a child begins to learn on their first hunt is about selectively killing animals. It’s something they grasp pretty quickly, too, from what I’ve seen, even if it takes a little while — possibly years — for them to fully comprehend the moral implications of it. Recent research indicates that humans may develop a sense of right and wrong, or justice, within their first year. Therefore it’s not surprising that you can see it in kids about the age of four — the age of Reid Hjorth’s son in Reid’s story in last month’s edition, and the age of a child who tagged along when I was hunting goats a few weeks ago. They can easily accept that it’s fine to kill certain animals out…

MARLIN has long been the largest American maker of lever-action rifles. There are so many Model 336 lever guns they can’t be ignored. Now Ruger owns the brand and has chosen to launch its new line with the Model 1895 SBL, the most popular model when Ruger took over. Marlin clung to the 1895 designation for all models it chambered in .45-70. “The action is smoother than anything that went before” SBL stands for Stainless Big Loop and signifies a satin-finished raw-stainless receiver, barrel and tubular magazine cradled in a black-grey laminated stock. Over the years I’ve tested and hunted with Marlins in a variety of calibres including the .30-30 (which I admit to having a soft spot for) but the .45-70 I used in the NT impressed me most.…

ATOMIC 29 is a name not familiar to most Australian hunters but that is going to change as these home-grown projectiles take hold in the market. It is the brainchild of Cameron Strachan who lives in the regional town of Naracoorte, South Australia. From an early age Cameron enjoyed shooting and hunting and, as he grew, so did his interest in ammunition. As he gained greater knowledge, he progressed from standard factory rounds to tailored hand loads. Barnes bullets were Cameron’s favourite projectiles back then. As the cost of ammunition rose rapidly and, more importantly, as availability became an increasing problem, he started experimenting and making his own projectiles. This was a slow process as he turned each one meticulously on a manual lathe. Cameron found these early projectiles extremely…

SHOOTERS Union spends a lot of time monitoring the Australian media and its coverage of firearm-related stories. We try to be understanding but we’re getting to the point where our patience is nearly exhausted. There’s just so much misinformation, bias or ignorance (sometimes all three) on display, and it’s obvious in some cases the people writing the stories are pushing an anti-gun agenda. Unfortunately, the people who do the “offended mob” thing tend to agree with the anti-gun worldview, which is why it’s apparently OK to say things that encourage hateful attitudes towards shooters even though it wouldn’t be OK to say similar things about other, more socially popular minority groups. What gets harder is differentiating between a deliberate media choice to sensationalise a firearms issue and drum up anti-gun sentiment…

IN the Northern Territory there exist some vast tracts of mainly arid and desolate country between the creeks that form the headwaters of the Roper River. This area is lightly timbered and usually sun-parched brown decorated with a mosaic pattern of criss-crossing water courses. Other than buffaloes, the only other introduced animals that inhabit this wasteland are scrub cattle, brumbies and donkeys. My first introduction to wild donkeys dates back to the early 1960s. I’d been hunting buffaloes with Wally Brummel, who was working as a mechanic on Beswick station. One morning he told me that an old mate from my roo shooting days — Hilton Connolly from Surat, Queensland — and his offsider Nev Horribin were nearby and wanted to catch up. They were shooting donkeys and brumbies for…

MOST rifle shooters think that the .30-calibre magnums are a fairly recent development. Actually, the Big Thirty era began well over 100 years ago with a cartridge called the .30 Newton. The .30 magnums didn’t gain widespread popularity until after the end of World War II, when the .300 Weatherby Magnum appeared, but the first large-capacity .30 magnum, the .30 Newton, was in use before 1914. Charles Newton is credited with starting the .30 magnum trend, as well as many other modern trends in rifle and cartridge design. He was a New York lawyer, gun designer, ballistician and promoter. He designed the .22 High Power for use in the Savage Model 99 in 1912 and the .250-3000 for Savage in 1915. His most popular cartridge was the .256 Newton, a…

Q I am in the market for a new rifle. It will definitely be a Winchester Model 70 Featherweight, but I am undecided between getting it in standard .270 Win. or .270 WSM. I’ve read elsewhere that a 150gn AccuBond from a .270 WSM drops 6.8” less than a 140gn AccuBond from a standard .270 out at 500yds and hits with 268ft-lb more energy at that range. On paper at least, the .270 WSM looks to be harder hitting on game, but I find it hard to believe that the short magnum will kill game any deader than will the old .270 if both bullets land in the right place. What do you think about my choice of rifle and cartridge? Joe Wiseman A I cannot argue against your choice of…

ONE of the oldest American gunmaking firms, the Marlin Firearms Company was founded in 1870 by John Mahlon Marlin. Marlin started making Ballard rifles in 1875. Up to that time it’d made only pistols and Derringers. Its entry into the rifle field was the Model 1881, the first lever-action capable of housing the big .45-70 Govt cartridge. It was a large, heavy rifle with a 28” octagonal barrel. This triggered the development of the Model 1888 and the 1889, the latter being the first of the Marlin side-ejection actions with the solid receiver that we are familiar with today. The Model 1895, the ancestor of the present day Marlin bearing the same designation, was not only chambered for smokeless cartridges, but many black-powder numbers of the day. It featured the famous…

BROUGHT TO YOU BY Tim Morrow reckons he’s pretty happy with his first fallow-rut buck. “I found him just after first light, pushing a handful of does around the hillside,” Tim says. “While waiting for a shot I felt the tiniest breath of wind on the back of my neck and he winded us and took off. My mate let out a doe call, which pulled him up and he turned perfectly broadside. I took a standing shot with my .270 Weatherby Vanguard Kakadu, delivering the 130gr Fiocchi polymer tip to the heart. It dropped him instantly! I definitely owe my mate one next rut.” And we owe you a rifle, Tim. Congratulations. Luke Jones and Steph have five kids and no time, so a quick hunt is what they…

Metalloid maintenance products Metalloid Firearms and Sports is an American based company situated in Michigan. It manufacturers high-performance maintenance products for firearms, sporting equipment and even leather dressing. Some of these products are now available here in Australia through locally based distributor Hunt’s Shooting supplies. Green Gun Oil is a scent-free, all-natural product that bonds to metal to clean, lubricate and protect your firearms. It is available in a 2oz spray pack and incorporates ‘green’ chemistry with natural American-made bio-degradable, bio-renewable and bio-sustainable ingredients. Green Stock Oil is a botanically derived gun stock conditioner that’s environmentally friendly for firearm timber. Also made of all-natural ingredients, this product will restore and maintain all wood surfaces. Green Stock Oil is available in a 2oz spray pack. The Metacor 71 Duck Hunter’s Delight…

MY new year started off with a bunny-busting trip with Old Pop and his beautiful German short-haired pointer, Bonnie. First, we made a stop at the range to get all the guns sighted in for the new year, especially seeing as Old Pop and Mum are heading to Africa in April. It had been a while since Dad and I hit the range. My Howa .223, Weatherby .243, Howa .308 and Anschutz .22 were ready to go. I wanted some help getting them all zeroed. It was great sitting at the range with the various characters and their firearms, both small and large, even though it was a scorcher of a day. We arrived at the property just as the wind picked up and dark clouds started to come over. We…

THIS column has touched on many aspects of hunting gear that can be fun to experiment with and present us with new challenges. For the most part, while I have favourite bits of gear, or favourite aspects of gear that I gravitate towards, I’m happy to try something new in many cases as I’m interested in what the change might bring about. The more I walk the hills, however, the more I find myself wanting to stick with some bits of gear that I know and love. Boots are one of the most heavily debated topics in the hunting world. Some people prefer the stiffest and most waterproof options available, while others are happy to wear elastic-sided work boots or even Dunlop Volleys. Of course, much of what people prefer comes…

AS the hot September winds swept across northern Australian, Dad and I packed eagerly for our annual Cape York pig hunt. This time, the hunting was going to be particularly tough due to a great wet season. We decided to focus our energy on the swamps in the hope of finding feeding boars and mobs coming and going throughout the day. This plan proved very successful and we took many boars in the first two days. Each night we would choose swamps on the map that we believed might hold pigs. Each morning we’d travel to these swamps from base camp by quad. After getting rid of the hunting nerves on the first couple of days, we decided to try an entirely new set of swamps we had never been to.…