Indholdsfortegnelse for November - December 2020 i Man Magnum

PROBABLY, MUCH OF the frustration experienced by firearm owners when applying for new licences can be blamed on employees at the Central Firearm Register. Recently my own experience bore this out. Early in April 2020, shortly before lockdown, I handed in an application for accreditation. During the first week of September I enquired about it at my local (friendly and helpful) DFO. The computer system revealed that, apart from my DFO sending the application to the next responsible person, nothing had happened. He immediately sent an email to enquire as to why the application was not being processed, and some weeks later I received an email from the person vetting the application. The application was thoroughly compiled by a third party and included every possible document to support my need…

AT THE CLOSE of WWII, the victorious Allied For es divided a defeated Germanyino tow countries, theEastern (communist) bloc and Western Germany. The Mauser arms factory at Oberndorffellinto French-occupied sector of West Germany. The French allowed the factory to continue production for two to three years, during which time they removed a good deal of the machinery and hundreds of firearms to France. Among those packing and crating these items was a young German named Walter Schmid who, as a teenager, had spent his school holidays assisting his grandfather in his work at the factory. After distinguishing himself in the Panzer Division, young Walter now worked there full time. Sadly, in 1948, at Russia’s continued insistence, the French finally destroyed the factory and its remaining contents. For the next half…

EVE SEASON, GAME is hunted in South Africa by way of voorsit, the Afrikaans reference to a system hereby g g me is driven into the predetermined shooting arc of hunters sitting hidden in the veld. This thod is generally used in the more open t ain types such as in the Karoo, Free State, Northern Cape and parts of the Eastern Cape where traditional walk-and-stalk methods are difficult or when a group of hunters must be accommodated. My first voorsit was on a farm near Luckhoff in the southern Free State. I was one of a group who were individually placed at preselected positions on low ridges and rocky koppies. We used natural cover to remain hidden and our quarry was limited to blesbuck rams and black wildebeest bulls.…

PAU MAUSE ER AND his brother Wilhelm were two of thirteen children born to Franz and A A e Mauser of Oberndor , Germany. Franz served as a gunsmith at the state-owned arsenal known as the Royal Rifle Factory, which had n operating in that town since 1 . Preparing to follow in their father’s footsteps, the two boys took private lessons in geometrical drawing and decimal arithmetic and, when each turned 14 (Wilhelm in 1848 and Paul in 1852) they entered apprenticeships at the state arsenal, as had their four older brothers before them. Paul and Wilhelm soon distinguished themselves in the improvement and development of firearms technology – Paul in particular revealing early genius. Together they developed a new breech-loading rifle design, the Modell 71 which was adopted…

IN THE FRONT yard of Uncle Theodore and Aunty Irene’s house the East Rand grew a single grapevine. That little grapevine brought Uncle Theodore untold pleasure. In his retirment he was a dedicated vigneron and every year he would elect the best of the vine’s black grapes to make his own sweet red wine. The harvest was enough for him to produce st a single bottle of wine, perhaps two in an exceptional year. Many people had heard about Uncle Theodore’s wine but very few had been privileged enough to taste it. Uncle Theodore and Aunty Irene also owned a house in the little village of Kaspaka on the Greek island of Limnos. They happened to be there at the time that I was travelling in Greece in 1993, so…

OPINEL, THE FRENCH knife manufacturers, celebrate their 130th anniversary this year. The Opinel family has been manufacturing pocket knives and other edged tools since 1890. Interestingly, the shape of the traditional Opinel knife has remained largely unchanged since 18-year-old Joseph Opinel made his first pocket knife all those years ago. Joseph eventually made his pocket knives in twelve sizes, numbered 1 to 12, to suit different hands or various tasks. The smallest, No 1, included a ring to attach to the chain of a pocket watch. The manufacture of knives numbered 1 and 11 ceased in 1935. Today the smallest Opinel is the No 2 with a 3.5cm blade, and the largest is the No 12 with a 12cm blade. A simple pin provides the hinge for the blade, the…

HE LOOKED REALLY furious. “I’ve bee nursing those bananas for weeks! Now, in one night, they are all gone. Three huge bunches. Stripped off my trees.” The village of Victoria Falls in the old Rhodesia in the late 1960s and early ’70s was a charming little place with just a couple of hundred permanent inhabitants, living in the shadow of the mighty falls. Although it was extremely hot just before the November rains, it was a pleasant, friendly place to live and it was slap bang in the middle of big game country too. He was so upset he even called the police. Other than examine the scene and question the staff, nothing could really be done. How do you identify a stolen banana? Not three days later it happened…

SEVEN STAGSRACEDacross the wheat field, their c nut-coloured coats standing out clearly against the lush green background. Upon reaching the edge of the field they hesitated briefly, then disappeared into the dense fynbos that lined a deepish gully. With Valerian van der Byl leading, we set off after the takbokke. This was my first hunt on historic Fairfield, the 8 000ha property near Napier in the Overberg that has been home to the Van der Byl family for many generations. The late PK van der Byl, a former Minister of Defence in Ian Smith’s Rhodesian cabinet, and his family moved back to South Africa after his retirement to settle on Fairfield. Valerian, PK’s son, now runs the farm. I met him early in 2020 and liked him immediately. After a…

TO SUCCESSFULLY PROTECT lives against a violent attack, you must take immediate and decisive action. If you have to use your handgun, it is vital to get a shot on target quickly. Speed counts in any fight. If you cannot draw your firearm from concealment and get a shot on target in a very short time, chances are you’ll end up the victim in a life-threatening situation. Opinions differ as to how fast you need to get your weapon into action, but a simple drill simulating an attack will reveal how little time you actually have when things go seriously wrong. More on this drill later. You should prepare to fight at close quarters: anything from against your body out to say 5 metres. Any attack from further away will…

THE SWAROVSKI Z8I 2-16X50P second focal plane reticle hunting scope was designed for multipurpose use including stalking, driven hunts and lowlight shooting from a hide (hence the illuminated reticle). Swarovski claims the large field of view, which, at 100m, varies from 21m (lowest magnification) to 2.6m (highest magnification) ensures easy target acquisition; also that, even in twilight or very poor light conditions, the high-luminiferous optics will reveal the crucial details for hitting vital areas. As we expect from Swarovski, this scope reveals construction of rare quality. Notwithstanding its 356mm length, 30mm diameter tube, wide magnification range, illuminating turret and top quality glass, this scope weighs only 675 grams, making it ideal for hunting. The scope came with an additional box containing a ballistic turret set (BTF or Ballistic Turret Flex)…

New from Warne SKYLINE MOUNTS The Warne® Skyline® Precision Mount features 10 different interfaces to mount accessories to your scope rings. The mount was specifically designed for sport and precision rifle shooters. Machined from 7075 T6 aluminium billet and featuring two integral recoil lugs along with 4 mounting cross bolts, this precision mount should easily handle the rigors of competition or hard-use environments. The STANAG rail interface allows for more precise mount alignment, and return to zero capability, than a traditional Mil Spec 1913 Picatinny interface, while still being compatible with all picatinny rails. A wide assortment of accessories, like data card holders and zero and 90-degrees accessory rails, can be mounted directly to the different points on the scope rings. The placement of accessories on the rings allows the…