Man Magnum July/Aug 2022

RECENTLY, while testing the Springfield Hellcat 9mmP pistol for this edition, I tried doing short shuffle runs with a weight to elevate my heart rate before starting the shoot. At my fitness level, age and (only slight) excess weight, this did not take long to achieve. The shooting exercise involved exiting a vehicle and engaging several targets spread over an area of about 40m. I had to move as fast as I could, crouch behind cover, get down on my knees and even shoot from the prone position. To complicate matters, at any stage, my shooting partner could tell me to drop the magazine from the pistol and/or he could stuff an 8kg kettle bell into one of my hands, forcing me to use only one hand while still managing…

Gutting Tip I read with interest the reprinted May 1989 article “Bloody Imperative” by Gregor Woods in your Looking Back section of the May/June 2022 edition of Magnum. Part 1 is about gutting an animal, and I offer the following tip I received from a PH in Zambia many years ago. When gutting an antelope, do not discard the gallbladder (or the bile) after detaching it from the liver. When done with gutting, one’s hands and arms are covered in blood, fat, etc. Take the bile and pour it onto your hands and rub onto the affected areas. Bile does not lather up, but rub on well. It may be bitter but it does not smell unpleasant. Then wash your hands. You will not believe how clean they have become…

IN OUR previous edition, I told of sharing a campfire with Dave Westerhout of Zimbabwe, but related only a part of our conversation. As that evening wore on, our discussions became more philosophical – as campfire talk is wont to do. Dave said he’d enjoyed an earlier column in which I told of a lion locking itself in the long-drop toilet of a remote mission station, resulting in the complete destruction of that hallowed edifice. It reminded him of a well-known incident which occurred in the old Rhodesia. However, before I let Dave tell his story, I feel it is incumbent on me to instruct our younger readers who may have no knowledge or experience of long-drop history or tradition. Most farmhouses of my youth were without electricity or much…

THE HELLCAT is manufactured in Croatia by HS Produkt (called the H11 there) who are well-known for their HS series pistols. These pistols are imported by Springfield Armory in the USA and sold under the XD and Hellcat names. The XD range of pistols are known to be practical and reliable defence tools. The Hellcat, with its 3" (76mm) hammer-forged Melonite®-coated 1:10"-twist barrel, is a micro polymer striker-fired pistol, think Glock 43 size. It is slightly smaller than the G43, overall length is 150mm, width is 27mm and height is 100mm with the shortest magazine inserted. It weighs 460g without a mag, and 665g with 11 rounds (124gr Hornady XTPs) in the magazine and one in the chamber. Using the extended 13-round mag (14 rounds in total) the weight is…

I HAD wanted to hunt a red hartebeest for some time but never had the opportunity. Namibia’s severe drought during 2019/2020 made it even more difficult. Red hartebeest require good rainfall and grasslands to survive, and many had been lost to the drought. Almost all the responses to my enquiries had been negative, so you can imagine my relief when I heard that Jamy Traut Hunting Safaris would be able to assist. On a bitterly cold morning we parked the bakkie under a camelthorn tree, grabbed our gear and started walking across dunes, down into the ‘streets’ between the rolling dunes, scanning for any sign of hartebeest. We saw plenty of springbuck and black wildebeest and we just had to hope they wouldn’t get spooked and chase away any hartebeest…

DURING the winter of 1871-72 Duke Alexis of Russia visited the United States. The young Duke was the fourth son of Tsar Alexander and the highlight of his Grand Tour was to go on a buffalo hunt in Nebraska. The spectacular event had been organised by William ‘Buffalo Bill’ Cody and the famous showman included a party of Indians and the flamboyant George Armstrong Custer, who was to die later at the battle of the Little Big Horn. During the exciting buffalo hunt, Alexis shot a magnificent bull and this was celebrated with much popping of champagne corks because it also happened to be the Duke’s 22nd birthday. An interesting aspect of the Duke’s visit was that at some time he handled a Smith & Wesson .44 calibre revolver –…