Indholdsfortegnelse for May/June 2025 i Man Magnum

I WAS hunting by invitation on a ranch where an American client, Clayton and his wife Sue were present. We hunted separately, but all dined together with the rancher. One evening, we were having sundowners around the fire when Clayton said, “I notice that my tracker wears what looks like the horn of a tiny antelope on a thong around his neck. Would that be a lucky charm or some kind of juju protection thing?” “No,” smiled the rancher, “It’s what he carries his snuff in. It holds a day’s supply. The local herbalist doctors also use various antelope horns to contain different kinds of muthi – traditional medicines – horns impress their patients more than glass or plastic bottles. I’ve even seen a tobacco pipe made out of a…

WHAT forces work on a bullet when we shoot uphill or downhill? How do we adjust our aim; do we aim lower with downhill shots and higher when shooting uphill? And do we take both the distance to the target and the up/down degree of angle into account or just the distance? Gregor Woods wrote in Magnum’s Gallery (July/August 2024): “The subject of aim elevation when shooting up or down steep slopes is often misunderstood. Many believe that you should aim higher when shooting uphill and lower when shooting downhill. Not so. You should aim higher in both cases.” That is correct, but what many people overlook is that you only aim higher when your target is standing further away than your rifle’s horizontal zeroing distance. If your rifle is…

THE Landcruiser stopped halfway down the hill. Pointing his finger Shannon said, “Dad, wait at that tree and I will drive the kudu out of the valley below and you should get an easy shot.” With that my son drove off leaving me to head for a lone tree surrounded by a clump of thorn bush. We were hunting on the game farm Welgevonden in the Kleinpoort area of the Uitenhage district. The 9 000ha hunting area belonged to friend Alastair Rudman who had given us permission to shoot kudu, springbuck, impala and blesbuck. But our primary target was kudu. Draping the camera bag over my shoulder and carrying the long shooting sticks in one hand, I hefted the sling of the rifle over the other shoulder mumbling, “Why do…

IMAGINE this scenario: It’s 2am in Johannesburg. You hear the unmistakable sound of glass breaking as intruders pry open a window. Heart pounding, you grab your 9mm pistol loaded with full metal jacket rounds – because that’s all you could afford. Two intruders wearing balaclavas step into view. Each carries a handgun and/or machete. You’re ready to defend your family, but a nagging doubt occurs to you: are FMJ bullets up to the task, or have you compromised your safety by not buying hollow-points? The debate whether FMJs are good enough for defence purposes has been around since the advent of the hollow-point bullet. Each type of bullet has its merits and careful consideration is needed when deciding on what you’ll use. Hollow-point bullets trace their roots to the 1890s,…

ALL COMBINATION guns are a compromise between the possible and the ideal. But some compromises are easier to live with than others. Until sometime in the mid-1800s, all hunting guns were smoothbore. Depending on the species of game being hunted, the gun was loaded with pellets or a spherical lead ball. Then, within a short period of time, both rifled barrels and unitary cartridges appeared. Rifled guns became more accurate and could now be effectively used at much longer ranges than before. Shotguns became lighter and better balanced, making them more suitable for shooting fast-moving game. However, during some hunts you do not know in advance which species of game you’ll meet. For the same reason, you might have missed shooting opportunities because you had the wrong type of…

Rick lives in Rotterdam, South Holland Province, in the Netherlands. He describes himself as a “Zimbabwean/Dutchman and a keen hunter”. He grew up in the Netherlands but a big part of his family is still in Southern Africa and he hunts these parts about once a year. At 9 years old, Rick started shooting birds with a BSA pellet gun and shot his first gemsbuck when he was twelve. His dad taught him to hunt although Rick says, “A lot of credit should also go to Shawn Bird, Pieter Delport and Jan du Plessis.” Damaraland in Namibia is Rick’s favourite hunting area. He has great memories of hunting on Sebra farm, just south of Kamanjab, with his father and cousins. He also enjoys hunting and tiger fishing along the Zambezi…

Hard-earned Stripes Dit was met groot belangstelling dat ek Robin Barkes se artikel “Hard-earned Stripes” in die Magnum van Maart/April 2025 gelees het. Ek het vir John Wambach goed geken, en die foto’s van die ruwe Khomas Hochland terrein en die “Swemgat” is by my op die plaas Hornkranz-Suid geneem, wel heelwat jare voor ek die plek besit het. Ek het die grond in 2009 via die destydse Republikeinse Party politikus, Oom Stefaans Malan, bekom en daardie ruwe stuk aarde leer liefkry en waardeer, nes John dit vroeër gedoen het. Ek was bevoorreg om so vyf jaar gelede, kort voor sy dood, juis saam met John en sy oudste seun, as deel van ’n groep pa-en-seuns op ’n drie-dae avontuur staptog, die Gaubrivier-gedeelte van my plaas te deurkruis. Daar het…

THE ATA 9 is a Beretta PX4 clone which is such a close copy that it’s hard to distinguish between the original and the Turkish-made gun. ATA ARMS celebrates 70 years in the firearms industry this year. The company is well-known worldwide for their shot-guns which have been available locally for some years – see the article on the ATA SP shotgun in the July/August 2024 Magnum. The company also produces rifles and pistols, both now for sale on the local market. The founder of the company, Celal Yollu, produced his first firearm, a single-barrel shotgun, when he was just 15 years old. The first bolt-action rifle ever produced in Turkey also came from ATA in 2015. The ATA 9 is a single-action/double-action pistol with a polymer frame and an…

It was an experience so profound it compelled me to return, proving that once is simply not enough to experience all South Africa has to offer.– Bradley Treadaway IN NOVEMBER 2021, Bradley and Kacey met professional hunter Ruan on a game farm in Limpopo. The couple had travelled from Alabama, USA, to experience the adventure that is hunting in South Africa. It was to be a once-off trip, but it had them returning to our beautiful shores again and again to take up hunting challenges previously unimaginable to them. This is their story. Though avid hunters owning numerous rifles, they opted to use the outfitter’s .308 Brno and .308 Musgrave rifles for their 5-day hunting package comprising blue wildebeest, impala, nyala, and kudu. Bradley and Ruan departed camp on foot…

I FIRST noticed Chinese-made Sino Defense Manufacturing (SDM) AK and AKM-type semi-auto rifles on the local market about two years ago. I could not find much information on the manufacturer, apart from the fact that Prima Armi S.r.l. from Italy distributes these fire-arms from China in Europe. I tracked down some information in foreign publications stating that SDM, from Beijing, is producing weapons for sport, self-defence and hunting purposes for the civilian market. This includes variants of the AK47 in 7.62x39mm and 5.56x45mm, as well as several AR-15 type weapons, .22 rimfire carbines, handguns – mainly clones of the SIG Sauer P226 – lever-action and pump-action shotguns, and a semi-auto bull-pup rifle. I have handled their AKM 103s Tactical, which comes with a folding stock, quad rail, and modern muzzle…

WINCHESTER introduced the .270 Win in 1925, but surprisingly, chose a .277" bullet despite the fact that there were many 6.5mm calibres, as well as the highly successful European 7x57 and 7x64 cartridges. With the .270 Win, they introduced a new bolt-action rifle, the Model 54, so I suppose they wanted something ‘uniquely’ American. The .270 Win, as we know it, is nothing but a .30-06 case, lengthened slightly to 64.5mm and necked down to .277" calibre. Its original factory specs were a 130gr bullet at 3 140fps. At the time, the .270 Win was only the second ‘big game’ cartridge that broke the 3 000fps barrier and quite revolutionary. Although similar in power to the .30-06, while offering a flatter trajectory and less perceived recoil to endear it to…

THIS is a ‘deep-dish’ or ‘top-crust’ pie. Non-sweetened scone-dough makes an easy and tasty pastry substitute. Venison from Checkers, probably impala, sawn-up shanks: ideal, as leg-bone rings contain marrow to enrichen stew without adding sheep-fat (venison being very lean). Price: R83/kg. Bone-weight considered, meat and marrow cost perhaps R100/kg. Ingredients found in most kitchens – no exotic additives. FILLING 1kg shank cuts, 2-3cm thick1 large tomato, diced1 large onion, sliced4 young leeks, chopped4 medium carrots, chopped1 green or red pepper, diced2 medium potatoes2 large cloves garlic, sliced3 tblsp Mrs Ball’s chutney1 tblsp tomato paste½ cup red wineOlive oil (or sunflower oil)1 chicken stock cube1 tsp salt (add to taste)2 cloves1 tsp ground coriander½ tsp dried sage or thyme1 sprig Rosemary (½ tsp dried)Ground pepper to taste Heat oven to 180°C.…

AS THE days slowly become warmer in the UK, and the time to be up for a morning stalk gets ever earlier, my mind, unlike those of most UK stalkers, transfers from thinking about the approaching summer and the impending roe rut, to that of hunting in Southern Africa – to be honest, there is no better place to be! The best time to hunt in South Africa is in the winter months from May through August, and I personally like to be there from mid-June through July, as sometimes May can still be too warm, too wet with the grass and bush tall, thick and unforgiving. I try to go annually, and last year, I managed to spend a few weeks in the Limpopo region of South Africa, an…

SINCE its introduction in the late 1860s, the European fallow deer has thrived throughout the Cape provinces and the Free State, to the point where it has become an asset to their economies via the hunting industry and has significantly enhanced the local cuisine. This species is ideally suited to the southwestern Cape’s Mediterranean-type climate, while also being supremely adaptable, flourishing in the hills and mountains of the Eastern Cape and the grassy plains of the Free State. Although categorized as primarily a grazer, the fallow deer has manifested itself as a non-selective feeder, also browsing on a wide range of leaves, fungi, berries, pods, bark, roots and more. Many zoologists are opposed to introduced exotics, but, like trout, fallow deer deserve residence. Yes, they’ll eat cultivated crops, but then…

Ranger AR optics are distributed and supported in South Africa by well-known Lynx Optics. These include rifle scopes, binoculars, reflex red dot sights, and scope mounts and rings. There are four models of rifle scope; the AR 3-18x50 SMR, AR 2-12x50 SMR, AR 1-8x24, and the AR 2-7x32. The AR 3-18x50 SMR scope has a 30mm maintube, a second focal plane MRAD illuminated reticle, eye relief of 106mm, length of 379mm and weighs 742g. The AR 2-12x50 SMR scope also has a 30mm maintube, second focal plane MRAD illuminated reticle with a ranging scale on the reticle for 20cm gongs (with scope set at 12x). It features push-to-lock windage and elevation, tool-less zero turrets and is 334mm long and weighs 593g. The AR 1-8x24 SFP scope, also with 30mm tube, has…

Two or three years ago I decided to destroy 100 or so rounds of old ammo by pulling the bullets, burning the propellants, igniting the primers and crushing the cases. It proved quite an enlightening exercise, and readers might be interested in some brief facts I noted at the time. Some of it was pre-WWII ammo which I had inherited from my father, some was more recent and some rounds were hand-loads I had assembled myself over a period of 40-odd years. After emptying the cases of propellant, I secured them in a bench vice and fired the primers by striking them with a steel punch and a hammer. (For the record, I wore eye, ear and face protection, leather gloves and placed a solid steel panel between the vice…