Man Magnum Nov/Dec 2025

IRECENTLY read about verbal abuse directed on social media at a female hunter who dared to hunt a zebra. As it turned out I know the victim, a kind and caring person. The reactions were, for the most part, emotional-laden arguments with very little facts or logic used to draw conclusions. Shockingly some of the commentators wished her dead. Shortly after reading this I left home for a hunting trip during which I had the opportunity to reflect on why I prefer hunting as my favourite pastime. On this occasion I accompanied my daughter on a bushbuck hunt in the coastal forests of the Eastern Cape. In late 2023 she suffered a severe back injury in a car crash and now, just over two year after the accident, which confined…

Magazines Not Received I have been a Magnum subscriber for many years and am disappointed to let you know that I did not receive my May/June 2025 edition. Please could you find out why it was not delivered (I get a home delivery) and arrange to send me a replacement. I want to ensure my collection is complete! Thanks and keep up the good work. – Alexander Adams, KwaZulu-Natal • Thank you for subscribing to Magnum for so long and for notifying us of the non-delivery of your May/June edition. We will make arrangements for a replacement copy. A request to all subscribers: Please notify us timeously if you have not received an edition so that we can make a plan to replace it as quickly as possible. If you…

I HAD taken Mike van Wyk and his young son on their first duck shoot. Using Mike’s .410, the boy had chanced an impossibly high shot at a circling flock of whiteface, and a single lucky pellet had brought one down. His unmerited glee slumped when I made him strip down and swim the dam to retrieve it. At the fireside, I told Mike a .410 wasn’t enough gun for ducks, and the boy must learn not fire into the flock. “I think he got the message,” chuckled Mike. “It’ll do him good,” I said, “I had to do the same once, when I was his age, and suffered much worse.” “How so?” asked Mike. “Oh, I was barely thirteen. It was just before sunup; I had the farm’s .410…

SINCE the patent on the Glock Generation 3 pistol expired some years ago, numerous companies have started producing their own version of the popular safe action striker-fired pistol. Some are simply clones of the Glock while other manufacturers make unique upgraded features part of the iconic design. Ruger and Magpul recently joined the fray with their take on a Glock-like pistol: the Ruger RXM chambered in 9mmP. At first glance it’s clear that there are a lot of similarities between the Ruger RXM and the Glock. Both pistols are field stripped for basic cleaning in the same way – by pulling down on the leaf spring under the locking block to separate the slide from the frame. The slide stop and trigger assembly are identical on both the Ruger…

AFTER having successfully hunted a blesbuck with my Thompson Center Contender in 7-30 Waters, topped with a Bushnell 2-6x32 handgun scope, I was happy with the accuracy of the firearm and my ability to shoot it in the field. However, I suspected that the 130gr 7mm PMP bullets I’d used on the blesbuck might not be ideal for larger and tougher game like blue wildebeest. Using Winchester cases that had been fire-formed and trimmed, I loaded Speer 130gr Boat-tail soft-points and, after shooting several test groups, settled on 30gr IMR 3031 with a Winchester LR primer. This load produced 3-shot groups averaging 1 inch at 100 metres with an average velocity of 2 115fps from the Contender’s 14" barrel. I am fortunate to have access to a private shooting range…

ONCE upon a time, the humble .22LR was considered a kid’s rifle, something you gave your son or daughter until they moved on to a real gun. The little cartridge primarily did duty as a plinker, something to put holes in cans, or to pot the occasional rock pigeon. Real shooters shot centrefire rifles and, other than school cadet competitions and specialised Olympic-style events, .22LR was not taken seriously. But that is no longer the case. Because of the high cost of centrefire ammunition and reloading components, many serious shooters are rethinking the .22LR, and rifle manufacturers are producing products capable of mind-boggling accuracy. New competitions and disciplines have sprung up where competitors’ skills are tested to the limit. The envelope is continually being pushed, and some .22LR events require…