Indholdsfortegnelse for June 2021 i Sporting Shooter

When the burden of overregulation becomes too much, criminals are made out of good citizens. It is my firm belief that a great majority of the population of Australia, indeed the World, given half a chance, are basically good and socially responsible. But when the stranglehold of excessive government regulation becomes too much, good people start to jack up. It is getting really close here; we are like boiling frogs. Now I have known quite a few of the good people who staff and manage the NSW DPI Game Licensing Unit (GLU) for some time and they have administered a world-class public land hunting scheme since its inception well over a decade ago. To say it has been a success is an understatement as there has not been one serious accident…

AUSTRALIANS are a unique bunch when it comes to outdoor pursuits. On one hand, the native culture of our land is perhaps the oldest in history, and the hunter/gatherer philosophy remained essentially unbroken for many thousands of years. On the other hand, the idea of hunting for the vast majority of us nowadays involves chasing animals that have been introduced from other parts of the world. In doing so, the people who colonised Australia sought to make Australia ‘more like home’ and provide opportunities to write further chapters in the story of hunting from a European perspective. We are grateful to these people, for introducing (both intentionally and otherwise) exotic creatures that we spend countless hours pursuing and dreaming about, but it’s also worth sitting back and appreciating our native…

By Peter Hathaway Capstick. Martin’s Press New York – 1977. In Print. Hardcover. Available from most online booksellers. Reviewer: Marcus O’Dean ONE of the hoary old shibboleths promoted by those who know no better is that man-eating big cats are typically old and unable to chase down faster and more vigorous prey than the comparatively weak human being. That this myth is not true is confirmed by a great hunter of a previous era, James Corbett, who wrote Maneaters Of Kumaon, a factual account of Corbett’s decades-long pursuit of tigers and leopards, who terrorised villagers in Northern India in the first half of the 20th Century. In ex-Wall Street stockbroker and investment banker Peter Capstick’s riveting volume we are correctly informed that young and healthy lions and leopards of the…

HAVING only ever hunted in Australia and New Zealand’s mountains, the thought of a European hunt was well and truly off my radar. That was until an offer to hunt Chamois arrived from Swarovski Optik. Over the years, my hunting has been focused predominantly on the mountains because I like the challenges and the animals that inhabit these challenging areas. I have read and watched many international mountain game hunts, like sheep, goats and ibex; however, I have not been prepared to fund these hunts whilst supporting a young family. Photography is a huge part of my hunting experience, and over the years, I have spent many hours Digiscoping game through my Swarovski spotting scope. I have won one international Digiscoping competition and finished 3rd in another. When I received…

I was fortunate enough to be hunting with my two nephews, Dane and Rhys and my son Jackson. We were pig shooting on a property near Westmar in SW Qld. We are just about to walk a favourite patch of heavy timber about 300 metres long by 200metres wide, surrounded by forage sorghum. On previous occasions we had done well here, as the pigs take refuge, have a nice sleep after a great feed on the green sorghum. The four of us are spread out about 50metres apart, Rhys to my right, Jackson on my left and Dane on the outskirts hoping to score the fleeing pigs. We commenced our walk very slowly, as there were lots of low lying bushes everywhere. Perfect beds for the pigs. The ground was…

THIS is necessary to stabilize long, ballistically efficient spitzer boatail bullets and ensure they will fly point-on to the longest range at which the rifle will be used. If the rate of twist is too slow the bullet will keyhole - turn sideways - at the longer ranges, and of course accuracy will suffer. The longer the bullet is in relation to its diameter the more difficult it is to stabilize, and the faster must be the twist. The shorter the bullet, the easier it is to keep it flying point-on, and the slower the twist that's needed. Higher velocity acts as an increase in the pitch of rifling because the faster the bullets travels up the barrel, the faster it will spin. Long bullets at moderate velocity require a…

NINE hours ago my dinner was alive and well, meandering through the tropical savannah after a big night on the grass. He was an old bull, and from where I sat under the shade of a clump of pandanus, I caught his movement and then watched his last fight through the binocular. “As he neared, I kept edging around the tree so that I couldn’t see his head.” He won, and the other bull – younger – walked away. My bull kept coming straight towards the diminutive mud wallow over which Meg and I sat. All I had to do was pop my Akubra on my head and grab the double and hunched-over we snuck through the swamp grass to intercept him. I’d decided to fast-forward things and go to…

WHENEVER I get a new rifle and set it up with a mount, scope, and sling, the next step is to develop a good load for it. Chances are you don't have pressure-measuring equipment, but the loads in modern loading manuals were likely developed using pressure barrels and a force transducer which measures chamber pressure in pounds per square inch (PSI). The only manual that still lists loads in CUP (copper units of pressure) is Hodgdon. Most of the maximum loads listed produce the same pressure level, and the ones that produce the highest velocity are the ones which should gain your attention. Don't be overly impressed by a load that is listed with 30 or 50 or even 100 fps more velocity than the others because it may not…

IT’S the small things in life. This month’s topic might be a little bit touchy for some, however it is one that needs telling. At times in everyone’s life, through no fault of our own, we all experience rough patches. Relationship difficulties, illness or death or family members or close friends, suffering identity theft or any number of life’s trials mean our mental state or effects on those close to us suffer. As hard as it was, someone close to me suffering through a troubled relationship saw them potentially lose their firearms for a 28 day cooling off period or for ten years. Sometimes when this happens, the LAFO isn’t at fault but is considered the PINOP (person in need of protection), and this scenario is one that presents itself…

Letters containing questions for answering by Nick Harvey must be accompanied by a stamped self-addressed envelope. Mail your letters to: The Technical Editor, 3 Reef Street, Hill End, NSW 2850. Q When the borders are all open again I intend going on an African safari in Namibia. I’m mainly interested in plains game and will take my Remington Model 700 BDL in 7mm Remington Magnum. Do you recommend using a 175gn bullet? If so, can you give me a load for it? However, if you think another bullet weight would be better, let me know what your choice would be. I’ve been told that shots are often taken at longish ranges in Namibia. – Trevor George A The 175gn bullet is, in my opinion, just too heavy for the 7mm…

THE M18 has an entirely new action design, but although it carries the Mauser name, but owes nothing to the Mauser 98 rifle's heritage. Its origins make an interesting story. The M18 is a recent arrival, dating back to 1987 when Mauser bought Voere-Voetter & Co and obtained a rifle action that that Voere had developed - a tubular receiver with a one-diameter three-lug bolt that locked into a stellite insert in the receiver. Stellite is a super-hard, cobalt-chromium alloy and its most common use in firearms is with machinegun barrels to reduce heat and increase wear resistance. The material is so hard that it is used to make cutting tools for machining metal and for valves in aircraft and high rpm automobile engines. Stellite has high impact and cantilever…

Spika – Biarri Drover Pack Range Designed and tested in Australia and New Zealand, Spika has released their indestructible range of Drover packs. Some may have read a full report on this range in the March issue of Sporting Shooter by Michael Gibson. The news on this range since then is the fact they are now available in their world first “Biarri” native concealment camo. Designed by the team at Spika, I’m told Biarri camo is a unique camouflage pattern that corrupts your silhouette while imitating texture, depth, lighting, colour and shadows experienced naturally in the vast Australian and New Zealand wilderness. Purpose designed to cover every style of hunting, the Drover pack range includes the 80L Pack Hauler-System, and a 40L Pack Hauler-system, Removeable Hauler-Frame with built-in meat shelf,…

FOR starters, this is a mid-sized hunting knife at 220mm overall - 110mm of the total in the working length of the Puma steel blade. The genuinely handy-shaped blade of this utility model would meet my forthcoming hunting season's anticipated needs - a knife for skinning and dressing deer, but also one also suited for cleaning small game and normal camp chores as well. When Ted and his better half paid me a visit a few months ago and told me that he'd like to make me a knife, I mentioned that I had a stainless full tang blank he could use. It was the last of four I brought back from a visit to the Puma factory in Germany 50 years ago. I had given the others away to…

COMPETITION BROUGHT TO YOU BY WIN a GARMIN eTrex 10 EVERY MONTH! ENTRIES: Please email your high resolution.jpg or png pig hunting image as an attachment to the email addressed to marcusodean@yaffa.com.au – all images must be at least 1MB in size. For entry to be valid the following contact details must be included: First name, surname, full mail address, contact phone number and email address. A short explanatory sentence with the email is also needed. Garmin’s outdoor range features unparalleled innovation in hiking, camping and hunting tech in handheld or wearable configurations. Options span from navigation, communication, safety and tracking devices. Garmin also produce a range of bow sights with built in range finder enabling better shot placement. Garmin eTrex 10 GPS Navigator will be sent to the best…