Innehållsförteckning för October 2019 från Sporting Shooter

OUR schedules never matched up until one mid-week day when my son Morgan could come away for a hunt. Morgan, in common with many young urban men nowadays, is keen on eating wild game meat and he and his mates will devour all I can supply “con gusto”. I have provided the raw materials and I get back some inspired casserole or curry to die for. Back to “Big Wednesday” (google it) and we waltzed onto the dairy farm about 8.30 am to conduct a sit and wait hunt, glassing and range-finding the receding ridges into the wind from our perch tucked alongside some bushes half-way up a hill. I had never taken a rangefinder before and was surprised that my range estimates when taking deer previously were sometimes significantly…

OUR trip this year was pretty special as I had been shooting with Darren Paddy Andrews for 10 years. So this time we decided to hunt on our favourite piece of real estate up here in Far North Queensland for three weeks, or until the ammo ran out, to celebrate the milestone. When managed to not coincide at take-off due to a SNAFU, but that was not going to stop us. Midday found us driving through the front gates of the station and a long time catch up with the manager, setting up camp, followed by a feed and we were off to a few waterholes that we had been directed to. First two holes we lucked out on but on the third we spotted a pig coming off water…

OVER the years I’ve had endless numbers of people tell me how lucky I am to be a hunting guide. The truth is…. it’s not all it’s cracked up to be and just like there’s guys out there bored out of their brains shagging chicks so hot you’d cut a finger off for a night with them. I’m pretty well had it with guiding hunts; look it’s not all bad, but hunting as a whole is changing, and so are hunters. And conversely to this there are just as many hunters who aren’t changing when better ways have been with us for a decade. So where in the world am I today? Well, I’m sitting on the deck of a back country hut drinking a cheeky South Australian Shiraz gazing…

HORNADY TAP (Tactical Application Police) ammunition is clearly intended for use by American law enforcement agencies, but is going to be just as effective for small game hunting here in Australia. The bullet in the sample I received from Outdoor Sporting Agencies has a contour resembling that of the Hornady 55gn V-Max W/C and like that bullet is cannelured. The standard 60gn V-Max I have been loading for years lacks a cannelure, but has the same flat base and a sharp-pointed red polymer tip. The 55gn and 60gn TAP Urban bullets are both cannelured to provide accurate and consistent crimping. The cannelure is necessary for foolproof operation in the AR-type semi-automatic rifles favoured by U.S law enforcement agencies. Cartridges are subjected to some pretty rough treatment in a semi-auto as…

A recent trip to our district gun-shop had left me in a bit of a quandary. Having originally gone there to stock up on some ammunition for my Ruger .338 Win. Mag. I was left in a state of shock when I was told the price of a packet of 20 bullets in that calibre. ‘Are you serious?’ I queried of the chap behind the counter when he said ‘$98.00 mate.’ I rather rudely replied: ‘Bloody hell, I only want a packet of bullets, not buy the shop.’ I was even more surprised when he told me they had been marked down from a higher price. It wouldn’t have worried me unduly if I was only going to use it for Sambar hunting but having recently ventured back into serious…

THE way handloaders handle propellent powders differs in a lot of ways. When working up a load, most times the charge is selected from a manual and the powder is poured from a canister, weighed, measured, dispensed, funnelled, compressed and burned. The charge is adjusted up and down, weighed with the utmost care and precision and tried again. Once a charge weight has been found that shows no sign of too high pressure and has satisfactory accuracy, a lot of rounds may be assembled to gain the benefits of the experimentation. With a plenitude of cartridge weights and designs, brands of brass, types of primers, and probably over a hundred propellents available to handloaders, there's unlimited opportunity for trying all kinds of combinations of components. It's a never-ending process. All…

I’D moved from Victoria to Queensland to new work and different hunting opportunities, like multitudes of pigs, but also rusa, chital, Brisbane Valley reds, fallow deer and wild dogs; they are all exciting animals to hunt. A few times I came across wild dogs in Victoria and central-western NSW, but with modest success. I have a lot of respect for these unpredictable and cunning predators as hunting them is a true challenge, day and night - a true Aussie experience. Night hunting has helped me learn so much more about their behaviour and habits, thermal equipment helping me to outsmart many dogs; it is by far more productive method of dog eradication and wins farmers hearts. After few unsuccessful tries I managed to find a farmer who was willing to…

THE connoisseur of fine European firearms will instantly identify with the name Merkel. The company is unique for remaining in East Germany while other firearms manufacturers - Sauer, Heym and Krieghoff all relocated to West Germany to escape the Russian occupation, It wasn't until after the fall of the "wall" that Merkel firearms began to be exported to the west. Are you looking for something extraordinary? For hunting tahr in new Zealand or plains game on the vast savannahs of Africa, Merkel have evolved their "hunting match rifle." Not only the target shooter is continually calling for better equipment, the hunter is also demanding his share of technological spin-off. Taking today's situation into account, Merkel has developed a match-type rifle that will appeal to the big-game hunter. Merkel's RX-Helix is…

Leica – Fortis 6 Riflescopes Well-known Leica optics based in Germany have recently released their new Leica Fortis 6 range of riflescopes. Available in 1-6 x 24i and 2-12 x 50i, they both offer 6x zoom and a wide field of view. Incorporating a fine 4A reticle in the second focal plane and clear round illumination dot with nine brightness levels, they feature an automatic on/off that is activated by position and movement. According to Leica, with 6 x zoom its unmatched performance is achieved due to a 50% larger exit pupil and extremely wide field of view at minimum magnifications. This allows for quick target acquisition and hence ideal for moving game shots. Offering a sleek design, the Fortis 6 range are of 30mm tube construction and feature Leica’s…

BACK in the old days I remember participating in many fox drives held by local farmers in our area. In fact on some of the big spreads it took a couple of weekends to cover all the ground, in an effort to keep fox numbers down and help save lambing season for the farmer. These shoots ran typically from the Easter weekend right through to the end of July. We’d skin every fox we’d shoot and old Bill would peg em’ out and sell them to a local buyer, with the proceeds split amongst the team at the end of the season. While it barely covered the cost of our shells and some fuel, it was a great get together and a fun weekend for all. We never got them…

I WAS out for a wander with my young son Wade, who is becoming an excellent spotter and bowman; he cannot wait to get his minor's permit to start rifle hunting when he comes of age too. One particular morning in deer season we were approaching a typical fallow-bearing wooded area beyond a pasture paddock to see if we could get the drop on a buck, when Wade spied something uncommon on the fence line. It turned out to be a small buck tangled in fence wire and as we approached, he started thrashing, but he was firmly held. Wade has been taught well and he was sympathetic to the deer's plight, so we attempted to untangle him, but he was held fast. No amount of lifting wire or attempting…

THERE are some waterholes in the drainage creeks, but they’re shallow. Most of the fish have died from lack of oxygen. The ocean mouth of the lake has silted up from big King tides which pushed up metre-high dunes in long rows now sprouting scrub on the beach. The actual lake – which few people other than bushwalkers and canoists ever see – lies about one kilometre inland surrounded by dried out swamps, tall gum ridges and half-dead teatree groves. Once a sparkling forest wonderland, the water is gone and in its wake a vast gritty saltpan glistening white in strong sunlight. Despite this, there are deer everywhere on ground once 1.8m under water and only reachable by boat. The deer – mostly rusa with a few sambar – have…

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. LETTER OF THE MONTH Load For .375 Ruger For Buffaloes Q I have just bought a secondhand Ruger Hawkeye African in .375 Ruger from a guy who only used it on a trip to the Northern Territory where he shot two buffaloes and a banteng with it. He later took it on an unsuccessful sambar hunt before deciding to sell it. It came with two boxes of once fired cases and a die set. I have been invited to hunt in the N.T and want to use the Ruger. Can you suggest a good load for buffaloes? – Andy Flynn…

HUNTING has always been necessary for human survival and skilled hunters have always fed their wider communities. One of the most enjoyable aspects of being a hunter for me these days is taking the opportunity to share wild game with anyone and everyone who is interested; workmates, friends, relatives, and other hunters. Food is one of the best ways of bringing people together to have ‘the conversation’ and I have swayed the opinion of many about hunting when they have been presented with a juicy, medium-rare backstrap. Like any craft in life that is worth honing, the act of getting started can seem like a huge hurdle. The most important thing is to get started however you can. The best hunters and cooks in the world have almost certainly gotten…

A physically huge old army mate of mine once informed me of how he was prodigiously “endowed” by saying, “You need a big hammer to drive a long nail.” To clarify, I did not ask and I tried to put the image out of my head, but now it comes back to mind with the nearly-century old .270 Winchester cartridge and Reloder 26 propellent AKA “the big hammer”. I'd had a disappointing experience the previous Saturday when I went to test some more .270 handloads. Settling down at 100 metres over a sandbag, I had three “traditional” and proven 130gn Sierra hunting loads with 55 grains of AR 2209 and three successively increased-charge loads with all-new Federal component bullets to run over a chronograph and see how they clustered together…

THE first thing the owner of a new rifle will want to know is what kind of accuracy the rifle is capable of not only with his own handloads, but perhaps factory ammo as well. He'll shoot a number of groups in search of the ammo that gives the best results his rifle is capable of. One thing I've noticed with a new rifle is that often accuracy improves as I fire more rounds. This may be due to polishing the barrel's bore from bullet friction, or it may be a matter of the barrelled action settling into the stock, particularly if it's made of wood. Personally, if I have a new rifle, I'll have the action glass-bedded and the barrel floated before I get started. But some current rifles…