Innehållsförteckning för January 2020 från Sporting Shooter

I AM not mad keen on brown snakes in long grass while I am trying to concentrate on deer. So I borrowed Uncle Nick's ex column name as title. Now what's been happening? Tony and I attended the recent Melbourne SHOT Expo where we met up with old friends and quite a few new people who were excited about coming to Sporting Shooter. Geoff McDonald of Woodleigh Bullets gave me some Woodleigh 160gn Round Nose Soft Points to try in the Creedmoor, with which I should be able to plough through three deer with one shot, in theory. After all, people killed pachyderms in the old days with 6.5 Mannlichers. Apparently Winchester 760 Ball Powder is preferred by many who have tried with this style of bullet. Happy to get…

Q I have been using 150gn .300 WSM ammo for fallow deer with good success, however, I was told that the 180gn loads would be much more emphatic killers. Maybe the extra weight would be an advantage on the larger species like red and rusa, but what about sambar? From the stories I’ve read about sambar hunting, some guys are using .375s and .458s. What do you think is the best bullet weight for the .300 WSM? – Brian Russell A Fallow deer are relatively small, lightly built animals that are not hard to kill, and anything from the .243 Win. up to .270 Win. is adequate. In my book, a properly structured, 180gn bullet is the best all around weight in any .300 magnum. It will have better wind…

IT is my pleasant duty to announce the winners of the 2019 Hunters’ Diary Competition, so generously sponsored by Extravision (www.extravision.com.au), Australia’s distributor for these excellent optics and who have generously supported Sporting Shooter magazine and www.sportingshooter.com.au ever since Vortex came on the scene in Australia. The three great prizes, which have all been securely mailed to the winners, are: • 1st – A Vortex Razor HD 10x42 Binocular - won by Steve Pilkington for his fallow story in May issue.• 2nd – A Vortex Viper HD 15-45x65 Spotting Scope - won by Alan Green for his pig on the crop story in April.• 3rd – A Vortex Diamondback 3-9x40 Dead-Hold BDC Riflescope - to Neil Grennan for his deer release story in October. We thank Extravision for generously continuing…

THE plan was a simple winter school holidays adventure. My son Robbie and I walk to the dairy farm next door, head upwind along the creek to a few stands that reliably produce and see if we could get a fox in range of a slightly nervous 12 year old with a couple loads of BBs. I thought about taking a rifle to give more options but decided it would be better to focus wholly on the boy. We got moving along the cow track in the mid-morning with a stiff cool northerly wind countered by some low winter sunshine. After walking down the rough but lush paddock, the first stand overlooked a small dam on the creek. No foxes but a great opportunity to explain and demonstrate safe firearm…

NOT sure what I clipped, probably some sneaky, squat termite mound hiding in the long grass, but the mighty Honda, Pioneer 700 side by side was instantly up on two wheels. Our speed hadn’t changed, just our angle of approach. If Ted had been driving, I’d have just thought the ‘tight bugger’ was trying to save on tyre wear and tear. “A solid black boar, head and shoulders above the rest.” This could only end one of two ways; either I’d be berated for putting the Honda on its side or praised for my driving prowess (prowess: a flash word for arse). Thankfully, it was the latter, but it had been a nervous, heart pumping few seconds. The instant the Honda bounced to a stop Dave leapt from the passenger…

TO some shooters using an electronic device is as natural as breathing - alas, I am not one of them. The "Calculate To Shoot" process has become so high-tech that Sig Sauer has introduced a BDX (Ballistic Data Xchange) system that, once you've loaded your load data into the scope, the reticle allows you to hold dead-on at any distanceby Bluetooth. A ballistic calculator in the scope measures the bullet drop to place an aiming dot on the reticle. Described as Sig Sauer's one-stop solution for accurate long range shooting, you can take full advantage of Sig Sauer's latest cutting-edge technology which allows an accurate reading at the press of a button. The new BDX system has just two basic components - a scope and a rangefinder. All you need…

HANDLOADERS should be able to recognise signs of excessive chamber pressure. Unfortunately this seems to pose a difficulty or else they simply choose to ignore some obvious danger signs. The other day a guy who was a shooter and handloader came up and showed me a fired case with a flattened primer. He asked me if I thought the pressure level had been too high. It was obvious that he was afraid that his reload had produced pressures that were excessively high. Although I had no way to estimate the exact amount of pressure, I could tell him that the brass case showed no sign of high pressure and the reason for the flattened primer was most likely the result of his setting the case shoulder back when he resized…

IN recent years the ancient Winchester Model 1873 has been revived by a number of makers probably due to its widespread popularity among Western Action competitors. While the Italian company, Uberti, is making more than 20 different versions of the venerable Winchester '73 lever-action, by far the most sought after versions are the Winchester-branded Model 1873 Short Rifle and Model 1873 Sporter Case Hardened, which are claimed to be true to the original pattern. They carry stamped on the barrel, the legend "Made By Miroku-Japan - - Imported by BACO Inc. Morgan, Utah." Beco, of course being the logo of the Browning Arms Company. The Winchester repeating rifle had its genesis when the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company in which Oliver.F. Winchester was a major stock holder, had patented in 1849…

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THIS is a term used to designate a cartridge case that is too large to fill properly with any available and suitable powder, without building up excessive pressure. Over time, however, it became recognised that a cartridge case which is overbore capacity in a given calibre with one make and type of powder, may not be so, if a different, slower-burning powder was used. Other factors affecting bore capacity are rifling depth, bore tolerances, pitch of rifling and sectional density of the bullet used. Case shape also plays a part to some extent. Charles Newton designed some extraordinary rifles and cartridges during the late 1920s. At that time with the powders then available, they were badly overbore capacity and never gained the kind of popularity they deserved. If at that…

THESE family camping trips were just the beginning and hunting trips with Dad soon followed. Before I was old enough to fire my own rifle, I was out chasing rabbits, foxes, and fallow deer with dad all over the NSW Southern Highlands and always while wearing my bright pink gumboots! After every hunting trip, it was a quick stop to the servo for a bacon and egg roll and coffee for Dad and a Wagon Wheel and baby chino for me. When asked what I wanted for my 10th birthday, all I wanted was “to go spotlighting in the back of a ute.” Then my much-anticipated junior firearms licence finally arrived in the mailbox and, after a few weeks at the Moss Vale Small Bore Range and under the watchful…

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. Yearning For A .358 Norma Magnum Q I have a Schultz & Larsen rifle in .308 Norma Magnum with a badly eroded throat that needs a new barrel. I am interested in having it rebarreled to .358 Norma Magnum. A gunsmith has advised me that a .358” groove barrel with one calibre of free-boring is the way to go since it would be superior to a standard chamber. What is your opinion of the .358 Norma Magnum and this procedure? My other questions are: What would be the maximum velocities with Woodleigh’s 250gn, 275 and 310gn bullets. What effect would…

The Fox Hunters’ Tools And Reading The Environment Technology has changed the way we can hunt. Embrace it, LED torches that far outshine old 100w spotlights, red and green filters, night vision, electronic & hand callers…. etc. If it allows me to be more effective as a hunter and I get to spend more time in the bush, why not? Even so, I still never ever leave the car without my button and Tenterfield whistles! STEALTH. If I’m hunting a small property my motto is ‘less is more’. Leave your car at the gate and get in the habit of closing doors quietly. Walk in and scope it out. Read the wind, look at the grass or leaves moving. Walk along a tree line or fence line, do it slowly…

Speedy Seal Puncture Kit Arriving back at the vehicle after a long day in the bush, I noticed the back tyre was flat. Luckily, I had a Speedy Seal Puncture Kit stashed under the seat for just this type of occasion. The whole box n dice comes packages in a compact carry case and includes all you’ll need to repair a tubeless radial or cross ply tyre. Rolling the vehicle forward and checking for damage I notices a large roof screw right in the centre of the tyres tread. Luckily for me I didn’t even have to remove the tyre from the vehicle. This handy little kit includes a tyre gauge, spring steel insertion needle and lubricant, additional valve accessories, hardened steel reamer tool and 30 self-vulcanising repair chords. Add…

ONE of the themes I keep coming back to with this column is that I am finding it more and more enjoyable to push myself into situations that are difficult when out hunting. When things become static and familiar, that’s the time to work towards a new skill and hopefully learn something new in the process. No amount of enthusiasm and study can make up for the fact that the more difficult you make things for yourself, you will fail sometimes, and staying positive and enjoying the whole experience is key to developing organically and authentically. The big challenge I’ve made for myself lately is trying to hunt with a recurve bow. Carrying my bow around the bush makes everything feel different to hunting with a rifle. I now understand…

The Outfit The Winchester Model 1886 was a lever-action repeating rifle designed by John Browning to handle some of the more powerful cartridges of the period. Originally chambered in .45-70, .45-90 WCF and .40-82 WCF, it was later offered in a half dozen other large cartridges, including the .50-110 Winchester. Despite being originally designed for use with black powder, the action was strong enough to adapt to smokeless powder, and was subsequently chambered in the smokeless .33 WCF in 1903. The Model 1886 was a true American express rifle and is still offered by Winchester Repeating Arms in a number of configurations. Other manufacturers of faithful reproductions include Davide Pedersoli and Doug Turnbull of Bloomfield New York specialises in beautiful restorations of old Winchesters as well as customising modern lever-action…