Innehållsförteckning för March 2022 från Sporting Shooter

MY life has taken me to vastly different mini careers over 46 years, the highlights of which were as an Army Officer, Outdoor Educator and Student Representative Organisation XO and eventually to my personal pinnacle as an Editor for Yaffa. I was totally green to editing anything, very much learning on the job and must say that, without the guiding hands of Tracy Yaffa, Tony Pizzata, Nick Harvey and Doug Nancarrow I could have sunk without trace. In a commercial space like Yaffa Media, the management encouraged relative freedom of action, resulting in attendance at great events, marketing visits to our valued advertisers and hunting with all manner of people and in many terrific locations in Australasia. As long as I kept producing articles and relevant editorials while meeting deadlines…

AS hunters, we spend more time outdoors than most people. We develop a rhythm that sees us thinking about the weather and conditions that may lead us to make decisions about how we will go about things. Is it going to rain? How hot/cold will it be? What’s the wind doing? Another factor that sees us working around the rhythm or mother nature is how much daylight we have, and how we go about extending our time. Humans have always carried tools to assist us outdoors. For millennia, our ancestors made do with not much and accomplished amazing things. Nowadays we tend to be able to go further and harder as we have seemingly endless technological advantages we can call on. Despite coming up with solutions to carry gear, hunt…

SPIKA Women’s Wear The Spika Women’s Echo Activewear TIGHTS are the ultimate all-round garment to hit the gym or the high country in. Offering a durable design to be put through its paces, the Echo range are made from a polyester spandex blend that conforms to the body while offering support and comfort. Offering moisture wicking and anti-microbial treatment, they are available in the choice of black and Biarri camo black. A device pocket is also featured in the black tights only. Spika Echo active wear brings a new era in the hunting world designed for any and every pursuit, be it hunting or the workout in preparation. The new Spika Echo tights for women feature a durable stretch and flatlock stitching. See them at your local gun shop or…

Be it hunting, fishing or just sitting around a campfire, those cherished moments stay with you forever and it is not all about landing the big barra or dropping that trophy deer or boar. Yeah sure, that’s the cherry on top, but it’s about time with family. THIS year, after nearly 35 years, my brother arrived in Cairns to join me for five days at Kendall River Hunting and Fishing Safaris in Cape York. Now 35 years between hunts is long time, but both us Jackson lads have a case of wandering feet, which has taken us to many countries over the years, but made hunting trips a rarity. In my brother's case, he worked in Melbourne, Vietnam and Nepal, whilst I spent many years working in media in the…

THE first jacketed bullets were made with long, projecting nose sections of exposed lead. These bullets worked fine at moderate velocities from 2000 to 2500fps, and indeed this type of construction has never been substantially improved upon for such moderate velocities. The copper alloy jacket takes the rifling well, obturates (seals the bore against escaping gases), doesn't raise pressures too drastically, and when the shank is made heavier, the core harder and the base thicker the bullet holds together and penetrates deeply unless heavy bone is struck. The exposed lead nose will flatten upon contact with the quarry, the entire forward section of the bullet will "mushroom" and the greatly enlarged frontal area will then cut a correspondingly larger wound channel through muscle and tissue. This basic design served very…

A manufacturer with a broad product base, Tikka predates its sister Finnish brand, Sako by 26 years. After WW II the two firms collaborated on a bolt action hunting rifle. Sako later acquired Tikka and by 1989 production at Tikkakoski Works had moved to Sako's Riihimaki factory. In 2000, a new chapter opened for Sako when it and the competing Finnish gunmaker, Tikka were acquired by Beretta Holdings. The resulting alliance increased Beretta's portfolio with a rifle component equal in quality to its shotguns and handguns. Rifle-making technologies developed by Tikka and Sako, combined with those developed by Beretta and their other partner companies - Benelli, Franchi and Uberti - has seen the introduction of new Italian-made ultra modern centrefire rifles, the Franchi Momentum and Benelli Lupo. The results of…

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 Did Victoria’s Barasingha Survive? Q I read your article entitled Mysterious Deer At Eagle’s Peak in an old copy of Sporting Shooter I was given recently with great interest. About ten years ago I disturbed a large dark-coloured stag which let out a loud scream before running off. He had a stockier build than a sambar. His antlers resembled a sambar’s, but had two more points. But the feature I noticed most was the neck of the stag had a mane like a horse. Before I could get a shot at him he ran off, but…

HERE’S a photo of my 13-year-old grandson Matt with his first pig, an 81kg boar shot with a Savage 223. I had ensured that Matt had his Junior’s Permit to allow him to shoot and hunt under supervision, so the first item on the agenda after some rifle familiarisation and practice shooting was to get amongst it and have a crack at some game. In the middle of Queensland, pigs have been hammering graziers for years, breeding up through wet seasons and giving stock and crops curry. Now I knew a place where we may have some small measure of success. So, after a short walk from the homestead, we spied movement in some long grass a few hundred metres away with favourable wind. I gave Matt some room to…

MANY a hunter has blown a stalk after being betrayed by an errant breeze which carried his scent to spook the game. This is a common happening if the hunter is not watching the direction of the wind. More game is alerted by a hunter's scent than any other cause. A famous English writer once said that man scent to any animal was “most awful vile.” This good old boy mightn't have been famous for his hunting ability, but he sure hit the nail right on the head with those few words. In my experience, unless the hunter takes care to keep the wind in his favour, he is not going to have much success. It is astonishing just how far how far scent carries even on a faint, barely…

AFTER a relaxing Christmas and New Year catching up with family and friends, it was nice to take the .243 out for some action after 10 months of seeing nothing but the inside of the gun safe. I was lucky to head out to Inverell rifle range and plink away at some targets with a selection of both Inverell and Armidale’s finest shooters. When I got on to the club via Facebook and organized a chance to head out for a shot, I was warmly welcomed as soon as my feet hit the grass. Straight away I felt comfortable and ready to shoot. “How important it is to have the right equipment for what you’re doing.” However, I was a little nervous when I found out we were shooting the…