Innehållsförteckning för November 2022 från Sporting Shooter

YOU’D be quite happy with three deer from three shots, wouldn’t you? I would be, too, in a normal situation. This one wasn’t. In the aftermath of the shooting, I couldn’t work out quite how it’d happened. I spent a week wondering until the deer were butchered and it all became clear. Dodge, a mate who runs Accurate Hunts, owed me a hunt and I wasn’t going let it slip. He’s also the secretary of Nepean Hunters and Anglers and happened to want two meat deer for a demo day at the club. We went out at the crack of dawn and the stalk went so well you’d think he’d scripted it. He got me within 140m of a mob of 12 does and young deer, who fed on the…

VOERE’S LBW is a totally modern bolt-action with a high-quality classic-styled walnut stock. Available in Australia in standard calibres from .222 Remington to .30-06 and two magnums — the .300 Win Mag and .375 H&H — it offers a unique barrel and calibre changing system. Traditionalists will appreciate the Voere LBW rifle not only for it’s handsome dark-hued walnut stock but for its versatility and novel design features usually only found on much more expensive rifles. The LBW has a modular aluminium-alloy receiver, a detachable magazine which protrudes slightly below the belly of the stock, and a nicely curved trigger. The rifle’s overall appearance is elegant and gives an impression of quality. The receiver is large and blocky, with a pleasingly streamlined appearance. The rear of the round-topped receiver is sharply…

YOU work up a sweat trekking around lower Cape York chasing pigs and scrub bulls. Particularly when the idea is to head out on foot to a nearby spot for a look but, when nothing materialises, you decide to keep going. And going. That’s what I did and it turned out to be a fruitless walk, at least as far as game was concerned, but it was an excellent start to my assessment of Ridgeline’s lightweight clothing, which I’ve since worn in the heat and the cold on various hunts. It’s been through a good trial and I’m pleased with the outcome. We’re talking about a shirt and pants from the Performance range: the Micro Lite quarter-zip top and the Stealth pants. In this case they’re both in the excellent Excape…

WHEREVER you are in Australia, if you’ve bought a firearm at some point since 1997 then you’ll have needed a permit to acquire (PTA) or your state’s equivalent — in other words, you’ve had to give your state firearms registry money, fill in a form and, for most guns, tell them why you need it, then wait for them to send you the necessary approval (by mail, in some states) before you can collect your new gun. We’ve always said PTAs and registration are unnecessary — especially since licensed shooters have jumped through all the hoops to obtain a firearms licence and proven they’re a fit and proper person to have firearms. The problem we are running into now is that the people in charge of issuing PTAs were largely in…

THIS Lee Enfield conversion is an alternative to a lever-action .30-30 for pigs with its slick bolt action and 10-shot magazine. The terrain where you hunt pigs determines the type of hunting you have to do and what calibre and type of rifle you use. You will have little use in lignum country or bushland for a .270 Winchester rifle with a high-magnification scope. Shots in close cover are rarely more than 50 metres and almost never more than 100 metres. This means you are not handicapped by having a rifle that will deliver ‘hunting accuracy’ at 100 metres. Any rifle that will land three shots in three inches at that range is entirely adequate. To be effective, a rifle to be used in brush should be sighted in to hit…

Driving deer Flushing or driving deer through forest is a good tactic that works well. It’s harder with just two people than it is with 10 or 20, but even a couple of hunters moving around in different parts of a forest can stir up the deer, increasing the chances of crossing paths with them. The deer will often flee the bush, cross open ground and enter another patch of cover. If that’s likely, it’s a good idea to place shooters at strategic points on the edge of the trees. This sort of driven deer hunting is common in Europe but it’s rare in Australia.…

Spika Bruzer gumboots This year’s hunting season was a washout for many of us, as heavy rain and flooding took its toll in many parts of rural Australia. That’s when I decided to invest in a pair of Spika Bruzer gumboots to combat the constant ankle-deep water in low-lying areas of the bush. Unlike a pair of traditional gumboots, Spika Bruzers fit better, featuring a neoprene upper that allows for better movement when walking. The lower section of the Bruzers is 100 percent waterproof rubber and it fits like a glove, so to speak. With their perspiration-absorbing insole for added comfort, they are definitely more than just gumboots. In fact, I found the inner soles also acted as a shock absorber when walking, offering comfort and moulding them to my…

COMPETITION BROUGHT TO YOU BY WINNER “Ebony and Jack picked up this good fella on a late Sunday afternoon run,” says Dan Simpson. “It was a good pig to finish off the weekend, with a total of eight.” The chunky boar weighed in at 109.55kg. Dan tells us that Jack has been inspired to buy some fox whistles after reading about the joys of calling in redcoats in Sporting Shooter. Great photo, Dan, and a job well done! William Summers used his trusty Winchester Model 94 in .30-30 to dispatch this healthy young boar. The pig would have been enjoying at that green pick, that’s for sure. This weedy pig would have been very jealous of the feed William Summers’ pig was getting. “I picked up a new bow about 10…

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 The Carl Gustav saga Q Recently, I became the proud owner of an FFV Carl Gustav Model 2000 rifle in .270 Winchester, like the one you used to own. I am really happy with this rifle, which appears identical to a Zoli rifle my mate has. Obviously, there’s a story here? What can you tell me about the history of these rifles? Bill Davis A The Carl Gustav has an interesting history. It all began with Husqvarna, which introduced a lightweight small-ring Mauser rifle in the early 1950s. In the late 1960s, Husqvarna dropped the traditional…

Voetter & Co, in Vohrenback, West Germany began manufacturing rifles based on the Mauser 98 action during the 1950s. By 1967 it was offering a rifle of its own design called the Titan, which featured a multiple-lug bolt and California-style stock; it was sold in the US under the Kleingunther name. The Titan was flawed by a number of design shortcomings and changes were needed. It was replaced by an improved Titan II in 1976, which was discontinued in 1978 and replaced in 1982 by a revamped and updated version designated as the Titan III. Business passed in 1978 to Tiroler Jagd-und-Sportwaffenfabrick of Kufstein, Austria, and continued under the banner of Voere Austria. In 1987 the company was purchased by the Mauser-Werke at Oberndorf and Voere actions were used in…

Adopted by Ridgeline in 2020, the Excape pattern is primarily a breakup design intended to disguise your human body shape as much as it is to blend you into the background. It is not only made up of large sections of contrasting patterns to disrupt your outline, it has a three-dimensional look that seems to add to the effect quite well. The larger sections are filled with micro-patterns to further hide you, with this effect being more useful up close when you’re blending in with the foliage around you. From what I’ve experienced so far, animals will have a hard time detecting you if you stay still and help the pattern do its job. It seems to work equally well in heavy timber, more open country and in the lusher…

BROUGHT TO YOU BY WINNER Brendon Benadie didn’t have much to say about this photo but it tells a thousand words. He’s clearly a happy bloke to have nailed this fox. And those Fiocchi .223s have made short work of it! And that looks like one of the Weatherby Vanguard scoped packages he’s got in his hand, surely one of the best buys around. “This is a really nice boar I managed to hit up early one morning out at Flinton,” says Andrew Collis. “Two degrees on the back of the ute. Was a tad cold! Driving down the laneway I saw this fella running away from me. The car was still moving when I let my shot off, hitting him and stopping him in his tracks. I’m hoping this…

THE handloader’s goal is to gain all the performance possible from their rifle while steering clear of excessive pressures. In order to do this safely it is necessary to avoid increasing the load until the obvious danger signals appear — sticky extraction or leaking primer pockets, all warning you to reduce your loads. Indeed, why take the risk when there are safer ways of working up to what many call a safe maximum load? Of course, this is a misnomer because common sense should tell you there is no such thing as a ‘safe’ maximum load. Pressure developed by a cartridge is the result of internal chamber pressure generated behind the bullet when the powder charge is ignited. It is what provides the projectile with its velocity and energy. When I…

Feral cats have a disastrous impact. They’re robust and adaptable. They occupy every type of landscape across literally 99 percent of Australia. Only a few islands and feral-free fenced sanctuaries are exempt from their ravages. Their numbers are difficult to estimate but conservative recent estimates range between 1.4 and 5.6 million, depending on seasonal conditions. WHEN we consider that each feral cat typically eats 5-30 animals a day it is easy to appreciate the scale of the impact of these relentless hunting machines. What part might hunting and trapping play in controlling feral cats? Like many hunters, I have shot the odd feral cat here and there. Over decades of wandering through varied landscapes, I have occasionally knocked over a cat when a chance presented. A few years ago I…

THERE are few pleasures greater than looking through ultra-clear optics, something you can take for granted if you own a pair of Swarovski EL-series binoculars, but if you’re given a host of other useful functions at the same time it’s extremely satisfying. That’s where Swarovski’s EL Range binoculars come into play. They not only have an inbuilt 10-2000m rangefinder and ballistic calculator, they’ll ensure you can easily find downed game or other distant things with their Tracking Assistant (TA) technology. I used it a few times to help get around a hill to my target: I saw goats above me in a spot I knew I wouldn’t be able to approach unseen unless I took the long way around, and by using the Tracking Assistant I managed to loop around…

MOST of us carry a backpack with us out bush. It’s standard to expect there to be a water bottle, some snacks, extra ammo and maybe a first aid kit in there. After that, whatever you find in someone’s pack can be a highly personal affair. I tend to carry more than most as I usually have a big camera and a couple of lenses, and I’ve also started to carry a small stove with me on most adventures. It’s been a welcome addition. It goes without saying that you’d have a stove in your pack for most extended backpacking situations. It is our primary means of boiling water for dehydrated or freeze-dried meals. There are stacks of options out there, but the canister stoves have become my favourite. They are…

I HAD been out plenty of times during the rut and had seen nothing that was worth a mount, and now the rut was almost over. There was no roaring that I could hear, so it was pretty well done, I thought. I had bought a new rifle for my up-and-coming buffalo hunt and had some ammo that I was keen to try out. I knew I had a couple of reds running around on the lucern that I could try it on, so I loaded up went out with my open-sighted Parker Hale in .458 Win Mag. It was definitely overkill but I wanted to try the new ammo. Having sneaked down the hill coming onto the lucern flat, I had about 300 metres between me and a red…

AFTER speaking at another hunting club meeting this week, as well as to members of my own club, it is interesting to see how so many hunters take the word of social media ‘influencers’ as the gospel. I feel lucky that when I started hunting and getting involved in helping Dad, social media wasn’t a big thing and wasn’t so heavily relied on. Nowadays, everything is found online and everyone seems to have a masters degree in hunting before taking one step into the paddock. I’m glad I learnt from trial and error, and was encouraged by some of the best mentors a girl could ask for. Here are some things I’ve learned about topics that often come up on social media, stirring strong opinions. Trophies A trophy is what you…