Innehållsförteckning för April 2024 från Sporting Shooter

NICK Harvey, the dedicated Australian gun nut and probably the world’s most experienced gun writer, has died — gone to that great hunting ground in the sky, as he’d have put it. We have lost someone truly irreplaceable and the Australian hunting and shooting community is poorer for it. He died peacefully with family around him on 21 February. Nick had been Sporting Shooter’s Technical Editor for almost 50 years and his dedication to the task was absolute. Even as he became ill, he still filed stories and replied to readers’ queries. His test of the Remington 700 SPS Stainless in the March issue was his final one but we have a few Gun Lore columns that we will publish as well as a couple of years’ worth of Ask…

THE Lithgow Small Arms factory has a bit of a buzz about it that hasn’t been evident for a few years, and it’s because there’s new momentum to make things happen: new firearms are coming. Some are already here, including three new centrefire LA102 models. The Hunter is one of them. It’s a lightened rifle built for stalking hunters who had demanded a handier longarm to carry around in the bush, and at 3.3kg bare it is noticeably lighter than the LA102 Crossover from which it came. “The light barrel does nothing to hinder the accuracy inherent in the LA102” Most of the nearly 500g shaved from the Crossover have come out of the barrel. Like the Crossover’s barrel, the Hunter’s has a diameter of 29mm at the receiver. However,…

“If we can’t place our shot where we need to, nothing else matters” WE love to consider all the choices in gear and development of knowledge that make someone a successful hunter, but perhaps the most fundamental skill is accuracy. If we can’t place our shot where we need to, nothing else matters. Whether you’re shooting a rifle or a bow, your mind attempts to brace your body for an explosion. This can be in the form of the rifle going off, or in the form of your body ‘exploding’ when the tension of the bow is released. In both cases, the more power in the weapon, the higher the chance of developing a flinch. A flinch with a big rifle causes the body more stress than when shooting a bow,…

I started hunting only about three years ago when Dad got his shooter’s licence. I was always interested in it and really wanted to try it. I have lived and grown up on a property with family who have hunted for years and years. Dad’s first gun was a Sako 85 Varmint in 6.5 Creedmoor. He chose a Sako as he has always thought of them as the best-quality rifles on the market. A few months went by of me watching Dad shoot feral pigs and foxes, but he eventually taught me how to shoot. It was excellent and I was hooked. A couple of years later, with a massive passion for the outdoors, I was walking to the shed and spotted something in the back paddock. It looked different…

FOR some inexplicable reason, a number of excellent European cartridges receive little attention from Aussie shooters. This may be because they are designated by foreign nomenclature, which we tend to shy away from, or they have not been adequately publicised. The 7x64mm Brenneke is no exception. Hunters and riflemen who have used it have gained a lot of respect for it, finding that it is top notch in every respect, and they wonder why its merits have not been more generally recognised in this country. The .270 Winchester is obviously the immediate ancestor of the .280 Remington, but we must look farther back to find the first cartridge of this type. It turns out to be the 7x64mm Brenneke. Phil Sharpe, on page 171 of the Supplement to the Complete Guide…

Russian .22 rifles Q I’ve heard that the Q Russians used .22 rimfire rifles in combat during World War II. It seems to me that the .22 rimfire would have been suitable only for training purposes. Did the Russians actually employ .22 rimfire rifles in combat, or was I misinformed? Henry Mallory A Although not intendedfor combat purposes, .22 rimfire rifles saw extensive use by the Russians during World War II in partisan warfare. Because of its low report, the .22 rimfire was less likely to betray the shooter’s position than the 7.62x53R Russian service rifle, and this made it well suited to partisan operations. It was used only at relatively short ranges, and head shots were made whenever possible. Russian training rifles used for this purpose were the Model…

WHO doesn’t love a leveraction rimfire? They’re fast, fun, cheap to shoot and just plain cute. They’re also hard to get these days, especially if you’re on a budget. Now the rising Turkish gun industry has stepped into the picture, though, and you can add the Derya TM22 LA-20 to the very short list of rifles in this popular but under-populated part of the market. The TM22 is every bit as much fun as you’d expect but before we get into it, it’s worth looking briefly at who and what Derya Arms is. Derya Arms has a threehectare factory in the Konya region of south-western Türkiye. It has a partnership with one of the nation’s largest defence businesses, Aselsan Konya, which is nearby. The Derya factory was established in 1998 and…

NEW South Wales, as most Australians know, is a special place. What kind of special depends on whether you live in the Premier State or somewhere else, but it’s still arguably the most important state in Australia and has a thriving community of more than 200,000 law-abiding firearms users. Things have just gotten better for those firearms users, too — Shooters Union is now an approved hunting club in NSW! This means membership of Shooters Union NSW is now a Genuine Reason for Cat A and B firearms licences — if you join Shooters Union NSW, you can use that membership to apply for a firearms licence. Shooters Union is also an Approved Hunting Organisation, which means membership allows you to obtain an R-licence and hunt in state forests, too. In…

I RECEIVED a letter from Glenn McCoomb of Huntly, Victoria, whose wife had given him a copy of my book, Deer Hunting In Australia, for his birthday. “I read with great interest the chapter on the barasingha deer which you encountered at Eagle’s Peak in the Howqua hills,” he wrote. “I was intrigued by the ‘maned’ Sambar you spoke about. “I hunt the Howqua hills for sambar deer and had a game camera set up in a gully near the fringe country earlier this year. On this particular camera, I captured a video of a small group of deer which included a deer with a blond mane, very similar to the one in your book. After a quick search online I read that barasingha have slightly pointed ears. It may…

ANTHONY BOURDAIN, the celebrity chef and bon vivant, is quoted as saying, “Vegetarians are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit, an affront to all I stand for, the pure enjoyment of food.” Vegetarians choose not to eat meat, whereas vegans go a step further and won’t partake of any form of animal-derived product, including eggs and dairy. THE feedback from most vegetarians that I have talked to about hunting has varied from unsympathetic to actively antagonistic. But what motivates people to adopt a vegetarian lifestyle, and is this necessarily an issue for the hunting community? There is a surprising amount of literature relating to the motivations of vegetarians, and even a survey tool called VEMI (Vegetarian Eating Motives Inventory) designed to measure why people have opted…

MY MATE Matt won a trip hunting pigs up the Cape and invited me to head up with him. Naturally, my answer was yes! Our trip north was a slow one over two-and-a-half days to meet up with our guides and we were full of enthusiasm. To cut a long story short, the setup of the camp was great and the guides were great, but the property had no deer as promised, and very few pigs — only sows. It was a big disappointment. AFTER four days we left and set off to visit a good mate of mine. That’s when our bad trip started to turn into a great trip instead. Driving into the homestead from the front gate, we passed a large swamp and what was out on…

NIKKO Stirling’s new Octa range of scopes has one main bragging right: its eight-fold zoom range, the largest magnification ratio you can get in any rifle scope I know of but, because this is a Nikko Stirling, not at the large prices demanded by other brands’ eight-fold scopes. The Octa brings you huge adjustment for a smaller outlay. This doesn’t come at the cost of quality, either. Nikko Stirling has long proven it can make very good optics at a modest price. The real advantage of an 8x zoom ratio is that you get both the widest possible field of view and the most up-close magnification in the one optic. It gives a scope greater versatility for shooting at short and long ranges as well as scanning a broad area before…

The new A-Bolt 3+ from Browning combines the accuracy and performance you want in a hunting rifle at a great price. It has proven Browning accuracy and design, classic looks and a level of performance you’re accustomed to. For the more traditionally inclined, the Hunter stands out with its classic Grade 1 walnut stock and cut chequering. The 23mm bolt handle knob can be replaced with other knobs that are available as accessory items, adding a touch of personalisation. The barrel is threaded for use with a muzzle break. Other features include a non-reflective matte blued finish, free-floating sporter contour barrel, satin finish for the walnut stock, Inflex I recoil pad, detachable magazine, fast-cycling short 60-degree bolt lift with bolt lock override button and lots more. The new A-Bolt 3+…

LIKE most people, for me there is more to hunting than the kill or the fresh meat we harvest and take home to share with our families. One of the aspects I enjoy most is the challenge — both mentally and physically — that motivates us to be stronger and physically fitter in our day-to-day life. I have battled various mental health issues over my journey and hunting has been the best medicine to date. There are a few reasons for it. Being in the bush amongst the wilderness absolutely settles my soul and gives me a sense of relaxation. But also the feeling of exhaustion after a big day gives me a level of satisfaction and reward, even if I haven’t harvested any game. I will schedule my hunting…