Man Magnum October 2016

Meet Our Contributors: MC Heunis Magnum’s contributor of the month is MC Heunis. He loves reliving history, re-enacting days long gone. He has been collecting militaria since his schooldays, and bought his first historic firearm, a Boer Mauser rifle, when he completed is studies in 2000. An avid proponent of ‘pioneer’-style hunting, he is happiest walking the veld with an antique open-sight firearm slung over his shoulder. MC also has a passion for restoring old artillery pieces, and is currently restoring a Krupp’s ammunition wagon. More About Our Subscribers: Johan Urtel Our subscriber of the month is Johan Urtel, from the Eastern Cape. He is a member of the Graaff-Reinet Gun Club, and enjoys clay pigeon shooting with his 12ga shotgun. His preferred calibre is .243 and his favourite area…

Mass shootings in the United States (US) and Europe have resulted in renewed calls for gun control and sparked healthy public debates on whether limiting access to guns will create a safer environment. Most arguments seem to be based on emotion and, to exacerbate the situation, facts on the use of privately owned guns in killings seem hard to come by. Some months ago CNN television came up with US statistics on gun violence which offer some insight into the problems society faces when arguing the pros and cons of gun control. The US has more guns per capita than any other country: 88.8 guns per 100 people. (For comparison, South Africa is ranked 48th in the world with 12.7 guns per 100 people.) US civilians own about 270 million…

TWO MAGNUM knives are up for grabs in this month’s competition to celebrate our 40th birthday. One winner will become the proud owner of the Enlan Coqui, a small liner lock folder branded with Man Magnum on the blade and the number 40. The second winner will have the larger Enlan Harrier, a general duty knife with an axis lock and branded with just Man Magnum. Both knives have handles made from G10. For a chance to win, simply complete the Magnum phrase: For Hunters & …. (See our cover.) Email your answer to mail@manmagnum.co.za . Please include your name and telephone number. The winner will be announced in the November 2016 edition. For more information on these knives read the article on p52 in our May…

Your letters are an important part of Magnum. We (readers and editors) like to hear your problems and opinions. Unless marked ‘NOT FOR PUBLICATION’ all letters are considered and are edited for length and/or clarity. Pen names may be used, provided that your full name, address and daytime phone number are furnished. Please try to keep your letters short and to the point. Life Before Magnum I greatly enjoyed Gregor Woods’s recent article on the ‘pre-Magnum’ periodicals. I dug out a copy of Field and Tide (May 1964) and Animals of Sea, Land, Air – subtitled ‘Incorporating Field and Tide’ (July 1968). Both have contents by Prof JLB Smith and Louis Weyers. The Field and Tide cover pic shows ten or twelve large sharks (apparently Zambezi/Bull sharks) lying on a…

Two developments in the 1830s - the percussion cap and rifled firearms - changed military technology for all time. The percussion cap was perfected, proving faster and safer to use. Ignition was more reliable and moisture resistant. While far more accurate than smooth-bore muskets, rifles took much longer to load which made them poorly suited for warfare tactics of the era. Most Prussian regiments were still armed with the .75 calibre flintlock smooth-bore - the Preußische-Flinte M.09. While elite Jäger units had rifles, plans to switch to rifled muskets were proceeding slowly. Watchmaker Johann Nikolaus von Dreyse (1787-1867) was the son of a locksmith from the German state of Saxony. He did his apprenticeship in France, where he worked for a while for Johannes Pauly, a Swiss pioneer in fulminate…

While idly feeding sticks into the flames under a savoury pot of guineafowl one evening, a notion struck me. Maybe, just maybe, there are other seasoned hunters who’ll read this, and knowingly nod their grey heads and allow a sympathetic smile to soften their weathered features. So here’s the story about my first kudu hunt of 2016 and the reason why I’ve had a change of heart – if the reader doesn’t understand now, wait 50 years and you will. Our hunting ground was part of a wide valley that stretched the full length of the eastern side of the Groot Winterhoek Mountains, in the south Western Cape. The area comprised rolling foothills as well as flatland covered with scrub, succulents and thickets of thorn trees. I WAS HALFWAY up…