Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2022 i On Target Africa

When your parents are both police officers and were in the military and your dad is a firearms instructor, learning about firearms and gun safety might as well be a rite of passage. I was first introduced to shooting when I was about seven or eight years’ old. My parents wanted to teach both my sister and I to have a respect for firearms. They wanted us to be safe and comfortable around them. They always stressed safety first, and kept it fun and laidback. I really enjoyed it and took to shooting straightaway. We asked Allison Zane, a junior high school student in the US with a love for math and science and how this talent is applied in precision rifle, to tell us about her journey. It is…

The area caters for two different shooting venues in close proximity to each other for both of the shooting days. Sixteen stages were shot over the two days. All were invited, but unfortunately an 8 m/s wind also decided to attend! A floating trophy named ‘Lola’ was introduced, awarded to the shooter who makes the funniest mistake. Within minutes of all the shooters arriving, ‘Lola’ had found her home sweet home. Forgetting to bring a rifle to a shooting match is about as bad as mistakes go. So, congratulations to Etienne Roux. With all the excitement out of the way, it was time to get the briefing and safety talk done so we could start shooting. Forgetting to bring a rifle is about as bad as it gets Serious climbing…

Match day arrived on 6 November 2021 with cold and windy conditions, not what was expected at the start of the Cape Town summer! Competitors had to navigate very difficult and unpredictable winds that continuously shifted direction and varied in speed. It was a day where every hit was celebrated. Tallying up the results, it was Deon Fabel’s 5th place individual performance that stood out. It is only Deon’s 2nd match at Send IT using his beautiful Victrix rifle chambered in 338 Lapua Magnum. Deon and teammate Heinz Petersen (40 degrees) secured 4th place in the team division. However, it was once again Pieter Eksteen at the top of the leader board, securing 1st place individual with 17 impacts, followed by Charl Gous in 2nd and Danie du Preez 3rd,…

Patrick travelled up from Gqeberha, and I made the 1 000 km trip from Cape Town, with an overnight stop at the Camdeboo Cottages in Graaff-Reinet. This meant we both arrived on the farm of Angus McClean around 08:30. After introductions and unpacking our gear, we made a quick stop at the sight-in range to check rifles, and headed out to hunt some black wildebeest. We were both successful, and returned to fetch a truck to load the animals. By the time we had skinned and cleaned the carcases, the light was fading and we headed indoors. That evening, after a delicious farm-style meal, we retired to the lounge to enjoy some true East Cape Scottish culture. Angus poured us a single malt whisky that turned out to be very…

As I did not recognise the scope, I sidled up to Jano Brink to ask him about it. He told me it was a Riton 7 Conquer in 3 to 24 power with a 56 mm objective. Unable to contain my curiosity at seeing a scope I had never even heard about, I asked if I could have a wee peek through it. It was a fairly warm afternoon, with a mirage that turns good optics into garbage. However, I was surprised when I dialled the parallax focus and the image of a distant powerline literally jumped out at me in good focus. The detail I saw was impressive. Later, I had a chat to Hendrie from Guns and Bows, who told me he was the official Riton importer and…

In this article I will illustrate the marginal difference in performance of an appropriately-selected bullet-and-rifle combination, relative to what is deemed a top performing rifle set-up required to participate in ELR competitions. Furthermore, it shows what can be achieved with a modest rifle set-up with the correct bullet combination. Newcomers to extreme long range (ELR) shooting often view it as an equipment race that requires specialised firearms and a material financial commitment to be competitive. An easily overlooked aspect is the ability to get more from your current rifle system by making minor changes to improve its ballistics offering. The impressive rise in popularity of ELR shooting over the last few years, as experienced by both shooters, gun dealers and the ELR accessory sector, has coincided with rapid progress in…

Forty years ago, hunters already saw the need to stand together to present a united front when dealing with government organisations such as nature conservation, police and environmental affairs. The Confederation of Hunting Associations of South Africa (CHASA) was born, and has grown in leaps and bounds to the point where today there are over 23 member organisations making up the confederation. CHASA actively engages with government on many fronts, and fights for our freedom to hunt, as well as around firearm ownership. What many don’t know about CHASA is that it has an extremely active sports-shooting section that enables members to not only acquire dedicated hunter status, but also dedicated sports-shooter status. The sports shooting side of CHASA evolved from the need for hunters to have a method of…