Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2019 i Sporting Shooter

Q I would like some information about the velocity and accuracy of the .22 Magnum. I wonder if any .22 Magnum ammo could be considered match-grade? I have a CZ ZKM 455 Varmint Evolution in .22 Magnum which will average around one-half inch at 100 yards for five shots with Winchester ammo. It groups into .75 inch with the 40gn JHP and .75 with both the 34gn JHP and 40gn FMJ. While no company offers a .22 WMR match-grade load, Winchester ammo is capable of excellent accuracy in my good CZ. What loads do you recommend for rabbits and foxes and larger animals? – Ray Jones A My beautiful CZ 452-2E ZKM American topped with a Zeiss Diatal-C 6x scope is also very accurate and can be depended upon to group…

WHY? Because if you cannot match wits with your quarry and find his likely location, you are more apt to leave the field empty handed. The six separate species in Australia, differ in where they range and in their personalities, but they all share the same acute senses - how they see, hear, and smell. Fallow deer are widespread and prefer semi-open, lightly timbered terrain where they are easier to hunt than most other species. To be successful, the hunter should know what movements deer make toward or away from water, forage and shelter and how weather, and even the phase of the moon can affect their behaviour. But above all when a hunter goes into new country he should be able to tell if there are any deer inhabiting…

IT’S all well and good to flog around the bush until you almost literally run into game, but taking more consideration with your actions will lead to easier hunting, and with that, more success. Something I need to continue working on is taking the time to scrutinise the hunts I do. Why was that animal there at that time? Why did that animal run that way? All things considered, what is the best line to stalk that animal from? My development in this area has been accelerated by hunting with others who are more experienced, and adapting this knowledge to best suit my style. Some of the most knowledgeable hunters I’ve ever come across are my friends who hunt pigs with dogs. Most people can take a lugging dog into…

I COULD hardly believe it had been over 12 months since my last hunt at Mary River Station. How time flies! This time I was after a blackbuck antelope, scrub bulls and a cull buffalo. Kevin told me that he didn’t have any big trophy blackbuck left as the dingoes had taken a heavy toll on them, and only a few bucks left that were worth shooting. That was fine as an average sized buck would do me I assured him. Arriving late on a Friday evening after a 3 day drive Kevin already had a new ramp made for me to be able to get into the house in my wheelchair. Then it wasn’t long until I was perched up at the bar with a scotch on ice in…

WHEN I first read about the 28 Nosler, I thought who needs another 7mm, we have more than enough already. In recent years we've seen a pair of very potent Mega-Seven magnums introduced. The 7mm Shooting Times Westerner (STW) the 8mm Remington Magnum necked down, and the 7mm RUM (Remington Ultra Mag) based on the .404 Jeffrey case which has the largest powder capacity of any commercial 7mm cartridge. Immediately after Nosler launched the 26 Nosler in 2014, they started work on a 7mm version based on the 7mm RUM using a shortened .404 Jeffrey case. But there’s not much resemblance between the two after Nosler made numerous modifications to the 7mm RUM case. Nosler sharpened the RUM’s 30-degree shoulder giving their 28 case a steeper 35-degree shoulder, but retained…

LIKE most keen Australian hunters I’ve always wanted to hunt the water buffalo of the Northern Territory. Partly because they are our largest game animal and the closest thing to dangerous game that we have here in Australia. And partly because of the country they call home. The remote savannahs and floodplains of the tropical north are some of the wildest places in Australia. In September 2016 the dream finally came to fruition, and with three good mates I headed north to Arnhem Land in search of buffalo. Australia is a big country, and it was a three day drive for us from the east coast to the buffalo country. Not surprisingly it turned into about 70 hours of non-stop buffalo talk. Dan, who had organised the hunt, had hunted…

FINDING a deer and executing a successful kill often requires a lot of time and effort. To make the most of this investment, a confident approach to the meat-recovery process is very helpful. For the average hunter who only bags a few deer per year, it can take quite a while to develop a standard routine for field butchery. There are many little tricks that only come from experience, so being able to observe guys who do it all the time is invaluable. I learnt my craft by watching the techniques of hunters who field-dress scores of deer each year. Hence, the methods explained here are eminently practical and efficient. Most of the good venison comes from the aft end of the animal. The focus of this article is therefore…

As some readers are already aware, I recently returned to hunting with a compound bow after many years and find it quite challenging having to stalk in that little bit closer for a shot. To become a little more accurate with my bow after so many years, I practised at every opportunity until my shoulder had healed from its injury and accuracy became a lot better. Now back at full draw with my bow, pardon the pun, I was recently asked by our friends at Garmin to conduct a hands-on field test of the Xero A1 range finding sight and was surprised with its capability. The Garmin Xero A1 Bow Sight mounts directly to your bow and provides a highly accurate Laser range finder built into it, hence eliminating the…

GOATS (Capra hircus) were amongst the first livestock introduced to Australia by Europeans. They arrived with the first fleet in 1788 and provided milk, meat and leather for the early settlers. They were also introduced to several offshore islands to provide emergency food for sea voyages and early explorers. These days they are wide spread throughout the country and in some of the more arid western areas, they can be found in huge numbers. Whether you are hunting for a trophy billy or chasing a young meat goat, they are an exciting and great animal to hunt and in some areas where hunting pressure is high, they can be a real challenge and be extremely difficult to get close to even for a seasoned hunter. Some of my favourite and…

THIS rifle was mainly made because making something a little different was on my mind, this was the main reason it was based it on an 8x57 case. The old .30-06 and .308 cases had been used for most wildcats, so the middle ground was taken with the 57mm length case. This case was then blown out, then Ackley Improved with a 40degree shoulder. Then wanting to be a little different, Bruce Bertram was engaged to make some nicely head marked cases with that name on them. So now there was a calibre out there with my name on it and something to leave behind to family members. Basically it’s not a lot different in performance to a .35Whelen (but made on a necked up 8x57mm Mauser parent case), although…

MANY of us have eaten the game we’ve shot. Especially pigs, goats and deer. They’re pretty much a staple at my place. I make a very good steak and kidney venison puffed pasty pie and served with baked veges, they’re delicious. They’re one of my favourite things. Another dish I serve often is slow-cooked lamb shank stew, with lots of tomato, spuds, carrots, onions and an array of herbs and spices to flavor. Since I’m the cook these days, with a sick wife, I get to chose which flavor. Even my spaghetti bolognaise is frequently sourced (or sauced) from feral meat, mostly minced fallow or rusa. Yummy. I wrote a newspaper column once on all the animals I’ve eaten over about six decades of hunting and it drew a shocked…

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. The .270 Taipan Strikes Again Q I'd like your opinion on a cartridge that I was shown which is very unusual. I own an old .303-270 which was given me by my father and I am familiar with its history and reloading data. But recently when I visited a friend in Jindabyne he told me about his fathers .270 wildcat on a .303 case. Later his father showed me the rifle and cartridge and to my surprise I found it was not a regular .303-270 but one which had had a blown out case. He said it was a .270…

THE Italian company Sabatti is best known for its over-under shotguns, and highly affordable bolt-action and double rifles. In 1987 Sabatti’s Rover had the distinction of being the first bolt-action centrefire rifle to be entirely designed and manufactured in Italy. Over the years I've tested a number of Sabatti bolt-action centrefires which were conventional dual-lug push-feed actions and found them to be reliable and accurate enough to please most hunters. Following the latest trend in bolt-action rifle design, Sabatti’s new Saphire represents a complete change in pattern to the "fat bolt tri-lug" pattern which as well as being easier to manufacture offers increased performance. As a measure of the design’s success there are now at least seventeen commercial rifles employing the "fat-bolt" system. Though the Saphire shares a design that…

THE rising sun was the wakening call to our annual hunting trip out west. Car packed, we were pumped; now for the five-hour drive from home. Bad drought conditions had taken a toll on the land. We briefly chatted to the farmer, then headed down to our camping spot and set up, lunched and had a cuppa. I unpacked my 7mm-08 and dad’s .308 to gear up for we really came for. We set off into the thick dead pine scrub in 38 degrees on high alert, watching for a pig to emerge out of the dense scrub. After a few hours walking we saw no signs of pigs but still had high hopes because we were aproaching a large wallow were we had taken pigs on previous hunts. But…

TO get maximum performance from your rifle when sighting in you need a rock-solid benchrest, but the value of a bench in terms of pinhole grouping depends almost entirely on the steadiness of the rest you use on top of the bench. If you are to get consistent groups, the rifle must be held immobile and simply cannot show the slightest amount of shift; it must form a solid foundation and be as steady as the rock of Gibraltar. Rifle rests come in a considerable assortment of types. Most basic of all is a pair of sandbags. A pedestal front sandbag under the fore-end bag, either on its own or on a heavy tripod with pointed feet which can be adjusted to square the rest on a canted bench. It…

TO BE sure this Gamo repeater quite possibly represents the quintessence of the barrel-cocking, spring-piston system in the area of power output. A decidedly man-sized air rifle the 10X is equipped with the Gamo Multishot system - a ten-shot rotary magazine that advances automatically when the rifle is cocked. After loading 10 pellets into the magazine you are able to shoot them, one after the other, simply by breaking the barrel. On first sight, I christened Gamo’s strange looking multi-shot repeating air rifle, the "Gamo Piggyback Repeater" as a way of describing the humpback magazine housing perched on the rear of the barrel. In the past, repeating spring-piston air rifles have not had a very good reputation for feeding reliably, but I can tell you without reservation, that the rotary…

WINNER BROUGHT TO YOU BY TSA Australian distributors for Weatherby Firearms and Fiocchi Ammunition YOUR CHANCE TO WIN A WEATHERBY RIFLE IN EVERY ISSUE OF SPORTING SHOOTER IN 2019 *AVAILABLE CHAMBERINGS TO WINNERS INCLUDE 223REM, 22-250REM, 243WIN, 270WIN, 308WIN, 30-06SPRG, 300WIN.MAG. SUBJECT TO AVAILABILITY. With the basis of a cold hammer-forged 24-inch barrel, 3-position safety and adjustable Match-Quality Two-stage Trigger, the Weatherby Vanguard S2 Blued Synthetic guarantees sub-MoA accuracy and user safety. The Griptonite® stock and Weatherby recoil pad makes for comfortable shooting and the hinged floorplate allows instant unloading. To be eligible you need to include a box of any Fiocchi ammunition in the submitted photo. VALUED AT $995 ENTRIES: please send your high resolution .jpg or .png image as an attachment to your email addressed to marcusodean@yaffa.com.au –…