MM - February 2016

FEBRUARY 2016 R36,50 incl VAT
Other countries R32,02 excl

02443
9 770256 067003
www.safariandoutdoor.co.za
0594 SO SAJ HORNADY FEB AD 2
giving you a reason to

stay Outdoors
HORNADY LOCK&LOAD CLASSIC KIT COMBO

h F R EE
wit leaner Was R9 995
10/22-T51312B
c
sonic 220v
Was R8 995
E&OE. T&C Apply. While stocks last.
Johannesburg Store Pretoria Store Stellenbosch Store

Rivonia Crossing II, 3 Achter Road, Lynnwood Bridge Centre, Corner of Devon Place Centre, Corner of
Sunninghill Daventry & Lynnwood Road, Lynnwood R304 & Bottelary Road, Koelenhof
Tel: 0861 14 35 45 Tel: 0861 22 22 69 Tel: 0861 11 43 30
www.safarioutdoor.co.za
AMERICAN
TECHNOLOGIES
NETWORK CORP.
Scan QR Code to
ATN X-SIGHT HD
view video
THE WEAPON SCOPE FOR THE 21st CENTURY
DAY & NIGHT
INTELLIGENT
SHOOTING BUILT-IN
WIFI GPS GEOTAG E-COMPASS VELOCITY SOLUTIONS ALTITUDE RECORD VIDEO MICROPHONE
The ATN X-Sight weapon scope is powered by the new revolutionary ATN Obsidian app is available for download on:
Obsidian Core that runs a suite of sensors to cover all your needs. This lets the
ATN X-Sight process data at lightning speed. Night vision will come at a much
faster rate to the eye piece, as well as contributing to a really fast, smooth, and
intuitive UI experience.
CONTACT ECM TECHNOLOGIES FOR YOUR

NEAREST DEALER
Tel: +27 12 329 4116 | Fax: +27 12 329 4120
Email: sales@ecmtech.co.za | www.ecmtech.co.za
ON THE COVER:
VOLUME 41 The Turkish-made Canik TP9SA
NUMBER 02 is an affordable and reliable
FEBRUARY 2016 full-sized polymer 9mmP.
Photo by André Grobler.
Features
08 CANIK TP9SA PISTOL
Turkish-made polymer-framed service 9mmP
André Grobler
20 12 GARB FOR THE PRAGMATIC ‘GUN’

Practical shooting jackets for shotgunners
Charles Duff
17 MY FIRST ELEPHANT
...was almost my last
The late Don Heath (Ganyana)
20 MKA 1919 MATCH SHOTGUN

AR-style competition 12ga
Phillip Hayes
24 PREPARE FOR SUCCESS

Prudent load development pays off
Izak Stoltz
28 HANDLOADING SERIES PART 9

When things go wrong
Gregor Woods
32 OM KOEDOE TE JAG
So uitoorlê jy die skim van die bos
Schalk van der Merwe
35 WHITE-FACED DUCK
Africa’s whistling waterfowl
André Grobler
36 RUGER’S .22 CHARGER TAKEDOWN PISTOL

‘Fold-up’ multi-purpose rimfire
Paul Scarlata
39 EXPENSIVE PIG
Overconfidence can prove costly
Chris Troskie
41 MODERN MAN’S MAGIC

Wonders from another world
Terry Irwin
35 49 DANGEROUS GAME
Any animal can injure you
John Coleman
52 THE LEE LOADER

Pocket-sized workshop
Kobus van den Berg
55 ‘WILDCAT’ FOR A VINTAGE DRILLING

When you can’t cure swelling, amputate!
Tom Caceci
60 DOES FIREARMS FINGERPRINTING WORK?

Forensic science works in movies, seldom in court
Malcolm Cobb
63 EARLY RELOADING TOOLS

When most rough-shooters were handloaders
Robin Barkes
w w w. m a n m a g n u m . c o m
Departments DURBAN OFFICES

Tel: 031-572-6551
Fax: 031-562-8389
PO Box 35204, Northway, 4065
TRAIL TALK – 6 mail@manmagnum.co.za
The Heart of the Matter Editor Phillip Hayes
Deputy Editor André Grobler
Contributing Editor Gregor Woods
READERS’ LETTERS – 16 Contributing Editor Malcolm Cobb
Production Meridan Creak
Colt Correction
Subscriptions & Binders Gina Mostert
An Old Friend Departs subscriptions@manmagnum.co.za
Of Lions and Pigeons Trading Post & Reader’s Market
Gina Mostert
classifieds@manmagnum.co.za
TECH TALK – 44 Administration & Distribution
Terminal Ballistic Theories Gail Osborne
TEST REPORT – 58 Advertising Sales

Nite Core Flashlights DURBAN HEAD OFFICE
Kamakura AD7 8x42 Binoculars Meridan Creak • Gail Osborne
031-572-6551, fax 031-562-8389
advertising@manmagnum.co.za
MAGNUM’S MARKET – 66
CENTRAL SA
Jaco Erasmus
TRADING POST – 67 082-419-8625, fax 086-699-5656
jjerasmus07@gmail.com
SUBSCRIPTION – 68 PRETORIA
Jacomien Oosthuizen
012-485-9353, fax 012-485-9408
GALLERY – 69 jacomien.oosthuizen@media24.com
Jacques Boshoff
Rhino Horn 012-485-9360, fax 012-485-9408
Hunters Care jacques.boshoff@media24.com
PHASA Leaders JOHANNESBURG
Snake Activity Russell Chalmers, MediaMark
083-395-3346
russellmag650@gmail.com
CAPE TOWN (WESTERN CAPE, RETAIL)
Alan Walker
021-797-6449, fax 021-762-4664
fairchase@axxess.co.za
MEDIA 24 (Weekly Magazines)

Subscribe to our Man/Magnum is published and distributed by
Media 24, a Division of Nasionale Pers
Digital Edition!
Editorial Head Chris Burgess
Publisher Theuns Venter
www.mysubs.co.za
Advertising Head Dirk Lamprecht
012-485-9356, Dirk.Lamprecht@media24.com
or find us on Zinio: Circulation Armand Kasselman
za.zinio.com Debtors’ Accounts
Soraya Essop 021-408-3521
Proprietor SA Hunt Publishing (Pty) Ltd
Printed by Paarl Media Cape
Distribution In the event of retail supply problems
contact Armand Kasselman, 021-443-9975
Opinions expressed in advertisements or articles are not necessarily those

of the Editors or Publishers. Readers should take every care with firearms
and ammunition. Magnum has no control over readers’ components or
techniques and cannot entertain claims of any nature whatsoever. The
Editors reserve the right to change and/or shorten articles and letters.
The Publisher accepts no responsibility for the content of advertisements.
© All Rights Reserved
Trail Talk by PHILLIP HAYES
The Heart of the Matter

I AM WRITING this on the 1 st of Janu- club membership requirements for gun rules, manifesting dangerous negligence
ary 2016, as we leave behind a violent owners, and bans on entire categories of when surrounded by friendly bystanders.
year of death and mayhem daily viewed weapons for law-abiding citizens. Yet these I once read that a gun affords its owner
on television. did not stop fanatics acquiring weapons to a sense of safety and security. Too often,
Early in 2015, The Guardian (UK) slaughter at least 130 people and wound this is a false sense of security. In a vio-
reported that global armed conflicts are many more. lent society, too many see a handgun as a
becoming more deadly, and quoted the Trump went on to say, “If those people simple solution; but it is far from simple.
International Institute for Strategic Studies in Paris had guns in that room, there would The gun-owner must be thoroughly famil-
as saying, despite fewer wars, the number have been a shootout and very few people iar with the circumstances in which a
of deaths has trebled since 2008 due to would have been hurt in comparison to the defensive firearm may be legally used,
an “inexorable intensification of violence”. number that were hurt.” and must know the consequences of its
Tens of thousands more people are dying That is a sweeping, presumptuous and misuse. He must also be aware of the con-
in armed conflicts, even as the number highly controversial statement. I can only sequences of killing or injuring innocent
of conflicts falls, according to the study. imagine that if an armed citizenry opened bystanders and the far-reaching effects
In 2008, sixty-three armed conflicts led fire on the attackers in a dark venue with this can have – families can lose bread-
to 56 000 fatalities, whereas in 2014, flashing lights, the ensuing shootout would winners, lives can be ruined, and the
180 000 people died in 42 conflicts. almost certainly kill and injure innocent resulting lawsuits can ruin yours.
The numbers reflect the extremely bystanders. The public outcry would be The gun-owner should also have in
violent fighting in Syria and Iraq and the massive and a ban on all handguns would place additional comprehensive security
increasing deaths in Afghanistan follow- probably follow. It is always easy to find a facilities and a practised plan of action to
ing the withdrawal of western troops. The theoretical solution in retrospect, but real- avoid having to shoot an attacker if at all
Israeli-Palestinian conflict killed 2 500 ity is much more cruel and unforgiving, possible. Shooting should be a last resort
people in 2014, mostly civilians, while and unfortunately we hear of few recorded to protect human life. The gung-ho confi-
fighting in Libya, Yemen and Central Af- cases of armed citizens stopping or pre- dence of some handgun carriers is actually
rican Republic contributed to the rise in venting violent crime. Nevertheless, I am more of a danger than a security meas-
overall deaths. sure that if criminals know Average Joe is ure. Opening fire at two or more perpet-
The study found the number of dis- armed, they will think twice. rators armed with guns can get not only
placed people exceeded 50 million in 2013. This brings me to our situation. We you killed but also innocent bystanders,
It warned that civilian populations continue live in one of the most violent countries including your own family. These are but
to pay the price of conflicts in short-term in the world and any citizen who qualifies a few of the many considerations when it
dislocation and the longer-term impact of is allowed to possess a handgun for self- comes to pulling the trigger.
the collapse of government services, par- defence. I have spent most of the last two I am not advocating that law-abiding
ticularly education, healthcare and eco- decades in the hunting field, finding little citizens should not carry arms for personal
nomic development. The World Bank esti- time to spend at shooting ranges, espe- defence. On the contrary, I carry a handgun
mates that 1.2 billion people, roughly one cially handgun ranges. Lately my situation and believe that we should all have the right
fifth of the world’s population, are affected has changed and I am more frequently in to do so. However, the seemingly casual
by some form of violence or insecurity. contact with those “carrying a piece”. and gung-ho attitudes, and the ignorance
As conflicts cause widespread destruc- I have found myself uncomfortable in pertaining to gun safety I see in some “gun
tion, increasing the numbers of displaced some such circles – please note I say some circles” worries me. This is something that
people and refugees, and the risk of – due to the lack of application of proper range-officers and gun club officials need
“ungovernable megacities”, the west has safety rules, and because some individuals to address – as should we fellow gun users
been increasingly reluctant to intervene. seem to think a handgun is the solution to when we encounter such behaviour.
Various other reports suggested that the all problems. On a different note, the whole debacle
ready availability of weapons and margin- We who “carry” should think carefully surrounding Cecil, the lion that was killed in
alization of, for example, woman or certain about our attitude, preparedness and will- Zimbabwe by a Minnesota dentist, has now
groups of people, are factors that could ingness to use a firearm in a defensive led to the US administration placing African
push a population towards conflict. situation. The impression some individuals lions under the protection of the Endan-
The terror attacks in Paris aggravated give (or at least vocalize) suggests their gered Species Act. Lions in central and West
the situation. On November 22, Repub- willingness – almost eagerness – to pull Africa will be listed as endangered; lions in
lican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, the trigger when encountering an alleged southern and East Africa will be classified
in defence of the US Second Amendment, perpetrator. These same individuals seem as threatened, with a special rule that moti-
said an armed citizenry could have pre- unaware or unconcerned about the enor- vates countries to regulate sport hunting
vented the “horror show” in Paris. France mous responsibility and potential conse- of lions in ways that promote conservation.
has very restrictive gun controls, includ- quences that attend such an act. In addi- Hopefully this will lead to greater em-
ing expanded background checks that tion, some of these keepers and bearers of phasis on conservation and the true spirit
entail mental and criminal checks, gun arms seem never to have heard of safety of hunting – the heart of the matter.
6 | ManMAGNUM | February 2016

CanikTP9SA
by ANDRÉ GROBLER
THE POLYMER-FRAMED Turkish Canik TP9SA is a ambidextrous

striker-fired, locked breech 9mmP pistol which has de-cocker and
ac
been adopted by the Turkish police. Striker-fired ac- a reversible
tions use a spring-loaded firing-pin which, owing to magazine-re-
built-in safeties and a firing-pin block, cannot accidentally lease button
fire a chambered round. These disengage only when the which is ideally sit-
trigger is pulled and the firing-pin released to strike the uated on the grip, just behind
primer, making these pistols extremely safe for service use. the trigger-guard and within easy
Examples of pre-set striker-fired pistols are the Glock, reach without needing to turn the pis-
the Smith & Wesson M&P series, Springfield Armory’s XD-S tol in the hand.
and XD-M and the Ruger SR series. The thin, flat slide-release button is
lightly chequered for nonslip operation
THE CANIK TP9SA’s cold-forged steel barrel is 4.46"; the and sits on the frame directly above
pistol is 192mm long, 145mm high, 33mm wide and weighs the shooting hand’s thumb, also eas-
820g with an empty magazine. The two steel Mec Gar ma- ily reached without moving the hand
gazines, specially made and branded for Canik’s TP series on the grip. The de-cocker is situated
pistols, feel and look sturdy and come in 15, 18 or 20-round on top of the slide, just ahead of the
options. The pistol we tested had two 18-round stag- rear sight. The polymer trigger is broad and
gered-column magazines, each with 17 inspection holes. lightly grooved on either side of the trigger-safety blade.
Both were easily loaded to full capacity. The base plate is
polymer and disassembled by pushing the small button in TRIGGER-PULL ON THE TP9SA was the best I have test-
the centre of the plate and sliding it forward. Empty and ed in full-size polymer pistols lately – smooth, becoming
fully loaded magazines dropped out freely from the pistol slightly tighter before breaking crisply, and the trigger re-
during exercises. set was short.
A trigger-safety is also fitted. Other controls include The grooved takedown buttons are situated on the
a slide-stop button, ambidextrous takedown buttons, an frame in slight recesses above the trigger-guard. To dis-

Left: A 5-shot rapid-fire exercise at 5m printed
a 69mm group.
Centre: A 6-shot rapid-fire exercise at 10m

printed a 145mm group.
Right: A 5-shot group exercise printed 69mm

at 10m.
Visible here are the reversible

magazine button, flat slide-re-
lease button, take-down button,
de-cocker and picatinny rail.
assemble, remove the magazine and forward and off the frame. Remove de-cocker, a red-dotted ‘cocked’ indi-
ensure there is no cartridge in the the recoil spring and lift the barrel cator at the back of the slide and a
chamber. Press the de-cocking button from the slide. The pistol is now field- firing-pin block. A loaded-chamber in-
to de-cock the striker. Now press the stripped and ready for cleaning. dicator atop the slide just behind the
takedown buttons and move the slide Further safety features include a ejection port elevates slightly when a
February 2016 | ManMAGNUM | 9

Author putting the Canik
through rapid-fire exercises.
does not work. For target and superior recoil control for
the pistol to be faster follow-up shots. It’s a pleasure
functional, the slide to shoot. Accustomed as I am to my
The Canik TP9SA field stripped. must be pulled CZ75, my thumb tends to ride up high
back some 5mm to on the frame; with the Canik this had
activate the striker. me inadvertently engaging the slide-re-
I found the grip lease button, so the slide sometimes
comfortable and failed to lock open when the magazine
the prominent bea- emptied. This happens when I shoot
vertail steadying. The front strap has with other similar polymer pistols, but
bold chequering. The Canik comes presents no real problem.
with one alternative palm-swell for
the back-strap to accommodate differ- A 5-SHOT deliberate exercise grouped
ent size hands. These too, are boldly into 42mm at 10m. A 5-shot rapid-fire
chequered for a secure grip, even with exercise at 5m printed into 69mm,
wet or oily hands. They are detached four shots within 36mm. Six-shots
by pressing a small pin at the bottom fired rapidly at a 10m target grouped
of the grip, and can be fitted with a into 145mm. The Canik had no fail-
lanyard. ures during the test and the empty
cartridge cases had no dents or marks
THE TRIGGER-GUARD is large enough to worry about.
for gloved use and is squared and The pistol comes in a hard plastic
grooved for a support-hand finger case, with extra magazine and palm-
hold. The dustcover ahead of the trig- swell, plus mag-loading tool.
Left: Notice the ambidextrous de-cocker
ger-guard has a picatinny rail for at- The Canik TP9SA pistol is reliable,
ahead of the rear sight. Right: The red-dot taching accessories. accurate and comfortable to shoot.
‘striker cocked’ indicator. The slide’s profile tapers from In 2013, Canik was awarded a con-
about 2cm behind the ejection port tract to supply 25 000 TP9 pistols to
round is chambered. This doesn’t raise to the muzzle. It has broad, shallow the Turkish police force and another
an obvious red flag but is high enough grooves at the back to provide a grip 25 000 TP9SF pistols for use in 2015.
to feel in the dark. for racking the slide, and has no sharp The TP9SF is Canik’s new pistol in the
The de-cocker lies flush with the edges. Its surface is protected by TP9 series without the de-cocker. If
top of the slide and has no sharp edges CeraKote. you want an affordable full-size poly-
to hook on the holster or clothing to The three-dot sighting system is mer pistol for personal protection,
disengage the striker accidentally. Use bright for easy target acquisition. The sport shooting and general plinking,
your non-shooting hand to press down rear sight is adjustable for windage the TP9SA is well worth considering.
the de-cocker (I tested it several times and both sights’ edges are rounded Suggested retail price is R8 000.
and the button needed a solid push and smooth for a snag-free draw from Contact Selwels on 032-551-1350
each time). A clearly audible ‘click’ in- concealed carry. for a dealer near you. We thank Sel-
dicates the striker is de-cocked. With The Canik sits comforably in the wels for supplying the pistol and am-
the de-cocker engaged, the trigger hand, facilitating instinctive point on munition.

Garb for the
Pragmatic ‘Gun’
by CHARLES DUFF
HUNTING OR SAFARI jacket, shooting

A study of various clay-pigeon shooting vests. L-r: Jarl in Holland & Holland (£600+!); James D
vest, waistcoat or coat, upland vest, gilet, in old Carr Clays rendering; Doug in Beretta; James M in Browning camo; Dieter in bespoke ver-
jupon – there are almost as many names sion with Highveld Taxidermy logo on breast pocket.
for this essential bit of gear as there are
styles. Well, not really, because there are quite low towards the waist, are the most suede leather patches on the shoulders
literally hundreds of different designs salient features. A ‘gun mounting line’ to are rather short so I had a longer piece
available, especially now with the world- show the umpire that your gun position of suede sewn over the right-hand one. A
wide web. These are items of clothing isn’t cheating, is another accepted essen- medium-sized waterproof cartridge/bird
which generate intense personal likes and tial. Both left- and right-handed shooters bag with Velcro closures is at the back.
dislikes so it’s not surprising that there are usually catered for – a definite bonus. The top left-hand pocket, so often omit-
are so many styles. ted in vests, is useful for cellphone, dark
COLOURS TEND towards the brighter glasses, etc. There are eight cartridge
CONCENTRATING on what’s used in tones; greens, blues and blacks predom- loops above each good-sized front pocket.
wingshooting substantially cuts down the inate, though camouflage is rarely seen. These I would omit as the cartridge rims
choices. If we begin with the sleeveless A thrifty soul will opt for brown or khaki are likely to scrunch your gunstock.
type of vest/waistcoat, firstly there is the as it can then do double duty during the There’s a polymer ring for bird-hangers
skeet shooting/clay pigeon vest. Usually pigeon shooting season. The pockets are under each armpit. Apart from being a bit
this is a pretty lightweight affair, most well designed and unlikely to dump cart- short it is a well thought-out garment and
have netting backs and even sides to keep ridges. All in all, it’s a pretty thoroughly I use mine for both clays and hot weather
the wearer cool. All are mid-thigh length. thought-out and well-evolved garment. hunting. Price-wise it is very reasonable.
Two, or four, commodious front pockets Then there’s a dark green netting vest My dedicated hunting vests are of
for cartridges and a substantial leather by Gamo; the front is closed with buttons widely differing styles and materials,
shoulder/recoil pad, usually brought down which are better than a ‘one-way’ zip. The and all have good and bad features.

For example the Barbour ‘Keepers vest’
can be used for clay pigeon shooting, is
nicely padded for colder weather, but is
far too flimsy for our thorns and barbed
wire, so a rough hunting vest it is not. It
has a couple of hand-warmer pockets in
the front which are badly placed and too
small to be effective, hence never used,
but it has no top or inside pocket. The
back pouch is fine for empty cartridges,
but will only hold three or four birds and
is unlined. Also, its green colour doesn’t
blend in with our winter countryside,
consequently I tend to use mine for the
snoottier and more thorn-free shoots.
However the ‘both-ways’ zipper is a real
plus, especially when you’re sitting down.
NEXT IS AN ‘AGRED’ vest, which was avail- El Gamo showing cartridge loops. Barbour “Keepers” vest.
able in ‘Bushflek’ camo or plain khaki. Made
by Dave Fowler of very durable thick can- cartridges in a crouch as they do gape accessible from either side through more
vas material, it has a modicum of padding badly at the tops if left unfastened. A Velcro patches, is great for empty cart-
at both shoulders. The front bellows-type zippered inside pocket on the right-hand ridges and for birds.
main pockets are very big and have Vel- side provides security for hunting and gun Under each arm is a plastic eye on
cro fasteners but have been known to shed licences, etc. A really big, lined back-pouch, which is a ‘Y’ shaped metal bird-hanger.

Left: The Advantage Wetlands hooded parka
with neoprene waders make for a water-fow- A visit to the ‘Gander Mountain’ store
ling suit that rocks! in Milwaukee years ago opened up a cor-
nucopia of delights. A gear-freak’s heaven!
For walked-up rough shooting it really I bought a ‘4 in 1’ Waterfowler’s Parka in
does come quite close to the ideal and ‘Advantage Wetlands’ camouflage. It has
I’ve used mine for donkey’s years. It is a Cordura outer skin, Thinsulate insulation
a great pity they are no longer available; and Gore-Tex backing; what more could a
someone should copy the concept. chilly duck-hunter need? Well, you also get
two lower front bellows pockets that can
YET ANOTHER much-used item is a long- each accommodate 50 cartridges (gee, the
sleeved camo netting parka, with hood, Yanks must be bad shots – 100 cartridges
which I bought from Camo Joe’s in Johan- for a four-bird limit!). Two upper pockets
nesburg. This goes over whatever else I’m with four elastic shell loops (make that 108
wearing at the time, has no pockets, but cartridges). Inside is a zip-closed security
has proved its worth many times during pocket. Add an extra-large, visored face-
pigeon and dove shoots. It is relatively mask-style detachable hood, Velcro seal-
inexpensive and worth every penny – able cuffs and a heavy duty ‘both ways’
definitely recommended. zip, backed up by a snap-closed storm
Dave Fowler also used to make a ‘bare flap. Not to mention the inner lining which
essentials’ vest consisting of shoulder is a separate camo bunny jacket for use
straps, front pockets and a big, lined rear with waders; it zips into place. Sheer bliss,
pouch. Closures were all Velcro and it was and wearing it makes you disappear into
available in green or ‘Bushflek’ camo. This the background – absolutely ideal for cold
goes over a camo net parka very nicely and weather bird shooting.
you then have all the pockets you require.
I don’t know if they are still available; I’ve To my mind, the ideal shooting waistcoat
seen similar in Cabela’s catalogues. would have the following features:
Up to four medium-sized birds can be Also from Camo Joe’s came a camo • Durable canvas material, the tougher
accommodated per side and their weight parka with hood in parachute material the better.
is remarkably non-interfering with one’s which rolls up into a very small pouch and • Mid-thigh length.
swing. The zipper is ‘one-way’ only, and lives in the cubby-hole of my car. This has • Plain khaki or South African friendly
the vest reaches just to the waist, another kept me dry on many occasions during camo such as ‘BushFlek’, ‘Desert Storm’,
two personal dislikes. It also lacks a top highveld thunderstorms and showers. ‘Advantage Wetlands’, or ‘Fall Flight’.
pocket, but then it does cater for lefties. Cheap and convenient, it is a ‘must-buy’. • Two large bellows type front pockets
with secure double stud openings.
Below: The rather old AGRED hunting vest I’m wearing is being
pulled off my shoulders by the weight of the birds. • “Y” shaped AGRED style bird hangers
Inset: Under-arm view of the AGRED Dave Fowler-designed vest under each arm.
showing the “V” shaped bird hanger under each arm. • An outside left hand top pocket.
• An inside zippered security pocket, on
the left, below the top pocket.
• Side-opening hand-warmer pockets
behind the main front pockets.
• An unlined back pouch for spent cases.
• Diamond quilted recoil pad on the
shoulders.
• A mandarin-styled collar, to keep out
the early morning breeze.
• A durable ‘both ways’ front zipper in
plastic, not metal, with storm-flap.
• Press stud closures, not Velcro.
• Matching trousers with thorn-proof
fronts.
And if I ever find one, I’ll buy two, so
that I’ve got a spare when the first one
wears out!

Lynx LX3 1-6x24mm 3GS rifle scope is fitted centre circle and dot simultaneously provides
with a close quarters / tactical reticle which is for both fast and high accuracy shot placement
ideal for military and simulated military type sport depending on the immediate situation. At 6x,
shooting as well as big bore rifle hunting. With when the centre aiming dot is zeroed at 200
magnification set to 1 the bright red-illuminated metres, the bottom of the centre aiming circle
centre circle and dot performs as an effective is a precise 300 metre hold over aiming point
zero-magnification red dot or holographic for the 5.56x45mm NATO cartridge, the 200m
weapon sight. At 6x the reticle is good for longer zero is also a very useful setting for close
range precision shooting; the bottom vertical quarters shooting from 10 metres to 50 metres.
post has a twelve-step mil ranging scale and the Available now at your local gunshop.
Lynx Optics (Pty) Ltd • www.lynx.co.za • info@lynx.co.za • tel 011 792 6644 • fax 011 792 8923
Letters
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.
Colt Correction waterbuck and many more species of us properly and fairly reward the
I would like to amend a statement fell to our combined efforts over trackers whose abundant field skills
in my article on Colt’s Pocket Pistols the years. After a further 13 years contribute so much to what we do
that appeared in the December 2015 and 400 days of hunting I sent it off – be it for pleasure or as part of our
issue. I said it was a mystery as to again for refurbishment, to return work? It is also pleasing to hear that
who actually bought and used Sam yesterday… I opened the box and to he and Jan remain close friends 35 or
Colt’s best-selling percussion revolver. my shock my dear friend of 23 years so years later.
Well since the article appeared I have and 700 days of sweat, fear, adren- Also, in the August 2015 issue
had the great pleasure of examining alin and excitement was gone. In his in the article on the Rock Pigeon
the wonderful book Colt’s Pocket ‘49 place lay wrapped a brand new pair of by André Grobler, he says this bird
– Its Evolution written by Robert M. Swarovski 8x30 SLC Gen II binoculars. doesn’t occur in the Kalahari region of
Jordan and Darrow M. Watt. The book This youngster lies now on the cor- Botswana. It does! It is one of several
features numerous old photographs ner of my desk like an excited young species expanding into the Kalahari as
showing American Civil War soldiers puppy, ready to take over from his a result of developmental changes. A
posing with the Pocket Colts they used master of yore. I have only memo- pair took over the barn owls’ nesting
to back up their single shot infantry ries and photos of my dear departed site under the eaves of my house out-
muzzle-loading rifles. It would appear comrade in arms; and an astonished side Tsabong about four years ago and
that thousands of Pocket Colts were sense of gratitude to the amazing cus- they are becoming quite common. The
privately purchased by Union soldiers tomer service at Swarovski Optic who other evening there were seven in my
and used in close combat. replaced my old binoculars for free. yard, drinking at a leaking tap.
– Robin Barkes, Eastern Cape – Chris Rance, East London The construction of more modern
masonry buildings is creating nesting
An Old Friend Departs Of Lions & Pigeons for them. Personally, I would rather
I would like to share my sorrow over I greatly enjoyed Ganyana’s two have the barn owls. Other species
the passing of a dear friend. He joined articles “Learning to hunt Lions” invading the Kalahari are the pied
me in 1992 at a cost of $410; we (November 2015) and “How not to crow, which arrived here about 15
spent many hunting seasons together hunt Lions” (December 2015). Both years ago, and the common mynah
in the Okavango, Zambezi Valley, are thought provoking, the one sober- which got here about 5 years after,
Chete, Kalahari, Matetsi, Caprivi and ing and the other hilarious. They cap- both a consequence of denser human
Eastern Cape. It was dirty, sweaty, ture the essence of life on the margins settlement and more edible garbage
stained, smelly, scratched and shabby of the wilder parts of Africa. due to increasing wealth and west-
after 10 years and 300 days of hunt- I was impressed by the fact that ernising lifestyles. Also, we now have
ing when I sent it for refurbishment Ganyana shared his bounty fairly hadeda ibis which have been around
and it returned refreshed and beau- with his San helpers, to the extent for the past six years following the
tiful at no charge. We continued to that Jan was able to buy a shotgun, construction of evaporation ponds at
form an unstoppable team; elephant, a revolver and a monkey-bike out of the reverse osmosis plant in Tsabong.
buffalo, lion, kudu, sable, eland, his share of the proceeds. How many – Richard White, Botswana
van rooyen

My First
Elephant
by The Late DON HEATH (GANYANA)
illu stration ALAN WALKER
DURING THE 1980s I worked tem-

porarily for Zimbabwe’s Veterinary
Department, specifically trying to
control a rabies outbreak. I was
about to leave on a three-day excur-
sion to collect wild animals for test-
ing, when old John Davis came over
from the National Parks office. “Don,
I hear you are going out towards
Point 222? We have a problem ele-
phant there; killed three villagers
so far. Would you mind shooting it
for me? My PAC officer is out after
a rabid lion, and my only available
ranger is down with malaria.”
I was reluctant, but I agreed
because John Davis, who was very
old, was currently suffering from a
bout of malaria himself. However, I
had only my 7x57 Mauser, and the
Vet Department scouts with me car-
ried Lee Enfield .303s. “I’d better
give you a heavy rifle then,” said
John. “And I’ll send a Parks game
scout with you. I’ll give you my own
man.” John staggered off and reap-
peared with a rifle and belt of cart-
ridges, followed by Mlausi carrying
his pack and wearing his usual evil
grin. “Sorry it’s a .458,” said John.
“Everything else is out. Mlausi will
track for you.”
MLAUSI WAS a legend. His front

teeth were filed to sharp points and
he had massive holes in each ear
lobe which usually held two snuff
boxes made out of old .577NE cart-
ridge cases. He had three deco-
rations for bravery and a fourth in
the pipeline following a buffalo cull,
which was the first occasion I had

worked with him. His first gong was a and distance are relative. Duzi-duzi desire to be indoors before dark. He
DCM he’d earned during the Korean war, could mean an 8-hour walk, and it was left us at a fast run back along the path.
which my father had cited him for, and already past noon. There was spoor everywhere. The
the last was for walking into a minefield millet field and vegetable garden next to
to pick up a badly injured child. He had “SHALL WE TAKE the Cruiser?” I the waterhole had been completely dev-
been cashiered from the army, thrown asked. “No,” said the headman, “the astated. Mlausi’s keen eyes picked up
out of the police force and done at path is bad. My son will show you the the freshest tracks and we set off. After
least two jail terms for theft. His crime way.” I gave the vehicle keys to the walking about a kilometre, we came to
record would have been considerably headman and asked him to look after another devastated field bordered by a
longer but for old John, who preferred the truck. I had learned that if you patch of really thick Dichrostachys thorn
to administer his own justice with a locked the truck and took the keys, scrub. “He’ll be in there,” announced
hippo hide whip. Having Mlausi in town everyone would feel free to break in and Mlausi, pointing to the thorns. “Just walk
for more than two days was asking for steal whatever they could. If you didn’t along the field, not too close, and he will
trouble, but out in the bush there were lock it, but left the keys, then you were come out to meet you.” We dropped our
few better men to have at your side. entrusting it to their safe-keeping and it packs and I set off slowly about 20m
became a matter of honour. The Ndebele away from the scrub. Mlausi walked
WE SET OFF on the six-hour drive to (or ‘Matebele’) held honour very highly. beside me, watching intently. The two
Point 222, a desolate spot named for its Vet Department men were a good 20m
aircraft radio beacon at map reference further into the field.
222. The area is semi-desert; surface A shrill trumpeting
water is scarce at best, and most of the A SHRILL TRUMPETING announced
villages in the area depend on wells. announced that that the elephant had smelled us at the
I drove, and as we approached Point very least, so I halted and made sure
222, Mlausi shouted the directions to the elephant had I had each foot in a separate furrow
me from the back. The rough dirt-road in the field. You cannot shoot straight
became a donkey track and then little
smelled us at the from an unsteady position. There was
more than a well-worn footpath. very least almost total silence apart from the
We halted at a village where Mlausi buzzing of mopane bees trying to get
struck up the inevitable African pleas- moisture from our eyes. It was incred-
antries about rain, cattle and crops I told my men to take their packs ibly difficult to resist taking my hand
before turning to business. Mean- as we could well be out for the night. off my rifle to brush them away; I just
while I went off and set up a make- We set off, Mlausi carrying my 7mm had to squint and keep blinking. Noth-
shift target to check the sights on the Mauser. I had switched the soft-nosed ing happened. After a few minutes I
.458 that John Davis had loaned me. rounds in the magazine for solids. “Kar- lowered my rifle and waved away the
They were pretty-much on, so I wan- amojo” Bell, who had been my dad’s mopane bees.
dered back, greeted the headman and God-father, had shot several hundred “Do you think we have to go in
passed around my pack of cigarettes. bull elephants with his 7x57. My dad there?” I asked Mlausi. “Or should we
Mlausi waited until last, then took his had used nothing but an 8x57 as a pro- go back to the water and wait for him
cigarette and smoothly pocketed the fessional ivory hunter and for shooting there?” Mlausi shook his head. He had
box. He wouldn’t have been Mlausi if problem elephants on our ranch, so I pulled a brass snuff container from his
he didn’t steal anything he could, or try knew that, in a pinch, my 7x57 with ear lobe and taken a pinch. When he’d
and arrange a ‘bush date’ with every solids would work. Mlausi was a ter- snorted the snuff he pointed to one of
woman in the village. rible shot and had brought only his the bigger bushes. “He’s just behind
We were told this elephant had issue revolver. Shooting was my job. that bush, trying to make us out before
turned rogue due to an unusual injury Finding things to shoot was his. he charges.” Mlausi then called to the
– it had a rusty old 20-litre drum stuck Vet men behind us, telling them to
onto its left forefoot. It was monopoliz- IN THIS INSTANCE, “duzi-duzi” start moving back to our packs. “The
ing the water point, refusing access to turned out to be only about 5km fur- elephant will see their movement and
humans and cattle, and living mainly by ther than was comfortable; the after- charge,” he stated confidently, “so get
raiding the corn-bins in the nearby vil- noon was well-advanced by the time ready, boy.”
lages. The elephant was very near, the we reached the water point. At this I had barely shouldered the rifle
headman assured me using the words stage our local guide saw fit to mention when the elephant burst through the
“duzi-duzi” – close-close – but I had the coming darkness and the threat of brush, heading for the retreating Vet
long learned that in rural Africa, time rabies, and expressed a very urgent men, its head down and ears back – the

signs of an all-out charge. I aimed for asked for some more cartridges. I packs and built a fire under a nearby
the eye and fired. This served only to wasn’t going to use the last round in marula tree. Two men helped a third,
make the bull swerve towards me. I fired the rifle unless I had to. Mlausi handed carrying a rope, up into the marula
again, with no effect other than to draw me a stripper clip full of solids. When tree then passed him our packs which
a loud scream of rage as the elephant we’d left the village, all the stripper he secured high in the branches.
bore down on me. I fired a third shot clips had been full of soft-points, but Then he tied one end of the rope to
which at last had some effect: he pulled Mlausi, brilliant as always in the bush, a sturdy branch, dangling the rope to
up for a moment and shook his head vio- had stripped some of these out and the ground. We cooked and ate a meal,
lently then lowered it again to renew the replaced them with solids. then climbed the rope to spend a pain-
charge. I fired the fourth and last shot in With the fully-loaded rifle in my ful and uncomfortable night in the tree,
the rifle. The recoil did seem rather mild hands, I asked Mlausi to reload the safely away from the hideous laughs of
and the elephant certainly didn’t notice. .458. “Already done, Seh.” I glanced the hyena sniffing around the elephant
I lowered the rifle to reload, when a down, and indeed, there were four carcass.
strong hand grabbed the .458 and thrust empty loops on the cartridge belt – I Within an hour of dawn people
my own 7mm in front of me, the safety hadn’t even felt the rounds being started to materialize out of the bush.
already off. I grabbed the little Mauser removed! They’d heard the shots and there was
and fired with the bull no more than a free meat to be had. I had to account
pace or so away, and then the massive THE MASSIVE adrenaline rush was for the tusks, so Mlausi, in his element
head collided with my rifle’s muzzle, subsiding and I must have looked a as chief organizer, soon had these cut
driving the butt back into my shoulder bit shaky, for Mlausi kindly offered me out, the skin off, and a line of tribesmen
and sending me spinning around. I lost a cigarette from my own pack which carrying it all to the Land Cruiser. He
my footing and went down. I hit the he’d stolen earlier, and selected one for then promptly disappeared with some-
ground hard, but being eighteen and himself. I lit mine and then his, with- body’s wife.
fit, bounced up again pretty smartly and out letting go of my Zippo lighter – he
frantically worked the bolt. had tried before to take that off me. MY FIRST SHOT had gone above the
We stood there smoking and watching brain. I dug out a couple of .458 bul-
THE ELEPHANT was down and motion- the fallen elephant. With no sign of life, lets. Two had failed to penetrate very
less. Mlausi was at my side the instant I and no rush of blood from the trunk far at all; a third had cut a path along-
was up. “Put in a couple of heart shots, following the heart shots, Mlausi felt side the brain (clearly the one that
Seh! Just to be sure. Ammunition is sure it was dead, so we walked up and stunned him a little). The 7mm bullet
cheap.” That was rich, coming from a I kicked some sand into the eye. Noth- had found the brain. I have never used
man who had never bought a cartridge ing moved. “Got your camera in your a .458 since. I know the ammunition
in his life and had near-perfected the pack, Seh?” asked Mlausi. “Your first issues have long since been resolved,
art of never paying for anything. Still, it man-killer, I think.” Mlausi took a few but even so…
was sensible advice, so I moved further photos and then cut off the bull’s tail – Two years after this incident, old
around the elephant’s left flank, aimed the elephant hunter’s mark claiming it John Davis died following up a wounded
where I thought the heart should be, as his elephant. buffalo. The priest conducting his
and fired. “Lower, Seh.” I fired lower. It was too late to walk back, so we funeral service said John had been
“Better. Now again.” I fired and then removed what we needed from our “about 82”.

MKA 1919
Match
Turkish Semi-auto
The MKA 1919 Match,
ready to compete right
Shotgun
out of the box.
by PHILLIP HAYES
AT FIRST GLANCE, this box-mag- 18-incher. Unloaded weight is 3.69kg.

azine fed, gas-operated semi-auto- The upper receiver is aluminium with
matic shotgun could be mistaken for a Picatinny rail milled into the top. The
a rifle. With its carry-handle atop the lower receiver is polymer with a pistol
receiver, the Turkish-made MKA 1919 grip and adjustable stock.
Match looks like an M16 and has all The sights are removable AR15-
the regular AR-style characteristics. style. The carry-handle has the rear
It is only when looking closer at the sight mounted on the upper part clos-
barrel and magazine that you realize est to the shooter’s eye, with a choice
it must be of larger calibre than the of notch or ghost-ring, adjustable for
popular 5.56mm or .308. windage and elevation per two large
If you are already well-versed in dials. The front sight is a non-adjust-
the use of an AR type rifle, this 12ga able A2 protected post.
will certainly reduce training time for
sport shooting or security work. All TO REMOVE the carry-handle with
the buttons and levers are where you the integral back sight, simply hand-
would expect them on an assault rifle. loosen two nuts and lift it off the rail.
I tested the Match model, which This takes only seconds. Fitting a red-
has several modifications to make it dot or other sight is simply a matter of
ready for competition straight from attaching it to the fairly long Picatinny
the box. Inside the well-constructed rail. The front sight is clamped to the
box were the shotgun, a box with barrel and can be removed by loos-
chokes, two 5-round magazines, a ening two screws and sliding it off the
muzzle-brake and a very well-illus- front of the barrel.
trated manual. The first impression Two screw-in chokes, modified
is that of a lightweight firearm that (½) and cylinder, and a muzzle-brake
is well constructed. Closer inspection are supplied. The chokes and choke
revealed neat machining. tool come in a separate sturdy plastic
The overall length is determined box.
by barrel choice: 13, 18, 20, and 24 The two metal 5-round maga-
inch barrels are available. The test zines were easy to load. From there
model was fitted with a chrome-lined the procedure was typical AR: point

Easy on the shoulder, quick on
target and the poppers are falling. of larger-than-normal build I started
out with the stock fully extended, but
when aiming, found the sights pointing
to the right of the target. Shortening
the stock fixed that.
The brand-new shotgun suffered
several jams during the first few shots
– mostly feeding problems. After about
25 rounds, however, the MKA was oper-
ating without a hitch. The Match is fit-
ted with a floating metal feeding ramp
that is polished smooth. This definitely
played a role in the smooth feeding of
the muzzle in a safe direction, insert Both the gas system and barrel are various brands of cartridges. All the
the magazine, rack the slide, work the covered by a factory-fitted handguard controls were still very stiff and hard
safety and pull the trigger. The bolt long enough to facilitate different sup- to operate, but running in will fix that.
handle is mounted on the right side of port-hand positions. I experimented Using the standard ghost-ring sight
the receiver and is big enough to pro- by moving my support-hand further it was easy to hit poppers as fast as I
vide a good grip. along the handguard and quickly found could bring the sights on target. A
The slide locks open on an empty a comfortable grip. Stock length is quick pattern test revealed an excel-
magazine. There is an ambidextrous adjusted in seconds by pressing a lever lent spread of shot at 20 paces, but the
safety, enlarged mag release and and sliding the stock along a rail. Being shot printed low, despite the rear sight
enlarged slide-release. With the slide
open, simply eject the empty maga-
zine, insert a loaded mag, press the
slide-release button, aim and fire. After-
market magazines of 2 and 10 cartridge
capacity are available. According to the
brochure the two-round magazine is
for hunting.
During competition shooting I have
seen various speed-loaders being used
on traditional tube-fed shotguns. To
most firearm owners this is a new and
On the left side of the
somewhat strange reloading technique receiver are the safe-
that takes some practice to master. The ty (ambidextrous) and
MKA definitely has the advantage here: the slide release.
no new technique is involved; reloading
is a simple mag change.
THE MKA’s conventional gas-operated

action is located around the support
tube that runs below the barrel. The
return spring fits around the same sup-
port tube. This system necessitates
the use of friction rings, and light-load
and heavy-load gas rings are supplied.
I tried the light-load ring only (which
is black in colour, the heavy-load ring The right-hand view: safety,
cocking lever, mag release and
being silver). The manual states that
the handle removed to expose
this ring is good for 2¾ inch field and the Picatinny rail.
trap loads. For heavy 2¾ inch loads and
3-inch magnum cartridges, use of the
silver ring is advised.

Left: Two steel
5-round magazines
are supplied. Two and
10-round capacity
magazines are after-
market options.
Left: The back sight on top of the carry-handle with the notch selected. Pushing the notch sight
down automatically raises a peep-sight.
Right: The fixed front sight cannot be adjusted, but can be removed by undoing two screws.
being at full elevation. Presumably the

The MKA can be
ordered in various higher-than-normal sights on the carry-
colours; this one in handle played a role. This lower point of
desert cammo. impact will make no practical difference
in a normal 3 Gun competition. Remov-
ing the carry-handle in favour of a Pica-
tinny-mounted red-dot or other sight The muzzle-brake
would also fix this. I found the standard (top) like one
metal sights a bit high and would pre- of the chokes
fer a red-dot sight anyway, which would (bottom) screws
into the barrel.
also afford faster target acquisition.
The empty magazines dropped
free with a push on the mag release. shots as fast as I could align the sights
Inserting a new mag wasn’t always on a target.
as smooth as I would like, but prac- This is a well-manufactured shot-
tice should fix this, failing which you gun. Various locally-available after-
could have a gunsmith bevel the mag- market accessories include the afore-
azine-well a tad. mentioned 10-shot magazines, differ-
ent handguards and different config-
I OWN semi-automatic shotguns with urations of Picatinny rails. I was also
tubular magazines, so I am familiar impressed by the manual; written in
with their use. However, I took to the clear English, it gives, inter alia, lucid
MKA like a duck to water. I had no need instructions for disassembly, photo-il-
to think about using it; everything lustrated. I found it easy to understand
came naturally after having used and use.
AR-style rifles. There is no denying The MKA Match is one of very few
that this shotgun offers an out-the-box shotguns that come ready for com-
advantage amounting to more than just petition straight out of the box. The
larger release-buttons and polished only change I would make would be to
feeding ramp. switch the carry-handle for a red-dot
To me, the recoil felt milder than sight, but that’s a personal preference.
that of an AR rifle in .308, though At R13 500, I deem it good value for
heavier than one in 5.56mm. The thick money. Contact the importer, Selwels,
recoil-pad definitely helped to reduce on 032-551-1350 to find your nearest
perceived recoil – I could fire accurate dealer.

Prepare for
Success
by IZAK STOLTZ
I never dreamed of getting an eland on the

first hunt with my Ruger No 1 in .375H&H.
AN HOUR AFTER our plane from hence tended rather to reach for my over considerably longer distances
Lanseria touched down on an air- CZ .270Win. However, I have a self-im- than before. The Ruger, however, stood
strip close to Alldays in the Limpopo posed rule not to shoot anything big- in my safe for a year, taken out only for
Province, we were getting ready for ger than a black wildebeest with the range work and routine maintenance.
our first session out in the bush. It was .270, even with the 150gr bullet. I’ve Then, in January 2015, I was in-
mid-May, 2015, but the afternoon tem- always preferred heavy-for-calibre bul- vited to join the corporate hunt during
peratures were still very high. This was lets. I try to know my own limitations mid-May. I had heard reports about
the first corporate hunt I’d been invited and have learned not to take risks. But these hunts and realised I would have
to, and though I wasn’t sure yet which now I wanted to hunt the “poor man’s to double my efforts to find a suit-
species we’d be hunting, I was hoping buffalo” – the blue wildebeest – and able load for my .375H&H if I planned
for an opportunity to go after my first needed a bigger calibre. to hunt my first blue wildebeest.
blue wildebeest. I’d heard tales of their I swapped the 1-4x20 scope for a
tenaciousness and had formed a men- IN PREPARATION I had to spend more 3.5-10x50 and immediately found
tal picture of hunting battle tanks. time on the range developing an accu- myself shooting smaller groups. On
My preparation had begun back in rate load. I spent even more time my brother’s advice I bought a pack
December 2013 when I bought a used studying the anatomy of game ani- of 300gr Barnes TSX bullets, which
Ruger No1 in .375H&H with a Leupold mals, watching DVDs on the subject, worked well in my rifle. I was finally
1-4x20 scope in excellent condition and reading books on shot placement. achieving my goal of 1-inch groups at
and at a bargain price. Four months This definitely helped, as I managed to 100m. However, even with my new-
later I had my licence and began bag a black wildebeest cow, a couple found confidence in the Ruger, I still
experimenting with loads. At first I of impala and blesbuck with my .270, took the tried-and-tested .270 along
struggled to find an accurate load, achieving improved shot placement just in case things went wrong.

Author with his blue
wildebeest.
There were five hunters in our party and all hunting was
to be done on foot on the 5500ha farm. Game roams freely
on this farm as there are no internal fences. Vehicles were
used only to drop us off, pick us up again afterwards, and
for recovering the carcases. Shooting from a vehicle was not
allowed. The species available to us were impala, warthog,
blue wildebeest, gemsbuck and eland. Driving out for our first
session on the day we arrived, we saw everything from sable,
roan and tsessebe to duiker, though the bush was extremely
thick due to heavy, late-season rain.
WE STARTED HUNTING just after 2pm and I soon got to know

the irritating little Mopani bees; I focussed on keeping them
out of my nose, ears and eyes while avoiding the numerous
orb webs of spiders. On subsequent outings I covered my
head and wore sunglasses to keep the bees out. At about 5pm
the sun disappeared over the horizon and my guide Hendrik
and I called it a day. Back at camp I was the only hunter to
return empty-handed and had to endure a little good-natured
teasing around the campfire.
THE NEXT MORNING we left camp at 6am. Four very hot

hours later Hendrik told me he had seen a herd of impala
further down the road. We increased our pace as we were
downwind and the sun was at our backs. Just before we were
within shooting distance we heard a loud hiss. I immediately
backed up as fast as I could while Hendrik leapt forward.
A large puff adder slithered between us. Realising that I’d
almost stepped on it, I felt adrenaline surging through me.
Fifty metres further on we were within shooting distance of
the impala. I selected a large ewe standing in the middle
of the road quartering slightly towards me, took aim on her
shoulder and fired. We found her a short distance away – my
first animal bagged with my .375.
That afternoon and the following morning saw me return
empty-handed again. In the afternoon, after a quiet, une-
ventful walk, Hendrik said we should walk faster as he was
trying to get us ahead of a herd of zebra which he was worried
might scare off any blue wildebeest. We changed direction

Loading
The cow was lying on her side, quite still. I touched my rifle
the eland.
barrel against her eye and there was no corneal reflex. The
emotional rollercoaster was almost too much for me. Never
in my wildest dreams had I imagined I would bag an eland
during this hunt.
Never in my wildest dreams

did I imagine that I would
be adding an eland to my
list during this hunt
Back at the slaughter facility, the cow tipped the scales at

just under 400kgs on the hoof and yielded a 220kg carcass.
That night, after handshakes and pats on the back, we took
stock of the animals we could still hunt on our last day. It
turned out we had three blue wildebeest still available to us.
Next morning we were out of camp
early again. We could only hunt until 11:00
and it was starting to get quite late when
we noticed a couple of wildebeest in a
clearing about a kilometre away. Hendrik
and I took cover in the bush and stayed
parallel with a road trying to keep down-
Right: The author
with his impala. wind and hoping the herd would not move
off. These were the first wildebeest we
had seen while on foot and time was run-
and carried on, when Hendrik sud- ning out. Fortunately, the bush was fairly
denly pointed ahead and whispered, open and the ground was quite hard with
“Eland!” In an instant my heart was almost no loose gravel and twigs to make
pounding in my chest. We rounded a a noise.
bush and Hendrik set up the shoot-
ing sticks for me. For a moment I WE SLOWLY EMERGED from the bush
was awestruck by this huge animal about 100m from the herd and Hendrik
grazing towards me about 100 paces set up the shooting sticks. My heart was
away. The wind was perfect but the beating in my throat when I took aim at
glare of the late afternoon sun was making aiming difficult. a big bull standing in the shade, almost perfectly broadside
to me. Through the scope I found the elbow of the front leg
DURING MY PRE-HUNT preparation I had not studied eland and squeezed the trigger. The bull staggered to the left and
anatomy, but I could determine where to place the bullet took off. The shot felt good, and I’d heard the impact. I was
thanks to having studied that of other animals. The 300gr hoping to find a good blood spoor. However, to my dismay we
Barnes struck the cow where I had aimed on the shoulder. found what appeared to be some partly digested grass where
At the impact she arched her back slightly, turned right and the bull had been standing. After following the spoor for 10
bolted. In the midst of the dust from the herd of eland run- minutes we found the 223kg bull lying dead just a couple of
ning off I managed to reload the single shot Ruger without metres into the bush. The entry wound was exactly where
fumbling. Less than 30m from where she’d taken the shot I had aimed and the bullet had gone through the heart and
she went down in a cloud of dust. We ran closer to reposition exited the far side. I was happy, for my hours of preparation
ourselves should she get up again, but it was unnecessary. had paid off.

Handloading Series Part 9
WhenThings
GoWrong
by GREGOR WOODS
To determine whether a bullet is seated

slightly out of alignment with the case body,
place the cartridge on a fairly large, flat sur-
face (preferably a mirror) then very slightly
tilt the surface. Watch the tip of the bullet
as the cartridge rolls; if it follows a straight
line, all is well, but if it yaws (describes a
small circle) the bullet is out of alignment.
The mirror image ‘doubles’ the discrepancy,
helping you to spot the slightest yaw.
MOST HANDLOADING problems stem case-head. Measure all the case-heads de-capping/expander unit in the die – it
from incorrect setting of the dies or in that batch, discard the oversized may not be screwed down far enough.
poor case preparation. Here is a list of ones, and reduce the load responsible. The bottom of the de-capping-pin collet
the most common glitches, with sug- Another possibility is that the fire- (holder) should be about 5mm above
gestions for remedying them. Some arm’s ejector has gouged the case the bottom of the die body.
of these problems could be attribut- rim, raising a tiny jag of brass which
able to a defective firearm rather than is impeding its passage into the shell- Sizer-die de-caps but doesn’t fully resize
to defective handloads. The following holder. File or sandpaper it off. A spent the case
assumes that your firearm is in perfect primer which has slightly extruded from The decapping/expander plug is set too
condition, has no headspace problems its pocket can also prevent the case- low in the die, so the pin-holder is stop-
and is inherently accurate. head from sliding into the shell-holder. ping against the web of the case.
This could be the result of a slightly
Case-head won’t fit into the shell-holder stretched or over-worked primer Dents forming in the case shoulder
Check that you are using the correct pocket. Discard the cases and reduce Re-read Part 4 of this series.
shell-holder for the cartridge. Then your load if too ‘hot’.
measure the diameter of the case-head Case goes into the sizer-die alright,
on the rim to see if it is within specs or Sizer-die not pushing out spent primers but is hard to get out, requiring undue
compare it with that of a new, unfired Check that the de-capping-pin is not upward pressure on the handle
case. If it is oversized, this was probably broken or missing – if so, replace it. You forgot to lubricate the inside of the
caused by an overload which bulged the Then check the adjustment of the case neck.

Left: The components
of a stuck case remover
Case enters sizer-die with difficulty, (photo ex RCBS cata-
then jams and remains stuck fast in logue). You’ll need an
the die electric or hand-drill.
See text.
You probably missed that one when
lubricating the cases. You are now in Right: Special “accur-
a pickle: you cannot remove the stuck acy” bullet seating dies
case from the die without lowering the are available with a
ram; you cannot lower the ram while precision-fitted, sliding
cylinder within the
the stuck case remains gripped by
die body. The cylinder
shell-holder, and you cannot slide the has a calibre-size tun-
case out of the shell-holder while the nel through its centre,
case remains stuck in the die. The only which supports the
course open to you involves destroying bullet during seating,
to ensure precise
the case. Force the press handle upward
alignment.
until the case rim is ripped out of the
shell-holder (the brass is soft, so this using the wrong seater plug for that ing procedure more
won’t damage the steel shell-holder). particular bullet configuration. The slowly and gently.
Now, borrow or buy a stuck-case problem usually shows up as a bulge on This can also occur
remover kit such as made by RCBS, one side of the case wall after the bul- with rifle cartridges, in which case it
and follow the instructions. If you can’t let has been seated. Try to obtain the is less obvious on cursory inspection,
locate one, remove the locknut of the appropriate seater plug or switch to a and is usually indicated by consistently
expander/decapping unit, as well as bullet configuration appropriate to your poor groups despite elimination of all
the main die locknut. Remove the die existing seater plug. Ensure the bullets other possible causes. Place a loaded
from the press and take it to a friendly are precisely upright in the case mouth cartridge (preferably with spitzer bul-
gunsmith. DON’T get the bright idea of when seating, and carry out the seat- let) on a smooth, flat surface (ideally
removing the expander/decapping unit
from the die while it is in the press and
then fitting a punch of similar diameter
RCBS
into the die to pound out the case from
inside
the top with a hammer – you’ll wreck neck
your sizer-die. (You might mention this reamers.
to the gunsmith if he hasn’t handled
this problem before. The primer pocket
has to be drilled out and tapped with a
¼-inch tap for an Allen screw. A steel
cap with a 7mm hole in its centre is then
placed over the die base as an anchor
for the head of the Allen screw, and then
the Allen screw is turned with an Allen
key until the stuck case is drawn free.)
Below: RCBS tool reams out the inside of the case neck and turns down the outside in one operation.
Primers seating too easily (no resist-
ance or ‘drag’ is offered by the primer
pocket); some may even slip partially
out again
The primer pockets are stretched as
a result of overly heavy loads or too
many firings; discard the cases and
reduce your load if too ‘hot’.
Bullet seated slightly lopsided in the

case neck
This is more commonly a handgun cart-
ridge problem, usually the result of

Rifle bolt meets resistance (‘tight-
ness’) when closing on the cartridge
(possibly accompanied by inexplica-
bly high pressure signs)
Did you trim the case necks? If not,
and if you full-length resized the
cases, these are now too long for your
chamber. Forcing the bolt closed dis-
torts the cartridge slightly, potentially
increasing pressures and adversely
affecting accuracy.
If you did trim the necks, but for-
got to chamfer the insides, the extra-
Above: The‘kinetic’ or‘inertia’ type bullet puller with two shell-holders. neous brass causes the case-mouth
With the cartridge inside, its rim held by the appropriate-sized shell-hol- to expand more than usual when the
der, and the cap screwed on, you strike the ‘head’ of the ‘hammer’ on a
bullet is seated. If you also failed
hard surface, and the bullet’s own momentum extrudes it.
Right: The ‘inertia’ bullet puller disassembled showing how the cart- to chamfer the outside of the case-
ridge fits in. mouth, this extraneous brass creates
a slight rim around it. On chamber-
a mirror) and roll it, watching the bullet-tip closely. If it ing, these two factors together can
yaws (wobbles) the bullet is not seated concentrically with result in the case neck fitting too tightly in the chamber-neck.
the cartridge’s axis. The mirror-image doubles the discrep- This creates an extra-tight grip on the bullet and allows for no
ancy, making it easier to notice. Such misalignment might case neck expansion within the chamber, resulting in pres-
be caused by the seater die being positioned too high in the sures rocketing and peaking too early.
press (see Part 6). It’s possible that your seater die was not If you are neck-sizing only, or partially resizing, the die
concentrically machined. Special seater dies are available can cause brass to ‘flow’ down to the junction of neck and
with a calibre-sized sliding cylinder within, which ensures shoulder, causing a ‘doughnut’ effect, i.e. a slight bulge of
perfect alignment. extra brass forming a ring around the bottom of the neck,
inside, outside or both. This has the same effect as un-cham-
Pistol bullets being ‘swallowed’ by the cases during recoil or fered case-mouths (see paragraph above) only at the base of
when thumb pressure is applied to the bullet the neck. ‘Inside neck reamers’ and ‘outside neck turners’ are
This is a fairly common problem with slightly tapered available to get rid of this, or you could just discard the cases.
semi-auto pistol cases (which cannot be roll-crimped,
and which are fired in pistols with parallel-sided cham- Bullets need ‘pulling’
bers). The die is not re-sizing the case sufficiently to get a Bullets may need pulling if seated too deeply (see Part 6) or
decent grip on the bullet. Round nose bullet designs seem when you realize you have used the wrong bullet, propellant
especially prone to it. Check your seater-die adjustment or primer, or the wrong powder-charge. Note that after bullet
and case lengths, and if okay, buy a separate taper-crimp pulling, the case neck must be resized if you want optimum
die to put a final taper-crimp on the loaded rounds. If you accuracy (first empty the case of powder, and remember to
can’t locate one, you can improvise by using a .308 Win remove the decapping pin from the full-length re-sizing die
sizer-die to size the .45ACP and a .380 Auto sizer-die to size or you’ll have to re-prime as well).
the 9mm Para. Bullet pullers come in two designs. The ‘kinetic’, aka ‘iner-
tia’ type is in the form of a plastic container shaped like a
Rifle case shoulders distorting, or necks not gripping the bul- hammer. You put the cartridge inside and hit the ‘hammer’ on
lets tightly enough a hard surface – the bullet’s momentum causes it to extrude.
Either your seater die is not properly adjusted or your cases These often fail to work if the bullet is roll-crimped or tight.
are too long, or both. See Parts 4 and 6 of this series. Also, the powder is dumped inside the device and often spills
on opening. Their advantage is that the bullet is generally
Difficulty in seating the bullets reusable.
You have not chamfered the trimmed case-mouths inside and Then there is the collet type which screws into the reload-
out; extraneous brass is preventing the entry of the bullet ing press like a die, and comes with different sized collets for
into the case neck. This can also cause the shoulders or case various calibres. Place the cartridge in the shell-holder, raise
walls to distort or collapse. If using cast lead bullets, you may it until the bullet is inside the collet with the case-mouth
not have belled (flared) the case mouths. See Part 4. almost touching the collet mouth, and screw the collet tightly

onto the bullet. Lower the ram to pull
the case neck off the bullet. With rifle
cartridges, the pulled bullet is usually
reusable for rough sighting-in or as a
The RCBS bullet puller in the
barrel-fouler, but don’t trust it for accu-
press, ready to operate.
racy. Collets usually destroy cast bullets
and won’t work for round-nose hand-
gun bullets, or for tapered rifle bullets
seated so deeply as to leave no parallel
walls to grip.
If you don’t mind destroying the bul-
let, there are other methods. Put the
cartridge in the shell-holder and raise
it until the bullet protrudes above the
threaded hole in the press top. Use a pair
of side-cutting pliers to grip the bullet,
biting into its walls, then lower the ram.
The pliers will anchor on the top of the
press, holding the bullet while the ram
draws the case-neck down off the bul-
Right: RCBS bullet puller kit: the body
let. If you can’t get a suitable grip, drill a
screws into the press; the appropriate collet
hole laterally through the bullet, and find is inserted from below and the crank handle
a nail that will fit through the hole and is screwed into it from the top.
long enough to span the threaded hole
in the top of the press. Put the cartridge
in the shell-holder, raise it until the bullet check the barrel after a hang-fire, in
protrudes above the press top, push the case the bullet is lodged in the bore.
nail through the hole, lower the ram and
the nail will anchor the bullet until the Uneven bright rings forming around
case is pulled free. the case walls about a centimetre
above the rims of rifle cases, or com- stamp; ringed tooling marks from the
Misfires plete separation of the case-heads on bolt-face imprinted on the face of the
If a misfire occurs, wait ten seconds firing case-head
before opening the firearm in case it’s See Part 4 of this series. Discard the Excessive pressures due to overload-
a hang-fire. Assuming no firing pin entire batch of cases. In future, try ing. See Part 8.
problem, you have either allowed the neck sizing or partial resizing of the
primer to become contaminated with cases (see Part 10). Cracks in the case necks or walls
oil or some other deactivating sub- Usually the result of over-worked brass
stance, or you have not seated the Primers severely flattened, cratered (fired and resized too often). Reducing
primer properly. It may not be seated or punctured, having black sooty rings your load will prolong case life. Some-
deeply enough, meaning the firing pin around them, or falling out of the times old cases crack even though
is expending most of its energy seat- primer pocket after firing little-used, as brass becomes brittle
ing the primer instead of igniting it. Or Usually a sign of overly high pressures with age.
the primer may be seated too deeply, (see Part 8). If your loads are well
meaning the firing pin may not be dent- below published maximums have the Poor accuracy, bullet yawing or tum-
ing it sufficiently to crush the priming firearm’s headspace checked. bling (oval shaped or elongated holes
compound against the anvil, or the in the target, i.e. key-holing)
priming compound may have been Rifle bolt stiff to open or revolver cases There could be any number of reasons,
crushed during the primer seating pro- difficult to extract among which may be bullets that are
cess, and crumbled away. See Part 5. Usually a result of excessively high too heavy or too light for your par-
pressure; see Part 8. ticular rifling twist, or bullets not pre-
Hang-fires cisely aligned with the case-neck axis.
Same as for misfires. Powder contam- Expanded case-head; gouges in the Your powder may be the wrong type.
ination could also be a factor. Always rim; bright scrapes over the head- Re-read this entire series.

Om Koedoe
te Jag
deur SCHALK VAN DER MERWE
Koedoes, laat oggend, noord van Leonard-

ville. Die Nossobrivier in die agtergrond.
OP DIE BRAAIROOSTER lê twee koe- nie vir jou sê hoe jag ŉ mens koedoes “Grys Skim” met ŉ groot blounek, waar
doefilette saam met ŉ klompie vet nie, maar ek kan vir jou sê hoe ek dit daar sulke knoppe uitstaan onder die
Karoo lamtjops en sis. Dit is winter en geleer het,” antwoord ek. ore, was al die oorsaak van vele bok-
dit is koud. Ek en ŉ groepie vriende Die meeste wildsoorte het die ver- koors ervarings by my. ŉ Koedoebul,
staan met skrefies oë in die braaivuur moeë om ŉ jagter te ontglip met hulle wat jou oor sy neus staan en kyk, met
se rook wat na geskroeide olyfolie en ‘skelmstreke’. ŉ Koedoe is moontlik dié horings wat soos trappe hemel toe klim,
vet ruik. Teen die muur hang ŉ groot een bok wat ŉ jagter kan laat kopkrap is ŉ gesig wat vir ewig in jou geheue
stel koedoehorings en een van die kui- met sy ‘truuks’. vasgebrand word.
ergaste vra: “Hoe jag jy ŉ koedoe?” My eerste alleen koedoebul jag te
Soms is daar vrae waarvoor die ant- OM ŉ OU KOEDOEBUL suksesvol te voet is iets wat ek nie sommer gou sal
woorde nie onmiddellik beskikbaar is jag moet jy hom tot ŉ mate verstaan, vergeet nie. Ek was in die veld saam met
nie. Ek maak eers of ek dit nie gehoor anders sal hy vir jou die magiese bok my pa, noord van Okahandja in Namibië.
het nie. Om ŉ braaivleisvuur hoef mens bly, met die vermoë om soos mis voor Dié oggend was ons, soos gewoonlik,
mos nie altyd alles te hoor nie. Buiten- die son te verdamp. ŉ Koedoejag is die douvoordag reeds in die veld. Laatog-
dien dit was ŉ diep vraag en boonop een jagervaring waaroor jagters drome gend vat ek ŉ swaar bul se spoor van
een waarvoor jy ook tyd nodig het om droom. Vir my is min dinge méér indruk- waar hy in die son die nag se erge koue
te dink voordat jy praat. “Man, ek kan wekkend as ŉ ou blou koedoebul. Die staan en afskud het. Die bul het van waar

hy gerus het in die naaste swarthaak
ruigte ingedraf en verdwyn. Om tus-
sen swarthaakbosse te beweeg is nooit
maklik nie, maar ek was vol hoop en is
met die grooste sorg agterna. Die bul
was alleen. Koeie kry dit reg om die bulle
saam met hulle te laat hardloop wanneer
hulle in ŉ trop is; maar ou alleenloper
bulle verloor gou stoom en hardloop nie
graag ver nie. Ek weet ook sonder koeie
is dit ook net een stel oë en een stel ore
waaroor ek besorg moet wees.
Na ŉ harde twee ure se spoorsny
sien ek hom uiteindelik vanaf ŉ hoë
miershoop raak. Dit het gevoel my bloed
Laatmiddag in die berge noord-
vries in die are toe ons mekaar in die
wes van Beaufort-Wes op soek na
oë kyk. Hy was sowat 80m van my af koedoes in die klowe.
en onseker oor wat daar op die miers-
hoop roer. Ek het deur ŉ swarthaakbos, verwag om hulle in die straat anderkant kol bosse staan, reg langs ŉ rivierloop.
waarvan net die dikste takke ŉ onlangse die duin te sien. Dit werk nie so met ŉ Ons hou stil en met die swaai die bul
veldbrand oorleef het, aangelê en oom- koedoe nie. Dit is asof ŉ koedoe presies sy kop om en met ŉ wit stert spring hy
blikke later vorentoe gedraf na waar weet wanneer jy hom nie meer kan sien weg. Mens sou dink hy hardloop nou
my bul in sy spore neergeslaan het. Ek nie en dis net dan wat hy ŉ rigting in- Namib toe, maar die bul het net enkele
het sy are gesteek, my geweer teen die slaan wat ŉ mens verstom. tree gegee voordat hy in ŉ standbeeld
naaste kameeldoringboom staange- verander. Gelukkig het die bok die
maak en by die bul kom sit en stil word. EK HET AL GESIEN hoe skroef ŉ bul sy ruigte effe onderskat en kon ons die
Ek het die hele jag weer in my gedagtes horings tussen die takke van ŉ witgat- hele affêre sien gebeur, maar as die bos
herleef. Dit was ŉ groot bul; sy nek was boom in en hoe hy sy groot lyf skaars ŉ bietjie meer dig was, sou jy niemand
een groot vleismassa. Hy was egter maak agter die boomstam. Soveel so kwalik neem wat in daardie stadium
gehawend; sy lyf vol letsels met sy nek dat indien jy hom sou ignoreer jy ŉ kort sou besluit om verder te loop of ry nie.
glad en haarloos. Die bul se beste jare klipgooi van hom verby kan stap sonder Ons het vir mekaar geglimlag en hom
was agter hom en hy het nie veel meer dat hy roer. net daar gelos.
winters oorgehad nie. Een vroegoggend is pa en ek met Met donkermaan is koedoes
sonsopkoms op pad na ŉ gebied naby gewoonlik vir die eerste twee ure
EK WAS IN DAARDIE stadium reeds Windhoek waar ons ŉ paar bokke moes ná sonsopkoms en die laaste uur
baie saam met pa te voet agter koe- skiet. Ons sien ŉ groot koedoebul in ŉ of wat voor donker op hulle aktief-
does aan en het al ŉ mooi klomp gems-
bokke en rooihartbeeste alleen te voet Koedoebul, gejag noord van Okahandja.
gejag, maar nog nie ŉ koedoe nie. Dit
is moeilik om te beskryf, maar daardie
jag was vir my iets besonders, ŉ soort
waterskeiding vanaf ŉ jong jagter na ŉ
jagter in eie reg.
Ek kon ook iets daarvan in my pa se
oë sien toe hy ŉ uur of wat later voor
die bakkie uit deur die veld na my toe
aangestap kom na waar ek vir hulle by
die bul gewag het.
Die meeste vlakte wild se gedrag
en bewegings kan jy tot ŉ mate voor-
spel. As gemsbokke of springbokke
byvoorbeeld ŉ Kalahari duin oorsteek
en jy oomblikke later agter hulle aan
dieselfde doen kan jy met redelikheid

Koedoebul, gejag suid-
ste. Uit gewoonte kyk ek soggens met eerste lig twee oos van Dordabis.
keer na ŉ skadukol en dieper die swarthaak takke in vir
die blink van ŉ horing. Op koue wintersoggende is hulle
lief vir die sonkolle in die relatiewe ooptes voordat die
ruigtes hulle insluk, terwyl hulle laatmiddag dikwels weer
na die ooptes terugkeer om te wei. Ek het egter al talle
koedoes in die middag in die ooptes raakgeloop. Wan-
neer die laatmiddag son die bosveld in goud kleur, herin-
ner pa en ek mekaar altyd daaraan dat dit nou hulle tyd is.
EK JAG MEESTAL koedoes in Namibië en in die Karoo. Vroeër

het ons jaarliks talle groot bulle in die kameeldoringsveld plat-
getrek. Die afgelope vyf jaar het ek egter baie selektief met
koedoes geraak en net op die ou alleenbulle jag gemaak. Die
rede hiervoor is dat die koedoes so erg deur hondsdolheid afge-
maai word dat jou gewete jou nie toelaat om soos in die verlede
te jag nie. Daar is talle tragiese stories van besmette koedoes
wat helder oor dag tot op die plaaswerf kom waar hulle noodge-
dwonge van kant gemaak moet word. Ek wonder waarom daar
nog nie ŉ volhoubare oplossing vir die enorme epidemie gevind
is nie. Koedoes, en veral die manjifieke ou bulle, is nie veronder-
stel om op so ŉ onwaardige manier dood te gaan nie.
In die ruigtes van Namibië is elke bos of boom ŉ koedoe-
skuiling. In die Karoo werk dit anders. ŉ Karoo koedoe is slink- ser. Ek moes al die aftog blaas op plekke in die Karoo, iets
waaroor ek nie graag praat nie. Hier het die koedoe die kuns
vervolmaak om in die kleinste kloof, nouste rivierloop of kol
soetdorings net weg te raak. Op ŉ plaas teenaan die Karoo
Nasionale Park, naby Beaufort-Wes, is heelwat koedoes as
mens na die spore kyk, om hul te sien is egter ŉ ander storie.
In die Karoo moet jy meer selektief wees oor waar jy
koedoes soek. Jou beste kanse bly die toegegroeide klofies
en rivierlope. Ek sê nie jy sal nie deur ŉ koedoe êrens op ŉ
Full range of Ruger Rifles and Handguns available. vlakte verras word nie, maar gee jouself die beste kans en
Dealer enquiries welcome. soek die klowe en rivierlope deur. Kyk vir die plekke waar ŉ
For information on models/calibres and availability, contact
Mark/Carlo or Emmy. koedoe sy teenwoordigheid geheim kan hou.
AMERICAN VIR ELKE KOEDOEBUL wat ek al platgetrek het, kan ek boeke

skryf oor die myle wat geloop is, berge wat geklim is, klowe,
M77 HAWKEYE
rivierlope en ruigtes wat ek deurgesoek het, dikwels van sonop
tot sononder sonder om die geweer se slot toe te druk. Baie
GUN GUIDE
dae het ek ŉ patroon, soos ek hom ure gelede in die geweer
se kamer ingestoot het, weer net so uitgehaal en in my sak
GUNSITE SCOUT gesteek. ŉ Koedoe jag vra iets van jou en jy betaal ŉ prys,
een van sweet, stukkende knieë en elmboë, rooi hale waar die
swarthaak en wag-ŉ-bietjies jou gehaak het en nie wou los nie.
10/22 TAKE DOWN ŉ Koedoe, meer as ander wild, sal die vertroue wat jy in
jou jag en veldkuns vermoëns het toets en dikwels jou ego ŉ
SR22RDS
elmboog in die ribbes gee ná dae se mislukte pogings. Aan die
anderkant, wanneer daardie koedoebul voor jou in die gras
lê, is daar ŉ bitter-soet in my wat woorde nie kan beskryf nie.
SR556 Dit is stil langs die vuur teen die tyd. Ek sny een van
die bruingebraaide koedoefilette se punte in dun skyfies en
deel dit uit. Iemand lig sy glas en stel ŉ heildronk in op die
Phone: (021) 949-2891 or Fax: (021) 949-2701 ‘Grys Skim’.
Email: mark@gunsbows.co.za

White-Faced Duck
(Dendrocygnaviduata)
by ANDRÉ GROBLER
Photo by Phillip Hayes.

Their white faces make them easily
recognisable even in low light condi-
tions. Another characteristic is their
feet which stick out behind the body
in flight.
HUNTERS CAN USE the scrub around

dams and rivers to stalk these birds if
close to the shore. A couple of days be-
fore the planned shoot, visit the dams
where the birds gather, and determine
the flight paths, then place the hides
accordingly. Remember, flight paths
can vary daily. These ducks are not
as vigilant as other ducks and geese
when resting or feeding, so decoys
THE WHITE-FACED duck (Afrikaans: large dams, rivers and farm dams. aren’t really necessary to entice them
Nonnetjie-eend), also known as the They like to spend time in the shal- closer. However, since most hunters
white-faced whistling duck, is com- lows which have a fair amount of wa- target more than one waterfowl spe-
mon in Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpu- ter-plant and shore vegetation. The cies during a shoot, decoys will be in
malanga and north into Mozambique, dense shore growth provides cover for use anyway, and camouflage cloth is
the eastern parts of Zimbabwe and the birds during their moulting period. needed for concealment. While in the
eastern Botswana. They are less com- White-faced duck are gregarious and hide, keep movement to a minimum.
mon in the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal will gather in huge flocks when there Don’t shoot directly towards the water
and Northwest Province. is enough open water and food. They or in the direction of other hides.
This is a medium-sized duck, sim- spend most of their time on the mud-
ilar in body-size to the redbilled duck, flats and sandbars eating or resting. TARGET THOSE that are part of a large
but with longer neck and legs which flock and not a passing pair as they
make it appear bigger. The white face THEIR FOOD includes water-plants, may be breeding. The white-faced
stands out against the dark, brown to seeds, larvae and insects. On land duck is not a fast flyer. Inexperienced
black of the head and neck. The belly they also eat various types of grass, hunters should wait until the birds
and tail are also dark brown to black; seeds and wild fruit. Recently har- are within 25m from the hide before
the sides barred black and white. The vested grain-fields, or fields recently shooting. This also makes it easier to
lower neck, upper back, front and un- established with young plants are fa- identify the bird. Number 4 or 5 shot
derside of the wings are chestnut with vourites. White-faced duck fly to feed- is popular; use dogs to retrieve fallen
a white patch on the front of the neck. ing places during the late afternoon birds.
The bill, legs and feet are dark grey. and early mornings.
They have an upright posture, wheth- Compared to other ducks they CHECK WITH LOCAL authorities about
er standing on land or swimming, and are easily hunted because, when dis- hunting regulations for these birds in
strain their necks when alarmed. turbed, they take flight and usually the province where you’ll be shooting –
White-faced duck prefer open bod- circle around the same place, present- seasonal hunting dates, bag limits and
ies of water such as wetlands, vleis, ing the hunter with a second chance. the licence and permits required.

Ruger’s .22 Charger
Takedown Pistol
by PAUL SCARLATA
photos ELAINE SANDBERG & BECKY SCARLATA
THE .22 LONG RIFLE is the most

popular cartridge in the world.
More .22lrs are manu-
factured, sold and
fired each year
than any other
non-military
cartridge. And
the reasons for
its popularity are
simple to under-
stand.
Firstly, .22 ammo is
inexpensive. The whole
family can enjoy an af-
ternoon’s plinking with-
out putting a dent in
the weekly budget or
upsetting your bank
manager. Then, .22s
don’t make much
noise and produce Ruger .22 Charger Takedown pistol
almost no recoil, with laminated wood and polymer
making them a stock, with standard 10/22 ten-round
perfect choice magazine in place.
for teaching new
shooters and ammo in my storage cabinet. My first
enabling expe- .22 pistol was a Ruger .22/45 which
rienced shoot- over the decades has accounted for in-
ers to practise numerable empty drink cans, squirrels,
more. Moreover, rabbits and various vermin. In addition it
the .22lr is very has helped me introduce numerous people
accurate, making it a – young and old, male and female – to the fun
favourite of target and silhou- of handgun shooting.
ette shooters, and it produces suffi
suffi- Ruger’s first firearm was a .22 pistol, the Standard
cient power for taking small vermin. Model, which hit the American market in 1949 and set
I cut my handgunning teeth on a the standard for high-quality but affordable .22 auto-
.22 revolver. My gun safe contains a loaders. It proved popular for serious target shooting,
number of .22 handguns and there small game hunting and – the most important role for any
is always a goodly supply of .22lr .22 firearm – plinking. Shortly after the ‘plastic revolution’ arrived,

Ruger introduced their .22/45 pistol, An extended magazine release afford- SPECIFICATIONS:
Ruger .22 Charger Takedown Pistol
which mated a Mark III receiver and ed easy removal of the 10/22 ten-shot
Calibre .22 lr
barrel to a Zytel Polymer frame with rotary magazine. Each pistol came Overall length 472mm
removable grip panels that simulated with an adjustable bipod for added Barrel length 254mm
the shape and feel of a 1911 pistol. control and stability. Weight 1.45kg (without bipod)
Sights Picatinny rail
In 2007, Ruger introduced a Magazine 15 rounds
slightly different .22 pistol – the .22 FOUR YEARS LATER Ruger re-engin- Materials receiver – alloy
Charger. I say different because, while eered the Charger, giving its bar- barrel – stainless steel
Finish Matte black
indeed a pistol, it employed the re- rel a 1/2"-28 thread to accept most Stock Polymer
ceiver of their immensely popular commercial suppressors and muzzle- Grips A2-style
10/22 rifle. The 10/22’s alloy receiver brakes and a choice of redesigned Features Threaded muzzle, adjust-
able bipod, optional 10-round magazine, padded
was compact and light, making it eas- stocks in polymer or brown laminated carrying case, lock & owner’s manual
ily adaptable to pistol format. with A2-style pistol grips and extend-
TEST FIRING RESULTS:
ed 15-round BX-15 magazines. Ammunition Group size Velocity (fps)
THE CHARGER featured a 10 inch Given the popularity of their 10/22 Remington 40gr
precision-rifled barrel mounted in an Takedown rifle, it came as no sur- Thunderbolt 34mm 1091
Federal 40gr
ergonomically designed, warp-proof, prise when Ruger adapted their take- Lightning 33mm 1146
laminated stock. Intended as a down system to the Charger pistol. CCI 40gr Pistol Match 22mm 1048
multi-tasker This version came with a distinctive Winchester 40gr T22 25mm 1204
Group size is the smallest of three 5-shot groups
dual-tone laminated wood stock and fired from a bipod at 25m. Velocity is the aver-
age of five rounds chronographed 4m from the
muzzle.
2. Loosen the
adjustment col-
lar by turning it
clockwise as far
as possible with
finger pressure.
3. Insert the
fore-end. Ruger barrel assembly into
announced it in 2015 the receiver and rotate it clockwise
and kindly sent me one until it locks into place.
to test. 4. Tighten the adjustment knob by
adaptable for hunting, The quality of materials, fit turning it counterclockwise as far as
target-shooting and plink- and assembly of the Charger Take- possible with finger pressure.
ing, the Charger came standard down pistol were above reproach, as I Note: The friction-fit lockup of the
with a Picatinny rail mounted atop the would expect of a Ruger product. assembly joint is simple to adjust and
receiver instead of iron sights, facil- To install the barrel assembly: will rarely need re-adjustment after
itating scoped use or electronic sights. 1. Remove the magazine, lock the the first assembly.
bolt open and vis- To remove the barrel assembly:
ually check that 1. Remove the magazine, lock the
the chamber is bolt open and visually check that the
empty. chamber is empty.
Left: The supplied bipod is

extremely stable and provides
a comfortable rest from any
normal shooting position.
Right: Standard Charger pistols come
with laminated wood and
polymer stocks.

The Charger’s barrel assembly is simple to fit.
2. Push the locking lever towards

the muzzle, rotate the barrel assembly
counterclockwise and pull it out of the
receiver.
3. Tighten the adjustment collar
by rotating it counterclockwise one or
two or more clicks.
Note: You should feel some resist-
ance when turning the barrel assembly,
but it should not be difficult. If further
adjustment is needed, remove the bar- Left: The Leupold DeltaPoint red dot sight was easy to mount and allowed fast and accurate shot
rel assembly and ‘tighten’ or ‘loosen’ placement. Right (top & bottom): The Charger’s barrel is threaded for attaching muzzle-brakes,
the adjustment knob accordingly. suppressors etc. For normal use, a protective sleeve screws onto the muzzle.
NEVER A FAN of telescopic sights racks set out at 25, 40 and 50m, we legal) it’s just the ticket, and it’s a
on handguns, I mounted a Leupold used up the remainder of our ammu- natural for Rimfire Metallic Silhouette
DeltaPoint red dot sight. My wife nition. We experienced a few feeding competition, assuming it complies
commented that this, with the BX-15 failures involving the first round out with the standards for this sport in
magazine, made the Charger look like of the fully loaded BX-15 magazine, SA. Or, if you and your kids enjoy rap-
something out of a Star Wars movie. but the problem seemed to resolve it- id-fire plinking at moderate distances,
The supplied bipod provided an ex- self after we’d fired fifty or so rounds, Ruger’s Charger nicely fits the bill. And
tremely comfortable and stable shoot- leaving us to ring plates at a steady it fits into a compact carrying case for
ing position. After zeroing the Leupold cadence for the next 45 minutes. easy storage. Now, if you can just find
sight at 25m we shot for score with The Charger is a rather long and someone to clean it for you…
four different brands of ammunition heavy pistol and I doubt you’ll do The suggested retail price for the
and produced some very good groups much, if any, one-handed shooting Charger Takedown is R9 800. Contact
– several in the 25mm region. from a standing position with it. But Guns and Bows on 021-949-2891 for
Moving to a berm with steel plate for small pest-animal control (where a dealer near you.
Test firing the Charger on Groups fired from a

my club’s 25m range. bench-rest at 25m.

Expensive
Pig
by CHRIS TROSKIE
illu stration FRED MOUTON
MOST OF THE time there is enough clients and for rations. I told Samson to served as an omen telling me to leave
meat from hunting excursions to pro- keep a lookout for a suitable warthog. the pig for another day; nevertheless,
vide rations for the staff, but it had run A few days later, I was still in bed I was soon on my way to the vlei.
low and Samson, the tracker, asked me having a second cup of coffee when I found Samson crouched in the
to shoot a warthog for them. This would the radio crackled into life. “Come treeline next to the vlei and he pointed
not be difficult as in winter the stretch quick. There’s a big pig in the vlei!” to a warthog some distance off. It was
of marshland right behind our house I burnt my tongue as I hurriedly fin- a decent pig – not a trophy, but cer-
is frequented by numerous warthogs. ished my coffee, tore my jeans as tainly big enough to qualify for rations.
They visit the vlei during the early I pulled them on and scratched my I set up the shooting sticks and peeked
morning or late afternoon, and over the trusty old .30-06 as I pulled it from through the riflescope. The warthog
years I’ve shot quite a few, both with the safe. These mishaps should have suddenly became agitated and looked

up in our direction. Knowing I didn’t have much time before and ask his permission to continue, while the morning’s other
he dashed for safer terrain, I took aim. He stood quartering activities had to be put on hold while we sought the wounded
towards me and it flashed through my mind as I applied the pig and finished what we’d started.
final pressure to the trigger that this was not an ideal stance
for a shot at this distance. Aiming for the chest, I heard AS IT TURNED OUT, the neighbour was the least of my wor-
the 180gr bullet strike as the shot broke the early morning ries. Back on the tracks, Sammy, Walker and I slowly but
silence. The pig’s reaction was as I would expect, but I had a surely made progress following the minuscule drops of blood
feeling the shot was not good. At the angle the pig was stand- until the trail disappeared into an aardvark hole. The ‘hole’
ing, he should have dropped in his tracks, but he didn’t… proved to be connected to a network of tunnels and various
Instead, he made a 90º turn and headed off at full speed for other entrances around a huge termite mound. The pig could
the treeline on the other side of the vlei. Before I could gather have been anywhere inside or it may have already departed
my senses, he was out of sight. “Sammy, we’ve got trouble. through one of the other exits. We could not find any positive
Go and fetch Walker.” sign of it having exited and had to assume it was still inside
the maze of tunnels. Walker had lost interest and the seri-
A SHORT WHILE LATER Sammy, Walker (my Jack Russel) and ousness of the situation began to sink in. We would not be
I were heading to the spot where the pig had disappeared able to extricate the pig anytime soon – not without serious
into the trees. Walker seemed to find a trail soon enough earth-moving equipment.
but my heart sank when I saw the first specks of blood. It
appeared the bullet had not gone through the vitals. Minutes WALKING BACK TO MY vehicle, my conscience went into
later Walker disturbed the pig where it was lying down. I overdrive as I contemplated my wife’s reaction to my hav-
rushed up to put an end to things, but by the time I got close ing wounded a warthog and left it alive in a hole. Then
enough the pig was up and running for the boundary fence. suddenly a warthog appeared in front of me. My mind had
It went through the obstacle as if it was not even there. Now, been looking for a way out of this predicament and there it
the simple task of getting meat at a familiar and easy hunting stood – not the wounded one, but who would know that? I
spot had turned into a mission. I had to inform the neighbour could return home with a pig, my staff would have meat,
and my wife wouldn’t be any the wiser. I could avoid the
recriminations for having left a wounded pig in an aard-
vark hole. The rifle was up and the crosshair was steady at
20m; the pig dropped in his tracks from a bullet between
the eyes. With the pig loaded, I took off towards home. To
further soothe my conscience I decided I would make it right
with the neighbour for having shot a pig on his property.
While this thought was still fresh in my mind, the Land Rover
struck a deep aardvark hole I had not seen.
MY HEAD HIT THE steering wheel. Sammy, who had been

sitting on the back with the dead pig, was suddenly sitting
on the bonnet. The old Land Rover’s engine was screaming
at top revs while we were engulfed in a large cloud of dust!
Cursing, I turned off the engine. On opening the bonnet it
took me one glance to confirm what I already suspected: two
engine mountings had been torn off. The Land Rover was no
youngster and spare parts had become hard to find lately. I
turned around and there, just a metre in front of the vehicle,
lay a dead warthog. It had a bullet hole in its chest!
WITH NO SMALL EFFORT we managed to get the vehicle out

of the hole and crawled home at a snail’s pace. When I got
home I saw that my expensive shooting sticks’s rifle rest had
come off somewhere in the bush. I later found out that the
spares to fix the Land Rover would cost me a few thousand
rand, and I paid the neighbour for the pig I had shot on his
property. The cost of the staff rations procured that morn-
ing amounted to about R9 000 – pretty expensive for what
should have been ‘easy meat’.

Modern Man’s
Magic
by TERRY IRWIN
The Wa’nderobo morani with my elephant. was fascinating to watch. Having dug
a deep hole in the sand, they would
patiently stand by while the water per-
colated up. Then they’d drink all that
was available and stand waiting for
more water to well up. This ongoing
procedure could take hours.
The porters were thirsty and tired,
having carried their loads much longer
than usual that day as we searched for
water. Finally the lead porter put down
his load, stopping the whole line. He
approached me and after expressing
how thirsty they all were he asked me
if I had a dira. I pulled my compass
from my pocket and handed it to him,
wondering what he was going to do
with it. After inspecting it closely he
handed it back and instructed me to
OVER THE YEARS, while working with porters. It was on one such safari, prior hold it and ask it to show us where the
tribal Africans in remote areas bey- to the Selous being opened up for water is.
ond the influence of western civiliza- hunting, that I encountered tribal be-
tion, I have often been surprised by lief in the magical powers of the dira. “A DIRA CANNOT direct you to wa-
their perceptions and beliefs about the ter,” I replied, explaining the sole cap-
workings of what we regard as every- IT WAS THE height of the dry sea- ability of a compass. “Why cannot your
day items. The compass, known as son and water was scarce in the vast dira show the way to water like the
a dira in Swahili, was one such item Miombo forests separating the numer- others do?” he asked. I asked him if
which was regarded as having powers ous sand rivers such as the Njenge, he had ever seen a compass before;
far beyond its simple ability to point to Mbarangandu and Luwego. We were he replied he had not, but it was com-
the North Pole. traversing the tinder-dry forest en mon knowledge that the white man’s
route to the Njenge river, hoping to dira indicates not only the way you
INTHESELOUSGameReserveof find water along the way by want to go, but also leads you to water
Tanganyika (now Tanzania) digging in the sandy beds of and even to the animals you are hunt-
the area south of the the tributaries we came ing. He said my dira must not have the
Rufiji river was gener- to. We had already same powers as others because many
ally referred to as the passed two, both people had told of how white men, after
Southern Selous. It bone-dry. Of elephant consulting their compasses, had found
was a wilderness with there was no sign, water or the animal they were hunt-
very few access roads indicating lack of wa- ing. Disappointed, he explained to the
and the only method of ter. Elephant are past other porters that my compass lacked
transport was the foot masters at locating and the proper powers, then fell back in
safari employing native digging for water, and it line and we proceeded on our way.

These people held similar beliefs regarding and the earth was parched. I pre-
darubini (binoculars). I first learned this dur- sumed I was being led to an-
ing an exhausting elephant hunt. My ele- other water source where we
phant licence was due to expire in just a would find the tracks of ele-
few days, and having heard there were big phant which had drunk there
elephant in an area of Southern Masailand during the night. But it was
that I’d never hunted, I decided to try there. not to be. The tracker was
It was sparsely inhabited by a few Wakamba following a direct course and I
people, a Kenyan tribe well-known as hunters noticed there was no fresh ele-
who used poisonous arrows. However, the local phant sign in the area we passed
Wa’nderobo with whom I usually hunted informed through. The country was very flat
me that the Kamba arrow poison was the most potent. and covered by a fairly dense acacia thick-
The Wa’nderobo, a primitive tribe of hunter-gatherers, was et; there were no erosion drains or water courses that may
the only people allowed by law to hunt without a licence, have contained water. When I enquired where we were go-
provided they used only their traditional bows and arrows. I ing my guide replied that we were heading for a certain hill,
found it strange that such renowned hunters would rely on the name of which I do not recall.
other people – the Wakamba – to provide the most essen-
tial item, arrow poison, for their success at hunting. ON WE TRUDGED through dry dusty terrain for hours. It
was approaching midday, and I was hot and thirsty, hav-
ing carried no water with us, when the tracker stopped.
My Wa’nderobo trackers.
Pointing to a distant hill he said that was where we were
heading and we were sure to find elephant there.
It was after midday when, exhausted, I finally climbed
the hill and found myself overlooking a vast area of flat
scrub thicket as far as the eye could see. Having seen no
sign of elephant the whole way, I now asked the tracker
where the elephant were. “Look with your darubini, there
are many in the bush,” he said. Scanning the area with my
binoculars I could see only dense bush high enough to hide
an elephant. “I can see only bush; it is not possible to see
an elephant if he is hidden in the trees,” I said. “Why can
your darubini not see the elephant in the bush?” he asked,
frowning. “Other darubini can see things that you cannot
see with your eyes,” he insisted.
I ASKED HIM IF HE HAD brought me all this way to climb

this hill, in the hope that we would see an elephant. I was
furious when he replied that he was sure there were ele-
phant out there in the bush and it was not his fault that my
binoculars had failed to see them! When I asked him if he
had ever used a darubini to see elephant that were con-
cealed by bush he admitted that he had “not seen with his
own eyes” such a thing, but it was well known among the
I pitched camp at a freshwater spring at the base of people that it could.
a large hill. Soon some Wakamba arrived to ask if I was A long, exhausting walk back to camp brought to a close
looking for elephant. Their spokesman informed me he the most trying hunt I had ever experienced without seeing
was very experienced in guiding Wazungu, white men, and even fresh sign of elephant.
knew where the elephant were, some enormous tuskers I arrived back at camp to find two Wa’nderobo morani
among them. We arranged that he would return at first light waiting for me. They had come to hunt with me, they said,
next morning. Full of enthusiasm and anticipation I turned adding that all the elephant had moved out of the area to
in for an early night. where some recent rain had fallen. The next day we trav-
Dawn was a bright red glow on the horizon when elled a long distance by car and on arrival at the place I
the tracker and I set off. As was my habit, I carried my noticed elephant tracks everywhere. Two days later I shot
Mannlicher-Schönauer .458 myself rather than trusting a a seventy pounder and the Wa’nderobo had not relied on a
tracker or ‘gun-bearer’ to carry it. It was mid dry season darubini to find it.

I shot a 70-pounder.
Their rifles appeared to be WWII Italian relics, but when

I attempted to take a cartridge from them to try to iden-
tify it they shied away and I was advised not to persist.
I then said I would put up a target and they and I could
shoot to see who was the better shooter. They shook their
heads and, smiling broadly, told me through the interpret-
er that their cartridges had no gunpowder. They explained
that they had eaten it! To convince me one of them pulled
the bullet from a cartridge and showed me it was empty.
Such African belief in the power of a compass or binoc- Gunpowder was a well-known medicine which gave the user
ulars was based on pure hearsay that had probably spread great energy and strength.
following a single incident where some hunter, immedi-
ately after consulting his compass, had found a big tusker FOR A LAUGH I GAVE one of them a shot with my .458.
at a waterhole, while another, atop a hill, had spotted a From the way he handled the rifle, and his utter surprise and
herd of elephant too far away to be seen with the naked amazement when he yanked the trigger and the shot went
eye. And with the telling, these ‘magical powers’ became off, it was obvious he had never fired a rifle before. Needless
exaggerated. to say his shot did not hit anywhere near the target.
During all these discussions I was given the impression
WHILE TRAINING Game Scouts for elephant control, I that I was the ignorant one. Nothing I said or did changed
learned around the campfire one night of their strange be- their way of thinking. They remained convinced that my com-
lief as to how a bullet killed an animal. I was told it was the pass and binoculars were inferior instruments which did not
baruti (gunpowder) that actually killed the animal. They ex- work as they should. It is said that a little knowledge is a
plained that the bullet merely punched a hole in the animal dangerous thing; fortunately, in my case, no danger was
through which the baruti could enter and burn the animal, involved.
causing its death. Evidence of this, they said, is obvious
when a shot animal is opened – you could see where the or-
gans had been burned and the blood had boiled. They were
referring to bloodshot tissue found along the wound channel
and the jelly-like congealed blood. They refused to accept
that such a small missile could kill a big elephant.
As I could not convince them otherwise, I used their be-
liefs as a training aid when they came to shoot an elephant.
I told them it was essential to get very close to the elephant
before shooting, otherwise the baruti would cool down be-
fore it reached the animal. Also, African hunters using poi-
soned arrows widely believed that the best place to hit an
animal to ensure the most rapid effect of the poison was in
the stomach. So I told them that, if they shot an elephant
in the stomach with a rifle, the water in the stomach would
quench the ‘fire’ of the baruti. They seemed pleased that I
finally understood how these things worked!
WHEN HUNTING IN Southern Ethiopia, along the Omo

river, I was introduced to another use for gunpowder. The
Bumi people were the most primitive I have come across.
The men are all stark naked except for bracelets on their
arms. To them, the use of animal skins, or anything else,
to cover any part of their bodies seemed completely unnec-
essary. One day a group of young men with rifles and ban-
doliers of ammunition slung over their shoulders came into
camp. My men were very nervous of them and some ran
away and hid. I had learned that in such circumstances a
broad smile and a handshake works wonders, as it did with
them, and soon we were speaking through an interpreter.

Tech Talk by GREGOR WOODS
Terminal Ballistic
Theories
The late Don Heath (‘Ganyana’) about to pull
the trigger on a charging elephant during a
cull. In this situation you would be very silly
to rely on ‘Knock-Out Values’ – you must place
your bullet in the brain.

Tech Talk
A STATEMENT IN “Uncle John’s Story” For the record, Taylor made the mis-
by Jan de Man (November 2015) take, firstly, of assuming that the nom-
evoked questions from readers con- inal ‘calibres’ of cartridges were their
cerning ‘Uncle’ John Keenan’s seem- actual bullet diameters, for example,
ingly inexplicable statement that his he assumed the .404 Jeffery to have a
.72" muzzle-loader has “better terminal bullet diameter of .404" when in fact it
ballistics” than modern high-powered is .421". Most actual bullet diameters
cartridges such as the .458 Lott and differ from their nominal calibre des-
.505 Gibbs. Uncle John had referred ignations. His second mistake was to
to John “Pondoro” Taylor’s “Knock-Out use bullet diameter (as he perceived it)
Values” (KOV) and my own “Relative when he should have used the bullet’s
Destruction Potential” (RDP) values as cross-sectional area (frontal impact
the basis of his statement. One reader area, i.e. the size of the hole made in
also queried Taylor’s use of the num- the animal) which is far more impor-
ber 7000 as a denominator in the cal- tant. The linear measurement is decep-
culations, pointing out that 7000 is the tive: a bullet of .600" diameter does not
number of grains in one pound. have twice the frontal impact area of a
.300" bullet, but four times as much.
THIS ISSUE IS overdue a revisit, given
that so many people misinterpret and IT WAS FOR these reasons that I
misuse these ballistic ‘formulae’. Let’s adjusted Taylor’s ‘formula’ and drew
begin by clarifying Taylor’s use of the up a table of what I called RDP values
number 7000. This number is used in based on the bullets’ cross-sectional
calculations requiring pounds to be area, which in turn I based on the
converted to grains, but Taylor’s use of actual bullet diameter, not the nominal
it had nothing to do with that. Taylor calibre. The amount of tissue destruc-
recognised that bullet energy was not tion, i.e. the total size of the permanent
a valid representation of a cartridge’s cavitation (wound channel) through the
terminal performance; rather that vital area, is the most important factor
momentum (mass X velocity) was far for a quick kill, hence the description
more important. He also felt that bullet RDP (relative damage potential) values.
diameter was equally important (big- I consider terms like ‘knock-out values’,
ger is better) so he simply multiplied ‘knock-down power’, ‘stopping power’
the bullet’s momentum by the ‘calibre’ and ‘killing power’ to be misleading.
in inches. However, this left him with The RDP calculation is M x V x A ÷ 7000
a numerical factor that was so big as (‘A’ being the bullet’s cross-sectional
to be impractical. He needed to use a area, while the arbitrary number 7000
common denominator to bring these was chosen for the same reason Taylor
huge numbers down to a manageable chose it). Determining cross-sectional
size. My guess is that he’d seen 7000 area involves calculating the area of a
used as a denominator in other ballistic circle of the bullet’s diameter, and the
calculations so he simply adopted it. He formula for this is π (pi or 3.14286)
could have chosen 5000 and it would multiplied by the radius squared (half
have made no difference to the com- the bullet diameter multiplied by itself).
parability of his KOV factors. It was a The only reason I published this
thumb-suck, but perfectly legitimate. (in my book, Rifles for Africa, and in

Tech Talk
Magnum January 2004 edition) was This is precisely where these ballis- ues, if accepted as valid, might also be
because our readers were perpetu- tic recipes fall down – they cannot fac- applicable to heart-lung shots at very
ally quoting or asking about Taylor’s tor in bullet construction. Uncle John close range, but solely in that context,
Knock-Out Values: clearly a great many was correct in his statement, but the and solely with indestructible solid
hunters put much store in them. I fig- fact that the .72 muzzle-loader fires an (non-expanding) bullets.
ured if they insisted on doing this, they all-lead bullet which, if striking heavy
should know that Taylor’s KOV formula bone such as a buffalo’s humerus, IT IS VERY important to note Taylor’s
was mathematically flawed, and have would likely flatten and fail to reach the statement in African Rifles and Cart-
access to one that was a bit more accu- vital organs, renders it incomparable to ridges that his formula was to permit
rate – though equally theoretical, and modern bullets for general hunting use. comparison of any two rifles in terms
as such, not to be relied on. I made this of their bullets’ effect on “heavy mas-
point in both those publications, and sive-boned animals which are almost
again (very strongly) in Magnum’s Feb- invariably shot at close quarters…”.
ruary 2007 edition. It seems my cau-
Taylor intended his That’s his context. He also wrote, “I
tioning had little effect – KOV and RDP Knock-Out Values to be have only worked out the Knock-Out
values remain popular and many take Value of certain small bores [anything
them seriously. used in an extremely below 9.3x62 - GW] to show that they
In Jan de Man’s article, Uncle John cannot be considered safe weapons to
shows that his .72 calibre’s 770gr limited context take against dangerous game at close
lead Minié bullet at 1050fps scored quarters…”. Therefore, to apply KOV
higher KOV and RDP values than or RDP values to calibres smaller than
the .375H&H, .416 Rigby, .458 Lott, What so many readers lose sight those normally used on pachyderms
.470NE and .505 Gibbs. This is true – of is that Taylor intended his Knock- and buffalo, OR to hunting situations
and it perfectly illustrates the flaws in Out Values to be used in an extremely
these ‘formulae’. limited context – that of representing
a cartridge’s potential to render a bull
WE CHOSE NOT TO edit out Uncle elephant unconscious with a single shot
John’s statement because of the con- that narrowly missed the brain. Since
text in which it was written. His load this involves head-shots only, it implies
was much like a 12ga Brenneke slug ‘solid’ bullets only.
– same calibre, only weighing 770gr
compared to the Brenneke’s 500gr TAYLOR WAS A professional ivory
– and with another important differ- poacher who would get among a herd
ence: his muzzle-loader was rifled, so of bulls and fell as many as he could
his Minié bullet was spinning, hence in quick time before they fled. In this
more stable and more penetrative context, power was of primary impor-
than a Brenneke slug. This made it an tance and perfect shot placement not
adequate buffalo load at Uncle John’s always possible. He relied (if he is to
chosen range of 25 to 30m, given that be believed) on his cartridge’s ability A bullet of .600 calibre has twice
his son-in-law was backing him up with to literally knock out large bulls (hence the diameter of a .300 calibre, but
an appropriate modern rifle, and Uncle the term ‘Knock-Out Values’) for a short has very much more than twice its
John had stated that he knew never period, allowing him time to shoot more cross-sectional area. Note the two
to try any shot that would encounter bulls, then he would go around and fin- adjacent circles in the diagram, seen
shoulder bone – he went for a rib-cage ish off those that were merely uncon- within a third circle of a diameter
shot into the heart-lung area, and it scious. He claimed (fatuously, in my equal to the sum of the two smaller
was very effective. However, as a reg- opinion) that a .600NE could knock a ones. The considerable amount of
ular buffalo hunting load, an all-lead bull out for 30 minutes, a .577NE for 20 extra cross-sectional area appearing
.72" bullet certainly cannot compare minutes, the large bores only for a few above and below the smaller circles
with those powerful nitro cartridges minutes, and the .416 and .404 not at represents extra frontal bullet area
using steel-jacketed or ‘monolithic’ all. You don’t have to be a 1000-ele- for destroying vital organ tissue and
solids. And, irrespective of its theoret- phant slayer to know that these things severing arteries. Cross-sectional
ical KOV and RDP values, under no cir- just aren’t that definitive. area is a much more telling factor
cumstances is it adequate for use on It was on this principle that he than diameter.
pachyderms. devised his KOV formula. Such val-

Tech Talk
that involve shooting distances further let’s mass (weight) to its cross-sec-
than “close quarters”, OR to any form tional area, and indicates its potential
of expanding bullet, is to take these for velocity-retention, trajectory and
‘formulae’ outside of Taylor’s (and my) penetration – all important factors for
intended context. longer range shooting. Again, however,
in Taylor’s “close quarters” context,
IT IS QUITE pointless to apply these velocity-retention and trajectory are
values to expanding bullets (or to bul- inconsequential. And while penetration
lets which can distort) because bullet is crucial, according to Taylor, all of the
expansion is not constant. You have ‘classic’ African dangerous game cart-
to compare apples with apples, not ridges from 9.3x62 up, given bullets
with oranges. Taylor’s context applied that do not distort, have enough pen-
to ‘solid’ bullets which, by his own etration potential to reach and destroy
description, must show no distortion a bull elephant’s brain, and likewise its
heart-lung area, “from any reasonable
angle”. By extension, this will also apply
to the more recent American dangerous
Don’t forget, an game cartridges from .375 up. Thus SD
factors are academic in this context.
expanding bullet’s
LONGER RANGE shooting implies thin-
sectional density factor skinned game, for which expanding
bullets are normally used, and we have
changes from its moment seen that KOV and RDP formulae do not
apply to these as bullet expansion is not
constant. Nor, for that matter, is sec-
of impact: its diameter tional density when it comes to bullet
expansion. Don’t forget, an expanding
increases while its weight/ bullet’s sectional density factor changes
from its moment of impact: its diam-
mass decreases eter increases while its weight/mass
decreases. And bullets of differing con-
struction will expand and lose weight
other than the engraving of the rifling at widely differing rates. So, again,
lands on the surface, irrespective of because bullet construction cannot be
bone encountered, in particular the factored in, sectional density becomes
skulls of big bull elephants. Without meaningless.
that constant, the comparison is mean- Terminal ballistic values are fun for
ingless. No two bullets expand in the academic comparisons of cartridges and
same manner. Take, for example, the make for lively fireside debates, but I
.375H&H with 300gr bullets: the for- must stress that they are entirely the-
mula will ascribe the same value to oretical and not to be taken seriously.
a brass monolithic solid, a Barnes-X In Rifles for Africa, and in my January
all-copper expanding bullet, a PMP 2004 Magnum article on this subject,
standard-grade (conventional design) I gave examples of .577NE, .600NE
jacketed lead-core soft-nose bullet, and and even .700NE cartridges delivering
a cast pure-lead bullet. I don’t need to head-shots to elephants and failing
tell you how differently these projectiles even to knock them down, let alone
perform terminally, all else being equal. unconscious. Likewise I gave examples
of elephants being knocked unconscious
IT HAS BEEN suggested that sectional by .375, 9.3x62 and even 7x57 bullets
density (SD) should be factored into that narrowly missed the brain. These
the formula. The sectional density formulae are not reliable – nothing in
factor expresses the ratio of a bul- hunting is that definitive.

Dangerous
Game
by JOHN COLEMAN
TO MOST AFRICAN hunters, ‘dangerous

game’ means the Big Five, and rightly so.
Photo by Philip Huebsch.
But many large antelope can be dangerous
if cornered or feeling threatened. This main-
ly applies to male animals with horns. Also,
most hand-reared male antelope, even the
smaller species, usually become very ag-
gressive once they mature, and have to be
kept away from people.
In my experience the antelope most like-
ly to attack when wounded and cornered are
roan, gemsbuck, blue and black wildebeest,
sable and waterbuck. All these species have
gone for me on occasion. Of the smaller ante-
lope, many are the tales of wounded bush-
buck rams goring and even killing people and
dogs when followed into thick bush. Nyala
also occasionally attack. Warthog and bush-
pigs are pretty aggressive when wounded or
cornered and have killed many a dog. Female
warthog are very protective of their young.
Wounded zebra have been known to attack
and sometimes kill hunters. A man I knew,
Koen Prinsloo, was killed by a zebra stallion
he was trying to train.
GEMSBUCK ARE SAID to have killed lion on

occasions. They are very accurate with their
long, straight horns and can skewer a man
if within two metres. Occasionally, if ap-
proached, a wounded roan will charge, even
from about fifty paces. Sable very seldom
charge, but hook with their curved horns if
the attacker is within reach, as do roan, and
have killed many a dog this way.
Probably, wildebeest (both blue and
black) are responsible for most attacks, per-
haps since more of these are hunted than
other species. An old friend of mine, Uncle
Ernest Glover, was out hunting blue wilde-
beest one day and approached a big bull,
believing it was dead. It suddenly got up and

SPECIALIST HUNTING CAMERAS
See ● Listen ● Recordings
came across a small herd with a very good

bull among them. My client took a shot,
hitting the bull a little too far back from
the shoulder. The country was quite open
and we could see the roan running off to
enter a small clump of bushes. We slowly
HUNTING CAMERAS approached within about fifty paces of the
bushes and the bull took off into the open
for about 100m then stopped, head down.
Ranger (6310), We waited for him to fall, but he kept
was R6140 standing, so we walked up and stopped a
now only R4999 short distance away. As my client was aim-
ing, the roan snorted and charged straight
at us. The client fired and missed; I shot
it when it was almost upon us. I have no
doubt this roan meant to attack us. Other
hunters have reported occasional similar
experiences with roan.
with 12MP camera, black LED

infrared technology (invisible hooked him through his thigh, wildly carry- WARTHOG AND bushpig have very sharp
to humans and animals) ing him around. Fortunately I was near and cutting teeth and can inflict serious
100 degree wide-angle lens heard the screaming; I ran over and shot wounds on dogs and people. Often, when
with unique sensors for faster
the animal. Uncle Ernest spent a few days dogs chase bushpig, some in the pack re-
reception.
in hospital and was lucky he wasn’t killed. turn badly gashed and need stitching up.
Once, when cropping blue wildebeest, Some don’t come back at all. Occasionally,
BushWalker (6210), I wounded a big bull which took off into people who get too close to warthog or
the bush. I followed the blood-spoor and bushpig receive gashes – usually around
was R5702
now only R4499 came across him standing in some thick the legs. Believing it to be dead, I once
undergrowth, looking at me. I moved to
the right to get a better view and he took
off as if perfectly healthy. There was plen-
ty of blood now; any other animal would
probably have been down already. After
about 200m he again went into a thicket
with 12MP camera, black LED and stood looking back at me. I walked
infrared technology with to within thirty paces of him and the
reception up to 25m, records
darned animal put his head down and
HD videos with sound AND
takes photos simultaneously. came right at me. I knelt down and
shot him in the chest, between the neck
and shoulder, and he tumbled down a
couple of paces from me, trying to get
up. A head-shot finished the job. That
was pretty close and I was quite shaken.
BLACK WILDEBEEST have been known

to attack when wounded and ap-
proached too closely, and a couple of
SMS“magnum”to 33903, hand-raised bulls have
we’ll call you back attacked and killed
farm-workers.
In Botswana, in
the days when roan
were on licence, an
www.willburg.co.za American client and I
Email: info@willburg.co.za

grabbed a big male us a couple of times Russells is an ideal way of locating a
warthog by the and ran off. Finally, it wounded, dangerous animal before
tusks to load it onto went into some real- you are too close. However, in tset-
the vehicle and it bit ly dense undergrowth se-fly areas, dogs cannot survive, and
me on the thumb; and stood. Not ex- in some countries the law prohibits the
I carry the scar pecting any prob- use of dogs for hunting.
through my thumb- lems, I went ahead, Remember, the object is to locate
nail to this day. following the blood and identify the animal before it at-
My own dog has trail into the thick tacks, so don’t go recklessly barging
been has been bad- stuff. Fortunately, in after any dangerous animal. Take it
ly ripped a couple I had swapped my slowly and carefully.
of times when chas- light rifle for my
ing a wounded wart- .458 to reduce the ELEPHANT SELDOM attack unpro-
hog. Fortunately, he risk of bullet deflec- voked and are great bluffers, often
learned the hard way tion in bush. backing off if you stand your ground.
ebsch.
and thereafter took Photo by Philip Hu As I was push- Cows with small calves are more like-
more care. Here on the ing my way through ly to carry out an attack, so it’s best
farm where I live in the the undergrowth I heard a gruff bark to keep your distance from them.
Eastern Cape, my wife and daughter and the bull appeared a few paces Hippos are pretty dangerous, par-
were out walking with our dogs, when from me, intent on hammering me. I ticularly in water, and tend to attack
they came across a mother warthog just pointed the rifle and fired, drop- slow canoes and rowing boats. I have
with four little piglets. The dogs took ping him with a 510gr soft nosed bul- shot three hippos on the Chobe river
chase and shortly there was much let right in front of me. Those sharp, in Botswana which had bitten human
barking, then yelping from one of ivory-tipped horns would have gone victims in pieces.
the dogs. Then they all came haring right through me had he reached me. Many hunters have been killed be-
back to Win and Jill with the mother That taught me never to underesti- cause they let charging animals get
warthog in hot pursuit! Fortunately mate any horned animal. too close, thinking they’ll back off, or
she turned and ran off when she saw Of course, Big Five animals are they are reluctant to shoot, fearing
humans. Our old bitch, Lily, had some generally the most dangerous if pro- repercussions from the authorities.
bad gashes on her hindquarters from voked or wounded, but otherwise My advice is to kill any charging ani-
the warthog’s cutting teeth. they try to avoid confrontation. If mal if it comes closer than ten paces.
an elephant, hippo, rhino or buffalo That way you will survive, even if you
A CLIENT AND I were hunting nyala gets hold of you, it is likely to be fa- have to face the authorities. There
on a ranch near Hluhluwe in KwaZulu- tal. Nowadays, thanks to antibiotics, are two rules to follow in hunting: if
Natal. Fairly late in the afternoon, the many people survive being mauled by it has horns or teeth, it can be dan-
tracker spotted two bulls in thick bush. lion and leopard. gerous and caution is imperative when
Through the binoculars I saw that one approaching any wounded or cornered
was pretty good, so we stalked clos- I REGARD BUFFALO as somewhat animal. Also, carry a big-game rifle
er and when in shooting distance, I overrated by hunters. I have found when walking in big-game country and
told the client to shoot. The bull was that if you carry an adequate rifle, be ready to use it.
half-facing us, so a shot between neck keep your wits about you and go in
and shoulder should have put him cautiously, you can normally locate IT HORRIFIES ME to see game-reserve
down right there. Yes, you guessed and shoot the buffalo before it attacks. tour-guides in vehicles filled with tour-
it – the client’s 300gr .375 solid hit Even in a charge, you normally have ists approaching big game too closely.
a big branch directly in front of the time to give it a killing shot. Lion and The open car usually has a seat on the
nyala. The bull reared back, turned leopard can conceal themselves better front fender, with a tracker sitting on
and fled deeper into the thick bush. and move extremely fast – as a rule it. The guide drives within a few paces
We took the spoor and found quite you have time for only one quick shot. of elephant, lion and buffalo and stops
a lot of blood and intermittent drag- Provided you don’t panic you can nor- to view and discuss the animals. If
marks indicating a broken foreleg. mally put the shot in the right place. any of these dangerous animals at-
Tracking was quite difficult and were Panic and carelessness are the main tack, there is just no avoiding injury
it not for the blood smears on branch- causes of people getting hurt or killed. or tragedy for the unfortunate tracker
es, we may not have found the ani- Conditions permitting, the use of and passengers. Remember, all wild
mal. While we were following, it heard small dogs like fox-terriers or Jack animals are potentially dangerous.

The Lee Loader
by KOBUS VAN DEN BERG
The way everything lines up to

assemble the cartridge.
THE LEE LOADER? What’s that? For a single die body with accessories. You case, then seat the bullet using an
you younger shooters, a Lee Loader start by depriming the case over a lit- adjustable attachment in conjunction
is a very handy little reloading tool-kit tle cup. You then use a plastic hammer with the die body – again by gently
invented by Richard Lee back in 1958. to drive the case into the die which tapping with the hammer. Voila, a
Each set is capable of completely re- neck-sizes it, then you drive the case complete cartridge loaded with a tool
loading ammunition for any specific out again by means of a separate rod. costing maybe R500, if you can im-
rifle or handgun calibre. Now place the case onto a little anvil port one today. It takes longer to read
The entire set comes in a small box to receive the primer. about it than to do it.
which fits easily into a coat pocket. All Using the dipper, scoop up the
the parts are hand-held and comprise powder-charge and pour it into the LEE RELOADING manuals used to
have stories about town boys reload-
ing ammo in pubs while trying to get
permission from farmers to hunt. I
wonder if quality control slackened as
the session progressed? Fortunately,
it’s impossible to overcharge a case
using the powder dipper with the ap-
propriate American-made propellant
(adjustments are required for our
Somchem powders).
A FEW LEE LOADER sets might still be

available from dealers in South Africa
but going second-hand might be your
best bet if you are interested in one
of these little gems. They can still
be ordered from Lee in America, but
that country’s new export restrictions
The plastic hammer, Lee plastic and
might make this illegal now – an email
home-made powder scoops. Note the
priming anvil and decapping pin. to Lee should clear this up.

Everything you need fits in this
Nowadays we tend to take reload- little red plastic box. The earlier
boxes were cardboard with Sty-
ing for granted but I can vividly recall
rofoam compartments. Note
my first reloading experience. I had the instructions and complete
just bought a beautiful little .32 S&W reloading info applying to the
calibre revolver, which in those days yellow plastic powder scoops.
was considered adequate for self-de- Data is for foreign propellants
– informed substitution of local
fence. It was a Ruby – a close copy
powders is required.
of a Smith and Wesson and a joy to
shoot. After a bit of practice we quick-
ly discovered that the ammo was hid-
eously expensive, even for those days.
I was a young teacher with children;
funds were scarce and regular practice
and plinking was out of the question.
However, being an avid reader of Guns
& Ammo magazine, I soon realized
that the answer to my problem was
handloading.
Nicolas Yale was the only well-
known supplier of reloading equip-
ment and their friendly staff provided
me with a Lyman reloading catalogue. equipment, even though the Dollar-to- means, so I bought one, plus a bullet
It was immediately apparent that my Rand exchange rate was one-to-one at mould and bullet sizing die. A tin of
pocket was not deep enough to buy a that time. Nicholas Yale recommended MP200 and 100 SP primers completed
bench-mounted press, dies and other the Lee Loader which was within my my kit. Yale’s worked out a .32 S&W
Sabatti shotguns
• Sole South African Agents
• Sole Agents for high

quality bolt-action rifles
• Classic Big Five Double Rifles
in calibres .416 Rigby,
.470NE & .500NE
Bolt Action
Competition and
I N S TO C K NOW!
Tactical Rifles
UNBEATABLE PRICES!
Contact us to reserve your order • Wholesale & Retail
• Contact us to reserve your order

IN STOCK NOW • Wholesale & Retail
12ga cartridges – All popular sizes • Sole South African Agents

The die for resizing and seating the bullets.
load using this powder and the 90gr to see how these loads compared
bullet. I enlisted the help of a science to those assembled with a reloading
teacher friend to calibrate the dipper press. I have an ex-military 8mm
for use with MP200. Mauser capable of shooting excellent
groups when equipped with a 12x
I ALWAYS CHUCKLE when I think scope. Unfortunately, at that time, it
back on how I fired my first reloads. had an old 4x32 Tasco scope mounted,
It was on a friend’s farm and I was but I went ahead anyway.
This was the way Lee initially packaged the
more than a bit apprehensive be- I didn’t have the correct dipper size Lee Loader, in a cardboard box with a black lid.
cause reloading was then still a Black in the set, so I quickly made one from Apparently all Lee Loaders in cardboard boxes
Art to me. I hugged a large pine tree a cartridge case, cutting it down to the were made by Lee Custom Engineering, who
tight, holding the revolver around the precise capacity of the required charge went out of business in the 80s. Those in the
see-through red plastic boxes were made by
opposite side. Just before I pulled the of S355. Using the Lee, I loaded a few
Lee Precision.
trigger a thought flashed through my rounds from the same powder-lot I
mind – what if this thing explodes had used when loading on my RCBS outfit costing roughly 15 times the
in my hand? Me being a handicraft press using charges carefully weighed price, and at least as good as can be
teacher! on a scale. expected from factory ammo. The
I quickly shifted the gun to my left fact that it neck-sizes only makes it
hand and fired the first shot before my Lee Loader group compared with one from accurate. I know that two groups do
courage could fail me. After the bang, RCBS dies. not really prove much, but these test
I examined my hand, the gun and the results, together with my experience
spent case. Then I started to enjoy with a Lee Loader in .243 Win, indic-
myself firing off the rest of my reloads. ate that for normal hunting, the Lee
I was hooked for life and have hardly Loader can indeed do the job, and the
fired a store-bought cartridge since, cost factor is a huge advantage.
other than to acquire more cases.
IF YOU CAN FIND one in SA, and you
I NOW PRESENT reloading courses for only load for one calibre, this is all you’ll
our local Hunting Association and on need, apart from a small plastic ham-
mentioning how simple and cheap re- mer and your components. The instruc-
loading can be with a Lee Loader, I was tions are well written and easy to follow.
met with murmurs of disbelief. Since You may need some assistance to work
I still have a few of these handy little out the correct load for your calibre
sets, I demonstrated how quick and CONDITIONS AT the range were not using local propellant, and to adjust the
easy they were to use. More than one perfect, but I shot a 30mm group with powder dipper accordingly (or make a
student has remarked that if they had the RCBS reloads – the 4x scope not dedicated scoop from a cartridge case)
known about the little pocket set, they really being conducive to precise aim- but after that it’s plain sailing.
would never have bothered with the ing. Then I fired the Lee loads; unfor- Lee estimates that, with experi-
expensive bench press and all the rest. tunately an adjustment error landed ence, you can load more than two
A few expressed doubts about the that group very close to the RCBS boxes of ammo per hour. Granted,
accuracy of the reloads. After assur- group – see photo – but they are very some shooters don’t have the time,
ing them that the reloaded ammuni- similar in size. and others need large quantities of
tion was accurate because the Loader I concluded that the Lee Loader ammunition for their sport. But for
neck-sizes only, there were still a few had produced ammo at least as good hunting, how many rounds do you re-
doubting Thomases, so I did a test as that from a bench-mounted press ally need in a normal year?

‘Wildcat’for a
Vintage Drilling
by TOM CACECI
FOR A COUPLE OF years now, I’ve been I liked it so much I bought a second I actually needed a pair of pliers to get
using a drilling as my main hunting arm. drilling, one with external hammers. them out. The very powerfully-lever-
These three-barrelled, break-open guns It’s quite handsome, ‘retro’-looking in aged primary extractor hook would
have side-by-side shotgun barrels (usu- Teutonic style. This ‘new’ piece’s rifle pull a case partly out of the chamber,
ally 16- or 12-gauge) in combination barrel is chambered for the venerable but removing it fully required tools –
with a rifled under-barrel in any one of 9.3x72R rifle round. In power this is obviously not an ideal field situation.
a variety of European metric calibres. about equivalent to the old .38-55 cali- I began to hunt for the reason and a
Virtually all of the older drillings in the bre, making it suitable for thin-skinned solution. Along the way I consulted
United States were brought home as North American animals. Only one many collectors of German guns with
souvenirs by returning American sol- manufacturer, Sellier & Bellot makes it; regard to a possible cause. One sug-
diers at the end of the Second World though the price per round is high, I gestion was overly ‘hot’ ammunition
War. Not only are they versatile, they’re ordered a couple of boxes and took the generating excessive pressure.
exceptional examples of craftsmanship, gun out to shoot it. Deciphering an older drilling’s rifle
irrespective of the maker. calibre often presents a challenge.
My first drilling’s rifle barrel is cham- THE GENTLEMAN I’d bought it from My hammer gun is actually marked
bered in 8x57JR, the rimmed equiva- had never fired it. When I fired it I “8.8mm/72” and bears proper proof
lent of the 8x57mm Mauser round, discovered a problem. Spent cases marks. It’s generally accepted among
which is very useful for medium game. would not extract without undue force. drilling shooters that this really means it
A sidelock hammer drilling made in Germany sometime in

the mid-1920s. This gun has a “Roux underlever” locking
system; the lever on the tang is not to break open the gun,
but to select the rifle barrel. The shotgun barrels are 16-bore;
the rifle barrel is nominally 9.3x72R calibre.

shoots the 9.3x72R. A barrel with a bore
diameter of 8.8 mm (0.346457") and Below (L-r): Two vintage rounds of 9.3x72R dating from the
a groove depth of 0.25mm (0.0098") 1920s; two current production S&B rounds in this calibre;
should have a groove diameter of two of the“9x54R”wildcat rounds loaded with 200gr bullets.
9.3mm (0.366142"). Indeed, the bullet
Right: An unaltered 9.3x72R case (left) shown with my cut-
in the S&B ammunition is .366 - .367 in
down “9x54” case.
diameter. German proof law standard-
izes the 9.3x72R at these dimensions:
in fact it was one of
the very first rounds
to be so ‘normalized’.
Before that was done,
the 9.3x72R came
in several variations,
often varying from
gunsmith to gun -
smith.
GERMANY DIDN’ T My first thought

standardize ammu- was that the
nition or institute a rifle may have a
proof law until fairly fouled or rough
late – 1891 – and chamber, so obvi-
even after that, a lot ously the next
of the smaller gun- step was to clean
smiths who made it thoroughly, and
drillings more or less follow up by pol-
to order ‘did their own ishing with a mild
thing’ in respect of bore sizes, following sized bores. I slugged the bore and it abrasive. These measures helped, but
the same practices and using the same came out as .358"! not much; though there was no visi-
tools they’d employed for decades. Alas, Some of the collectors I spoke to ble roughness, full-length fired cases,
many of them used bore diameter, not suggested that the oversized bullets of even with the smaller bullets, simply
groove diameter, in their calibre desig- the factory ammunition I’d bought was wouldn’t come out.
nations, and some made their own sets causing high pressures and sticking
of gauges. Thus the calibre marked on cases. This made sense, so I made up I THEN BEGAN t o t h i n k a b o u t a
the gun is a rough guide as to where to some mild reloads using a hollow-based deformed chamber: a bulge or
start to determine what it actually is. bullet of .358" but those cases stuck non-concentricity would certainly
too, so it clearly wasn’t strictly an cause hard extraction. Accordingly I
WHOEVER MADE my gun (it has no excess-pressure situation. made a chamber cast with a very low
maker’s mark, a fairly common sit- melting point bismuth alloy specifically
uation) apparently preferred doing designed for this purpose. But then
things the way he always had. It seems My first thought I found that the cast wouldn’t come
likely that a moss-backed old-timer out, no matter what I did: I ended up
gunsmith simply continued to use the was that the rifle having to melt it out with a heat gun.
existing tooling and machinery he had Obviously there was something wrong
in the shop. Doubtless he figured he may have a fouled with the chamber even if I couldn’t see
knew better than the guys at the Proof it. I postulated that there was an invis-
House: hadn’t all his customers always
or rough chamber, ible bulge into which the case would
been satisfied in the past? so obviously the naturally expand upon firing, rendering
Nor is it unusual to find a “9.3x72R” it difficult to extract. In my experience,
with an odd-sized barrel. Consultation next step was to if a chamber has a problem, it usually
with several collectors who specialize has it in the front: such a deformity
in German guns told me they too had clean it thoroughly might have been due to throat erosion
encountered many drillings with under- or perhaps an oversized round that

heavier bullets for better penetration,
and wanted to stick with lead projec-
tiles to minimize wear and tear on
the 90-year-old barrel. A 200gr gas-
checked flat-nosed lead bullet in .357"
diameter seemed just the ticket. Even
heavier bullets (250gr) are available
Left to right: two .366" JSPs from the S&B factory product; two of the 163gr hollow-base
but those might raise issues with rifling
round-nose bullets used in initial tests; two 200gr gas-checked lead bullets in .357". These are a twist rate.
close match in weight and profile to the original 9.3mm bullet. I also ran into an odd difficulty with
primer pockets. The S&B cases use
generated enough pressure to deform holder works with the rim of the case, Boxer primers, but the primer pockets
the chamber slightly. so I didn’t need a special holder. were too small for regular American
There are a couple of possible solu- Behold: the shortened cases solved Large primers, and too big for Small
tions to this problem if, as in this case, the extraction problem completely. I primers. No problem: they were easily
polishing didn’t fix it. Re-chambering could extract the spent cases smoothly reamed out to the right diameter for
or lining the barrel to a smaller cali- using only the tips of my fingers. an American Large primer using a tool
bre was ruled out due to cost and the designed to remove stab crimps from
fact that chamber-reamers in 9.3x72R, military cases. (Interestingly enough,
though obtainable, are pretty thin I hadn’t encountered this phenomenon
on the ground. Nor would re-cutting with S&B’s 8x57JR cases.)
the chamber address the issue of the
undersized barrel. Another option – I NOW HAD what amounted to a ‘wild-
the one I chose – was to cut the cases cat’ cartridge which, in effect, is a .38-
back far enough to clear the problem 55 with case extended by 1mm. SAAMI
area of the chamber: although the chamber pressure for the .38-55 is
damage wasn’t visible it must have 30 000 CUP – well within my drilling’s
been there. capacity. Other than the slightly smaller
case rim and bullet (the .38-55 uses a
I CUT 18MM off the original cases using .377" bullet, much too large) the dif-
a case trimmer adapted for use with a ferences are minimal. In keeping with
cordless electric drill: this made short the European origins of the gun and
work of buzzing off the excess brass. the ammunition, “9x54R” seemed to
It was pretty drastic surgery, but the be the right name for what I’d come up
straight-walled case of the 9.3x72R with. I used loading data for the .38-55
really makes this no different from derived from Barnes’ Cartridges of the
shooting a .22 Short in a .22 Long Rifle World. The charge is 25.5 grains of
chamber: other than the length, all Accurate Arms XMP5744, a load which
other dimensions are the same. COTW rates at 1853fps. This will be
My barrel required a bullet of entirely adequate for my purposes: the
smaller diameter, but since the internal .38-55 has a respectable reputation on
case-neck diameter is too big (being deer, especially with heavy bullets.
designed for a .366" bullet) I had to I still need to do range testing and
resize the neck of each case. A little further load development, but I’ve
nosing about in dimensional tables solved the extraction problem and can
showed me that the diameter of a .38 The breech of the rifle barrel is plainly mar-
use the gun. I may try using cases
S&W case, of all things, was correct: ked “8.8/72,” and bears post-1891 German cut back by less in the next go-round,
and I have a set of dies for this calibre. proof marks. No maker’s name is on the gun. to see just how long a case has to be
Not only does the sizer die, properly before it gets ‘sticky’. But as it is, I’m
adjusted for length, squeeze the neck I looked at bullets again: factory ready to go once I get the gun sighted
down to the right dimension, the same specs for the S&B ammunition include in. I don’t anticipate any real issues
die set has a seater plug that will seat a 193gr JSP bullet, but my preliminary with the 0.001" under-sized bullet,
the bullets to exactly the right depth trials had been made with one that was either. In most cases, a lead bullet will
and crimp them in place. A Lee #3 shell substantially lighter at 163gr. I prefer ‘bump up’ that much on firing.

Test Report by GERHARD VERDOORN
NiteCore Flashlights
Tiny Monster 16.
A RECENT ADDITION to NiteCore’s
range of tactical and outdoor flashlights
is the Tiny Monster 16. A ‘monster’ it is,
with its 4000 lumen LED output, casting
a beam out to about 700m. The TM16’s
body is made of aircraft grade alumin-
ium. The head, which covers the palm of
an average sized hand, houses the four
LEDs which produce a focused beam
achieved by specially-made reflective
mirrors. The glass cover that protects
the LEDs and mirrors is scratch proof. lumen to 280, 680, 1780 NITECORE’S OTHER 4000 lumen flash-
The TM16 is 182mm long; the head and 4000 respectively. light in the Tiny Monster series is the
diameter is 89mm and the body 53mm The mode button is also used to acti- TM26 that delivers a concentrated light
wide. It weighs 506g without batter- vate the strobe, beacon or SOS beams. beam up to 415m away. The TM26 is
ies and fits snugly into my hand. A This is done by pressing the button for 142mm long, the head diameter is
knurled tail cap screws onto the body two seconds to move through the vari- 57mm and the body is 50mm wide.
and seals the power unit housing four ous special modes. The strobe, beacon It weighs 438g without bwatteries. It
3.7V (18650) rechargeable batteries. and SOS settings use the flashlight’s has a single multi-functional button, a
It takes some effort to unscrew the tail brightest beam. Do not look directly charging socket on the body and comes
cap as it closes very tight to ensure the into these light beams; they can hurt supplied with a 220V/12V charger. The
flashlight’s 2m submersible grading. your eyes. To switch off, press both TM26 also has a digital display panel
The tail cap has three points where control buttons for about two seconds. that gives a reading of the power-level,
a lanyard can be attached and has a The TM16 has a battery power-level lumens, temperature, voltage and bat-
threaded hole for attachment to a cam- indicator. The four batteries must be tery status. It produces sufficient light
era tripod. removed from the body to be charged. to see objects clearly to 360m when
The power button is just behind the I tested the flashlight on a cloudy using binoculars. Both these flashlights
head, conveniently under the thumb night, using a pair of binoculars. At come with four NiteCore rechargeable
when held. A second button for select- 280 lumen the beam was sufficiently 18650 batteries. The TM16 is simple
ing a specific mode is situated behind powerful to identify objects at 100m. to operate, more compact and lighter
the first. It has five brightness settings Using 680 lumen I could see a rocky when compared to the TM26.
and three special light modes. To switch outcrop in the veld near my house and I also tested two other NiteCore
on, press both buttons simultane- larger rocks were noticeable. At 1780 models. The TM36, which is a huge
ously. Pressing the mode button again lumens the plants around the outcrop flashlight with an 1800 lumen beam
increases the brightness levels from 5 could be identified and at 4000 lumen reaching to 1100m. It weighs 1.344kg
the outcrop was almost as and is 278mm long. Due to its size the
Tiny Monster 26. clear as during the day. TM36 is not a flashlight you will gener-
Eager to see what ally carry around during normal night
the 4000 lumen out- activity; it is a serious tool for people
put was capable of, I working at night and comes with a
positioned the flash- shoulder strap.
light on a garden The NiteCore Ci6 uses a CREE XP-G2
wall facing another LED, and has an additional 1500mW
outcrop much further 850nm Infrared LED. The Ci6 has five
away. Using my binoculars I different white light settings and has a
marked an identifiable rock and paced red, green or blue light capability, using
the distance out: an impressive 670 two additional multi-coloured LEDs. The
paces. body is well-shaped for a good grip. It

Test Report
is 143mm long, the body is to 190 meters. with its D4 Digi-Charger retails for R5
25.4mm wide and the A l l N i t e C o r e ’s 495, the TM26 with charger for R5 995,
diameter is 40mm. flashlights carry a the TM36 with charger for R6 595 and
The Ci6 produces a A NiteCore five-year warranty. the Ci6 and charger for R2 095. For
440 lumen white light- rechargeable If anything should more information look on NiteCore’s
18650 battery.
beam, but I was sur- go wrong during website at http://nitecoresa.co.za. The
prised by its infrared capability. The 440 the first two years of ownership the local supplier can be contacted on 082-
lumen white light gives good visibility flashlight will be replaced. The TM16 825-8442 or 083-410-6005.
Test Report by PHILLIP HAYES
Kamakura AD7
8x42
Binoculars
THE KAMAKURA Koki company was the eyepieces and there is
founded in Japan in 1950 and is a major a large centre focus ring.
manufacturer of binoculars and spot- Adjustments on both dials
ting scopes sold under various names were easy while offering
all over the world. The company has a just enough resistance to
reputation for offering excellent prod- provide that ‘firm’ feel of quality. Kamakura simply because of the high
ucts, especially in the medium price I tested these binos on a bright image quality at the centre of the glass.
range, and they also produce high sunny day. All images were crisp and This, however, is not much of a con-
specification glass at premium prices. sharp with high definition. I could eas- cern since the centre is used for normal
The model I tested bears the com- ily see small details in the shadows of viewing. To upgrade from this level of
pany’s own name. I found the 8x42 some big trees 400m away, and could centre-image quality one would have to
binoculars compact and lightweight, just as easily study birds in detail as step up to binos like Leica or Swarovski,
making all-day carry a pleasure. It close as 2m away. Use at dusk deliv- obviously at a much higher price.
comes with a sturdy neck strap, a case ered similar results with surprisingly These binoculars offer good value
and covers for lenses and eyepieces. bright images. for birding, hunting or game viewing.
It has a light and durable magnesium/ The only negative factor was For professional hunters I would sug-
aluminium body of roof-prism design, unmistakable chromatic aberration at gest the 10x42 rather than the 8x42,
filled with nitrogen gas. The body is the edges of the field of view. This is since the higher magnification would
waterproof and coated with rubber that also called “colour fringing” and is a make it easier to judge the circumfer-
affords a comfortable grip in dry and common optical problem that occurs ence of the bases of horns over longer
wet conditions. when a lens is either unable to bring distances. The Kamakura binos have a
The lenses are fully multi-coated all wavelengths of colour to the same quality feel to them and are comfort-
and focus internally. The twist-type focal plane, and/or when wavelengths able to hold to the eyes for extended
eyepieces are instantly adjustable for of colour are focused at different posi- periods. Retail price is around R4 700.
use with or without spectacles. The tions in the focal plane. This contrast in Contact MPhoto on 021-465-6355 for a
dioptre adjustment dial is on one of optical quality was more evident in the dealer near you.

Does Firearms
FingerprintingWork?
by MALCOLM COBB
Four random fired bullets. (L-r:) a

‘monolithic’ showing rifling marks
but overlaid with scratch marks from
impact, removing individual charac-
teristics; a hard lead bullet out of a
Metford rifle, with two sets of scratch
marks spiralling in opposite direc-
tions; a .30-calibre bullet with distor-
tion, weight loss and little remaining
rifling, could be anything. Right, a .45
calibre bullet with few distinguishing
rifling marks at all.
DOUBTLESS READERS are aware of old statistic, but the police say it is arms, stolen firearms owned by defence
proposed legislation requiring all civilian about 0.04%.” The remaining 99.96% force and police service members, fire-
firearms in this country to be ballistically of criminal convictions therefore relate arms lost by or stolen from civilians,
tested, so their “firearms fingerprint” to illegally possessed firearms. and the arms left over from the various
can be recorded at the Central Firearms ‘struggles’ over the past thirty or forty
Registry (CFR). In theory, anyone com- HOW MANY ILLEGAL firearms are years, we begin to get close to the lower
mitting a crime with a registered fire- there in SA? No one knows, but esti- 500 000 figure. The point is that these
arm would be identified immediately. mates run between 500 000 and five firearms are the most likely source of
To the uninstructed taxpayer (and our million. Where do they come from? crime weapons, but since none are
less well-informed legislators) this must According to various sources, they come available for “fingerprinting”, this exer-
seem like a very attractive time saver from the theft of state-controlled fire- cise begins to look like a waste of time.
for law enforcement agencies. It sounds
marvellous, but is this true? A test piece of steel rough-bored to show tool marks equivalent to the“individual characteristics”
If a crime-scene bullet or cartridge required for“fingerprinting”. After polishing with medium grade emery paper for two minutes to
simulate a moderate amount of firing, most of the “individual characteristics” have gone, leav-
case could be linked to a “fingerprinted”
ing only the deeper gouges, which replicate the “class characteristics” of rifling.
firearm, what would it produce? At
best, the name of the registered owner
of the firearm; this is unlikely to be
helpful in catching the criminals. Why?
Because the vast majority of crimes
are committed with firearms possessed
illegally. Reliable statistics on this are
scarce but one source states, “The con-
viction rates for legal gunowners using
firearms are actually very low. It’s an

Below: Two cases fired in the same rifle. Left: a soft pistol primer sho-
wing a curved profile and two firing-pin characteristic marks at side
and bottom of indentation. Right: A magnum primer showing ‘crate-
ring’ or flow-back into the firing-pin hole, but the harder metal doesn’t
show the same firing-pin imprint. Both cases originally showed scrape
marks from the breech block but these disappeared after a quick clean-
up for photography. Can it be proven that these cases came from the
same rifle and would they still match a fingerprint taken, perhaps,
years previously, using different ammunition?
L–r: A lead bullet drifted through a rusted bore, showing typical

lengthwise striations. The second bullet comes out cleaner and begins
to show the underlying rifling pattern. The third bullet now reveals
octagonal, flat-sided rifling allowing a “class” identification, which
demonstrates that the individual “fingerprints” of a rusted or dirty
bore can change in a few shots.
BALLISTICS EVIDENCE on its own rarely produces a con- Advocates of the individual “fingerprinting” process may
viction. The defence can claim the shots were fired by acci- say that this “class characteristics” information is of very little
dent, in self-defence or by someone else altogether. After value because something like six million Lee-Enfields were
all, it is the citizen that is on trial, not the firearm. Our best produced over the last hundred years and the number of
current example is the killing of Reeva Steenkamp, where the Colts and Smith & Wessons can’t be far behind. To be of any
courts are more concerned with the “intent” of the assailant real use, the database must have the “individual characteris-
than with ballistic “fingerprinting.” tics” of an arm on file, to distinguish a specific registered arm
Ballistics testing can be flawed. Heard (Forensic Ballistics from the millions of look-alikes.
in Court) cites many instances of shaky ballistics work: one
man was convicted of murder and only later was it discovered SO, WHAT ARE THESE individual characteristics? In the-
that the murder weapon was actually the next weapon in a ory, any mass-produced firearm will have extra nicks and
particular consignment and the two weapons shared many tool marks from manufacture and handling. If these are in
characteristics. the barrel, then it is quite possible that they will produce
markings on a bullet, unique to that firearm. A firing-pin may
WE ARE NOT SAYING there is no merit in ballistics evi- strike off-centre, or the tip may not be perfectly smooth, or
dence. If there is a crime-scene bullet or cartridge case avail- the breech face may be rough so that under the pressure of
able, the police can at least know what type of firearm to firing, the cartridge case is marked in a way that applies to
look for. A .45 ACP full metal jacket bullet is different to a .44 that firearm alone.
Magnum lead bullet or a .22 rimfire or a .375H&H Magnum. The “fingerprinting” argument holds that if all these indi-
This determination doesn’t need any sort of a reference to a vidual markings can be available on file, then it is worthwhile
central database. spending the money to create the database. This argument
doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Statistically, any match-up will
IF THE RIFLING MARKS are visible it is also possible to still produce only the registered owner, who is 99.6% unlikely
determine “class characteristics”, which narrows the search to be the culprit.
still further. A bullet measuring .357" in diameter, with five
grooves, right-hand twist, could have come from a Smith THE REALLY BAD NEWS is that the rifling in firearms like
& Wesson revolver. If it had six grooves, with a left-hand the Glock and Z88 pistols, R4 and R5 rifles and similar Euro-
twist, it could maybe have been fired from a Colt, or at least pean weapons have hammer-forged rifling which is virtually
a clone, which would rule out other handguns. A bullet of identical in every weapon rifled in a particular factory. It is
around .312" in diameter with five grooves, left-hand twist almost impossible to distinguish individual weapons with this
points towards an old Lee-Enfield and not a .308. That is quite type of rifling.
a lot to go on; furthermore, the database we already have at In any event, crime-scene bullets and cartridge cases
the Central Firearms Register can indicate the owner of the aren’t always available, or not always in a good enough
category of weapon involved, which may provide a further condition to make a match-up. With a revolver, the fired
link in the investigation. cases aren’t necessarily ejected at the crime scene. A semi-

designed to expand, even in soft tar- 98s can accept bolts from other Mauser
gets, which destroys their identifying 98s, changing their breech-marking
characteristics. characteristics in moments. If reloaded
Getting any sort of ballistic match cartridges have been used, the case will
with a shotgun is just about imposs- have the impressions of several recoil
ible because there is no rifling to impart plates or bolt-faces on the head, which
marks onto shot, so the investigators makes it impossible to link the fired
are left with wads and examples of the case to one particular weapon.
shot, which can indicate class charac-
teristics, but that is all. On this basis we BARRELS FROM firearms used exten-
A Lee-Enfield bolt head may be changed must ask if there is any point in trying sively for competition wear out in
in under a minute, altering the identifying to fingerprint a shotgun, of which there about 4 000 rounds. While this may
characteristics of the fired cartridge case. are some 400 000 examples registered not change the class characteristics
in this country, according to statistics. of the rifling, it is likely that any fine
automatic weapon may leave ejected There are many other technical tool-marks giving the rifle its indi-
cases, but it is quite possible that in a arguments to be advanced against “fin- vidual characteristics have gone too.
planned crime, the empty cases from gerprinting.” This is to say nothing of any additional
someone else’s weapon could be scat- scrapes and bumps induced during
tered around to plant a false lead for the course of a lifetime which will add
the police. Lucian Cary, the American other marks not present at the finger-
gunwriter, wrote a short story in which printing stage.
the killer implicated an innocent rifle-
man by digging out his expended bul- WHAT ABOUT firearms left undis-
lets from the shooting-range backstop. turbed over a number of years, as in
The killer then selected an undamaged a safe, or a stolen arm buried in a wall
example and encased it in a sabot cavity full of brick dust? The crime may
designed for a larger calibre weapon well be carried out with a barrel full of
with which he shot the victim, giving rust or grit, which is blasted out over a
the police complete ballistic evidence number of shots. If the gun is subse-
against the wrong man. The paradoxical “Magic Bullet” found after quently cleaned out for ballistic testing,
the Kennedy assassination. Although it mat-
then it is quite possible that a different
ched Oswald’s Mannlicher Carcano, critics
have stated that its condition was too good set of results would be produced which
may resemble neither the crime scene
Fired bullets often for it to have passed through both Presi-
dent Kennedy and Governor Connally. The evidence nor the original “fingerprint.”
pick up extra mark- paradox, therefore, is that a bullet must be
in good condition to match a fingerprinted
Any of this could be challenged in court
(Casserly, 1938).
firearm, but a murder bullet should show
ings which can wipe more distortion from impact. Heard (Forensic Ballistics in Court)
states that “the individual character-
out the original istics in the bore of a weapon are con-
Ballistics testing must be carried out stantly evolving.”
“fingerprints” with ammunition with the same char- There really is no point in spend-
acteristics as the “crime” ammunition, ing taxpayers’ money on testing the
because substitute cartridge cases three million registered arms in this
Ballistic evidence can be destroyed may otherwise be harder or softer and country, based on a notion that seems
or changed, since fired bullets often not pick up breech or firing-pin mark- unproven from the outset, and at best
pick up extra markings from whatever ings. For “fingerprinting” to be of any would address less than one percent of
they are fired into, be it solid bone or use it must also match characteristics criminal activity.
dirt backstops. These extra marks can obtained at the time of the original
wipe out the original “fingerprints”, if test, which may have been years ear- MAYBE THE LAST word should go to
they were ever recorded. lier. That’s a three-way match – easy to the State of Maryland, which spent 15
Most hollow-point bullets, on the contest in court. years and US$ 5 million on firearms
other hand, hardly ever leave enough A firing-pin tip may be altered or a “fingerprinting” without ever producing
bullet material intact within the victim new one substituted. Lee-Enfields have a single “hit” leading to a conviction.
to identify a weapon since they are interchangeable bolt-heads and Mauser The system is now scrapped.

Early Reloading
Tools
by ROBIN BARKES
This handheld‘all-in-one’reloading tool is my favou- shot and wads or trying to get the little
rite. Once the over-shot card is seated the cartridge percussion-caps onto nipples with fro-
is pushed into the cup seen below the de-capping zen fingers or sinking the butt of the
pin and turned by hand to roll-crimp it closed.
gun into the mud while you rammed a
fresh charge down the barrel.
Gun actions were also constantly
improved. Joseph Lang introduced his
under-lever system and Dougall his
“Lockfast” with forward moving bar-
rels; Westley Richards came up with
his snap-action bolt with “doll’s head”
locking mechanism and James Purd-
ey introduced his thumb-lever to open
the breech.
IN ADDITION TO these wonderful de-

velopments, in 1860, William Pape ex-
IN 1812, SWISS gunmaker Johannes Below: A palm-sized de-capper and re-cap- perimented with choked barrels and
Samuel Pauly developed a self-con- per. Once the pin has removed the spent the great WW Greener improved on
tained cartridge that could be loaded primer, the case is put into the hole in the the design which produced tighter pat-
into the breech of his drop-down bar- handle and pressed against the stud on the terns, enabling shooters to put more
left side to seat a fresh primer.
rel pistol. Unfortunately Pauly’s idea pellets into birds at longer ranges. The
was years ahead of its time and was marvellous days of posh shooting par-
virtually ignored, leaving this true pi- ties on sprawling estates or wild heath-
oneer of the modern shotgun and its er-covered moors had arrived.
self-contained cartridge to die almost This was jolly good for the rich
forgotten. who bought their guns in pairs and
In 1832 French gunmaker Casim- their cartridges by the case, but what
er Lefaucheux experimented with a about the farmer and rough shooter,
drop-barrel breech-loading shotgun or the colonists living on the far flung
for his cleverly designed pin-fire cart- frontiers in distant lands? Once their
ridge until he had perfected it. In hard-earned box of cartridges was
1855 Charles Lancaster patented a used up, they had to re-load the fired
centre-fire cartridge and gun. In 1861 cardboard cases. This was actually
George Daw introduced his design for very easy to do, provided they had
improved self-contained cartridges. a supply of fresh primers. All it took
Times were changing and the days was a long nail to knock out the spent
of the faithful old muzzle-loader were primer. Then you stood a fresh primer
drawing to a close. upright on a hard surface, inserted a
Sportsmen everywhere soon saw short, ½-inch diameter (for a 12-bore)
the advantage of the breech-loader. No wooden dowel into the spent case,
more lugging around separate powder, turned the case upright and lowered it

Three examples of hand-
with its primer-pocket aligned with the turned roll-crimping tools.
mouth of the fresh primer. On contact,
you used the dowel rod to tap the case
head down onto the primer to seat it.
Then you poured a measured charge
of powder (usually three drams) into
the case, followed by a felt wad column
which you seated firmly using the dow-
el. Adding the measured shot charge
(usually 11/8 ounces) you then sealed
off the cartridge with a cardboard
disc-wad and turned the case-mouth’s
crimp back inward with your thumb-
nail. Assuming everything was seated
firmly inside the case with no airspace
between the components, of which the
final disc-wad was close enough to the
case mouth to be held in place by the
roll crimp, your cartridge was ready.
DURING MUZZLE-LOADER times, a

much larger percentage of the gener-
al population owned guns than today,
hence powder and lead shot were rea-
sonably cheap. Thus, with the advent
of breech-loaders, it was far cheaper
for shooters to buy a few hundred
primers than a case of factory-made
cartridges. Some suppliers of the day
began making special handloading
tools that made the task much quicker Two different styles
of self-standing
de-capping and
re-capping tools.
popular in South Africa for they For an Eastern Cape frontier farmer
are to be found in many collec- in 1870, a full set of shotshell reload-
tions, lying around in old farm ing equipment would simply com-
houses and in antique shops. prise a de-capper and re-capper and
Interestingly, antique tools a roll-crimping device. Powder, shot
for handloading rifle cartridges and wads he already had for his muz-
are scarce and I have only ever zle-loading shotgun, plus powder- and
seen a handful – mostly Mar- shot-measures, either in ladle form
tini-Henry and No2 Musket. This or built into the adjustable pouring
was probably because most of spouts of the muzzle-loader flasks.
A neatly-rolled crimp on my reloaded black the breech-loading rifles used loc-
powder cartridges. ally by colonial farmers and hunters THE DE-CAPPER and re-capper came
of that era were chambered for mil- in the form of a little stand with a le-
and easier. Like powder and shot, the itary cartridges (.577 Snider, .450 ver over two upright brass posts or
punches to make felt and cardboard Martini-Henry and .450 No2 Musket) – tubes. You pressed the empty case
wads were readily available, and the they chose them specifically because over a pin on the one post, which
end product was just as good as a ex-military ammo was plentiful and popped the spent primer out. The
factory-loaded cartridge. Shotgun re- cheap; no doubt this rendered hand- case was then moved to the other
loading tools appear to have been very loading scarcely worth the trouble. tube and the same lever was used to

Front view of the large
bench-mounted ‘all-in- Rear view of the bench-moun-
one’ shotshell reloading ted‘all-in-one’ reloading device
device. The empty case showing the roll-crimper.
fits into the cut-out at the
bottom of the loading
tube next to the little Also illustrated is a smaller handheld version of an ‘all-
re-capping handle. in-one reloading tool’ that also produces a finished cartridge
from beginning to end. On this, the crimping cup below the
press in the fresh primer. The photographs illustrate two de-capping pin and tube has no handle, and the mouth of
such devices, while another photo shows a little handheld the reloaded case is merely pressed in and twisted by hand
brass de-capper and re-capper that could be carried in the to re-roll the crimp. Note also that once the case is re-
pocket and used in the field. primed in the main body of the tool, it remains there for the
Black powder is poured into the re-primed case using a addition of the powder and shot through the funnel shown
ladle type measure. These adjustable measures are marked here with the wooden ram in place. It’s ingenious and of all
for both powder, given in drams, and the shot charge given the tools, this one is my favourite.
in ounces or fractions thereof. This is followed by the wad
column – usually a thick felt wad between two cardboard Ladle or scoop-type powder and shot measures were adjustable to
wads, then by the measured shot charge, followed by the throw different loads.
over-shot wad. The cartridge is then placed into the crimper
and pressed in firmly with the lever while the handle on the
other end is turned to re-roll the crimp. And that’s all there
is to loading a black powder shotgun cartridge.
ALSO ILLUSTRATED HERE is what I call the ‘all-in-one’

shotgun reloading tool, the forerunner of the modern
bench-mounted reloading press. This old and well-used
British-made device is cleverly designed to carry out all
the steps needed to turn an empty shotshell into a loaded
cartridge. With the ‘machine’ firmly screwed onto a work
bench, an empty case is stood upright in the cut-out recess
at the bottom of the tubular body. The spring-loaded brass
plunger is pushed downwards and the pin on its end pops
out the spent primer. The pin is then removed and the hol-
low plunger becomes both a funnel and a ram. The case is Collecting shotgun reloading tools is a fascinating hob-
then inverted and a fresh primer seated by means of the by and to actually use them in order to hunt with an old
little lever mounted on the side. black powder hammer gun is, to me, the most satisfying
The case is turned upright again to receive the powder of all shooting activities. Just seeing a gamebird cartwheel
charge, followed by the wads which are rammed down by to the ground through a cloud of white smoke is thrilling.
the plunger, then the shot charge followed by the over-shot There is also nothing to compare with the aroma of burnt
wad. The cartridge is then removed and slipped into the black powder combined with the fresh earthy smell of a
side mounted crimper and neatly finished off. crisp winter’s morning.

Readers’ Market
n .375WM Pre-64,
For Sale R16,000; Sako .22-
250, with peep-sight,
R16,000; both as new;
n Bushnell first strike n 24x Woodleigh .458" .22 Krico, R2000; Atis
Reflex red-dot scope, 480gr FMJ bullets, 12B pump, R2000.
brand-new condition, R350; 140x Remington Johann 083-740-7173
R2200. 072-402-0355 soft point .458" 450gr (051).
(044). bullets (for .45/.70), n Book: The Modern
n Remington stainless R550. 082-923-8069 Shotgun by Major
700, .30-06 sintetiese (021). Gerald Burrard, 1931
kolf, uitstekende n .451 Hawken Match Volume I & II, R1400
toestand, R9300; 1:20, plus many extras, including p&p. Richard
6.5x55 RCBS die, as new, R9000, value White 00267-72424641,
nuut, R500 posgeld R12,000. H de Beer rhwhite@btccmail.
uitgesluit. John 063- 082-855-7323 (011). co.bw
034-0078, 015-013- n .308 bullets: 160x n Old hunter
0060. 168gr PMP, R585; 100x downsizing, lots
n Registered Rowland 168gr Berger VLD, of items available,
Ward trophies (skulls): R775 plus postage. .375H&H, .303 Lee
tsessebe, blesbuck, 082-493-0904 (022). Enfield, gun safes, Lee
waterbuck, mountain n .357 Astra 6", puik, loading press etc. Sms
reedbuck, common R2000; .357 Astra 3", email address for price
reedbuck, springbuck, goeie toestand, R1200; list. 082-920-6504 (034).
nyala, bushbuck, eland, CBC 12G enkelloop, n RCBS 5.0.2 scale,
fallow deer. Gina 031- goeie toestand, R600. Lee Perfect powder
572-6551. 076-129-6289 (011). measure, instruction
manual, .357
Rock Pigeon Decoys Durachrome dies, 2x
loading trays, brass,
cast bullets. Fanie 082-
400-3822 (051).
n Geweerversameling:
.22-250; .270 Sabi;
7x57; .300H&H; .338
Winchester Magnum.
Alle gewere gebou
deur Sabi rifles. Ruan
van Dyk 084-393-8803
(013).
083 270 4970 • www.decoys.co.za
Hunting Opportunities 2016

FOR HUNTERS & SHOOTERS
• Magnum is again offering FREE ADVERTISING to land- ENSURE THE FUTURE OF HUNTING. • Email addresses & websites count as two words each.
owners who have hunting for sale to South Africans. • Adverts must not exceed 30 words. • Readers cannot contact every advertiser, and they
• Adverts will be published online at www.magnum. • Include name district and details of species available. constantly request that game prices be included in ads –
com. Online submissions welcome. • Provide your contact details – include the postal and DOING SO MAY GET YOU THE BUSINESS.
• Our readers find this feature invaluable when looking for phone area codes. • Telephone ad bookings cannot be accepted.
places to hunt. HELP THEM, HELP YOURSELF AND HELP PLEASE NOTE: ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS ARE PREFERABLE
Complete the form in type or block letters, one word per block. Please ensure your contact details are clearly written.
email: mail@manmagnum.co.za Tel: 031-572-6551 Fax: 031-562-8389
HUNTING FOR SALE • HUNTING FOR SALE • HUNTING FOR SALE
PERSON TO CONTACT: TEL:
We need your Your name:

postal & physical
address for our records. Your postal address:
This information will
be handled in the strictest Your email:
confidence. It will not appear
in your advert. Your physical address:

Readers’ Market
n .375H&H Mag n Lever action rifle, n Arms collector
Zastava, like new, glass
bed, recoil pad, 6x Lynx
mint condition. Rossi
Mod 92 357 Mag.
buying old guns,
swords, bayonets, in
General TRADING POST
scope, 50x shots fired, 38 Spl fitted with any condition, free MINIMUM CHARGE PER ADVERT: R73,00 (incl) for
R11,000. 082-414-7677 imported Volquartsen valuations and advice. n Man Magnum
twelve words; thereafter R4,80 per word. Hyphenated
(012). folding tang aperture Peter 031-562-9591, magazines from 1981
(and compound) words are counted as separate words.
sight. Unusually 083-415-5627. to present, other gun
n BSA .303BR, mint, Payment must be enclosed – adverts that are not paid
attractive stock. 076- magazines available
R3000 onco; 9mmP n Any spares and as well, all good for in advance cannot be published.
Walther P38, mint, 525-2465 (021). grips for FN, Browning TRADING POST, Box 35204, Northway 4065
condition. Free, but
R3000 onco. 014-715- Models 1900, 1906, have to come collect classifieds@manmagnum.co.za • fax 031-562-8389
2427, 083-564-4156.
n Merkel 12-Bore o/u
Wanted 1910, 1922, Baby
Browning. Neil 072-
them. Alex 082-674-
3634 (044). ELEPHANT LEATHER INYATHI TAXIDERMY
shotgun, Model 203EL, 220-1531, 031-701- RIFLE BAGS (0105): STUDIO (0102):
hand detachable n Collector seeks any 3084. Strong lockable bags Creating realistic
side-lock ejectors, 2 ¾ firearms manufactured n 28" barrel for MT in beautiful grey trophies for local and
chambers, 26" barrels, by FN, Browning, Colt, 586P 12ga pump- and brown colours, international clients
single selective trigger, Winchester, Marlin, any action shotgun, with for your precious in Pretoria. Outfitters
R55,000. Paul 011-883- condition. Charles 082- choke if available. big game rifles. The commission and
6032. 447-8131 (031). 072-511-7965, 035- best on the market. collection. Contact
474-2864. Denonanje Safaris. Cell Albert 082-854-
082-775-4535. Email: 4493 (012), www.
dawie@denonanje.com inyathistudio.com
Web: www.denonanje. Cell: 082-419-7486
com (036).
THE YEARS GO BY SO FAST ...

DON'T WAIT TO GET YOUR PIECE OF THE LEGEND!
WINCHESTER MOD 70 PRE '64 SUPER GRADE RIFLE
Scope, bases and rings not included.
From
R23 000
Grade IV/V Walnut stocked investment grade rifle.
CALIBRES AVAILABLE:
30-06 Sprg, 300 Win Mag, 338 Win Mag.
53 HUNTER ST
22 WINSTON RD
DURBAN
PIETERMARITZBURG
Tel: 031 337 6424
Tel: 033 342 0137
info@kings-firearms.co.za
SAGA 1985-2015: 30 Years of Dedicated Service

SAGA is celebrating
celebrating a major milestone
in 2015 – we are turning 30!
SAGA was founded in 1985,
and has, since then, protected
the rights of legitimate
firearm owners and
users in South Africa.
Why not join us in our The South African
fight for firearm Gunowners’ Association
ownership rights?
Tel: 031-562-9951 • Fax 086-553-9615
JOIN TODAY. saga@saga.org.za • www.saga.org.za
Application form on website. PO Box 35203 Northway 4065

Readers’ Market
BEST KEPT SECRET KNIFEMAKERS!! (0106): THE PERFECT BULLET
(0101): If you have One stop shop for all PULLER (0108): Fast
not hunted East Cape your knife making and furious. Contact
Plains Game Safaris, machines, tools and Mauritz 084-461-
you have not hunted supplies. Call 012-752- 3421 (012). www.
Have It Delivered! the Eastern Cape. Tel/ 7760/62, or visit www. perfectbulletpuller.
fax 046-645-2713. KMTs.co.za co.za
and enjoy a discounted rate! Email: jgreeff@
eastcape.net, Website:
http://eastcapesafaris.
My Details com
ARMTEC SYNTHETIC STOCKS
WANTED – SKULLS
Name: _____________________________________________ AND HORNS (0103):
PO Box 20481 Noordbrug 2522 (Potch)
Chris 082 853 7134, Office (Daleen) 083 531 5860
Address: ___________________________________________ We are buying legally
fax 0866 284 893 • www.armtec.co.za
hunted skulls/horns
_____________________________________________________
of all wildlife species.
Tel: _________________________________________________ Any quantities. Call
office hours: 082-770- Manufactured from multi-layered
Email: ______________________________________________ 8556 or email: pieter@ fibreglass cloth, laminated under pressure and
When sending a Gift Subscription, please give us your name afrikantradersonline. filled with hi-tech composite material.
com Finished in non-slip, chip resistant epoxy coating.
and address (above) as well as those of the recipient (below) JAG IN VIVO
Available for Lee-Enfield, P14 and Brno.
Please send a Gift Sub to: Custom built stocks for all other makes
OMGEWING (0104):
Trofees sowel as
Name: _____________________________________________ biltong. Besoek www.
Address: ___________________________________________ tambatigame.co.za
_____________________________________________________
Message: ___________________________________________
Don’t miss a single copy

_____________________________________________________
Send proof of payment to: subscriptions@manmagnum.co.za

SUBSCRIPTION PAYMENT OPTIONS:
1 EFT Payments – NB Please send proof of payment!
EFT Banking Details: ABSA Bank Account: Magnum
Acc No: 407 373 4765 Branch code: 506009
2 Credit Card: Complete the order below and fax to 031-562-8389
3 Cheque: Send application with cheques to the address below
4 OVERSEAS SUBSCRIBERS may only pay by NORTHERN CAPE PH SCHOOL
CREDIT CARD (VISA, Master) or by BANK DRAFT 7 month specialist PH course - Book now for 2016!
Note: We adjust period of subscriptions paid at the wrong rate • Ideal for a gap year after matric.
• Students will hunt, guide and fish for 7 months. FROM
Namibia
Total • Students will hunt in the Karoo, Eastern Cape and Bushveld. 19 January
ORDER FORM RSA Botswana Elsewhere Qty • Students will each hunt 2016
Swaziland Amount TO
a kudu, oryx, blesbok,
1 NEW subscription 1 year R433,20 R607,40 R1205 R mountain reedbuck, 19 August
Start with the ___________________ edition (new subs only) blue wildebeest, 2016
red hartebeest,
Students
2 RENEWAL 1 year R433,20 R607,40 R1205 R springbok and
When renewing, please provide subscription number: warthhog. For more infor- will be
(top right hand on envelope label) mation, call Mynhard: market-ready
083 262 1891 or e-mail: after course
3 GIFT subscription 1 year R433,20 R607,40 R1205 R - ready for
mhhs@mweb.co.za
4 BINDER: each R150 POR POR R employment.
www.ncph.co.za
Total amount due for items ordered: R
NB: CHEQUES TO BE MADE PAYABLE TO MAGNUM
I enclose my cheque bank draft
Please debit my Master card Visa card
Card
no:
Expiry
date: CVV No:
IMPORTANT: We cannot process your subscription without the expiry date of your credit card
Cardholder’s name:
Cardhoder’s signature:
Email: subscriptions@manmagnum.co.za
Fax: 031-562-8389 Postal: Magnum Subscriptions
PO Box 35204 Northway 4065, South Africa

Gallery
Rhino Horn South Africa after 1977 for citizens to important to clear misperceptions
sell and exchange rhino horns as long that professional hunting is a waste-
THE SALE OF RHINO horn in South as they had permits. It was found ful activity. Spin-offs of hunting are
Africa is still prohibited despite a that this ‘legal trade’ was misused for more evident in communities living
recent Pretoria High Court judgment illegal purposes to smuggle horns out in hunting areas than in cities. Com-
lifting a local sale moratorium. The of the country. brink said public opinion on hunting
Department of Environmental Affairs The department then placed is unfortunately mostly driven by city
has filed papers appealing the court’s a moratorium on the sale of rhino dwellers. PHASA members need to
decision that lifted the six-year horn and products thereof to try to accurately account for their human-
ban on the domestic trade of rhino stop legally obtained horn ending itarian work to ensure the future of
horn. The Centre for Criminology at up in the illegal trade. It seems the the profession and those whose liveli-
the University of Cape Town (UCT) moratorium was intended to be a hoods depend on hunting.
indicated that the High Court’s finding temporary solution but it remained André Grobler
was halted the moment the notice of enforced until challenged by the two
leave to appeal was filed at the court men. The appeal process now has to PHASA Leaders
by the department. be finalized. André Grobler
STAN BURGER IS the new President
Hunters Care of the Professional Hunters’ Asso-
ciation of South Africa (PHASA).
THE PROFESSIONAL Hunters Asso- Burger was elected during the 38th
ciation of South Africa (PHASA) has annual meeting of PHASA. He takes
launched a new humanitarian pro- over from Hermann Meyeridricks
gramme as part of its Empowerment who finished a two-year term. Burg-
and Conservation Fund. The “Hunters er has been a professional hunter
Care” initiative is aimed at con- and outfitter for
solidating the existing social the past 30 years.
responsibility initiatives of all He studied phar-
its members under a single macy and worked
umbrella. In doing so PHASA at a shaft-sinking
hopes a clearer picture of the company before
professional hunting industry’s choosing a career
This followed after the Pretoria contribution to community de- in profession-
High Court found in favour of two velopment, food security and al hunting. He
game farmers Johan Krüger and rural education will appear. served on various
John Hume that there had not been Fund chairman Johann Com- PHASA executive
sufficient consultation prior to the brink said the total contribution committees and
imposition of the government’s of professional hunting to com- as vice president.
memorandum on 13 February 2009. munity upliftment in South Afri- The association
The court found, among other ca had been significantly understated. also appointed Tharia Unwin as its
things, that the memorandum was “In the wake of increasing criticism new chief executive. She replaces
“irrational, arbitrary and unreasona- levelled at our profession, which is Adri Kitshoff who joined Wildlife
ble” as it was incapable of stopping taking place against a background of Ranching South Africa. Unwin is a
rhino poaching. It further held in a general misunderstanding of what founding member of the Associa-
essence “non-compliance with consul- we do and how it benefits both con- tion of Mozambique Hunting Safari
tative” processes. servation and empowerment, it is no Operators (AMOS) and has been
The court’s decision has no longer feasible to talk about our hu- actively involved in anti-poaching
effect on the international ban of manitarian efforts in terms of rands programmes in that country’s Niassa
commercial trade in rhino horn. and cents alone,” he said. National Reserve for more than a
International trade in rhino horn was Combrink said the schools, roads, decade. She obtained her profes-
banned under the Convention on clinics and crèches members have sional hunting licence in the Free
International Trade in Endangered built, the monetary donations, jobs State province while serving as the
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and dependants’ support, and all marketing manager for one of Afri-
(CITES) regulations in 1977. the game carcasses given to those ca’s largest elephant hunting outfit-
However, it remained legal in in need must be considered. This is ters. André Grobler

Gallery
Brown house
snake. Photo by
Johan Marais. Index to Advertisers –
February 2016
Action Adverts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Martin Hood & Associates . . . . . . . 48

Alpine Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 My Subs (Magnum Digital) . . . . . . . 5
ATA Shotguns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
ATN X-Sight Weapon Scope . . . . . . 3 National Cartridge Company . . . . 53
Nosler Bullets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25/53
Benelli Firearms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 NSN Guns & Ammo . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Berger Bullets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Snake Activity Browning Rifles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Optics International . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
A LIMPOPO FARMER recently said it seemed as if his farm, Camdix Wapens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Peregrine Bullets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
and the region, had been invaded by snakes. He got rid Camo Gear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 PH-School (Northern Cape) . . . . . . 68
of 14 snakes within a couple of months and, in a letter to Canicom Dog Training Products . . 27 PPU Ammunition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Classic Arms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Magnum, queried the reason for this phenomenon.
CZ Firearms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Ranyati Firearm Motivations . . . . . 67
Snakes do not really hibernate in South Africa. They do
Readers’ Market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
become far less active in winter and do not eat, but may Digital Magnum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Remington Firearms . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
emerge to bask on warm winter days. Some snakes, such Durban Easter Knife Show . . . . . . . 66 RS Sport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
as the puff adder, may remain above ground throughout Ruger Rifles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
ECM Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
winter and in Gauteng they mate during this time.
Eley Ammunition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Sabatti Shotguns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
When the weather warms up, snakes start appearing
Safari & Outdoor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
above ground and every year this emergence results in Federal Premium Ammunition . . . . . 5 SAGA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
people claiming to have suddenly had an influx of snakes. Formalito . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Sako Firearms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
This is not the case. The snakes are around anyway, and Franchi Shotguns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Savuti Wapens & Ammunisie . . . . . 25
Frontier Guns & Ammo . . . . . . . . . . 23 Sierra Bullets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
because of their secretive nature and excellent camouflage
they are not often seen.
Glock Pistols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Skietwinkel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Fortunately, none of our snakes, including the black Guerrilla Ammunition . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Smith & Wesson Firearms . . . . . . . 27
mamba, attack people unprovoked and if you are five me- Guns & Bows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Sniper Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
tres or more from any snake you are perfectly safe. Specialist Hunting Cameras . . . . . . 50
Hornady Bullets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2/25 Steyer Mannlicher Rifles . . . . . . . . . . 7
The main snakebite season in southern Africa is from
Hornady Lock-N-Load Reloading STI Pistols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
January to May when the summer rains get the snakes
Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Subscriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
moving. Up to 80% of snakebites are reported during this Hot Power Wapens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Swarovski Optics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
period. The majority of bites occur when people accidental- HuntEx 2016 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
ly step on a snake while working barefoot in the fields. Hunting Opportunities. . . . . . . . . . . 66 Tactical Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Take Aim Safaris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Snakes are more active during this period because
Inter-Arms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Tikka Rifles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
they do not risk dehydration and the rain brings out prey
Trading Post . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
such as frogs. Many snakes are also snake-eating and will Kaydex Holsters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 TwinBore Agencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
feast on other snakes. Dehydration is a real danger for Kings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
snakes and during very warm and dry conditions they will Nico Van Rooyen Taxidermy . . . . . 16
Lapua Ammunition . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Vixen Optics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
remain underground where there is enough humidity and
Legally Armed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Voere Rifles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
temperatures are about 23 to 24º Celsius. In the middle of
Life-size Targets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
a warm summer snakes can stay underground for long pe- Lynx LX3 Rifle Scopes . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Whylo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
riods while waiting for rain. These habits are supported by Lynx Optics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Winchester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
observations during many snake surveys. Willburg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Magnum’s Market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
In the course of one such survey in Mozambique’s
Marlin Rifles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Xtreme Hunting & Outdoor . . . . . . 43
Niassa Nature Reserve, during a six-week period in the
middle of summer, three scientists found almost no snakes.
However, after a rainy period we found various snakes.
Johan Marais

MM - February 2016

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

MM - February 2016

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

MM - February 2016

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

FEBRUARY 2016 R36,50 incl VAT

Other countries R32,02 excl

giving you a reason to

HORNADY LOCK&LOAD CLASSIC KIT COMBO

E&OE. T&C Apply. While stocks last.

Johannesburg Store Pretoria Store Stellenbosch Store

THE WEAPON SCOPE FOR THE 21st CENTURY

DAY & NIGHT

CONTACT ECM TECHNOLOGIES FOR YOUR

20 12 GARB FOR THE PRAGMATIC ‘GUN’

20 MKA 1919 MATCH SHOTGUN

24 PREPARE FOR SUCCESS

28 HANDLOADING SERIES PART 9

36 RUGER’S .22 CHARGER TAKEDOWN PISTOL

41 MODERN MAN’S MAGIC

52 THE LEE LOADER

55 ‘WILDCAT’ FOR A VINTAGE DRILLING

60 DOES FIREARMS FINGERPRINTING WORK?

63 EARLY RELOADING TOOLS

Departments DURBAN OFFICES

TEST REPORT – 58 Advertising Sales

MEDIA 24 (Weekly Magazines)

Opinions expressed in advertisements or articles are not necessarily those

The Heart of the Matter

6 | ManMAGNUM | February 2016

THE POLYMER-FRAMED Turkish Canik TP9SA is a ambidextrous

8 | ManMAGNUM | February 2016

Centre: A 6-shot rapid-fire exercise at 10m

Right: A 5-shot group exercise printed 69mm

Visible here are the reversible

February 2016 | ManMAGNUM | 9

10 | ManMAGNUM | February 2016

HUNTING OR SAFARI jacket, shooting

12 | ManMAGNUM | February 2016

February 2016 | ManMAGNUM | 13

14 | ManMAGNUM | February 2016

16 | ManMAGNUM | February 2016

DURING THE 1980s I worked tem-

MLAUSI WAS a legend. His front

February 2016 | ManMAGNUM | 17

18 | ManMAGNUM | February 2016

February 2016 | ManMAGNUM | 19

AT FIRST GLANCE, this box-mag- 18-incher. Unloaded weight is 3.69kg.

20 | ManMAGNUM | February 2016

THE MKA’s conventional gas-operated

February 2016 | ManMAGNUM | 21

being at full elevation. Presumably the

22 | ManMAGNUM | February 2016

I never dreamed of getting an eland on the

24 | ManMAGNUM | February 2016

WE STARTED HUNTING just after 2pm and I soon got to know

THE NEXT MORNING we left camp at 6am. Four very hot

February 2016 | ManMAGNUM | 25

Never in my wildest dreams

Back at the slaughter facility, the cow tipped the scales at

26 | ManMAGNUM | February 2016

To determine whether a bullet is seated

28 | ManMAGNUM | February 2016

Bullet seated slightly lopsided in the

February 2016 | ManMAGNUM | 29