Sporting Shooter

BACK in 2018 we discovered the shooting industry in Australia was worth about $2.4 billion to the economy, and that’s something we’ve been crowing about ever since. But what has happened since? Not much in the way of measuring our ongoing value to society, that’s for sure. It’s nice to know what we’re worth for all sorts of reasons. It helps us get some positive attention (a pleasant change). It also helps us ensure the support of other industries comes our way, such as after TNT unceremoniously dumped all dealings with firearms, ammunition and related products. The Shooting Industry Foundation Australia (SIFA), as one of the bodies that worked hard to re-establish courier services for the gun trade, was asked how much we spent on freight each year. Good question; no one…

Making a heart shot Q When they shoot a deer behind the shoulder most of my mates call it a heart shot, yet when the animal is dressed, the heart is undamaged. How do you account for this? Also, what is your opinion of the shoulder shot? Walter Craig A A lot of hunters don’t know much about the vital areas of deer. When asked the location of the heart, the greenest of them will locate the heart somewhere near the middle of the lungs. And they also think the lungs run the full length of the upper half of the deer, from just behind the shoulder to just ahead of the paunch. Finally, the most inexperienced of these tyros think a shoulder shot beats all others. It’s true that the shoulder shot, high, low…

As a kid I read of hunting in the North American wilderness. They were stories of packhorse strings heading deep into the Rocky Mountains in pursuit of moose, elk and deer, of living in canvas-wall tents beside a mountain stream with the smell of fresh trout being grilled in a skillet over a crackling fire of pine boughs. Of grizzly bears and the sound of wolves howling on distant ridges. FOR a kid with a single-shot Lithgow .22, hunting rabbits in the dry sheep paddocks of northern NSW, it was just a dream. And it stayed that way for years. In 2019 Taylah and I quit our jobs and set off on an epic journey around Africa, Australia, North America and New Zealand. Our hard-earned savings had to get us through 18…

THE Mauser M18 is a high-quality yet affordable rifle that is an entirely different design to the world famous Model 1898. The first time I laid eyes on one, I was reminded of the Model 66, which was a spin-off from the Gehmann short-action that Mauser licensed in 1965. The 66 was the company’s first new design in over 60 years. The action is almost half as short as the standard M98 and was one of the first to have the bolt locking lugs seat into an extension of the barrel instead of the receiver. The Mauser 66 was a complex and expensive design with a telescoping bolt and switch-barrel capability, but it paved the way for alternative locking systems which were a departure from the traditional M98 system. “Mauser had…

CARL Zeiss is one of the oldest optics manufacturers and has been highly respected for over 170 years. During this time, Zeiss has been at the forefront of improving the quality and performance of high-grade optical equipment. Zeiss scopes aimed at American and Australian hunters — the Conquest line — cost quite a bit less than the company’s top-of-the-range Victory and Diarange models. And therein hangs a tale, which starts with the previous V4 series. “ASV is simple to use: Simply dial to the correct mark and shoot.” Building affordable riflescopes to Zeiss’s exacting standards wasn’t possible in Germany for a number of reasons, including the inflated wages demanded by strong trade unions. So Zeiss commissioned Meopta in the Czech Republic to build the first Conquest line, the V4. The V4 paved the way…

NOW and then I leave my rifles and bows at home and take to wild places with a fishing rod. I have just as much fun fishing as I do hunting, but the rhythm of a river or stream is what I need when I’m stressed. My dad and I spent some time chasing trout in skinny water recently and it was just the reset I needed. Trout occupy an interesting space in my mind. Much like many animals I chase, they are an introduced species that only exists here to be enjoyed by us. It’s an interesting concept when you consider it. They’ve become part of our culture in the same ways sambar deer and wild boar have, albeit with notably less controversy surrounding them. I’ve always been conscious of…