manmag0720

REVISED HUNTING OPPORTUNITIES

BLACK POWDER OBATEX UPDATE

GHILLIE SUIT HUNTING

UM

MAN N

FOR HUNTERS & S O

M3K

Semi-auto Shotgun

.303 Balistix Bullets

COVID-19

R Ruger Lite Rack Pistol

SAFETY ADVICE

defence caarrry methods

Tests:

AC Brass Catcher Steiner Binoculars Foxpro Predator Caller

July 2020

Namibia N$47,00

R47,00 incl VAT

07496

first look at Athlon optics

9 770256 067003

VOLUME 45

NUMBER 7 JULY 2020

ON THE COVER:

The M3K semi-auto shotgun is part of Stoeger’s M3000 shotgun series.

Read more on this competition-ready 12ga on p32. Photo by André Grobler.

Features 10 14 18 20 24 28 32 36 42 50 54

RUGER LITE RACK LCP

Paul Scarlata

MARLIN LEVER-ACTION RIFLES

Robin Barkes

New .22 polymer pocket pistol Cowboys like Winchesters; hunters want Marlins

LOCKDOWN HUNTING

There are no flies on a determined hunter

Hilton Hamann

A PH’S ELEPHANT MUSINGS

Kevin Thomas

HANDGUN CARRY OPTIONS

Phillip Hayes

The complex mind of the king of beasts Holsters – a case of horses for courses

KUDU BULL DESPITE THE ODDS Buck-fever and blind luck

David Schoeman

STOEGER M3K SEMI-AUTO SHOTGUN

André Grobler

MANNERS TUSKS MYSTERY – PART 3

Gregor Woods

Conceptualized for competition The missing person in the plot

HUNTING IN A GHILLIE SUIT

Ever dreamed of being invisible?

EAST CAPE ELAND “Use enough gun!”

REVISED HUNTING OPPORTUNITIES Where to hunt

Subscribe to our Digital Edition, go to www.manmagnum.com

Wesley Hendriks Dave Boast

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Consider This...

by CHRIS PARGETER

Wildlife Myths TO

Y, TH ORD ‘myth’ is generplied pular or long-held hat is untrue or unscienthe c ildlife, hunters of a e era d certain apparent lies an wrong conclusions, reby creatin ths – such as the re hermaphroditic. zoology have dispelled most such myths, but in less learned circles, a few yet remain.

I have read works by experienced hunters claiming that leopards cannot swim. I once followed the spoor of a leopard dragging a dead Brahman calf and saw where it stopped at a small, fast-flowing stream. I was unwilling to risk jumping over it holding a rifle, and the leopard clearly thought likewise regarding its kill. I saw where it had entered the water and swum across while being swept a couple of metres downstream before clawing itself out onto the opposite bank. I crossed further down then followed the spoor until I found the kill on a ridge, almost entirely eaten.

While tiger-fishing from a small boat on the Zambezi, above the falls, a friend and I enjoyed visiting the small islands – some mere sand with scrub and a few small trees. On one occasion, we dragged the boat onto the bank of an island about 30m long and half as wide. We observed leopard spoor emerging from the water next to the boat and disappearing into the patch of grass and bush. We duly walked around the perimeter of the island and on arrival back at our boat, realised there were no leopard prints leaving the island. Warily watching the grass and bush immediately in front of us, we slowly backed up to the boat, climbed in and pushed off without starting the motor. Later, locals told us that leopards swim to these islands to hunt the monkeys in the trees there.

I have heard that elephants cannot swim, but walk on the river bottom,

sometimes submerged with just the tips of their trunks exposed for use as snorkels. Elephants certainly can swim, paddling with all four feet. I have watched them crossing the Zambezi any number of times, observing their shoulders hump up as they touched bottom when nearing the far side. I have not personally observed elephant ‘snorkelling’, but some well-known hunters like John Coleman and George Rushby have.

It is said that elephants cannot stand the smell of chillies and will stay well away from them. I must admit I did not really take this seriously until a friend gave it a try. In a famous game reserve, a rangers’ rest-camp was being plagued by destructive elephants pulling off the roof-thatching. Even an electric fence erected around the camp failed to keep them out. Then my friend, who was the game warden and PH, bought a large bag of chillies and boiled them up.

He also cut strips of cloth and submerged them in the brew. He draped these small strips of cloth on bushes and branches all around the camp’s perimeter. The result: no elephants approached for the next week.

Another myth is that big cats such as tigers, lions and leopards have no sense of smell. Even Jim Corbett believed this, and who is to deny an observation from such a man?

I lived between two lobes of the Dlinza Forest in Zululand, where leopard occasionally visited us. I dug a small waterhole on the edge of my unfenced property, right next to the forest. During the dry season, bushpig, duiker, bushbuck, mongoose, porcupine and genet drank at the waterhole. Very late one afternoon, I walked into a leopard drinking there. I remained motionless while my visitor quickly disappeared into the nearby cover. This was the only water around for many hundreds of

metres, so how did he find it? The sense of smell of the big cats is not as acute as that of hyena and jackals, but is sufficient to smell water and humans upwind. Perhaps they do not rely so much on their sense of smell because their sight and hearing are so acute.

Reports of hippo and rhino stomping out campfires at night are not mythical.

On numerous occasions, and in several African countries, both black and white rhino, as well as hippo, have charged into camps, directing their attention exclusively to the fires, stomping them out and causing great alarm. Why they do it remains a mystery.

Somehow, for me, Africa will always be mystical, and I love it so. In a place like Africa, it is easy to see how myths can so readily take root. At a prospecting camp, I once lay on my camp bed while a lioness purred and rubbed her nose on my fastened tent flap. I had secured the flap because hyenas had been stealing my cooking pots. One cannot help but wonder at it all.

July 2020 | ManMAGNUM | 9

LITE RACK ™

Compact, rim-fire protection

RUGER

.22 LR SPECIFICATIONS: Ruger Lite Rack LCP II Calibre .22LR Overall length 132mm Barrel length 70mm Weight (unloaded) 316g Sights front: white dot; rear: dual white dots Capacity 10+1 rds Construction slide: steel; frame: polymer Finish Blued Grips Polymer Extra Features: Lite Rack system, manual safety, magazine loader, pocket holster, cable lock & owner’s manual

10 | ManMAGNUM | July 2020

A shooter engaging steel plates with a Lite Rack LCP II. Courtesy of Sturm, Ruger & Co.

Photo by Elaine Sandberg.

by PAUL SCARLATA photos by RICHARD COLE and BECKY SCARLATA

1897 nted 2 calib brique ential tomat came of the world

N Moses Browning was ent for a small 7.65mm istol. The Belgian firm of ionale d’Armes saw its arketed it as the Pistolet rowning Modéle 1900. It pular that in many parts Browning’ became syn‘semi-auto pistol’ and

soon dozens of competitors were marketing similar pistols.

Five years later FN released the Pistolet Automatique Browning Modéle 1905 chambered for a 6.35mm (.25 calibre) cartridge which was small enough to be carried concealed by anyone but an under-dressed nudist! It was another instant hit and was copied by gun mak-

ers everywhere. Because the 7.65 pistols could be carried in a coat pocket, they had become known as ‘pocket pistols’ (Taschenpistolen in German).

Shortly after the introduction of the Modéle 1905 it, and its small brethren, were baptized ‘vest pocket pistols’ (Westentaschenpistolen).

While small 7.65 and 6.35mm pis-

July 2020 | ManMAGNUM | 11

THE LCP II IS IDEALLY SUITED FOR NEW SHOOTERS AND THOSE WHO STRUGGLE WITH RACKING TRADITIONAL SLIDES tols were immensely popular with European civilians, police and military officers in the US, they never replaced the snubbie revolver as the preferred concealable handgun. But as I explained to my daughter as she grew up, “Nothing remains the same.... everything changes eventually” and the popularity of ‘pocket pistols’ in the US has grown exponentially in the last few decades.

While never as popular as their larger calibre cousins, there has always been a demand for .22 calibre pocket pistols and such well-known gunmakers as Walther, Taurus, Colt, S&W and Astra have offered them. One of the more popular was Beretta’s Model 71 which, I’ve been told was and still is, a particular favourite in South Africa.

Just before the 2020 SHOT Show, Ruger announced a new addition to their line of Light Compact Pistols (LCP). While all previous LCPs have been chambered for the .380 ACP (9mm Browning Short) this one followed the beat of a different drummer by being chambered for the .22 LR cartridge and has a number of features that make it much more user-friendly than similar tiny pistols.

Like the other members of the family, the Lite Rack LCP II’s (let’s just call it the Lite) frame is made of glass-filled nylon with alloy inserts to provide additional strength, and includes rails that the slide reciprocates on. The slide is machined from alloy steel and features a blue finish.

Its most notable feature is the Lite Rack System which includes dual slide grooves, cocking ears at the rear of the slide and a lighter recoil spring. Combined, these fea-

12 | ManMAGNUM | July 2020

tures allow the shooter to get a firm purchase on the slide and The magazine release, ease cycling it by hand. This manual safety and slide makes the Lite Rack System release are all conideally suited for new shooters veniently located. and those who struggle with racking traditional slides (e.g. young, female or elderly shooters or The magazine release button is in those with disabilities). the ‘proper’ position. Unlike many of its The Lite’s trigger mechanism feacontemporaries, in addition to the tures a neutrally-balanced sear with safety on the face of its trigger, the Lite significant engagement, strong spring has both a manual safety and slide hold tension and a hammer catch to help open catch located above the left grip prevent the hammer from contacting panel where they are easily operated. the firing pin unless the trigger is pulled While it is a device that I personally do through a complete stroke. Cartridge not approve of on a pistol designed for ignition is by means of an internal hamdefensive purposes, the Lite has a mer which I feel provides more reliable magazine safety which prevents it primer ignition on subcompact pistols being fired unless the magazine is fully than does a striker. inserted into the grip.

Another nice feature is the magaTHE LITE USES Ruger’s Secure Action zine’s extended floorplate, which profire control system that combines the vides a comforting ten round capacity smooth trigger stroke with the short while allowing a full, three finger grip crisp feel and positive reset of a singlethat improves ergonomics and recoil action. It has a ‘single strike’ trigger control. Texturing on the grip’s sides, mechanism which means that if you front and back straps allows a firm purhave a misfire, or are dry firing an chase. unloaded pistol for practice, it is necesTo improve feeding – a common sary to partially retract the slide to problem with tiny .22 pistols – the Lite’s reset the hammer before you can pull barrel tilts down as the slide reciprothe trigger again. cates which brings the chamber closer to the magazine.

While sights are perhaps redundant on a pistol designed for close (and very close) range defensive purposes, those on the Lite are quite visible and are angled so as to prevent them from hanging up on something when the pistol is drawn from concealment. And speaking of concealment, Ruger ships each Lite with a very practical The hugely popular pocket holster while allows you to .22 calibre Beretta ‘71. carry the pistol in a trouser pocket

LEFT: Except for a few rounds that mysteriously wandered outside the targets’A zones, Richard’s performance was most satisfying.

RIGHT: The author having fun with the Ruger Lite Rack.

without any ‘signature’ while its suedelike exterior clings to the lining of the pocket allowing the pistol to be easily drawn. I was very pleased to see Ruger include it as this sort of rig is my preferred style of holster when I carry a small pocket pistol.

Ruger kindly provided me with a Lite Rack LCP II to evaluate for Magnum’s information-hungry readers (well you are, aren’t you?). The parcel service delivered it to my door on a fine spring morning and after unpacking it – and verifying that it was unloaded – I showed it to my wife Becky. After examining the demure Ruger she commented, “It’s a cute little thing, isn’t it?” Groan…

AS WITH ALL of Ruger’s firearms that I have tested over the years, the Lite displayed first class materials, construction and assembly. All the controls were easy to operate without moving the pistol around in my hand and, according to my trigger-pull scale, the sear tripped with exactly 2.3kg of pressure.

My good friends Richard Cole and Dick Jones helped me on the range and we began by running fifty rounds of Winchester’s 40gr Dynapoint .22 LR ammunition through the Lite to test its functioning. As .22 pistols are well known for being ammunition sensitive, we were quite pleased to see that, except for two failures to feed and one to eject in the first ten rounds, the little

The Lite Rack LCP II comes standard with a very practical pocket holster.

Ruger gobbled up rim-fires and spat out the spent cases with boring regularity.

The three of us agreed that trying to shoot little groups from a rest with the Lite would be a poor way to judge its performance – to say nothing of damaging our fragile egos – so we decided to limit test firing to running an offhand, combat-type drill on a pair of targets from seven metres.

Holding the pistol in the low ready position, on a signal the shooter lifted it and fired one magazine (ten rounds) on the right hand target. He then performed – or tried to – a speed reload and engaged the left hand target with ten rounds. He then inserted a fresh magazine into the pistol and repeated the drill a second time for a total of forty rounds expended by each shooter.

While the little Ruger lacked somewhat in the ergonomics department, the controls could be operated as

expected, the trigger-pull was quite respectable and the sights, well, they are also small, but to be perfectly honest about it (we gun magazine writers will do this on occasion!) at the ‘reach out and touch someone’ distances you are likely to employ this pistol, sights are almost superfluous. In fact, we were all able to keep our forty rounds, bar a few fliers, inside the targets’ A and B zones which we felt was more than respectable performance.

Towards the end of our offhand test-firing, when the Ruger had become fairly fouled with powder residue (as do most .22 auto-loaders) we experienced two failures to eject.

WHILE I WOULD hesitate to recommend a .22 pistol as a primary defensive weapon, under certain circumstances they do make sense. If you need a small pistol for ‘deep cover’ they fit the bill because the First Rule of Defensive Shooting instructs you to ‘Have a gun!’. The Second Rule of Defensive Shooting tells us ‘Better yet, have two guns!’ and many law enforcement officers utilize small .22s as backup guns in case their primary weapon malfunctions, runs out of ammo or is snatched by a bad guy.

Lastly, if for whatever reason you have trouble handling a heavier recoiling pistol, a .22 makes sense because the Third Rule of Defensive Shooting states that ‘Only those shots that hit the target count!’. Think about it.

July 2020 | ManMAGNUM | 13

A beautiful, modern made Commemorative Marlin rifle.

America’s OTHER lever-action rifle

The Guns of John Marlin

by ROBIN BARKES

TH

AR, T unded niver y man mme .22 r mmun and some of

arl

Firearms Com, celebrates its in will mark the g presentation Model 444 and ell as commemirs is a long histle-known. Few came one of the hineguns in the USA, many of which went into fighter aircraft. But let’s start at the beginning…

The history of the lever-action repeating rifle design really began with the Henry repeating rifle, immediately progressing to the Winchester 1866 Yellow Boy, after which followed one successful model upon another. Out on the frontier of the American West, a lever-action repeating rifle gave a man tremendous fire-power compared to the old muzzle-loaders.

Frontal attacks by hostile native Indians were halted by the seemingly endless hail of lead thrown at them, and conse-

14 | ManMAGNUM | July 2020

For nearly 20 years Marlin produced Ballard rifles.

quently tribal strategy changed to that of cunning ambush and surprise attacks.

Our story begins during the American Civil War when John Marlin (born in 1836) started work as a gun-maker for Colt in Hartford. In 1870 he struck out on his own, initially producing single-shot derringer-type pistols in .22, .32 and .38 rim-fire calibres. In 1872, Marlin added revolvers to his range – also small calibre pocket jobs in both rim-fire and centre-fire.

In 1873, Marlin was asked to produce a single-shot rifle that had been designed in 1861 by C.H. Ballard of Worcester,

Massachusetts. These Ballard rifles were initially made by a company called Ball and Williams during the Civil War. The Marlin Company successfully produced thousands of fine Ballard rifles until production ceased in 1891. I have never seen a Ballard rifle and I doubt if any South African collector has one, but Flayderman’s Guide to Antique American Firearms has a number of pages showing different models in various calibres, both rim-fire and centre-fire. Barrels came in different lengths, some octagonal, some round and some half-andhalf. All were breech-loaders of the falling block type made for gallery and target shooting, though some models were labelled hunters’ rifles.

BY 1880, ALL the major native American wars were over and it was only in the harsh deserts and rugged mountains of Arizona and New Mexico that wild and ruthless Apaches continued to be troublesome until Geronimo’s surrender in 1885.

However, the short peace that followed was shattered by the final fury on 29th December 1890, when United States soldiers and Sioux warriors clashed for the last time at Wounded Knee Creek. The US soldiers fought the battle with single-shot Springfield rifles, Colt Army revolvers and quick-firing Hotchkiss guns, against the Indians’ Winchester and Henry lever-action rifles and various other weapons.

Around this time, John Marlin saw a gap in the Winchester line-up: the need for a lever-action rifle firing the .45-70 Government cartridge. So, working with gun designer Andrew Burgess, Marlin came up with the first lever-action repeater in .45-70 – a powerful cartridge that was produced in huge quantities for the American armed forces and therefore always readily available.

Although the key patents and design were by Andrew Burgess, John Marlin and others contributed patented details. It was Marlin, however, who put all the features together into the finished and highly regarded lever-action rifle. Incidentally, Burgess first offered his design to Colt, who actually produced the now very rare Colt/Burgess lever-action rifle. Only 6 403 of these rifles were made before an agreement between Colt and Winchester put a stop to production of this particular design.

If you include the Henry repeater, Winchester had a virtual monopoly for some 20 years in the lever-action repeating rifle market, which gave them a very strong lead. However, in 1881, the Marlin Company produced their new .45-70 calibre

Marlin made the first leveraction rifle to take .45-70 ammo in 1881. Shown here is a later Marlin .30-30.

July 2020 | ManMAGNUM | 15

The author has used this antique Marlin .22 for target work.

Sadly the old .22 Long ammo is no longer available.

LEFT: In 1863 John Marlin began his business making single-shot guns like these. RIGHT: In 1872 Marlin added pocket revolvers to his range.

lever-action rifle – a clever move that put them ahead of their competitors. It was not until 1886 that Winchester offered a lever-action rifle in .45-70.

The Marlin 1881’s octagonal barrel and thicker steel frame made it heavier than the Winchester, and while it was accepted by hunters, pioneers out West seemed to prefer the lighter, short-barrelled Winchester carbines which were better-suited for carry in saddle scabbards and easily fired from horseback. Even though the Marlin lever-action appeared in the heyday of the Wild West, I have come across only two old photographs that show westerners holding Marlin rifles. A major factor, of course, was that it made sense for a man to

16 | ManMAGNUM | July 2020

carry a rifle taking the same ammo as his revolver, which is what made Winchester’s Model 73 in .44-40 so very popular.

However, I have seen some old prints showing men wearing two cartridge belts – one for revolver cartridges and the other holding rifle cartridges of a different calibre; so maybe there were more Marlins out West than we think.

MARLIN WAS QUICK to meet the challenge; in 1882 he brought out a standard model with a 24-inch barrel in various calibres. Then in 1884, he introduced a lightweight model with a slender 24- or 28-inch barrel and thinner metalwork, firing either .32-40 or .38-55 cartridges.

Next to appear was the Marlin John Marlin died in 1901, and 1888, which fired revolver cartthe company was taken over by ridges including the highly popuhis two sons. They soon branched lar .44-40. The model ’88 had a out and started other activities shorter tubular magazine below such as the Ideal Cartridge Comthe barrel that held 13 cartridges pany in 1910. This branch was but it also had the advantage of a eventually sold to Lyman in 1935 s h or t- t hr ow le ve r-a c ti o n a s and is still going strong today. opposed to the longer throw of Over the years, the company has the Winchester. Strangely, sales changed hands, and in name, a of this model were disappointing few times. In 1923, it was bought – fewer than 5 000.

by Mr Frank Kenna who revitalThe following year Marlin proised the firm as the Marlin Fireduced the Model 1889 with a fullarms Company and it again began length magazine under its 24-inch producing fine sporting guns The Marlin looks very similar to this .44-40 Winchester carbine. barrel. The Marlin’s solid-top which remain popular today. receiver with side-ejection proved When it comes to lever-action popular as it ‘felt’ stronger and more solid, and did not throw rifles, a long-popular debate is “Which is better: Winchester hot cases straight back into the face of the shooter or down or Marlin?” Of course, both have undergone developments his collar, as did the Winchester with its open-top ejection. Of over the past 150 years, and you would have to compare like course, rifle scopes had yet to come into common use, but with like. Overall, sales wise, Winchester no doubt leads, but when they did, the Marlin’s solid-top and side-ejection system that probably has more to do with Hollywood and romantic gave it a significant advantage over Winchester’s top-ejector notions of the Wild West than pragmatism. Most comparisons lever-action rifles, and the Marlin held this advantage for a involve the .30-30 Win calibre, meaning the Winchester long time. It was not until 1983/84 that Winchester finally Model 94 and the Marlin 336. In America, spiritual home of produced their ‘angle-eject’ model facilitating top-mounted the lever-action repeating rifle, it seems more hunters prefer scoped use. Sales of the Marlin model ’89 picked up and more the Marlin. than 55 000 were produced. Marlin rapidly became WinchesMarlin preference generally involves the stock, which is of ter’s main competitor. superior design and has always had a pistol grip. Winchesters And so it went, model after model, with have traditionally had straight-grip stocks; the the Marlin lever-action rifle becoming more few pistol-gripped rifles they have made have and more popular. In 1891, Marlin applied been presentation or special-order rifles. Stock the same solid-top, side-ejector design to a design, and the Marlin’s three-quarters of a .22 rim-fire lever-action rifle, the Model pound extra weight, afford lower felt recoil.

1891. Later renamed the Model 39A, it This may seem insignificant in .30-30 calibre, earned the title of the longest continuously but a Winchester M94 carbine in .30-30 has manufactured rifle in the world (other than quite some upward buck. That’s not to say the for brief WWI interruption) – some 3 million Marlin is heavy – at 7lbs it remains a lighthave been made. The model 1893, the first weight.

Marlin lever-action made for smokeless powOther arguments in favour of the Marlin, der cartridges, reached a production figure apart from the old scope-mounting advantage, estimated between 850 000 and 1 000 000. include its lever-action being smoother and Other reasons for the popularity of the easier on the fingers – side-by-side rapid-fire Marlin rifles included the brilliant casehardtests have shown the Marlin to be faster and ening colours that came standard on the easier to shoot accurately. The Marlin’s interior receivers of their single-shot and lever-acmechanism is simpler and easier to work on, tion rifles, as well as the high quality of the and its trigger doesn’t have the lengthy blued finish on their barrels. Marlin’s Schuettake-up of the Winchester’s. Also, the Winzen style target rifle, in particular, was very chester requires the shooter to squeeze the beautiful and today is a much sought-after collector’s piece. lever to deactivate the trigger-block safety – the Marlin In 1889 the Marlin Company began making a range of doesn’t. Many also feel that the Marlin’s stronger and more pump- or slide-action shotguns, a move that proved very robust ‘feel’ is more confidence-inspiring. Readers should successful with nine model changes, including a lever-action Google the subject and decide for themselves – Chuck Hawks shotgun. gives a good, objective comparison.

When it comes to lever-action rifles, a long-popular debate is “Which is better: Winchester or Marlin?” Of course, both have undergone developments over the past 150 years, and you would have to compare like with like

July 2020 | ManMAGNUM | 17

Lockdown Hunting

by HILTON HAMANN

A dirty job, but someone has to do it

Photo by Nennieinszweidrei.

LOCKDOWN, DAY 13, on a farm west of Randfontein; boredom was starting to set in. What’s a man to do during this time of Covid-19 in order to stay sane?

Boredom turned to shock and anger when I perceived that determined invaders were now posing a threat to my family. Our supplies were running low; any food not locked away came under attack from marauders lurking in the nearby bushes. I had to devise a defensive stratplan as a matter of urgency.

Walk-and-stalk hunting did not come into this, as the raids were being made directly on the homestead. I would have to lure these rogues in with bait – smelly bait – and shoot from a hide. This wasn’t a time for high-minded ethics – we’re talking problem animal control here. I chose the kill zone carefully, drawing on my military training of 45 years past. I had to be sure of my kills, so I hung the bait exactly 11 metres away, which allowed me to shoot from a concealed position, braced in the upper frame of our kitchen’s stable-type door which provided a steady hold on the target.

Given the nature of the quarry, there was but one weapon to choose. Yes, it was a case of overkill – sort of like shooting a lone infantryman with a Tiger tank – but you can’t take chances in situations like this – you have to be utterly ruthless.

I would use round-nosed monolithic projectiles and I wanted nothing less than six foot-pounds of muzzle energy. I chose my Weihrauch HW30S air rifle, capable of shooting calibre-sized onehole groups at 10 metres.

The bait-station comprised a sheet of white paper stapled to a target frame.

I smeared four different baits onto it: Bovril, apricot jam, sugared water and the gravy of tinned dog food. Within minutes the first raider showed up – a large specimen that settled on a splash of dog food, rubbing its front paws together with glee, its beady eyes scanning for signs of danger.

I was ready for him, my rifle cocked with an 8.4gr JSB pellet in the chamber, safety-catch off. I’d pre-focused the little Hawke fixed 4-power scope, so target acquisition was fast and I instantly locked

ABOVE: The author’s ‘Randfontein Varminting’ rifle, a Weihrauch HW30S. BELOW: Official SSAA Fly Shoot 500 metre target.

onto my prey. I knew I had to hold the crosshairs a body-width below the target. I breathed in deeply to steady my nerves then slowly let out my breath and concentrated on steadying the bobbing scope-wires. Eventually they settled, and with my eyes firmly riveted on the rogue snuffling at the dog food, I touched off the hair-weight trigger.

In less than the blink of an eye there was just a hole where the invader had been crouching. Splashes of blood and goo radiated outwards from the hole, and part of a severed leg, stuck to the paper, twitched forlornly. There’d be no mounted trophy here, no Rowland Ward entry. I whooped like a schoolboy. My first fly-kill with an air rifle, and to be honest, it was a shot I will probably remember for the rest of my life. Yes, I know – I am easily amused.

OVER THE NEXT hour I shot 12 more flies, some large and some small. I missed a number as well, but when I finally called it a day, I had discovered that fly hunting is fun. It requires precise shooting technique, superb trigger control, and a perfect follow through to obliterate your target. It tests your skill.

I wish I could claim I’d invented a new shooting discipline, but fly shooting has a long and illustrious history in – yep, you guessed it – Australia. Like competitive metallic silhouette shooting, which first took root in Mexico, initially using live animals for targets before converting to metal cut-outs, fly shooting followed suit in Oz, where a bunch of blokes initially got together informally to test their skills

against each other by shooting flies with their rifles. The popularity of the game burgeoned, competition grew fierce, and an arms race quickly ensued. Rules were formalized, and because of the vagaries of live flies, standardized paper targets were created.

Today fly shooting is an accredited shooting discipline in Australia, and a target depicting a standard March Fly is engaged from a bench-rest at 300 and 500 metres for centre-fire rifles, and 200 metres for rim-fire rifles.

The rifles used are state-ofthe-art creations, many with custom-made actions, barrels and stocks. And, as can be imagined, the kind of optics enabling a competitor to hit a fly at half a kilometre can be mind-bogglingly expensive.

In 2019, at Batemans Bay on the far south coast of New South Wales, 81 competitors gathered for the Sporting Shooters’ Association of Australia’s annual fly shooting national championships. They’d come a long way since that first bloke smeared jam and Vegemite on a target!

My fly shooting objectives are more modest. I simply enjoy vaporizing the annoying creatures while doing what I love more than anything in the world – shooting. Apparently there are ten fly species found in South Africa. My goal is to shoot a horse fly, a bluebottle fly, a cluster fly, a sand fly, and a common house fly. That’ll be my “Randfontein Varminting Grand Slam”, and only then will I be able to brag to my shooting mates that I’ve taken the Big Flyve!

July 2020 | ManMAGNUM | 19

A PHâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Elephant Musings

by KEVIN THOMAS

20 | ManMAGNUM

Elephants have a sensitive consciousness of death

FIFTY-TWO YEARS ago, I was a 17-year-old cadet game ranger in Rhodesia’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management, and I was about to witness for the first time the extremely close social cohesion within an elephant cowherd.

Mere months out of school, and still under tutelage when it came to elephant hunting, we were patrolling in the Gonarezhou’s Gulene-Tshefu corridor. I was accompanied by our Chipinda Pools HQ’s senior ranger, the late John Osborne.

At the time, the Gonarezhou had yet to be gazetted a National Park, and elephants within the corridor were shot as part of the tsetse-fly eradication programme.

This meant the exercise would be written up as part of my training.

When we came across an elephant cowherd, John instructed me to shoot one in an attempt to force

them out of the area. Prior to my moving off towards the herd, accompanied by game scout Sgt Hlupo, Osborne ensconced himself atop a huge, tree-covered termite mound, about 80m away, to watch proceedings.

With the game scout immediately behind me, and the wind firmly in my favour, I cautiously made my way to the edge of the herd. It was an ideal situation and, from about 25m away, I selected the largest cow and quickly s i d e - b ra i n e d h e r w i t h my i s s u e .375H&H. Unbeknown to me, she was the matriarch of the herd – at that stage I hadn’t yet learned to discern this.

The elephant cow dropped instantly to the shot, her thrown-up trunk and collapsing hindquarters a sure indication that my bullet had found the brain.

I quickly chambered another round and we waited motionless, expecting to see the remainder of the herd flee. It never

July 2020 | ManMAGNUM | 21

My early exposure to the protective cohesion within an elephant cowherd taught me always to have a healthy respect for them.

happened. They immediately started a panicked, noisy trumpeting and bellowing, before they closed in on the m a t r i a r c h ’s l i f e l e s s form, some attempting to lift her onto her feet.

There were about seven elephants in the group with a young bull some distance beyond.

Heeding Sgt Hlupo’s whispered advice I b a c k e d o f f q u i e t l y.

Filled with apprehension, I didn’t take my eyes off the milling herd. Joining John Osborne on the termite mound, we then witnessed what seemed like confused elephant behaviour for some 30 minutes. I later learned that this was the result of the sudden lack of leadership.

joined the herd. He was the most active of the group participating in their attempts to lift the matriarch.

Eventually a few began systematically to flatten the scrub mopane within a 15-20m radius of the deceased cow. It was as if they were trying to flush out the cause of the problem.

That day I learned an important lesson; never become blasé when hunting an elephant cowherd.

Interestingly, there were no big cows in the herd; they all looked remarkably ‘runty’. With us on this patrol was an old Shangaan named

That day I learned an important lesson; never become blasé when hunting an elephant cowherd

THE INITIAL CONFUSION soon led to frustrated rage.

As we watched, the desperate herd members attempted, by way of group effort, to lift the bulky cadaver and when that didn’t work, one or two of them began to viciously stab her with their short sharp tusks. Another used her forelegs to try to clamber onto the dead female. By then the young bull had rushed forward, trumpeting noisily, and

22 | ManMAGNUM | July 2020

Ndali, now in his late sixties. As a 14-year-old, he’d been a goatherd for the notorious ivory poacher, John ‘Bvekenya’ Barnard, as romanticised in TV Bulpin’s book The Ivory Trail (1967).

Although Ndali readily acknowledged Bvekenya’s elephant hunting prowess, he wasn’t too complimentary about him as a person. However, this wily old Shangaan knew his elephant. He now ventured that these runty elephants were indeed more aggressive than larger elephant. Over an hour later, the disgruntled herd eventually moved north, periodically lingering and grumbling.

ELEPHANT ARE HIGHLY intelligent animals and have a unique matriarchal social order comprising herds, bond groups and clans of related females.

Upon reaching sexual maturity (12 to 13 years) bulls separate from the cowherds and form their own groups or periodically wander alone. While still in adolescence, bulls often associate with their peers, although bachelor groups normally include a wide age spect r um . B u ll s t o o, d e ve lo p unique relationships while growing up, much of it based on a pecking order system whereby they learn each other’s relative strengths and The spoor and scuff marks indicated that the bull elephant had lingered near the remains of his deceased relative. standing within their commu-

nity. It’s all about dominance, away from the boundary and sought through which a type of ‘brothera suitable bait tree where we hung hood’ is formed. an upper hind leg with the skin still As has been well documented, attached, high enough to be out of elephant seem to have a sensitive reach of hyenas but not of lions, then consciousness of death. Often covered it with leafy branches to when a herd comes across the keep the vultures off. skeletal remains of one of their number, they will quietly linger, TOWARDS MIDDAY OF our third smelling the bones with outday, we arrived at the furthest bait stretched trunks as if in recognito find that it had been visited. tion of, and mourning for, the I assume that the bull who removed the bait was an old Judging by the ample spoor in the deceased. Picking up and carrying mature fellow like this one. vicinity of the bait tree, a mature, away the odd sun-bleached bone is large, bull elephant had stopped by. also a well-documented behavHe had removed the camouflage ioural trait. and scattered it all around. He’d During the 1993 season, I had also broken the looped ¼" cable booked a hunt in Tsholotsho, a wire securing the hind leg, before CAMPFIRE concession (Communal carrying the leg about 20m from the Area Management Program for tree, where he’d left it.

Indigenous Resources) adjacent to His spoor told us he’d spent some Hwange National Park’s southtime lingering near the haunch western boundary. Tsholotsho is belonging to his deceased relative, primarily an elephant concession, before departing. We back-tracked and a good one. The big bulls exit him to the park boundary, and found Hwange merely by stepping over that he’d exited, located the bait, Big bull elephant merely step over the 4ft 6in cable the 4ft 6in heavy-duty cable done what he felt he had to do and strand fence – occasionally bending the iron fence poles boundary fence, at times bending in passing. then returned to the safety of the the steel fence poles as they exit park. the park. They then head inland to We re-hung the leg, replaced the plunder tribal crops. Inside the camouflage and returned to camp. communal lands (tribal area) they For the next three days we experiare categorised as Problem Anienced the same scenario – all the mals and over the past decades camouflage ripped off and scattered, some exceptional ivory has been and the now rank-smelling hindquartaken in this concession. ter pulled down and carried away My client wanted a lion, and on before being left. Perhaps the old the day we entered the area, a bull bull had stood guard over the elephant had been shot by a Euroremains of his fallen comrade, for we pean client. It was his last day in never found any sign of hyena or camp, and his PH kindly allowed us jackal having visited the putrid bait.

Judging by the spoor, a mature, large, bull elephant had the use of the hind legs for lion Possibly, he returned to the sanctustopped by. bait. ary of the park just when day had Lion that wander out of the park dawned. Only he knew. into the Tsholotsho communal lands are onto the bait, so we carefully selected The site on which I had intended normally nomadic vagrants who follow sites to hang the elephant meat. The furbuilding a blind was about 50m from in the wake of the buffalo herds and thest site from camp was some distance the bait, and each time the old bull had prey on trailing, aged, arthritic and north-east along the boundary fence. On removed the leg, he’d discarded it injured animals. Occasionally they the drive there we were disappointed to about 30m in front of this site. Although leave the park to hunt on easier prey observe a huge herd of buffalo feeding old elephant bulls are normally gentlelike tribal livestock. When that hapjust inside the park. Certainly not what men, had he found us sitting in the pens, the culprit is immediately categwe wanted; lion bait on the hoof. blind, he may have taken exception to orised a problem animal.

Eventually, after finding a track and our presence – I’m glad we never had I hoped to draw one of these lions a dry riverbed crossing, we moved to find out.

July 2020 | ManMAGNUM | 23

Handgun Carry Options

by PHILLIP HAYES

Comfort is the key

THI

NG BA ON aving carried ive h n almost every he pas s reveals that s, ha abilities have as I h . The fact that ys, I’m itting behind a not g ugh exercise, avily influenc y preferential df ndgun. d carry it fairly ide or outside the waistband, appendix style, on my weak side for a cross-draw, in the small of my back or even under my left arm in a shoulder rig. I changed my carry method depending on what I was doing, which could be anything from a formal dinner with a client, dangerous game hunting, spending hours on a tractor on the farm or watching television. These days my routine is more fixed as I spend most of my day in an office chair staring at a computer.

Being well above average size, I’ve never been able to fit comfortably on normal-sized chairs, even without a holster riding on my hip, so outside waistband (OWB) carry has never been a practical option for me in an office environment. In this situation, inside waistband (IWB) holsters work better,

24 | ManMAGNUM | July 2020

but some of the harder holsters can cause discomfort ranging from very mild to severe and, depending on the activity, even excruciating pain when constantly pressing down on a nerve or a muscle. Of course, if your situation (and body size) differs from mine, OWB carry may be a good option for you.

AN ANKLE-HOLSTER might seem a good choice for my lifestyle, but is simply out of the question as I struggle to tolerate even a lightweight wrist watch on my arm, even more so a much heftier pistol or revolver on my ankle.

I tried this method for a while about 20 years ago, but it was a burden, and every time I sat down the firearm was revealed, much to my discomfort. Also, at times, I felt uncertain that the piece (a .38 Special snubby) was still in place, and to check on this is not easy when walking down a busy street.

Gregor Woods, longstanding Magnum team member, told me he finds cross-draw holsters best when driv-

ing a car, but ankle-holsters are also good for this. These should be worn on the inside of your left ankle if you are a right-handed shooter. When driving, if you see a potentially suspicious situation developing, immediately pull up your trouser-leg to expose the handgun for quick, snag-free access. For general wear, Greg agrees that ankle-holsters expose the gun too readily when seated in social or office situations. They are fine for those who carry a small, lightweight handgun and do a lot of standing but not much walking, such as shop counter salesmen. Interestingly, he tells me that the late Doug Kirton, past owner of Kings in Durban, had to have knee surgery to correct a problem his orthopaedic surgeon told him was directly caused by continual ankle holster wear – apparently it causes you to walk differently on that leg.

Greg says he found IWB holsters most uncomfortable. “Doctors and

physiotherapists will tell you that inside belt holsters (and even just stiff, tight belts) often cause a neurological problem known as meralgia paresthetica which causes tingling numbness and burning pain in the outer part of your thigh, due to compression of the nerve that supplies sensation to the surface of your thigh.”

AN IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION when wearing a holster around your middle is a good belt. The new generation shooting belts, which do not have a buckle, but fasten by Velcro, are adjustable for the specific task at hand and can easily be loosened or tightened during the day. This allows for a perfect fit around your waist for each situation, and there is no buckle to hurt you when you spend a lot of time seated. If you have not tried one, give it a go – so far, I’ve heard very few complaints about these belts. However, as with everything in life there are trade-offs, and my gripe is about the part where the two ends of the loop overlap. This creates a rather thick belt which I do not like. Many of these belts are also extremely stiff, perfect for supporting holsters, mag pouches, torches and knives, but not ideal for daily comfort. Another negative is that it’s easy to recognise one of these around someone’s middle, giving away the fact that they are ‘packing’. Regardless of the belt type or brand, you have to get a belt that suits you, so try as many as possible before buying.

The weight you add to the belt is also important. This can include a handgun, spare ammo and a knife. My advice is to keep things as light as possible.

My first handgun was a cheap, small, lightweight CZ V50 singlestack pistol in 7.65 calibre, similar in size and appearance to the Walther PPK. It was extremely 3 easy to carry IWB in a soft clip-on leather holster. This I could manage even without using a belt, for example with PT shorts.

However, I dreamed of one day owning a ‘proper’ self-defence calibre in

1

2

An outside waistband holster (photo 1) versus inside waistband (photo 2). Both carry methods are comfortable when using a suitable holster, while IWB offers more concealment.

9mmP or larger, so my next purchase was a much heavier 4-inch .357 Magnum revolver (then seen as the ultimate calibre for stopping a human threat) and I opted for an El Paso OWB leather holster and a shoulder rig. I alternated between the two carry methods depending on what I was doing. The shoulder rig I mostly carried under a shirt as I rarely wore a jacket, even in winter, when I opted for a T-shirt under my shirt. This provided for a well concealed weapon, although not the fastest access under a buttoned shirt. The key here was being able to swop between the two carry methods which allowed for comfortable carry in most situations. Keep in mind that if possible it’s best to carry your handgun in the same position all

Safariland 575 IWB model with the Grip Lock System.

4

The Safariland Pro-Fit OWB paddle holster, also with the Grip Lock System.

the time. Switching, like I used to, from your hip to a shoulder rig depending on the situation may have you grabbing for a gun on your hip that’s now under your left arm.

AFTER I BOUGHT my first 9mmP semi-auto, which I still carry today, I changed to an OWB El Paso thumbbreak bikini holster. This is a comfortable and practical mode of carry, but as the years progressed I realised that, as with the revolver, I had to try alternative methods for better comfort and concealment. I tried as many holsters as possible. Some modern holsters are extremely comfortable; Safariland’s paddle holster is one example for OWB and Army Ant’s General for IWB carry. The General has a thick padded area that fits between your body and the entire handgun, protecting sensitive body parts from rough hammers, levers and slide cut-outs. The Safariland range offers innovative handgun retention methods, which are worth considering.

In the end, I settled on a Sticky holster for ultimate comfort. This holster is somewhat controversial as it does not attach to your belt or have any means of retaining the weapon other than friction. It simply fits between your skin and pants, held in position by your belt. It sticks in place, even if I wear the holster at a slight forward

July 2020 | ManMAGNUM | 25

Finding the most comfortable and effective carry method for your circumstances is not enough – you must put it to the practical test on the shooting range or rearward angle. A drawback is that once the firearm is drawn you cannot simply shove it back into the holster; you have to remove the holster, insert the gun and then tuck the holstered gun back inside your belt or waistband. Also, the Sticky holster wears out with use. However, in my opinion, the comfort of this system (I use a full-size holster for my compact pistol) far outweighs these drawbacks, and mine being a defensive handgun, I am concerned only with getting it into action, not so much with re-holstering.

OF COURSE THERE a re my ri a d options available, and one thing I’ve learned is that what works for me now might not do so in future, nor will my choices necessarily work for you.

You’ll have to try out various options to determine what’s best for you. The most important aspect of owning a defence handgun is to have it with you at all times. Therefore, a comfortable concealed carry method that ensures this will always beat a ‘tactically orientated’ but uncomfortable or painful carry system that will eventually have you leaving your handgun in a safe. Moreover, wearing something that is uncomfortable will distract you from constant situational awareness. For example, a poor-fitting holster or poor-quality belt necessitating constant adjustment of the firearm, advertises the fact that you

26 | ManMAGNUM | July 2020

5

6

7

are armed – in certain circumstances this might make you a target. Remember, concealed carry might allow you to defuse an emotionally charged situation simply by picking your words and actions carefully, such as displaying your hands palm-outwards and in general adopting non-aggressive body language. Adopting a non-aggressive stance does not mean you are not primed and ready to act swiftly and decisively if the situation should escalate into violence.

Of course, finding the most comfortable and effective carry method for your circumstances is not enough – you must put it to the practical test on the shooting range to ensure you can get your firearm into action within reasonable time. I mostly use my OWB holster for range work, but also practise my draw from the Sticky holster. Here I concentrate on drawing from various Sticky holsters, extremely comfortable, but with drawbacks.

Photo 5 and 6. Handgun belts from Army Ant Gear. The EDC (5) fastens with velcro and the Classic (6) has a conventional buckle. Photo 7: A deep concealed holster from Smart Carry worn under clothes in the appendix position, and (photo 8) a Remora holster which is tucked between the body and clothing.

8 positions (seated, kneeling, standing and while sitting in the driver’s seat of a vehicle) and getting the first shot on target. Once you add a time limit to your drills you’ll soon learn whether your carry rig is up to the task. If you rotate holsters (for example between OWB and IWB) it’s best to stick to carrying them in the same place on the hip, etc.

BASED ON MY own experience and current situation, today my first choice for a carry gun would be a small singlestack 9mmP carried IWB. The CZ P-10 Micro or Glock 43 come to mind, provided I can get a mag extension to render the grips of these micro handguns a better fit in my oversized hands.

My old CZ V50 was the ideal size and weight for concealed carry and I never really noticed that I had it on me. The modern handguns mentioned above are about the same size as the old V50 but their 9mmP cartridges have more striking energy and more effective bullet designs. These micro pieces might just be the final solution in my never-ending search for the ultimate in comfort and practical defence ability.

Test Report

Steiner Wildlife 10x42 Binoculars

by PHILLIP HAYES insects has become an enjoyable pastime. The Wildlife presented the insects in perfect colour and detail; even the pollen grains on the proboscides were visible as they fed on nectar.

On a more technical note, roof Schmidt-Pechan prisms with phase correction coatings are used on the glass and have fully multicoated Exit pupil: Luminosity: Twilight factor: Field of view at 1 000m: Optics: Size (HxWxD):

4.2mm 17.64 20.49 108m High Definition 175 x 135 x 60mm

coatings provide excellent light transmission and diffused light is reduced to a minimum.

I could not fault these claims, although lens edge-to-edge sharpness was not in the same class as the 20-year-old Trinovid that I used as a control. However, the difference was small, and for the price, the Steiner glass is excellent – its low light viewing was mostly better than that of other binoculars in the same price range.

The binos are nitrogen-filled and a two-way valve system facilitates refilling with nitrogen after years of use. Steiner claims no fogging should occur between -40°C and +80°C. To test this I left the binos in a freezer overnight and then used them on a sunny 22°C d a y, e x p e r i e n c i n g n o problems.

The Wildlife 10x42 is rated water pressure proof to a depth of 3m. I placed the test set outside on a table during a severe thunderstorm; this had no adverse effect, optically or otherwise.

The rubber-armoured Steiner Wildlife 10x42 is robust, small and light enough to carry all day, provides excellent glass and is suitable for all local hunting, game-viewing and birding needs.

Included in the box is a n e o p r e n e c a rr y- s t ra p, rain/dust lens caps and a soft storage bag.

I found these binoculars available online for R8 995. For stockists contact Inyathi Sporting Supplies on 012-8089911.

175mm

STEINER HAS INCORPORATED a few innovative designs in their Wildlife series binoculars that make using and carrying these glasses a breeze. Weighing only 716g (10x42 model) they are considerably lighter than my old Leica Trinovid 10x42 BN at 890g. This 174g might not seem much but, with any equipment carried on your body, it makes a huge difference during a long day in the hunting field.

Focusing is simple: first turn the central focusing ring to adjust the focus for your right eye; then the left eye’s focus can be fine-tuned using the dioptre setting on the left ocular. The adjuster cannot be locked into position, but rotation is rather stiff which ensures that it stays in place during field use.

Initially the pliable eyecups were an irritation and needed adjustment during frequent use. However, by shielding your eyes from light entering from the sides, they certainly enhance the view – especially when using the binos for viewing the night sky.

On a cold, windy night the eyecups also helped to keep the wind out of my eyes; I soon got used to them and enjoyed the benefit they provided. The eyecups can be folded down if unrequired or if you wear spectacles.

The Steiner binoculars come with two lens-covers and have a ClicLoc attachment system comprising push-buttons to release or attach the neck strap.

The Wildlife’s central focusing ring rotates less than 1¼ turns to focus on objects spaced from 2m to infinity. The 2m close-focus facility proved valuable because during the test, my garden was fortuitously filled with butterflies and my close-up inspection of these

135mm

air-to-glass surfaces. Steiner claims that the high-definition optics present clear, razor sharp images in full contrast, with maximum resolution right to the edge of the glass. The specialised

July 2020 | ManMAGNUM | 27

Author with his kudu bull.

Kudu Bull Despite the Odds

by DAVID SCHOEMAN

Success when you least expect it

28 | ManMAGNUM | July 2020

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Sometimes it’s hard enough to spot these grey ghosts and they seldom stick around to give you a second glance.

Big kudu bulls don’t grow big by being careless smarted by wily old kudu bulls than be sitting at home or in the office!

We had been walking for about an hour when we spotted three kudu cows leisurely browsing, completely unaware of our presence. From our elevated position we didn’t see any trace of a bull. My friend and hunting partner asked me if I was interested in taking one of them. I had no intention of hunting a cow and replied that I was here for the bull I had sought for so long. We remained on the hill while our guide walked down and took a wide semicircle approach to try and flush out any hidden bull but none emerged. I was amazed to see how far he was from the cows when they started running away.

With their sharp eyesight and radardish sized ears, they had detected his presence and dissapeared way before he saw or heard them. Although disappointed, we were glad that we had at least seen kudu cows, and took it as a good sign that there were kudu in the vicinity.

AS WE WERE coming down the ridge of the mountain, we suddenly spotted three kudu bulls on the opposite hillside to our right. From this point on, everything seemed to go wrong.

It was as if a huge whirlpool of emotion swallowed me and my heart began to bounce like a jackhammer out of control in my chest. I saw the bulls were wary and knew I had to hurry.

Sometimes it’s hard enough to spot these grey ghosts and they seldom

View of the area we hunted in.

stick around to give you a second glance. Big kudu bulls don’t grow big by being careless.

My hunting partner motioned for me to shoot over his shoulder.

Author driving the Hilux he had at the time.

As I raised the rifle and looked through the scope, I saw that only one bull remained in the clearing, prowounded kudu can be a frustrating and viding me with a clean shot. My hunting tiring task. I knew it was unlikely that partner was saying, “Skiet, skiet, I’d hit any vital organ, and finding a skiet!” obviously suffering from the decent blood trail would be difficult. same fever I was experiencing, and he Approaching the site, I suddenly wasn’t even the one holding the rifle. I saw a bull run over the ridge. I immediwas shaking as if I had Parkinson’s disately recognised him as ‘my’ bull. I ease. All my previous years of hunting didn’t know why he was still hanging experience went flying out the window. around, but I was so excited I ran to get I took a hasty shot and immediately into position for another shot from a realised that it was a bad hit. (It later ridge. Coming over the top, to my utter turned out that this shot was too far disbelief, I saw him standing about 60 back, ending up in the stomach.) metres away, facing me. I placed a bulSurprisingly the bull did not run off, let underneath his chin and saw him go but turned and looked around. I asked down. I ran closer but knew it was over. my hunting partner how far away the I was thrilled but also hugely relieved. bull was standing. He replied, “270 metres”. As my rifle was zeroed at THE HUNT LEFT me with some ques100m, I chambered another round, and tions: Why hadn’t the bull simply disaptook aim just above the bull’s head, to peared after the first shot, and why did allow the bullet to drop and hit him in he stop after crossing the ridge to look the neck. As the shot rang out dust flew back? The hunt was a major learning in the air. The bull stayed in position. experience, the most important lesson Now my hunting partner suddenly probeing that you have to take your time vided me with new insight: “It’s only and make absolutely sure of the first about 170m. Aim at the bull’s back”. I shot. I felt embarrassed at my shooting took aim and fired again. It was a miss, skills, but realised that there is no better and this time the bull didn’t hang teacher than experience. Although very around. little went as planned, I appreciated the As we walked up to the place where opportunity, enjoyed the hunt and am the bull had stood, I knew this could thankful that it ended in success. I had become a very long day, as following a finally shot my first grey ghost.

Balistix .303 Bullets I RECENTLY RECEIVED two military .303s: a Lee Enfield and a P14.

All P14 rifles were made in America

by Winchester, Remington and Eddystone in .303 calibre for the British army during WWI. The P14 differed from the Lee Enfield in that it was built on an Enfield-designed Mauser type action with a one-piece stock and is potentially more accurate. To work up a load for hunting and club target shooting, I began with the P14 as it was equipped with a Parker Hale peep-sight. Balistix Bullets, the Meyerton manufacturer of monolithic copper bullets, kindly sent me a batch of their .303 170gr Huntac to try out.

Magnum published a detailed article on Balistix Bullets in the June 2019 edition. To recap, the bullets are CNC manufactured to mid-SAAMI tolerances in diameter (maximum ± 3.5 Micron) ensuring consistent ballistic coefficient.

Machined from 99.5% pure copper, they contain no lead. Copper being less dense than lead, most copper bullets are lighter than lead-core bullets.

All Balistix bullets are of rebated boat tail (RBT) design, combining the characteristics of flat-based and boat-tail bullets. Flat-base bullets stabilise more rapidly and offer higher accuracy at shorter (hunting) distances while boat-tails have higher BC factors, hence better performance at longer range. Balistix Bullets’ webpage states that the RBT design deflects gas flow away from the bullet during its exit from the muzzle’s crown, ensuring less gas turbulence ahead of the bullet and resulting in an accuracy improvement of up to 15% over conventional boat-tail designs.

According to the manufacturer, their bullet’s standard tangent ogive design (not ‘bore-riders’) is less ‘jump’-sensitive than many other monolithic designs. This means the bullets can be seated to whatever depth affords optimum accuracy.

Their hunting and target match bullets (Huntac, Ultra Hunt and Target) should shoot to the same point of impact at hunting distances, and one load and seating depth works for all. Their Target bullets are solid and not designed for

by ANDRÉ GROBLER

expansion, hence should not be used for hunting. Being cheaper than Huntac and Ultra Hunt, the Target bullets are good for developing loads.

The Huntac is an expanding design said to be a multipurpose hunting and ‘tactical’ bullet (its shorter ogive design works well in semi-auto actions and magazines). The Ultra Hunt is purpose-designed for optimum performance at shorter distances as in bushveld hunting.

The bearing surface of Balistix bullets is a series of low-friction drive bands for reduced bore fouling, coated with Hexagonal Boron Nitrate (HBN) which has excellent dry lubricating properties and ultra-high temperature resistance.

At 34mm, the 170gr Huntac .303 bullet is longer than PMP’s 174gr soft-point (28.2mm) and Impala’s 130gr LWHV Solid (31.4mm) in the same calibre. I weighed ten of the Balistix bullets on my electronic scale; four weighed 170gr each while six weighed 170.1gr each.

This compares well with other top hunting and match bullets.

THE SOMCHEM RELOADING chart on Balistix’s webpage recommends S335 for the 170gr Huntac with a cartridge overall length (COL) of 78.1mm in a rifling twist of 1:10. The minimum starting load is given as 37gr (2 347fps) and a maximum of 39gr for 2 452fps.

My starting load was 37.5gr of S335 with a COL of 78mm. For comparison I tested these loads in a custom built, scoped .303 with a new barrel, in addition to my P14 with its Parker Hale peep-sight.

The first three shots with the custom .303 hit within 17mm on a steel plate at 100m, clocking an average velocity of 2 279fps

see photo). I was impressed.

Best performance with the eep-sighted P14 was a 40mm hree-shot group at 100m clocking an average of 2 412fps, using 38gr S335.Two shots were within 11.5mm; a third opened the group to 40mm – a flier or shooter-error.

During a second range session, the custom .303 clustered three shots in 12.9mm on a steel plate at 100m using 37.5gr S335 (COL 78mm), but this time the velocities averaged 2 296fps, standard deviation 2.3.

Later, I also tried these S335 loads in my Lee Enfield No4 Mk1 but some bullets key-holed. A gunsmith told me the rifle had a twogroove barrel with a 1:10 left-hand twist.

The P14’s barrel also has a 1:10 left twist but with five-grooves. Balistix Bullets confirmed that some older .303 barrels fail to stabilise the 170gr Huntac. Before buying these .303 bullets for hunting, have a gunsmith check your barrel.

I left my P14 with a gunsmith for scope mounting, and by the time I got it back, I’d run out of S335, so I used Vihtavouri N140 to develop loads for the hunting season. Sighting in at 100m, I placed three shots within 9.1mm; a fourth opened the group to 27.4mm.

This load of 41.5gr N140 clocked a muzzle velocity of 2 459fps. This load was calculated with QuickLoad and although I experienced no signs of pressure, it must be considered as a maximum or near maximum load. When handloading for your rifle start well below this and slowly work the load. This load was accurate enough for hunting.

Overall, I found the 170gr Huntac bullets accurate in my P14 and in the custom .303’s new barrel. They are easy to load and the soft copper does not punch holes in the club’s gongs. Balistix Bullets are readily available; I found a box of 50 .303 Huntac 170gr bullets online for R470. For a retailer near you, contact Balistix Bullets on 082-442-7261, or chris@balistixbullets.com, or visit www.balistixbullets.com.

July 2020 | ManMAGNUM | 31

M3K Semi-auto otgun

Stoeger

by ANDRÃ&#x2030; GROBLER

.... ready for competition 32 | ManMAGNUM | July 2020

The 10-shot magazine tube, extended choke and the red fibre optic sight.

on-ready, Stoeger enelli US aryland. y of mannd other A red dot sight on the Stoeger P3000 s become pump-action is ideal for pig hunting.

-quality rices. The f their M3000 shotgun series, is a robust piece specifically catering for 3-Gun competition Visible is the sport-shooters. high-ventilated Our test model, chambered for 76mm (3'') 12ga cartrib of the M3K, adaptor nut for ridges, is 1162.05mm long and weighs 3.3kg. The polymer the extended stock is straight and sans cheek-piece (hence ambidextrous) magazine and with a soft rubber recoil-pad to tame the recoil in rapid-fire. the sling swivel.

While hollow to facilitate installation of a Stoeger recoil reducer (an optional extra), the stock feels sturdy and durable and does not flex. The pistol-grip is chequered for a secure hold, even with a sweaty hand. The The oversize bolt handle of the M3K 3-Gun is hard to miss. lightweight aluminium-alloy receiver is drilled and tapped for a tactical rail or sights and coated with a durable matte-black finish similar to that on the barrel. Its right

Stoeger M3K factory oversized loading port and carrier. The bevelled port helps with fast reloading.

July 2020 | ManMAGNUM | 33

The inertia bolt assembly with the rotating locking head and extractor.

side bears the Stoeger logo and model; the left, ‘StoegerTurkey’ indicating the country of manufacture. The alloy trigger sits well back in a generous polymer trigger-guard designed for gloved use. Trigger release weight measured 6lbs.

The enlarged, cross-bolt type safety-catch, directly behind the trigger, is easy to locate and operate. Just ahead of the trigger-guard is the cartridge drop lever, within easy reach of the trigger-finger, projecting visibly when the striker is cocked and the gun ready to fire.

The bevelled loading port permits fast loading during a match, and the elongated, enlarged lifter ensures speedloading with two to three shells at a time. The enlarged metallic blue cocking handle provides a sure purchase when under pressure; likewise the enlarged bolt release button.

The 24-inch barrel has a high-ventilated rib with a clearly visible red fibre-optic bead (26-inch barrels are also available in SA).

THE M3K COMES with three chokes: full, improved-modified (three-quarter) and modified (half) – indicated by rim-notches – plus the required tool. In SA, the M3K is sold with a 10-shot tubular magazine; one ‘up the spout’ gives you 11, requiring fewer reloads during competition.

The polymer fore-end is fully chequered and its frontal take-down screw-knob has a swivel for a shoulder-strap (keep your hand away from this during recoil).

Like most Stoeger semi-auto shotguns, the M3K’s action cycles per the well-proven inertia-driven working system developed by Benelli engineer Bruno Civolani. This eliminates problems stemming from recoiling barrels, barrel-vibrations, the need to adjust for powerful cartridges and problems associated with gas-operated systems. It has fewer moving parts, no gas cylinder and no O-rings. The action stays cleaner for longer, as all gas and powder residue is expelled through the barrel and is not bled off to cycle the action. These are major benefits and consequently many manufacturers have adopted this system. The rotating bolt-head ensures a strong steel-tosteel lock-up. When firing the M3K, its effortless operation is immediately apparent in the reduced recoil, irrespective of the LEFT: The Stoeger M3K 3-Gun competition-ready shotgun on the left and the P3000 pump-action on the right.

34 | ManMAGNUM | July 2020

load used, allowing faster recovery and target acquisition.

The inertia system does require cartridges that generate enough recoil-energy to fully cycle the action, so the gun is designed for minimum 28-gram loads. We loaded it with a variety of brands and loads, some quite old, and it cycled every time. We had only one stoppage due to an old cartridgeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s damaged sidewall which went unnoticed.

THE SHOTGUN HANDLES well and recoil was easily managed irrespective of the ammunition used, even 34-gram loads.

Despite the one-size-fits-all stock, the gun fitted my physique and settled well in my shoulder, and notwithstanding the absence of a cheek-piece, I managed a good sight picture and quick follow-up shots. A fellow shooter, with longer arms, had no problem busting clays with the 24-inch barrel. Gongs were also easily peppered with lead. The 26-inch barrel version should enhance clay shooting hit rates.

Surprisingly, looking over the high-ventilated rib with the red bead at the end, the barrel seemed longer than the actual 24-inches.

The enlarged bolt handle is impossible to miss when working the bolt, enhancing performance under pressure. Likewise the big slide release button enables quick handling, and during the testing I never struggled to find it. Loading at speed is made easy by the smooth loading port with no sharp edges.

The 6lb trigger works smoothly and the take-up is very short, enhancing fast trigger work.

Of course, with the tube filled to capacity with ammo, the shotgun was heavy at the front. It took a while for me to get used to the changing characteristics as the front end got progressively lighter as I fired off the ammo. For clays I loaded only two rounds at a time and this improved the handling.

The M3K is reliable and worthy of its reputation as an affordable sport-shooting shotgun. Suburban Guns advertises it online for R13 200.

ABOVE: Busting clays with the test M3K shotgun was easy if loaded with only two rounds.

THE LOCAL STOEGER agent, National Cartridge Company, also sent us a Stoeger P3000 pump-action shotgun to test. It reliably handled any 12-gauge loads up to 76mm. It weighs 3kg unloaded, the barrel is 24-inches; overall length is 1 150mm. The stock is polymer with a rubber recoil pad, and the receiver and barrel are matte black. The aluminium-alloy receiver has a Picatinny rail for a red-dot sight or scope if used with slugs. The front sight is a steel blade.

The P3000 is for security and general-purpose use, including occasional sport shooting and hunting. The barrel is not threaded for chokes and is open-bored for heavy buckshot and slugs. It worked reliably and has the feel of a working gun capable of enduring rough use by hunters and sport shooters. The P3000 pump-action retails at a suggested price of R8 800.

For a retailer near you contact Conrad on 065-964-9161 or 065-966-9065 or pta@suburbanguns.co.za.

July 2020 | ManMAGNUM | 35

A dramatically posed picture which contributed to Anne’s “Jungle Woman” title – seemingly taken on a beach dune, probably at Lourenço Marques.

These appear to be the tusks Harry found at a dried-up waterhole. The skins worn by the men are merely for effect.

Manners Tusks Mystery PART 3

by GREGOR WOODS

36 | ManMAGNUM | July 2020

“…for truth is always strange; stranger than fiction” Lord Byron, 1819 PART this series I gave brief umé of events scribe Harry Manners in book baku. I broached estion sing from Harry’s plicatio at tusks in a photo Kamba ere from his bull, Monarch of urripa’, when they y those of a bull y Johnson years earlier. Now I will discuss what Harry did not mention in his book, and endeavour to explain this strange deception.

Harry hid the fact that, for most of his ivory-hunting years ABOVE: Harry and Anne Manners, probably in the late 1940s. described in Kambaku, he was RIGHT: Anne in the self-made bikini she wore in camp. This married – despite his clear photo contributed to her Sunday Times “Jungle Woman” statement to the contrary (see image, influenced by Tarzan movies. BELOW: Anne took this photo at Harry’s Shangrila camp in 1952 – probably the last Part 2). He and his wife lived a photo of such a scene ever taken. Not long after, Mozambique nomadic existence in the wilds (the last country to allow unrestricted elephant hunting) put a of Mozambique and she shared stop to it. most of his hunting adventures.

Here is her story.

Anya Mary Levy was born in Cape Town in 1924. Abanwavy hair and striking looks – she proved very popular. doned at the age of two, she grew up in a Benoni convent During World War II, Mozambique was a neutral country with nuns as foster parents. The convent girls learned to and LM a busy port. The success of German submarines tordance with each other, and Anya excelled at this. Aged 16, pedoing Allied ships off Mozambique indicated intelligence she moved to LM to work at the Casa casino as a dance-hostreceived from spies in LM. A British Secret Intelligence Seress – paid to dance with men frequenting the casino lounge. vice (SIS) agent, Malcolm Muggeridge, was sent to investCalling herself Anne, she was tall and well-figured with dark igate. Werner von Alvensleben (who was anti-Nazi) became

ABOVE: Anne Manners at their home in LM. A note in her handwriting states that Harry did not shoot the biggest (outermost) tusks; he found the skull and bones at a dried-up waterhole and simply drew the tusks.

ABOVE LEFT: Harry carved this epitaph where his tracker was killed by an elephant. Anne took the photo. ABOVE RIGHT: Anne Manners did not shoot this elephant – Harry did. He got her to pose for the photo with his rifle and cartridge belt.

his primary agent, acting as a double-agent. At the casino, Muggeridge observed Anne’s popularity among officials from the many foreign embassies in LM, as well as seamen. He knew she’d be privy to loose talk, so he engaged her as an SIS agent.

MEANWHILE, ANNE MET Harry Manners and they fell in love. Working at the casino was an Italian musician named Alfredo Manna who was spying for the Germans. In May, 1943, Muggeridge assigned Anne to lure Manna into a trap so that SIS agents could kidnap him. Harry Manners, being a weight-lifter and very fit, was engaged to do the muscle work.

They knocked Manna unconscious and drove him to Swazi-

38 | ManMAGNUM | July 2020

land where the Royal Air Force Police took him into custody.

I’ve checked on this; it’s all factual – Muggeridge included this story in his autobiography, Chronicles of Wasted Time.

Harry and Anne married in June 1944, when she was 21.

Initially, they lived in a tent in the bush. Harry’s ivory-hunting kept them constantly on the move, their transportation a two-wheeled ox-cart. Anne accompanied Harry on hunts. She made herself bikinis (years before these became acceptable as swimwear) which she wore around camp. For hunting, Harry outfitted her with khaki jodhpurs, pith helmet, boots and leggings. She learned to shoot, but never hunted – she hated killing animals. A keen photographer, Anne recorded their life together.

Anne was present during the safari when Harry’s tracker was killed. She remembered it somewhat differently: the tracker’s name was Ben, not Sayela, and Harry used his .404. However, her description of the elephant’s killing of the tracker was much like Harry’s, only she said Harry took 12 shots to kill the bull.

With his ivory proceeds, Harry bought a Ford van and they set up a home in LM for comfortable living between safaris. This continued for eight years. Anne suffered miscarriages due to the rough conditions, and would have preferred to live in town, but she loved Harry deeply and was happy if she was with him.

Anne was there when Harry saw a bull with enormous tusks and determined to hunt it the next day, but a man named Carl Berzak arrived and asked to join in. Together they found the bull, but Berzak fired ABOVE: A young Anne Manners with some of Harry’s early ivory. BELOW: When prematurely and they lost the elephant, which infufirst married, Harry and Anne Manners lived a nomadic life, sleeping in a tent, their riated Harry. Anne also accompanied Harry on his trip transport a 2-wheeled ox-cart. north, and named the same places he did: Massinga, Inhambane and across the Zambezi to Marromeu where they met Gustav Guex and admired the Eden in which he lived. She took photos of it.

In 1952, Harry left Anne for another woman.

There is much more to this story than I can include here – I intend to write a book on it. However, I have told enough to shed light on the ‘Tusk Mystery’.

How do I know all this? Well, during her final years, after her second husband died, Anne lived in White River, Mpumalanga, where Brian Marsh regularly visited relatives. Brian and Jillie met Anne and introduced her to Magnum, and she told us the whole story. We persuaded her to write articles for Magnum. Harry Manners had never mentioned Anne, so I felt I should tell him we’d accepted her article about her first safari with him. Much alarmed, he asked me not to publish it, as Anne had “caused him so much trouble”. I assured him her article was complimentary about him. It appeared in Magnum’s August 1996 edition. trader would not say from whom he bought the tusks, so She allowed me to copy photos from her album. Sadly, she Harry presumed it was a poacher.” This is further proof that died around the end of that year. We published her second these are not the Monarch of Murippa tusks. article posthumously in Dec 1997.

I also have an article published in the January 11, 1994 Anne’s photos prove her story, including one of Harry’s edition of Die Laevelder, a Nelspruit newspaper, which briefly tracker, dead where he lay after the elephant had attacked tells Anne’s story. Harry lived in Nelspruit at the time and him. Although Anne gave Harry duplicates of some of her must have read it, but never mentioned it. photos, no editions of his book include one of the deceased tracker.

AROUND 1952, HARRY, Anne and Werner von Alvensleben It was Anne who took the photo of Harry outside the tradtook the well-known South African author, Stuart Cloete, on ing store in Beira, standing between the two big tusks that safari, during which Cloete wrote his novel, The Curve and Wally Johnson had shot some time earlier, and which Wally’s the Tusk (published 1953). Anne upset Cloete by remarking wife had later sold to the trader. Anne told us that Harry that he’d never once left camp throughout the entire safari, asked the trader if they could carry the tusks outside for a but sat under a tree writing a book about a heroic elephant photo. I possess a note in Anne’s handwriting saying, “The hunter. Later interviewed by the Cape Argus, Cloete said he’d

July 2020 | ManMAGNUM | 39

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Hunting in a Ghillie Suit

by WESLEY HENDRIKS

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The suit is also perfect for wingshooting and I have successfully used it on numerous occasions to shoot rock pigeons.

These birds have exceptional eyesight and good camo is mandatory

The first time I used a ghillie suit was during a blesbuck hunt on an open grass plain with virtually no cover. The local blesbuck population had developed a habit of practically ‘grazing on the run’ if they spotted a vehicle or a hunter on foot. Taking shots at distances between 200m and 400m was the norm.

ON MY ARRIVAL, I parked my vehicle, which the blesbuck immediately spotted and departed at high speed. I dressed up in my suit and set off on foot. Soon I spotted a good ram in a bachelor herd and went down on all fours to slowly edge closer. When I was about 70m from my quarry, the herd suddenly spooked and hightailed for greener pastures. Confused I looked around, only to see a farm worker on horseback passing close to where the herd had been standing.

I was about to get up when I heard a noise behind me; to my surprise it was two blesbuck rams. They were almost on top of me and oblivious of my presence. I very slowly turned to face them and lifted my rifle. They stood still, apparently confused by the suit which looked like a grass bale. I shot the bigger ram. My rifle was fitted with a suppressor, so the second animal was unalarmed by the report and remained in place, confused by his companion’s sudden collapse. I could have bagged him as well, but declined as I had only

44 | ManMAGNUM | July 2020

Black wildebeest are wary plains game but I got in close.

one blesbuck on my list. Only after I’d stood up, did the second animal react, running off for a few metres then stopping to look back at me. It was abundantly clear that my new suit was working well.

Since then I have used the suit to ambush quite a few warthogs during the day and even bushpigs at night. A particular sounder of bushpigs that was very skittish at the baiting spot had me stumped on numerous occasions and I decided to ambush them using the ghillie suit. I was in position just before last light and waited with my back against a thorn tree some 25m away. It was a cold night but fortunately the suit kept me warm. During the wait, two blackbacked jackals paraded up and down in front of me, unaware of my presence, and later a porcupine nearly ended on my lap.

IT WAS A dark, moonless night and I sat uncomfortably under my tree, listening to the night sounds, every so often scanning the bait with a night vision device. Eventually I heard pigs approaching. They suddenly appeared next to the bait as if using a trapdoor – twelve in the sounder – and immediately began feeding. I gave them a few minutes to settle, then switched on an infrared light and took aim at the first boar to present a shot. He

Even in open grassland, the suit worked well for me.

dropped on the spot and the rest scattered into the surrounding thickets.

I stayed motionless and about ten minutes later they were back. I repeated the same procedure as before, felling one, and again the sounder scattered into the surrounding thicket. I waited, as I could hear the bushpigs calling to each other. About 20 minutes later, some returned, but I rushed the shot and completely missed a young boar. This was enough to persuade the remainder to head for safety. Later, I saw on a trail camera that the sounder had returned to the spot but only during the morning hours, long after I had left.

One of my most memorable walkand-stalk hunts while wearing my ghillie suit took place in a thorn-tree thicket when looking for a young impala ram.

After leaving my vehicle I climbed a small hill to scan the area and spotted

impala grazing in the thickets. In this terrain the suit can be a disadvantage as it often gets entangled in thorn branches and you have to stop frequently to free yourself. With the wind blowing in my face, I moved at a snail’s pace, and soon found the impala among the thorns. Now in full stalk mode, I moved only when the impala were looking away and grazing.

Before long this brought me within about 20 metres of the closest animal, and eventually I managed to sneak in among the herd without any of the impala being aware. This created a new problem in that the young ram I was targeting was too close to me to be visible in my scope. I had to move back about 20 metres before taking the shot.

The rifle was fitted with a suppressor, and at the shot, the rest of the herd acted confused, clearly unsure of what had happened, with some even moving in my direction.

Author ambushed bushpig while wearing the ghillie suit.

THE SUIT IS also perfect for wingshooting and I have successfully used it on numerous occasions to shoot rock pigeons. These birds have exceptional eyesight and good camo is mandatory.

The ghillie suit is certainly not traditional South African hunting attire, but it works exceptionally well and is now my preferred choice when dressing for hunting.

July 2020 | ManMAGNUM | 45

Guineafowl Puff

by LESLIE VAN DER MERWE

Brought to you by Soft-ice

HUNTING GUINEAFOWL IS fun, and to be successful, is best undertaken with a group of hunters. It verges on a military-style operation.

You need to know where the guineas are; have knowledge of the terrain; what possible escape routes will be used; and for all the hunters to have a good understanding of the tactics to be employed. Discipline is required, not only of the hunting dogs, but of the hunters too. Collecti v e l y, g u i n e a f o w l a r e e x t r e m e l y clever, devious and prone to do the unexpected.

One important trick we hunters have up our sleeves, is being able to predict the direction the birds are likely to fly when disturbed, and to place enough hunters under their line of flight. While all birds have excellent sight, guineas also have excellent hearing. It is therefore important for hunters to move into position out of sight, and to do so quietly. When everyone is in position, and the birds have been flushed, the hunters stand either in the shade or behind a small bush or tree, and do not move. You will be amazed at what distance guineafowl can see the glint of sunlight off shotgun barrels or the reflection of a face and then swerve out of shotgun range.

Guineafowl are easy to shoot because they are big and fly slowly.

With a bit of practice they are not dif-

46 | ManMAGNUM | July 2020

ficult to hit, but donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be surprised at how often experienced hunters are humbled by this bird.

In open grassland you can walk the birds up. When a flock flushes, usually out of shotgun range, there are often a couple of birds that rely on their camouflage to keep them safe under a bush or a tuft of grass.

An experienced dog will quickly find such birds, and either flush or point them. Without a dog, you will have difficulty finding all the birds. My advice is that you walk very slowly through the area, stopping every couple of paces. When you are mov-

ing, the birds feel safe, but when you stop they get nervous, and often flush behind you.

When cooking guineafowl, the breasts often have lead shot in them, or the tissue is bruised. To make use of this meat, simply cut out the bloody areas and use recipes that slice or cube the remaining meat. So doing also shortens the cooking time.

The following recipe is a quick and easy dish to serve around the braai or plated as a starter. The combination of the puff pastry, apple and onion gives the dish a savoury flavour with just a hint of sweetness.

Good Food INGREDIENTS n 2 guineafowl breasts n 1 small onion, finely chopped n 1 apple, finely chopped n 1 clove garlic, finely chopped n fruit chutney n olive oil n salt and pepper n 1 roll puff pastry n 2 teaspoons flour n 1 egg, beaten n non-stick cooking spray

METHOD Place the roll of puff pastry on a floured surface and fold it in half to double the thickness. Roll out gently.

Cut out circular pieces of pastry using a pastry cutter or a glass. Paint with the beaten egg. Place on a tray treated with non-stick cooking spray in a 200°C oven for 20 minutes, or until brown. Remove and allow to cool.

Place one guineafowl breast on a cutting board and hold it with your fingers. Using a sharp knife, slice through the breast so that you have two more-or-less equally thick pieces of meat. Remove the tendons and slice across the grain of the meat, cutting it into strips. Place in a bowl with the olive oil, salt and pepper.

Mix with a fork to ensure that all the meat is coated. Place in the fridge for an hour or two.

Using a hot pan, fry the onion in olive oil for a minute or two. Add the meat and fry for a minute, then add the apple and garlic.

Continue to turn for a further two to three minutes. When the meat has cooked through, remove from the pan, testing the thickest slices. Do not overcook.

If necessary, lightly flatten the top of the

pastry rings. Spread with a spoon or two of chutney. Place the guineafowl mixture on top and serve. n My book, South African Gamebird Recipes is available from Safari Outdoor branches. If you would like a signed copy, email me at lesliej375@ outlook.com. They sell for R350, plus an overnight courier fee of R99.

July 2020 | ManMAGNUM | 47

Tech Talk

by MALCOLM COBB

When dealing with significant changes in propellants it is important that the tins be clearly marked by type and date to avoid confusion.

Update on Obatex CK IN TOBE 019, Magnum blishe ece en d ‘Puzzling out r Prop ants’, h covered the blems experien by shooters of time ons w n substituting w loca e blac powders for the erseas orts th are no longer available. ns made in the ally made Obatex powders produced more energy per grain weight than other more traditional black powders. This is acceptable in a muzzle-loader as the charge and bullet seating can be adjusted to suit the smaller powder volume in the chamber, but gives problems in loading black powder cartridges as the lesser charge leaves an air space in the shoulder and neck of the case which needs

48 | ManMAGNUM | July 2020

fillers, all of which adds to the variables involved in getting these old cartridge rifles to shoot to their sights at longer ranges.

The other concern was that an inexperienced shooter might just fill the case to capacity which might be permissible with a traditional black powder but could result in a serious overload with the higher energy Obatex.

THE GOOD NEWS is that we have had a call from Hannes Van Wyk at Obatex who told us that his latest production (December 2019 ) generated less energy per grain to bring it closer to the traditional black powders which results in a much safer and user-friendly product.

To get a useful comparison between the old and new powders we re-did

some tests using last year’s results as a baseline. These tests were made using the No 2 Musket cartridge as a standard because it fitted into the gap between the .45-70 US Government cartridge (which has a lot of American data for comparison), and the larger capacity Martini Henry .577/.450 cartridge which is common in South Africa.

The desirable condition for shooting any black powder cartridge is a full case of powder lightly compressed, to give a muzzle velocity in the region of 1 200 to 1 250fps with a 480gr bullet, as per the original factory round.

For clarity, the results from the new style Obatex tests in 1½Fg and 2Fg granulations have been kept separate in two charts. The cases were tapped lightly to settle the powder to avoid any

subsequent air spaces. For the lesser charges, a filler of mealie meal, lightly compressed, was used (as recommended by Hannes) and seemed to work well, though please refer to remarks about Standard Deviations in velocity.

OBATEX 1½Fg RESULTS Since a charge of 44 grains of old style powder produced velocities near our 1 200fps, the same charge using the new style powder was tried to get the difference. With 1½Fg granulation this gave 1 149.0fps, which is 3% less. The charges were increased progressively and we found that 53gr gave us 1 275.5fps which was slightly higher than we needed but nevertheless confirmed that a greater bulk of powder was needed to reach these desired velocities, which is a sensible safety condition.

As a final test we went to maximum we could get into the case, which was 62 grains with slight compression, giving a velocity of 1 394.1fps, which is higher than any factory load we could find (1 350fps). However, while the recoil seemed heavy, the Bertram cases ejected easily although the primers had flattened showing that significant pressures were present.

Since this was the maximum we could load we concluded that the powder was well suited to the case.

One useful outcome of the test was that the Standard Deviations in velocity of around the mid-30s came down to the 20s and under, showing that Obatex works much better with more compression and less filler in a fuller case.

OBATEX 2Fg RESULTS Similar results were obtained from the 2Fg test. The velocity drop for the 44gr charge was more pronounced at 12%.

Proportionally increasing the load to 48gr only produced 1 097.4fps and it took 57gr to get up to our desired 1 243.9fps. The maximum load turned out to be 65gr giving us 1 339.3fps, which compares with factory loads.

Once again, recoil at the maximum load

CHART FOR OBATEX 1½Fg

480gr bullet

Grains weight

Average Velocity

Velocity Spread

Standard Deviation

Comment

1 181.1

104.3

38.2

Close to factory 1 200fps

44gr

1 149.0

88.6

33.9

Same weight: less energy

53gr

1 275.5

38.7

17.9

Close to factory velocity

62gr

1 394.1

55.0

21.0

Full case test: excessive velocity and strong recoil

CHART FOR OBATEX 2Fg

480gr bullet Average Velocity

Velocity Spread

Standard Deviation

Comment

1 211.1

59.9

30.6

Close to factory 1 200fps

44gr

1 089.0

40.6

16.3

Proportionate charge increase

48gr

1 097.4

57.7

23.7

Close to factory velocity

57gr

1 243.9

72.7

20.0

Close to factory velocity

65gr

1 339.3

36.4

15.4

Full case test: excessive velocity and strong recoil

Old Style Pre Dec 2019 44gr New Style after Dec 2019

Grains weight Old Style Pre Dec 2019 44gr New Style after Dec 2019

was heavy and primers were flattened but the cases ejected easily. It was also noticeable that the Standard Deviations with the 2Fg matched those of the 1½Fg tests in being much improved with the bulkier powder.

The bottom line of these tests is that the latest batch of Obatex has shown to be a much better match to the cases used and indeed, with a few more adjustments, we may say that it can reproduce the original factory loads which is exactly what we need.

SAFETY NOTE: Although the new style Obatex is now bulkier than the previous production, it is still not as dense as the traditional black powders.

For that reason, it is still NOT SAFE to

use the VOLUME measures that many black powder shooters have, because these volume measures are calibrated for other powders like Wano. As a rough guide, 65gr of Obatex 2Fg occupies the same VOLUME as 105gr Wano, so the traditional volume measures just don’t work here.

Measure your Obatex charges by weight until your standard reliable load is reached and only then start to think about a volume measure specially made for your Obatex charge.

The other safety note is that shooters are advised to clearly mark their tins as to which style of powder they have. Loads developed with the new style may well prove disastrous if the older type is used inadvertently.

July 2020 | ManMAGNUM | 49

East Cape Eland

by DAVE BOAST

Long wait for the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest antelope

URING ST fift e years, I ve be to hu considble va me. Ho ver, it has ways ish lis nt the gest o pe â&#x20AC;&#x201C; t eland. In gust oppor ity arose en I w ed to h n eland on a game farm in turesque, tern Cape, Pearston.

The road through the Eastern Cape mountains.

50 | ManMAGNUM | July 2020

I had been very privileged to grow up in the Okavango Delta which, in those days, was in the Bechuanaland Protectorate (now Botswana). During trips into the countryside with my father, we occasionally came across eland, but they were categorised as Royal Game and thus protected, so we could not hunt them.

While I was thankful now to have the opportunity to hunt an eland, I approached the hunt with

some measure of trepidation. I was concerned that my rifle, a .308, was perhaps marginal for such a large animal. Consequently I spent a considerable amount of time studying the anatomy of eland and shot placement.

I wa s t o h u n t a n e l a n d c o w, together with Gareth Diesel, who was overseeing the hunt, and Dale King, a friend of mine, who came along as a back-up. After enjoying an early morning cup of good strong coffee, we set off for an area of the farm known to be frequented by eland. Once dropped

To see an eland in a photo is one thing, but to be so close to them in the veld is quite another.

Describing these antelope as huge and majestic just doesn’t say it LEFT TO RIGHT: Gareth Diesel, Dale King and the proud author with his eland cow.

off, we took a slow walk along the game path, looking for these grand beasts, and after some time, sighted a small herd on the opposite side of the valley.

To see an eland in a photo is one thing, but to be so close to them in the veld is quite another. This really was an exceptional experience, especially when viewing them through my

10x42 binoculars. Describing these antelope as huge and majestic just doesn’t say it.

WE STAYED UNDER cover and carefully studied the herd through our binoculars. Then, making sure that we remained downwind, we began the stalk. Keeping well hidden behind the

bushes, we avoided making any noise to alarm the eland, and slowly but surely managed to creep to within 200 metres of the herd.

Gareth needed to ensure that we selected the correct animal – above all, we had to avoid shooting a bull by mistake. After carefully studying all the eland in the herd, he quietly indicated a

July 2020 | ManMAGNUM | 51

The bulls are very much bigger and heavier than the cows, and had the offer been to hunt a bull, I would have declined, or requested a postponement until I could borrow a rifle of larger calibre specific cow. As always, I had my shooting sticks with me, which double as walking sticks, helping me to prevent falls, especially in rocky terrain. I quickly found an appropriate place to set up my sticks and prepared to take the shot. Finding the cow in the sight picture, I aimed slightly behind her shoulder, and at the shot, I heard the distinct thump of the bullet hitting its mark. The herd took off and, to my surprise, the cow I’d shot ran uphill – in my experience, most wounded animals ran downhill.

Immediately, Gareth said, “The shot was good! Should I put in a follow-up shot?” I too, felt that my shot had been good, and did not reply. He took that as a ‘no’, and left it to me to carry out. The herd disappeared over the rise, leaving the cow I had shot on her own. She stopped about 325m from us, whereupon I followed-up with another two shots into the same target area and she went down for good.

AFTER SKINNING, AND on inspection of the carcass, we found that the first shot had indeed been lethal. Of the two follow-up shots, one had gone into the same area, and the other into the neck.

The follow-up shots were for insurance, and perhaps not entirely necessary.

Gareth, however, stated that he would have done the same thing. The carcass revealed minimal meat damage and very little wastage.

Gareth then summoned the tractor and trailer, and extra hands to help load the very large, heavy carcass and transport it to the slaughter shed. The dressed carcass would be taken to a butcher in Port Elizabeth where it would be made into biltong, minced meat and dry wors. I am very partial to venison liver so I retrieved the huge liver from my eland for a braai we had planned.

By the time we got back to the farmhouse it was already getting dark.

We enjoyed a wonderful braai in the boma, and everyone remarked how delicious the eland liver tasted. There was a large piece left over, which I took back to Port Elizabeth.

On my arrival at home, I proudly presented the liver to my wife, who, after closer inspection, noted that it had minute speckles on it. She refused to cook any of it until an expert had given us the go-ahead to eat it. I was devastated and protested! How could there possibly be anything wrong with it? It was from a healthy animal, and we had all eaten some of it at the braai, with no ill effects. I had been looking forward to freezing it, and in the weeks

ahead, enjoying eating it with a glass of good red wine.

My wife contacted a veterinarian and gave him a full description of the liver. It turned out to be infected with liver fluke, and he recommended we not consume any of it. I got a second opinion from another vet, who confirmed this, and advised me to discard the liver. I reluctantly took his advice. Apparently liver fluke can be transmitted to humans who eat infected liver, especially if it is not cooked properly. Liver fluke is an infection caused by a group of parasites that occur in various mammals, including game, domestic livestock and humans.

We were told that it is transmitted by snails through the animals’ drinking water such as farm dams.

MY HUNT FOR the largest antelope in the world was everything I had hoped it would be. Readers planning to hunt an eland, please ensure that you “use enough gun”, to quote Robert Ruark. I most certainly would have been a lot more confident if I’d been using a .375H&H. The bulls are very much bigger and heavier than the cows, and had the offer been to hunt a bull, I would have declined, or requested a postponement until I could borrow a rifle of larger calibre.

A herd of eland.

Photo Philip Huebsch.

Accurate Concepts Brass Catcher SPORT SHOOTING IS expensive, and to compete at the highest level, shooters go to great lengths to source the best ammo components, and spend many hours preparing their cartridge cases to ensure near-perfection.

Quality cases, especially if imported, are not cheap, so reloaders strive to get the longest possible accurate life out of each case. Various factors affect case life, but most importantly, reloaders need to retrieve their fired brass with a minimum of damage.

Accurate Concepts markets a brass catcher that retrieves ejected cases before they hit the ground. I first saw one on a bolt-action rifle used by a fieldshoot competitor near Bloemfontein. Willem Botha of Die Skietwinkel later supplied me with one to test.

Simply stated, the brass catcher is rather like a butterfly-net positioned adjacent to the rifle’s ejector port. The mouth of the net is attached to a rectangular, light aluminium frame, the uppermost section of which has an integral extension projecting out to the right to keep the net open and elevated (if the net were to hang straight down it could prevent the spent case from ejecting). The frame hinges on a plastic, inverted U-shaped, rubber-lined attachment which fits over the scope tube (the test example was for a 25mm tube).

On the elongated left ‘leg’ of the inverted ‘U’ is a magnet; likewise on the lower rear corner of the netframe. These adhere to the steel receiver (it would not work for aluminium-alloy receivers). The net itself is durable nylon fabric mesh, and is secured to lugs on the frame by means of a rubber band – easily detachable.

by ANDRÉ GROBLER

Simply slide the inverted U-bracket over the scope tube as far forward as possible – its magnet will clamp it to the left side of the rifle’s receiver. The frame’s magnet will clamp it to right side of the receiver just ahead of the bolt handle. Work the bolt to ensure that the frame does not interfere with the action. I found the catcher easily attachable to my .22 Hornet, 7x64 and .303 rifles, all with Mauser-type actions. The magnets are pow-

Test Report erful enough to secure the catcher during recoil.

When you swing the hinged catcher open to remove the empty cases, the magnet resists strongly.

I use my scoped .22 Hornet for problem animal control on sheep farms, for teaching young shooters safe firearm handling, and for competing in shooting competitions. I attached the case catcher when accuracy testing a new batch of Winchester cases, while sitting in a shooting chair on the back of a bakkie. Usually, the ejected cases fall somewhere amid the shooting equipment on the back, and sometimes get stepped on, or else land in the veld. Problem animal control usually takes place at night, so I have lost many cases in this manner.

During the test, the net began to sag only when it held ten .22 Hornet cases, but remained open, accepting a further handful of cases. It begins to sag under the weight of two 7x64 or .303 cases, but accepts up to ten of either. However, I found that with six to eight 7mm or .303 cases in it, the weight began to influence rifle handling.

During a low-volume string of fire, the brass-catcher ensures that, once ejected, the cases remain undamaged. It is ideal for testing loads, doing night-time PAC work, or participating in field shooting competitions. And it is quickly and easily removable. I found it to be a really useful accessory. Fanie van Staden of Accurate Concepts informs me that separate interchangeable ‘U’ attachments for 30mm scope tubes are available. Die Skietwinkel (phone 051-4443590) advertises the brass catcher at a price of R325.

July 2020 | ManMAGNUM | 53

The listing below includes extra hunting opportunities to consider. When the Covid-19 restrictions change, make sure hunting is permitted in the area you choose, that you can travel between areas, practice social distancing and keep strict hygiene practices. Make a fair deal, hunt ethically, hunt safely and above all, keep within the law.

Hunting 2020 Opportunities REVISED

t Magudu/Pongola, KwaZulu-Natal: Mkuze Ranch. Imp, bwbees, njala, rietbk, sebra, kdoe beskikbaar. Luukse kamp, slaap 14. Lekker vir die hele familie. Elektrisiteit, slaggeriewe en koel­ kamer. Erras 082­332­0625, Herman 083­923­8359, www.mkuzeranch.com t Utrecht-Balelesberg, KwaZulu-Natal: Balele Wildlife Management Co. Over 6 000ha. Specials on kudu R45/kg, eland R45/ kg, blsbk R40/kg, bwbees R35/kg. Many other species available. Terms and cond­ itions apply. Specialise in helping first time hunters.

Robert 082­873­5575, info@ waterloofarm.co.za

groups welcome. Slaughter and coldroom facilities. 079­ 778­1379, www.utara.co.za / utaragamefarm@gmail.com t Hwange, Zimbabwe: Special offer for free range buf and ele hunting for South Africans.

Contact Renias on: WhatsApp 00­263­7373­ 29095, renmagg@gmail.com t Dundee, KwaZulu-Natal: Imp R2 000, kudu R8 500, blsbk R2 500, eland R15 000, bshpig R1 500, wart R1 500, plus more species. Camp, bedding, coldroom, skinning included. JD Van Zyl 072­784­ 0620, johndeanvz@gmail. com

t Petrusville, Noord-Kaap: Spbok voorsitjag. Volwasse ramme R1 200, die res R800/ bok. Volledig toegeruste kamp. Bring slegs eet en drinkgoed. R400pppd sluit in koelkamer, slagters, voer­ tuig, wifi. 083­236­6816, karookobus@hotmail.com

t Rooibokkraal, Thabazimbi: Bwbees R5 000/R3 950, gems R8 500, imp R2 250/R1 750, kudu R15 000/R4 750, blsbk R3 000/R2 000, waterb R15 000/R3 950, wart R1 000, zebra R6 500. S/c, sleep max 16 people, coldroom, guides, hunting vehicle R2 000 pd.

Renier 083­625­9119, renier@ rooibokkraalsafaris.co.za

t Utara, Naboomspruit, Limpopo: Kudu, imp, wart, red hbees, zebra, nyala, eland, sable, blsbk etc. S/c chalets, family

t Phalaborwa, Limpopo: Buf cow packages R27 500.

3 nights accom for 2 per­ sons, s/c, includes vehicle, guides. Meat cannot be

54 | ManMAGNUM | July 2020

taken, red line district trophy only. Frederik 083­709­8927, fcocquyt@gmail.com t Cradock, Eastern Cape: Spbok young ram R600, blsbk young ram R1 400, wbees R3 600­R5 000, plus a few more species. 2 Hunt­ ers R450 pppd. S/c accom from R300 pppn, coldroom, guides, vehicle. Very poor cell signal, email only. holmessafaris@gmail.com t Rooibokkraal, Limpopo: Imp, bwbees, kudu, gems, zebra, eland, wart. Frik 083­ 479­6678, altona@lantic.net t Erongo Mountains, Namibia: Back pack hunting for mtn zebra R8 500, oryx R3 500, kudu R15 500. Daily rate: R1 500/day. John Wambach 00264­81­128­8373, www. prohuntingnamibia.com / proguide@iway.na t Barkley West, Northern Cape: Imp R1 500, bwbees R5 000, kudu R6 000, spbok R1 200, plus more species.

Hunters R800 pppd.

Accom, coldroom, guides, vehicle.

Boats 083­283­6293, boatsbotha@icloud.com

t Zastron Freestate: Blsbk R1 450, blkwbees from R2 400, zebra R5 000.

Accom R400pppd.

082­855­2012, 072­108­7033, oubaasj@ gmail.com t Beaufort West, Western Cape: 35km north east, against Neuveld mountains. 21x species on farm, 10 to hunt.

No minimum group size. www.badshoek.co.za / colin@beaufortwest.net t Sentrum/Thabazimbi, Limpopo: 2 000ha game fenced, 10x species. All inclusive day fee, R500pppn. Johann 084­294­ 8051, jjkotze03@gmail.com t Alldays, Limpopo: Ledrea Game Lodge.

3 000ha mopane bush. Imp from R1 300, kudu from R6 000, wbees, eland, waterb. Accom for 12 people, en­suite chalets, slaughtering facilities, cold rooms, guides, vehicle. Ben 082­463­4768, ben@benheysteksafaris.co.za t Daniëlskuil, Northern Cape: Mount Carmel Safaris.14x species. Cold room, meat

bbuck

bontebuck/ bontebok blkwbeesblack wildebeest blsbk blesbuck/blesbok bshbk bushbuck/bosbok bshpig bushpig buf buffalo bwbees blue wildebees bvrk bosvark croc crocodile d/hert damhert dkr duiker ele elephant flwdeer fallow deer gems gemsbuck/ gemsbok gir giraffe

hbees hartebeest hip hippo imp impala kdoe koedoe kmpd kameelperd krok krokodil kspring klipspringer leo leopard luip luiperd mtnreed mountain reedbuck mtn zebramountain zebra ost ostrich rbok rooibok reedb reedbuck rhbok rhebuck rib ribbok

rrib spbok steenb swbees tses vaalrbk v/rib vlkvk volst wart waterb wbees

rooiribbok springbuck/ springbok steenbuck/ steenbok swart wildebeest tsessebe vaal rhebuck vaalribbok vlakvark volstruis warthog waterbuck/ waterbok wildebeest

accom = accommodation • s/c = self-catering / akkom = akkommodasie • s/s = selfsorg

Scan the QR code for quick online access to this updated listing or see www.gearreviewsa.com

MAGNUM publishes these free adverts in good faith as a service to game ranchers who have hunting for sale and, more importantly, as a useful guide to those readers who wish to find new places to hunt. Publication of these adverts does not imply that Magnum endorses the offers made.

Make full and unambiguous arrangements, and please check references before venturing into unknown territory... in more ways than one.

processing, many extras, 2 meals pd. 33 years in business, satisfaction guar­ anteed. Andries van Zyl 082­578­1989, mtcarmel@ yebo.co.za t Swart Umfolozi, KwaZulu-Natal: Spoor Safaris. 5 000ha with lots of game. Bow/rifle hunt­ ing, great trophies. Hunter R400pppd. Bush camp sleeps 10, s/c, cold room, guides, vehicle. Liona 083­275­5390, spoorsafari@bundunet.co.za t Musina, Limpopo: 5 600ha mopane veld.

Biltong/trophy hunting.

Specialise in corporate and small groups. Accom up to ten hunters/observers.

Facebook Riebelton Safaris.

Michael 082­469­7856, info@ riebeltonsafaris.co.za t Sentrum/Thabazimbi, Limpopo: Rbok R1 200­R2 000, vlkvk R750­R1 000, bwbees R4 000­ R6 000, waterb R4 000­

R10 000, nyala R12 000, buf POA, swartwitpens R35 000, sebra R6 000.

Maks 10 persone. Leon 082­578­5581, leon@tse.co.za t Zimbabwe: Kholisa Hunting Safaris. Ele, buf, croc, hip and plains game hunts available in Zimbabwe from March to December 2020. Regional hunts available at good rates. +263­7783­68488 (WhatsApp), +263­712­ 334550, bstarsafaris@yahoo. com t Roedtan, Limpopo: 16x spesie. S/s volledige toegeruste huis met slaap­ plek vir 9. Gidse, slagters, volledige toegeruste slag/ koelkamer. Geen rokers nie.

Jag Sondag tot Vrydag. 083­ 254­6000, tom@laas.co.za t Elandsfontein/ Thabazimbi, Limpopo: Shabalala Game Ranch. Imp R2 350 (20­24''), R1 300 (f), bwbees R4 000 (under 26'' &

f), wart R2 200 (m), R2 000 (f). Hunter R500pppd. S/c, cold room, vehicle, services of guide & skinners incl.

Mike 082­905­0817, keeny@ mweb.co.za / www.ssafaris. co.za t Fouriesburg, Vrystaat: Uitzicht Game Lodge. 10x spesies. Eland, bwbees, blsbk, spbok. Jag al twintig jaar slegs met SA jagters.

Hannes 082­856­7181, hb@ prohb.co.za / www.uitzicht­ gamelodge.co.za t Thabazimbi, Limpopo: Imbabala Game Lodge. Spe­ cial dads & kids, mom stays free. Imp R1 500, blsbk R1 750, wart R1 000, bw­ bees R3 750, zebra R4 500, eland cow R7 000. 4 sleeper cottage, s/c. R250pppn.

Mike 082­553­7406, mikep@ ersupplies.co.za t Alldays, Limpopo: Kaalkraal Lodge. 1 350ha.

Biltong/trophy. Kudu, imp, zebra, bwbees, waterb,

eland, gir. 5x en­suite serviced chalets, accom 10, R500pppd. Includes equipped lapa/boma, guides, vehicle, slaughter facili­ ties, cold room, firewood.

Cheryl 082­781­1870, cheryl@ kaalkraal.co.za. Facebook: Kaalkraal Lodge. t Vryheid, KwaZulu-Natal: Inhlanhla Game Ranch.

Trophy/biltong hunts. Kudu, bwbees, zebra, blsbk, imp, wart. S/c accom. Christo 082­375­4615, Monika 082­255­0324, inhlanhla@ iafrica.com / www.inhlanhla­ gamefarm.co.za t Alldays, Limpopo: Brombeek Safaris. Biltong en trofeejag. Kdoe, rbok, gems, eland, vlkvk. Slag en koelgeriewe. S/s akkom, volledig toegerus. Susara 082­554­8922, brombeek. safaris@gmail.com t Hluhluwe, KwaZulu-Natal: Nyala bulls R9 200, red dkr R7 500, grey dkr R1 500,

July 2020 | ManMAGNUM | 55

imp R2 000, baboon R2 500.

Accom R850pppd incl DBB. All prices incl 15% VAT. Client must be accompanied

by PH/outfitter. Odette 079­ 394­1284 / info@aloeview­ lodge.co.za t Rhodes/Barkly East, Eastern Cape: Pure Hunt Africa. Greywing francolin shooting over Eng­ lish pointers and ultimate Macnabs with mtnreed, brace of greywing and wild trout. F Steynberg 082­640­ 2930, fred@linecasters.co.za t Murraysberg, Western Cape: Hattingh Safaris. Backpack and walk & stalk hunts only.

Kudu R45/kg, spbok R42/kg, plus 9 more species. Full catering accom for 9 people.

No minimum groups. Ian Hattingh 082­879­9233, hatsaf@intekom.co.za t Waterpoort, Limpopo: Wild Rock Safaris. Biltong/ trophy/cull hunts, for local and international guests.

Plains game to Big 5. From bush camp to fully catered lodges, at fair prices. Charles 084­444­0306, charles@ lawproc.com / www.wildrocksafaris.com t Louis Trichardt, Limpopo: Imp R1 000, bwbees R3 750, kudu R4 500, bshpig R2 000, red dkr R20 000.

More species available.

Hunters R150pppd. S/c accom for 18 guests, cold room, guides, vehicle.

Hanno Roos 081­353­3788, wildnutlodge@gmail.com t Zastron, Vrystaat: 14 spesies op 1 600ha. Bil­ tong jag bv. bwbees, swbees R36/kg, eland, kdoe R45/kg, geslag asook uitstaande trofees bv. lechwe. Prag­ tige bos, savana, bosrante.

Jaghuis vir 15 persone. Tania 061­847­1991, Jacques

56 | ManMAGNUM | July 2020

081­035­0876, glenrock­ huntingsafaris@gmail.com / www.glenrock­huntingsafa­ ris.co.za

beskikbaar, slaap 8 persone.

Dagtarief R200pp. Alwyn 082­540­8474, 058­852­3103 alwyn@rwa.org.za

t Musina Limpopo: Imp R1 800, kudu bull R12 000, gems R6 000, wart R1 000, bwbees R4 500. S/c bush camp for 10 people, guides included. 082­784­ 0920, 082­256­6360, karia­ beleggings1@gmail.com

t Bronkhorstspruit, Gauteng: Day hunts. Bwbees R4 500, blsbk R2 500, zebra R6 000, eland R15 000, imp R2 500, gems R7 500, red hbees R6 000, waterb R7 500.

Coenrad 072­146­5221, coenrad@bhstaxidermy.co.za

t Marble Hall/Roedtan, Limpopo: Diphôfu Game Ranch. 1½ hrs north of Pretoria. Biltong and trophy hunting. S/c lodge accom 10 people. Nari­ zanne 012­346­6305, hunt­ ing@diphofu.co.za / www. diphofuhuntingsafaris.co.za t Musina, Limpopo: Mopane Ranch. Ideal for rifle/bow hunting. Kudu, imp, wbees, wart and many more. S/c accom for 14 clients, cold room, vehicle and trackers. 064­533­6557, mopaneranch@gmail.com t Zastron, Free State: Highlands Safari Lodge.

16 species to hunt. 083­611­ 0930, jpcalitz@gmail.com t Wepener, Vrystaat: Biltongjag. Blsbk R1 450, spbok R900, wit blsbk R1 600, bwbees R3 200.

S/s R180pppd. Nic Coetzee 082­781­8256, nicolaas­ coetzee45@gmail.com

t Jagersfontein, Free State: Nietgedacht Boerdery. 80km from Bloemfontein. Blsbk, waterb, bwbees, red hbees, kudu, imp, eland. Accom R400pd. 082­787­9702, davisr@vodamail.co.za t McCarthy’s Rest, Noord-Kaap: Kalahari, 7km van Botswana grens. Gems R4 200, eland R45/kg, spbk R2 000, bwbees R3 400. Jagters R350pppd.

Chalets & kampering beskikbaar.

Koelkamer en slaggeriewe.

Fernando 082­224­5000, mabuabookings@gmail.com t Steenbokpan, Limpopo: Verskeie wildsoorte. Jag­ kamp met 2, 3 en 5­bed chalets. Eskom krag, koelkamer en slaggeriewe.

S/s akkom vir 10 persone.

Billike pryse. Jan 082­775­ 2229, Joan 079­397­4309, joanbeukes@yahoo.com

t Mkuze District, KwaZulu-Natal: Bayala Nyala Ranch. Imp, nyala & bwbees available.

Lodge sleeps 16 in 8 com­ fortable rooms. Fully fitted s/c facility. 082­804­7976, pumbasafaris@mweb.co.za

t Jansenville District, Eastern Cape: Saxony Hunt & Lodge.

Biltong hunt. Kudu R32p/kg, spbok R600. Large lodge, groups 8­10. Weekends June to August. Braai, Wifi, Dstv.

R500 day/R500 night fee. 074­ 356­9845, simonmarais320@ gmail.com, and Facebook

t Heilbron, Vrystaat: Gewone blsbk vanaf R1 700.

Pa & seun/dogter asook groepe welkom. Koelkamer & slaggeriewe. S/s jaghut

t Platjan, Limpopo: Greco Safaris. Imp R1 500­ R1 750, bshbk R12 500, zebra R8 000, dkr R2 000, steenb R2 500, waterb R7 500,

swart R950, bwbees R4 250, kudu cow R5 000, kudu bull R7 500­R17 500. R450 hunter/non hunter, Deposit R7 500. M Maartens 082­ 800­8369, mdmaartens@gds. co.za t Klerksdorp, Noord-Wes: KMK Safari. Ons jag die volgende: Buf, kmpd, eland, kdoe, gems, rooi hbees, bw­ bees, swbees, rbok, spbok, blsbok, swart witpens en vele meer. Japie 061­733­ 1034, 084­373­7874, kmksafari777@gmail.com t Queenstown, Eastern Cape: Rheebokfontein. Eland R11 000/ R9 000, bwb R3 900/ R3 600, wart R650, imp R1 900/ R1 500, kudu R6 500/ R4 000, blsbk R1 800/ R1 600, mtn reed R1 800, zebra R5 500, Kalahari spbok R1 700/ R1 500, flwdeer R2 750, common spbok R1 200/ R1 000, waterb R8 500/ R6 600. 082­494­ 0819, danny@fibsqtn.co.za t Rustenburg, North-West: Imp R1 200, bwbees R3 500, kudu R10 000, wart R550, gems R5 500, plus more species. Hunters R550pppd.

S/c accom for 10 people, cold room, guides, vehicle. Dylan 079­977­3205, bushwacksafa­ ris@vodamail.co.za t Thabazimbi, Limpopo: Imp F R1 250, M R2 000, bwbees R3 000, kudu R3 500, wart R1 000, zebra R8 500.

More species available.

Hunters R570pppd. S/c accom for 8 people, coldroom, guides, vehicle. Fred 082­445­ 0498, fcamphor@mweb.co.za t Bedford, Eastern Cape: Belvedere Safaris. Your ultimate trophy and venison hunting experience, with a wide variety of species. Full and s/c accom. 082­561­6005, venesia@r63.co.za / www.belvederesafaris.com

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Test Report THE CRONUS IS Athlon Optics’ leading range of scopes for long-distance sport shooting and tactical work. Magnum’s test model had the Advanced Precision Long Range (APLR) first focal plane IR MRAD reticule.

The scope is 365.7mm long without the sunshade and weighs 1kg. The objective lens-housing is 66.04mm in diameter – consider this when buying mounts and rings. The onepiece body is 6061 T6 aluminium alloy with a 34mm diameter tube and is waterproof, fog proof and shockproof. The tube is argon-purged to further ensure waterproofing and thermal stability.

The lenses are fully multicoated with additional coating on the outside for protection against oil, dirt and scratches. They provide a sharp image, right up to the edges. I was able to call a fellow shooter’s individual shots less than an inch apart on a gong at 500m.

Eye relief is 91–96.5mm. The focus ring on the eyepiece turns smoothly but firmly. The magnification ring is broad and grooved for fast operation.

The turrets are the exposed, directdial tactical type with audible, tactile clicks and a zero setting for a quick return to zero. The elevation turret has click markings with two rows of numbers and a zero stop feature. The windage turret has white click markings and a single set of numbers. The white lettering is clear with arrows: DOWN, UP, L and R. When you dial a full rotation for elevation, a horizontal line appears as a visual indicator, repeated after the second and third full rotations.

One click gives you 0.1 MIL and one rotation adjustment is 10 MIL. The total elevation adjustment is 33 MIL and the windage adjustment is 18 MIL. A left turret has an external dial for controlling the reticle’s illumination –

58 | ManMAGNUM | July 2020

Athlon Cronus 4.5-29x56 FFP Scope

by ANDRÉ GROBLER

11 brightness settings with intermediate battery saver OFF stops. This turret also accommodates the lithium CR2032 3V battery and parallax adjustment dial marked from 25 yards to infinity. Initially I battled to remove the parallax error as rapidly as I wanted – it will take practice to get a perfectly clear sight picture under pressure.

The APLR first focal plane reticle allows for any subtension on the reticle to be the same at any power, and assists with quick holdover positions, windage corrections and distance determination. It provides 0.2 MIL hash mark increments from the centre on all four legs of the crosshair. The red illumination facility lights up holdovers all the way up to 10 MIL, with the 0.2 MIL mark increments in between.

ZEROING THE TURRET involves removing the locking screws of the elevation turret knob, which reveals a black plate inside. Loosen the three side screws of the plate, while ensuring that the stopping screw on the bottom of the plate touches another stopping screw on the base so that the plate will not turn any further clockwise (downward direction). Tighten the three screws again and put the turret knob

back on with the zero line aligned to the vertical mark below the turning knob.

Lastly, tighten the knob screw to lock the knob in place.

First I tested the reticle for tracking. I dialled ten clicks (1 MIL) into the scope and fired a shot at 100m.

After returning to zero, I held a 1 MIL holdover on the reticle and hit the same spot. To test it at its highest magnification, I dialled ten clicks up, ten clicks to the left and ten clicks down, to bring the point of aim back to the zero’s horizontal line. The shot hit the line. From there I dialled 10 clicks down, 20 clicks to the right and 10 clicks up, again to the zero’s horizontal line. The shot hit just above the line. I then dialled 10 clicks left to zero and the shot hit centre. To double-check the zero, I took a follow-up shot at a gong at 100m, hitting it dead centre. The Cronus’ tracking works very well.

This is a true professional grade MRAD long-distance and tactical scope.

Made in Japan under strict quality control, these scopes are marketed by Athlon Optics, Kansas City, USA and come with a lifetime guarantee. The model we tested retails at around R39 000. For your nearest retailer contact Adrian Anderson of Optimax Distributors on 082-922-5571, or adrian@ optimaxdistributors.co.za.

Scan the QR code for a quick overview of the Cronus 4.5-29x56 FFP

FOXPRO HammerJack Predator Caller THE FOXPRO HAMMERJACK caller is a small, portable, electronic caller packed with great features that functions with a handheld remote. It comes standard with 100 FOXPRO sounds but can hold up to 300 sound effects.

The caller has two loudspeakers and produces excellent sound quality and high volume levels.

The main speaker is the horn type and, when used for distress sounds of rabbits, small rodents, birds and other animals, the sound is sharp and undistorted, even at higher volumes. This speaker is significantly better than those on other FOXPRO models and will assist to increase reach in poor weather conditions such as wind. The rear speaker on its own is not as loud as the front horn speaker.

The caller can also accommodate two external speakers using 3.5mm plugs. Each external speaker jack corresponds to one of the internal speakers. On a quiet uiet Free State night, using the guinea pig sound effect over the internal horn speaker, a volume setting of two worked well.

Battery power is directly linked to how loud t h e c a l l e r i s p l ay ye d .

Using only one speaker the expected run ti me is 6 to 15 hours, using both speakers it is 3 to 10 hours. The cal ler does not come with batb teries – you will need n eight AA batteries. I suggest s you use only high-c capacity rechargeable NiMH (nickelmetal hydride) batte eries.

The remote is one of the best I have s een in terms of button layo out and

by ANDRÉ GROBLER visibility of content on the LCD display. It fitted my hand perfectly and, even when wearing gloves, my thumb could easily reach all the buttons. In addition the buttons b stand proud which makes them easier to feel during night wo ork. The display lights up in red and th he lettering is black.

The Hamm erJack is packed with features. The remote can store up to ten unique preset or favourite sounds.

Itt also has a FOXBANG fea ture which, when activa ted, automatically sw itches to an assigned fun nction after it picks up on a shot e.g. it can go to mute. The play mode setting specifies which mode of soun nd playback the caller will use and the options are: repeat, single play or jukebox.

Ano other feature I found helpfu l is the stand timer function. The elapsed timer at the bottom right of the display

Test Report

allows you to see how long you have been calling at a particular place.

The timer starts as soon as you turn on the remote.

The HammerJack uses FOXPRO’s proprietary audio file type (FXP), MP3 and uncompressed WAV files. The caller can be programmed with a computer, using a USB 2.0 A/B printer cable (not included). The caller does not support MP4, WMA or other file types.

Various factors determine the maximum range between the remote and the caller. The manual says 200m, but I’ve never used a caller further than about 100m. Always keep a clear line of sight between the remote and the caller.

The HammerJack also features a decoy system, the FoxJack 4 with the FOXPRO Fuzzy Wuzzy topper. It forms part of an extended battery housing cover, uses the caller’s power for decoy motion, and is controlled by the remote.

This FOXPRO is robust enough to handle the knocks and bumps, dust and moisture that come with this type of night-time work. Being small and compact it is no trouble to carry in the field and store in a vehicle, plus it is easy to operate and has all the necessary features for successful predator control.

It is an excellent instrument for both professional and novice predator hunters, and well worth the suggested retail price of R6 500. For more information contact Formalito on 012-664-7793.

Scan the QR code for a quick overview of the FOXPRO HammerJack

July 2020 | ManMAGNUM | 59

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Gallery shooting bag when you have signed the registers.

Good practices to keep in mind before and after visiting public places, would be to wash your hands often with soap and water for 20 seconds, use an alcohol-based hand sanitiser when you can’t use soap and water, and at all times avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth. Also, clean and disinfect surfaces you use often such as benchtops and desks.

– André Grobler

Size of Ivory I have just read the Gallery piece by Gregor Woods (April 2020 issue) regarding the sizes and mass of history’s ‘super ivory’, and the endeavours to ascertain mass/size by photographic evidence.

Readers might find the attached photograph, taken during 2007, of some interest. I owned a pair of tusks one of which is shown in the photograph. It measured 9 foot 1 inch from root to tip, and had a circumference at the lip of just over 20 inches.

Standing in the picture is my wife who is 165cm tall. The tusk weighed 135 pounds. The other tusk (not shown) also weighed 135 pounds, was only 8ft long and was slightly thicker towards the tip.

It might be interesting to extrapolate some details of this to learn more about the size/mass of the tusks in the aforementioned article. – Andrew Tonkin

62 | ManMAGNUM | July 2020

Polymer Cartridge Cases Interesting news from America’s 2020 SHOT Show is the newly formed partnership between Sierra Bullets and polymer ammunition manufacturer True Velocity. They announced a competition-grade line of composite-ammunition using polymer-walled cases, claiming it capable of sub-MOA accuracy and single-digit deviation in muzzle velocity. It will be available during 2020. Polymer cases have long been used for shotgun ammunition, and plastic-cased 7.62x51 training blanks were in military use in SA by the early 1960s. But we’ve not yet seen successful polymer-walled bulleted cartridges for bolt-action rifles.

True Velocity from Texas, has developed and produced composite metal-polymer cased ammunition for many years. The case head is steel alloy for strength and reliable extraction (extractor claws rip through polymer case rims). The steel case head has a polymer over-mould. A separate mould process forms the case shoulder and neck, and then the two parts are joined to create a complete case.

This manufacturing process affords uniformity in case wall thickness, with the added benefit that, in a given calibre such as the .308 Win, the internal dimensions of the case can be made to differ from those of standard drawn brass .308 Win cases in order to suit differing charges for achieving specific internal ballistics. Thus more efficient combustion can be achieved for greater consistency, and less powder is used to achieve a particular velocity.

Drawing a brass case begins with ‘cookie-cutting’ a disc from a sheet of brass. This coin-like disc is first stamped into cup form, rather like a large, thick-walled primer. A drawing process then forms it into an elongated hollow cylinder, blind at one end, its walls stretched longer and longer by means of high-pressure rams forcing the brass into a forming die. Manufacturing processes vary;

the brass may undergo additional steps, such as annealing and washing after each stretching process as well as quality checks.

The case head is stamped into shape and the flash-hole punched through the web. Then the walls are tapered and shaped in stages to acquire the desired body, shoulder and neck dimensions. Brass is the favoured metal because it is malleable, strong enough, cheap and readily available.

Brass cases can be reformed and reloaded; polymer cases cannot.

True Velocity claim their ammo has at least 30 advantages over brass, including 30% reduced weight, reduced heat-transfer to weapons, enhanced accuracy, consistent muzzle velocity, reduced muzzle flash, and more efficient powder combustion.

For most hunters and sport shooters, ammunition weight is of no concern, but for military use, weight limits the carrying capacity of individual soldiers, armoured vehicles, aeroplanes, helicopters and boats. Further up the line, it affects transportation capacity and costs. For the foot-soldier, lightweight ammunition affords more agility when carrying the same number of rounds, or more firepower for the same carry weight. The average combat soldier carries seven 30-round magazines – 210 rounds. Reduced heat-transfer will also enhance long-term barrel life.

The military is therefore keen to invest in composite steel-polymer cased ammunition.

In late 2019, True Velocity’s 6.8mm composite-cased cartridge was selected

for the US Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon modernisation programme, in conjunction with two other companies. At present, True Velocity’s ammunition, offered in 5.56x45 NATO, 7.62x51 NATO, .308 Winchester and .50 BMG, is available only to the US military. The company’s website indicates they’re also working with Norma to produce unique sniper ammunition for law enforcement agencies.

Successful military small-arms developments are usually adopted by the commercial industries. Initially, the new dual-branded Sierra-True Velocity ammunition for hunters and sport shooters will be available only in .308 Winchester loaded with Sierra’s 168- and 175-grain MatchKing and Tipped MatchKing bullets, and in 6.5mm Creedmoor with a 142-grain MatchKing bullet. It will be interesting to see how hunters and sport shooters receive this ammo. Generally, recreational shooters tend to care more about accuracy and affordability than do the military. The question is whether the lower shipping and hauling costs of polymer-walled ammo will make it cheaper than brass-cased ammo, and if so, by how much? Given the wide variety of sporting cartridges in common use, and the benefits of hand-loading, it’s probably safe to say brass cases will be around for quite a while yet. – André Grobler

PEOPLE

Gunsmith of the Month: Neville Murrish Neville lives and works in Barrydale, Western Cape, where he established the Valley Gunsmith shop. His interest in firearms and gunsmithing started during his military career.

After completing the required qualifications, he registered as a licenced gunsmith in 1991.

Most of his work is general gunsmithing. He likes repairing and refurbishing old (vintage) firearms, specifically rifles and shotguns.

Neville has built several medium-calibre hunting rifles for PHs as most of his client base are involved in hunting.

These include rifles in .308, .30-06 and .270 – the .308 being his favourite, For building a hunting rifle, Neville’s favourite barrel is a Krieger, and for an action the K98 or its derivatives. He likes traditional walnut rifle stocks although many of his clients opt for laminated or synthetic stocks. Neville does work on precision rifles but not complete new builds. His favourite calibres for a dangerous game rifle are .375, .416 or .458.

Neville occasionally hunts for the pot, does varmint hunting and seasonal bird shooting. He also takes part in sport shooting and is a member of the Montagu Pistol Club.

Subscriber of the Month: Mike Wittet Mike came to South Africa from Scotland 50 years ago and has now retired to the Western Cape. He considers himself fortunate to have had many hunting adventures including a quest for the Big Five – with a dart hunt on a white rhino, and hunts in other countries for a Marco Polo sheep, bongo and Lord Derby eland.

He enjoys going back to his roots in Scotland and says there is nothing better than a highland stalk for a red deer stag. In Scotland he normally used his 7mm Merkel and during his last visit there, to Assynt, he assisted in a cull taking two stags.

Previously Mike was a trophy and meat hunter but now enjoys local meat hunts to make biltong, mince and boerewors for his family. He uses a .375 rifle for dangerous game and a .30-06 for antelope.

July 2020 | ManMAGNUM | 63