emergency spares for a trip

[isuzumate]

Hi Rookie,

Thank you for your input and I will get down to condensing the list and include general items like those you have mentioned.

I do have a second battery installed in the right hand side of the rodeo's engine bay which should help me out should the starter battery fail.

One of the most important items recommended to me (and one that I think most overlanders don't think about is a sheet of thin plastic and duct tale to cover a broken windscreen or side window that gets broken along the way. This is one of the least expensive and easiest items to pack(in a pocket stuck flat anywhere withing the vehicle to prevent scratches) and is a real lifesaver if you ever need it.

Please keep your ideas coming guys - they are all appreciated. Any item that can stop a vehicle dead is a major concern for me.

Boet.

[mudgrip4]

Somewhat off the topic but what caliber rifle do local hunters use if they have to shoot a big target like a buffalo, or perhaps a big cat - though hope the latter never has to happen these days?

Mike

[dunk]

I use a rather old 9.3x62 Good for anything, up to an elephant! ...Just remember to pull it in real tight !

[isuzumate]

Hi Mike,

I'm not a big game hunter but grew up on a farm with guns and hunting in our family. I think the most popular calibre of choice for any of Africa's dangerous game has to be the .458 Winchester Magnum capable of 5000 lbs of muzzle energy from a 500gr bullet. There are more powerful rifles which the Americans prefer like the 460 Weatherby with 8000 lbs ME but this is mostly considered excessive. Whatever your preference, if you are planning to shoot elephant or buffalo, the rifle should always be a double.

For lion and other soft skinned dangerous game the 375 Holland and Holland Mag is probably the first choice of most hunters. Hunting lions still goes on in Africa but game farms these days seem to be concentrating more on game viewing than hunting and the regulations governing hunting are being made much more stringent. New laws regulating gun ownership are also very seriously affecting hunting within South Africa.

Dunk, the 9.3 is a great rifle and is a popular choice for many hunters wanting to shoot large buck species. It is a very effective calibre and it's lower velocities cause much less meat loss than modern day magnums. It is however a much older calibre and not in the same league as the 458/460. There is a very large following of 9.3 shooters in SA. They even have their own competition shoot where you may only use the 9.3 calibre and this is very well supported.

Boet.

[mudgrip4]

Not familiar with the 9.3 but sounds like a fairly hefty slug. In NZ we don't have too large game and for wapiti (elk), red deer, wild pigs etc standard calibres like .308, .270. 303 british or newer rounds like the 7mm08 all do well. Have two young sons forcing me to acquire a whole new set of firearms...

Mike

[isuzumate]

Hi Mike,

Choosing a calibre from the few you have mentioned can be almost as controversial as choosing the best 4x4 depending on who you land up talking to.

I grew up shooting a .270 and I still believe that is the best rifle calibre for general shooting except for the largest of soft skin species. It's recoil is easily manageable for a youngster (I was 12 when I started shooting mine). The bullet coefficient (bullet shape determined by the diameter and the weight if the projectile) is almost perfect making it one of the flattest shooting calibres around. It makes shooting so easy and depending on the distances you shoot, if you zero at 150yd, you can aim on at virtually any distance give or take an inch or so.

You can go bigger or for one of the modern magnums but firstly it's not necessary and secondly the recoil can spoil anyone's shooting forever. You can shoot the 270 all day for fun and not worry.

Best bullets are Barnes X or Nosler Partition for least meat damage and best weight retention on game. They are expensive but worth their money for hunting without question. Most versatile weight is 130gr for everything else but largest size game. Here you can go for a 150r but is not as fast and you have to lead a lot more if you are shooting running game. In heavy forested areas I would use a round nose 150gr.

If you are going to shoot a lot I would reload my own ammunition. It is great fun and you get much better accuracy and can tailor you ammunition to exactly what you want to shoot and save a lot of money.

Good luck and shoot responsibly.

Boet.

[mudgrip4]

I would agree with your comment re choice of rifle calibers and 4x4 makes!! Have done alot of hunting and competition shooting with .22, 12 guage and bigbore but gave it up many years ago. Last had a delightful little winchester 94 30-30 - top little bush gun - and a remington 600 .243 (18 inch barrel) which was superbly accurate -wish I'd kept them both now!!

Busy teaching teenage sons now and bought them a pair of ruger 10/22s, one lever and one semi auto - nice little rifles though not as accurate as the old brno. Also picked up an old american Savage side by side 12 bore for $100 and have found it a superb hunting shotgun. Stunningly accurate - shot 70 bunnies in one day recently.!! Formerly used a Browning u/o, worth $5000 these days, and an SKB, but the old $100 side by side as good as them if not better in the field. We shoot on stations (ranches) in the southern alps here - kids shot 260 bunnies on last day out.

Very clear you don't need to spend thousands on big name rifles to get a accurate shooter - best deals I'm presently looking at here are American Mossberg ATR and Stevens 200, both of which will sell here for about $800NZ (($600US) for rifle plus basic 3-9 scope. Good value, quite good balance, and both tested on our club range to be more accurate than far more expensive Weatherby, Howa and Remington equivalents. Under 1" group at 100 yards. Very impressive.

Will probably choose from .270 - good to hear that comment for youngsters, .308, or the 7mm08 - which is a 308 case necked down to 7mm or .284. Lighter slug at 140gr and a bit flatter than the popular 308 180gr. Bit less boot. We have recently joined the NZ Handloaders Assn and will be looking into reloading - you really have to at $35-50NZ for 20 slugs. What sort of savings do you achieve home loading these rounds? Will bear in mind the Barnes X and Nosler - there is quite a difference in accuracy with different makes.

Cheers Mike

[isuzumate]

Hi Mike,

Getting the feeling we should change forums for this chat or I should email you - we are probably boring the rest of the guys to death yawn..

Pity you are so far away and there are so many problems exporting firearms because there are some superb buys in SA these days. There are so many guys handing in firearms for melting down by the police because of the appeals by the anti-gun lobby locally. Everyone is convinced that if they take away all the sporting rifles, shotguns and handguns in private ownership this will stop (or dramatically reduce they say) the crime rate. So, they have begun a drive to relicence all firearms and you need to pass a competency test to get a license. The result is that a vast majority of people have just elected to hand in their firearms to be destroyed.

The inevitable has happened though - some of the firearms handed in (and their serial numbers noted in a register) have found their way back onto the streets and been used in crimes again. Also, these are mostly personally owned firearms that are handed in - very few AK47's that are used in most bank robberies, car hijackings, house robberies etc are definitely conspicuous by their absence!
A further tragedy of this senselessness is that a Purdy shotgun was handed in duly written up, the serial number noted and then destroyed. This shotgun was worth a fortune and could have been sold and the proceeds used to feed the poor, pay compensation to innocent victims of crime or even given to the fight against HIV in our country. Shame.

So, if it were practical, you could get almost any make of firearm here in very good condition and when you convert our weak rand to your $NZ, you would be paying half of what you are about to pay for a "lesser known" rifle for a really good make. Again, so sad.
I have an old .22 Orbendorf Mauser that I have managed to hold on to - a real classic and a rifle that brings back so many good memories for me.

You and your sons will really enjoy reloading and the saving will be related to the cost of the components you use. We have local powders here so reloading is really cheap here. Again, pity you are so far or I could help you out with your setup. Wait till you start wanting to reload lead bullets - then you really have fun!

The 308's are great rifles - I have a single shot RSA bisley rifle which I reload for and can use this either with the peep or a 6-24 scope. This is the most accurate rifle I have ever shot. The 308 is a bit more difficult to shoot in the field though compared to the 270 - it is too "fat" when using lighter bullets - check out the ballistics.

Enjoy your shooting.

Boet.

[dunk]

Damn good read Boet, certainly not boring.
Must confess, I'm an 'old fart' now & have given up hunting. Have kept my old '98 9.3 though. (Great story there too!) & a few other old rifles, mostly WW2 vintage. Keep up the good work boys & bring those young one's on to hunting/shooting. If nothing else, it'll put food on the table!
The '98 was 'liberated' from the mayor's house, in a village, near a POW camp, in WW2 ... I know it's a true story. My late Dad was the 'liberator' ...In the family ever since '45 !! The 9.3 calibre is pretty well unheard of down this way, but, was a popular round in Europe, at one time & of course SA, where Boet says, it's still popular (Good to hear!) I believe the Yanks have cottoned onto it too ...Good Moose gun !!
Regards to all.

[geeves]

This has turned into a very interesting read and I hate to be a killjoy but this has drifted a long way from the original subject line. Could we please reopen this in "chat about anything but not 4x4 related" Im sure some people will be able to talk about rifles all day.

[isuzumate]

Hi Dunk,

I'm also getting on but hey, you are only as old as you feel!! I've done myself a disservice physically and don't shoot as much as I would like to but I still enjoy going down to the range and pretending I can.

I think you would enjoy swopping 9.3 stories with like minded guys here in SA. It is a great calibre - it must good to be more than 100 years old and still have new rifles chambered for it today. You can imagine what a beaut a .22 built on the same '98 action as your 9.3 is. I think some of the best rifles in the world came out of Germany at that time.

My father also did a "liberation" of an artillery luger during the war - he stripped it and sent it home in cake tins his sister sent him with biscuits in. He hid the parts in the tins into which he soldered false bottoms in the Tiffy's workshop bit by bit with strict instructions to keep all the tins until his return. That still is a classic today, pity he had to sell it during the depression years after the war.

He also tried to bring back a Japanese sniper's rifle rolled into his hammock but they found this and he was so cross that he took the bolt out and threw it into the harbor as they disembarked. If he was not going to have it, no draft dodging MP who stayed at home was going to either. cocky guys these Royal Naval Commandos were.

Boet.

[mudgrip4]

Very interesting to the hunters amongst us, but we better follow the management's direction and put this into the General section for chat about matters unrelated to 4x4s. New thread heading: "The perfect rifle... " - please go there.

[dunk]

Fair enough ...Sorry to be a pest ...I'm outa here !!