Hunting in the Hot Weather Downunder

C

coote

Joined
Apr 3, 2006
Messages
1,465
Yo. Happy New Year. Haven't been here for a while. Things get pretty busy now that it is the growing season down here... plus I have a new part-time job on top of the other things we do.

Anyways... my freezer is now pretty full. I shot a yearling doe in the Marlborough Sounds a few days back. I've been going to the same place since the late 'sixties and our philosophy was to always conserve the deer in the area. We often would not shoot any... and when we did, we picked a stag. Now the numbers have grown to an almost undesirable level given the amount of feed around. I didn't even see a stag this last trip, just does, yearlings and a couple of fawns.

I shot the deer with an old Lee Enfield. It used to shoot .303 British in its original incarnation, but my father re-chambered it to shoot the more common 7.62 x 39 cartridge. I butchered the deer on the hillside and carried back just the meat. I apologise for the lack of Beckers in the photos.

i406Y49.jpg


We got back from the Marlborough Sounds yesterday afternoon, and this morning I got a call telling me that there was a pig caught in one of my leg snares on a neighbor's place. My leg snares are powered with bungee rubber and the pigs have quite a radius they can move in. I hurried to the scene with my new Rossi .357. You may wonder about the bright tape around the barrel, but I keep a supply so I can apply tape across the muzzle to stop the barrel filling with rain or leaves. I have been loading my own cartridges for this gun.... using bullets I cast and just enough TrailBoss powder to give me about 870 fps velocity. I don't like using high-powered cartridges on peoples' farms.

The pig had gone into some thick scrub. The landowner stood at a safe distance (taking photos with his phone) while I peered into a dark opening to see if I could spot the hog. I couldn't see it:

TbVDgz3.jpg


But the hog saw me and, like other pigs I've caught around here, it didn't seem to be in a very good mood as it rushed into the opening. The photo below shows the gun with the hammer down... it may have been taken pretty much at the same time as I pulled the trigger. It all ended well. I'm pleased I had the .357 instead of the usual .22 rimfire or my spear.

8Rt7qyc.jpg


uNSHywl.jpg


And just to make this a legitimate post, I thought I should show a picture of one of the best tools this trapper owns:

QdbiApy.jpg
 
coote said:
Yo. Happy New Year. Haven't been here for a while. Things get pretty busy now that it is the growing season down here... plus I have a new part-time job on top of the other things we do.

Anyways... my freezer is now pretty full. I shot a yearling doe in the Marlborough Sounds a few days back. I've been going to the same place since the late 'sixties and our philosophy was to always conserve the deer in the area. We often would not shoot any... and when we did, we picked a stag. Now the numbers have grown to an almost undesirable level given the amount of feed around. I didn't even see a stag this last trip, just does, yearlings and a couple of fawns.

I shot the deer with an old Lee Enfield. It used to shoot .303 British in its original incarnation, but my father re-chambered it to shoot the more common 7.62 x 39 cartridge. I butchered the deer on the hillside and carried back just the meat. I apologise for the lack of Beckers in the photos.

i406Y49.jpg


We got back from the Marlborough Sounds yesterday afternoon, and this morning I got a call telling me that there was a pig caught in one of my leg snares on a neighbor's place. My leg snares are powered with bungee rubber and the pigs have quite a radius they can move in. I hurried to the scene with my new Rossi .357. You may wonder about the bright tape around the barrel, but I keep a supply so I can apply tape across the muzzle to stop the barrel filling with rain or leaves. I have been loading my own cartridges for this gun.... using bullets I cast and just enough TrailBoss powder to give me about 870 fps velocity. I don't like using high-powered cartridges on peoples' farms.

The pig had gone into some thick scrub. The landowner stood at a safe distance (taking photos with his phone) while I peered into a dark opening to see if I could spot the hog. I couldn't see it:

TbVDgz3.jpg


But the hog saw me and, like other pigs I've caught around here, it didn't seem to be in a very good mood as it rushed into the opening. The photo below shows the gun with the hammer down... it may have been taken pretty much at the same time as I pulled the trigger. It all ended well. I'm pleased I had the .357 instead of the usual .22 rimfire or my spear.

8Rt7qyc.jpg


uNSHywl.jpg


And just to make this a legitimate post, I thought I should show a picture of one of the best tools this trapper owns:

QdbiApy.jpg
Click to expand...
Looks like you came back with a bang! Sorry, couldn’t resist... Welcome back and a happy new year to you too! :)
 
Pretty cool man. Freaky how that pig came out. The 9 is one of the best blades I own as well.
 
Another good feral hog.

Glad that the pig didn't get you as well. They can be REALLY bad when cornered or trapped.
 
Thanks for the comments.

Yep, that Number one is a nice rifle. The trigger pull is a lot harder than I'd like, but it is a rugged bit of equipment, and I just love those old sights.

I recently sold my fancy .308 Win with a full barrel silencer and nice scope. It was an excellent rifle, but I missed the simplicity and plain ruggedness of the old rifles I used to hunt with. So it is great to be using the old Lee-Enfield and my newly acquired Rossi lever gun. When I look along those open sights I feel confident. I never worry that the scope might have been bumped. And I don't have to take the danged suppressor off every time I've fired a shot to clean up the barrel to stop it corroding. I might get a scoped centerfire again one day as they are undoubtedly a better option for long shots and low-light conditions, but meanwhile I'm really enjoying hunting like it used to be.
 
Hey Coote.....

It was a pleasant surprise to see you back..... Great post as usual...... Talk about eyeball to eyeball.....your choice of handy a
rifle is very similar to the .44mag Winchester 94 I carried for years..... I have always loved what I call John Wayne carbines...... you can carry them by the waist of the stock without the dragging the muzzle through the mud...... Very handy indeed and handy is good..... Great pics.....

All best`and Happy New Year .....

Ethan
 
Thanks Ethan. I fancied getting the .44 Mag myself for quite some time. But then I figured that the .357 was cheaper to run and didn't make quite as much noise.

This is my first lever action, and I really like it. No protruding bolt. I've often bemoaned the fact that we can't take handguns out hunting here (you can only use them on a supervised range)... but I now think that these little lever guns are just as much fun and probably more useful for what I do.
 
They are a great choice..... I had Marlins in both .357 and .44 mag but when they jammed they were an absolute nightmare to unjam....I loved the little Winchester though..... I have also always loved pistol/rifle combos and the .357 paired with my long time edc .357 S&W mod 66.....pleased me greatly...... The little lever guns are handy as hell. .. There is a reason Winchester cranked those .44-40’s and .45long Colt babies out in hundreds of thousands.... As you point out they are flat and in handgun calibers very compact.....

A .357 carbine is a sweet set up....Ammo choices run from wadcutters that will not ruin much meat in small critters to some pretty hotsy-totsy medium game getters....A lovely choice ...

Ethan
 
Yes... I've experienced a jam in my lever gun. One cartridge had a bullet sticking out a tad further than it should have... only by a few 'thou'. It gave me a couple of minutes of worried frustration. Other than that, it has functioned perfectly.

Where do the bullets enter the tube on that Ruger.... up through the stock? That would be a great rifle for a mob of hogs.
 
The cartridges lie under the barrel and lift like a semi-auto shotgun...... Evidently it was a nightmare to manufacture.... I had one when they first came out along with the 10-22 that was it’s little brother out of season practice gun..... Same envelope.... I just acquired a replacement for the .44....A beautiful handling piece... Rumor has it that Bill Roger loved the handling of the M-1 Carbine but, wanted more punch for Eastern Whitetail deer....... Detail cleaning is best left to someone who frustrates less easily than I do....lol... e
 
Ah. My Dad served in Korea where he experienced the .30 Carbine and he seemed to really like it.

Yes... a rifle that gets used a lot and in all conditions should, in my opinion, be simple to clean and maintain. Things like hammerless single-shot rifles, shotguns and semi-autos can work well, but they don't always suit me because I take firearms out in all conditions and I like to ensure that their mechanisms are always clean and lubricated. I have a family shotgun that has probably never had the insides stripped and serviced. It seems impenetrable, and I seldom use it. On the other hand, I have a Ruger 10/22 fitted with a moderator that has never had a malfunction. I have cleaned it out occasionally and it never misses a beat even using subsonic ammo (I've had great results with Winchester Subsonic).

I've just discovered some locally-made lanolin-based lubricant which I've started to use on my firearms. It seems to be very effective, and it comforts me to think that it might be leaving an enduring film all over the working parts no matter what the weather may bring. I even used some of it, along with bees wax, to make my own cast bullet lube. I also like the fact that it is classed as a food-grade lubricant seeing that I get it all over my hands etc.
 
Ya... i love the 10-22 a bunch...... Your comment that it keeps on running reminds me of a friend and neighbor who was combining soybeans and came over to borrow a .22 and when he brought it back there was a glom of bean dust and what looked like axle grease on the ejection port.... I could not believe that a .22 could function with all that crud but, he insisted that he had got two rabbits with it earlier that day.....I dumped three mags through it as fast as I could pull the trigger without a single bobble..... Wrong again..... They are just fine little machines..... e
 
I don't recommend the .22 rimfire as cartridge suitable for larger animals. However I've done all sorts of hunting with it. I don't like to upset or disturb people, and some places where I have permission to hunt I can be fairly close to property boundaries. A big cartridge makes a big bang and it can send a projectile for miles. So I've often carried a silenced .22. The 10/22 is a good choice because of its reliability and firepower. There can be a temptation with a semi-auto to just take any old shot, knowing that you have another 9 cartridges to follow up with. This can be a mistake. The first shot is crucial, and even if you land the next nine shots in a running animal they may not hit anything important enough to make it drop.

My 10/22 has a plastic silencer that sits low enough to allow me to use the open sights. It is held in place by a stainless hose clamp. It may not appeal to some folks, but heck it works well.

TxJ3j3A.jpg

FK7kxAf.jpg
 
Ethan Becker said:
The cartridges lie under the barrel and lift like a semi-auto shotgun...... Evidently it was a nightmare to manufacture.... I had one when they first came out along with the 10-22 that was it’s little brother out of season practice gun..... Same envelope.... I just acquired a replacement for the .44....A beautiful handling piece... Rumor has it that Bill Roger loved the handling of the M-1 Carbine but, wanted more punch for Eastern Whitetail deer....... Detail cleaning is best left to someone who frustrates less easily than I do....lol... e
Click to expand...

Detailed cleaning is quite the chore. And if done incorrectly one can permanently damage the receiver. The mag tube can snap the reciever when trying to remove it. I love Gun Scrubber for just that reason.

Here's a picture of a broken 44 carbine receiver

Screenshot_2016-02-26-21-07-54 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/153781516@N05/
 
C coote That's a nice set up on your 10/22 I really like how you mounted it off center to use irons and not a scope. Do you have baffles in your can or is it hollow and big enough for the pressure drop.
 
Pity about that broken rifle.

The silencer was made by a guy who is an engineer, and who used to run a gun shop. I believe it is made from PVC water pipe. I just went and poked a bit of wire into it, and it appears to have no baffles at all. It is just a relatively big expansion chamber. This type of silencer is a good choice for a rifle with very little barrel protruding in front of the foresight. When ordering the can, I had to provide a few key measurements, including barrel diameter in a couple of places. Interestingly, this particular one also fits my number 1 BRNO that my Dad purchased back in the 'fifties.

I have a fairly small diameter moderator that screws on to my Anschutz .22. I can use iron sights on this rifle also.

Here's a close-up of the plastic device:

l1oAVg8.jpg
 
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