My thoughts on some of the equipment used on this year�s hunt to RSA.

THE GOOD

Rifle � Winchester mod 70 LH with Leupold M8-4X scope. Totally reliable and functional. The rifle was sighted in to hit dead on at 100 yards in 90-degree very humid conditions. When it was checked in Limpopo the weather was near freezing with no humidity. It put two shots nearly touching but three inches low on paper. A scope adjustment was made and we went hunting. I don�t know if it was the weather change or the beating the airline gave the rifle case.



Binoculars � Steiner Military Marine 8x30. These are mid priced binoculars but above average in quality for the price. They were tested extensively before the hunt in all lighting conditions and proved to be bright, clear, and of decent resolution. I carried them on several of my long exercise walks in the country and practiced using them in field conditions. They are light and comfortable. A very good compromise between full-size and compact binoculars.



Camera � Canon A75 digital with San Disk 256MB compact flash card and Lenmar NoMEM Pro 2000 mAh NiMH rechargeable batteries. I took an extra set of batteries and a smart charger that would operate at either 115 or 240 volts and an adapter for RSA wall outlets. This is my first digital camera and was purchased only a couple of months prior to this year�s trip. It was easy to learn to operate. The controls are logically laid out and the displays are easy to read and understand. All of my photos were taken in the automatic mode except for the trophy photos that were taken in the portrait mode that had been preset to a higher resolution. The optical zoom was left off for most of the shooting until we were touring the Pilansburg Park. Then the 10x digital zoom proved useful for taking photos of live animals. I was at close to two hundred shots before the batteries needed changing. The advice I was given about the NiMH batteries was right on target.



Fire � Zippo lighter. I always carry one (the same one) on hunting trips. It is always prudent to have some means of starting a fire when out in the woods. The Zippo has proven to be totally reliable as long as some suitable fuel can be found. Normally this would be Ronson fuel in the nice convenient yellow squirt bottle but these lighters will also work perfectly well when charged up with gasoline or Colmen fuel. The new airline regulations prohibit carrying the fuel in either checked or carry on baggage. However the fully charged and functional lighter may be carried on the plane either on the person or in carry on luggage. Go figure. I charged mine up before leaving home and it was still going strong at the end of the hunt. Mine gets the most use lighting cigars to celebrate a successful shot. But lighting one up just for pleasure anytime is also done on a regular basis as someone somewhere probably made a successful shot that needs celebrating.

Smokes - Hav-A-Tampa Jewels with the wood tip are a fine smoke for any occasion. The perfect size for a smoke break when everyone else is smoking a cigarette. When everyone else is finished with their cigarette and ready to continue with hunting it is no big waste (they are cheap) to tamp out the Jewel and drop it in the back of the bakkie. I guarantee someone will finish it for you.



Snacks - Strawberry Pop Tarts are the perfect snack for African hunting. If you are like me the rusk and tea breakfast just does not cut it. When the hunger hits at about 9:30 am just break out a package of Pop Tarts and have a satisfying snack. If you thought to bring a small thermos and some Folgers coffee singles then you can have a really civilized snack break. The tracker usually does not mind carrying the thermos for you if you give him an occasional cigar for his efforts.



THE BAD

Well there were not any real equipment problems on this trip so there really is nothing to put in this category. However there were a couple of not totally good items but not necessarily bad items to mention.

Boots � Columbia Hikers. These are inexpensive non-waterproof lightweight hikers sold at most sporting goods stores. They are usually around fifty bucks a pair and I buy one pair a year on average. They require next to no break in. For daily casual wear and exercise walks they are perfect. Very light weight, fairly durable, and offer more protection and support than athletic shoes. The oldest pair I use for exercise walks and mowing the grass. The newest pair is for wearing out in public as casual dress. When the old pair breaks down then I buy a new pair and swap them. I have found this style of boot just about right for African hunting. They would not be suitable for most hunting in the states due to not being waterproof and having no thermal insulation but normal hunting conditions in Africa are not usually very cold and almost never wet.

The downside to these boots is that you never know when they will break down. The tops usually start to come apart, usually near the toe, long before the soles are worn out. And you never know when it will happen. They can look perfectly fine at the beginning of a walk and then when you get back notice that they are starting to come apart.

The other problem with this pair is that the sole is pretty noisy on hard surfaces such as tile or cement. I think that the rubber on them is harder than on others that I have had. On outdoor trails they are as quiet as any other boot I have tried.

So I took both pairs this year. I wore the newest pair on the plane and packed the older pair in my luggage as a spare pair.


THE UGLY

Transportation � The Airbus. About the only good thing one can say is that it arrived in one piece. As others have noted the main complaints are that the seats are too close together, there is no foot room due to the video box, and the video system did not work all the time. On the flight over the video system was not working. On the flight back the system was functioning, but I found that the LCD screen would not tilt up sufficiently for me see a good image. So I rolled up a magazine and jammed it under the screen and got a few more degrees of upward tilt. This worked fine until the person in front of me reclined their seat. Then I could not see the image at all.

A few things
What caliber is your rifle? I see it has 2 cross bolts so it must be something pretty decent. What game did you get?
Yous said about the gun being treated badly by baggage handlers. I have a freind who is a baggage handler.(He makes me jealous about how easy his job is and how much he gets paid for doing bugger all). My baggage handler freind has told me to cover my gun cases in Photography ,Astronomy or surveying industry stickers to imply that it contains an expensive camera, telescope or a surveyers theodolite and to add a few handle with care stickers. I have put a few expensive camera brand stickers, earth watch and national geographic stickers on mine. He has said that some of the employees are not overly backward in admitting that they will knock around gun cases and accidently drop them of the bag of the trailers for the other trailers to run over. Its bloody criminal some of the things he told me.
Last of all about the video screen never tilting high enough on plane seats to let any normal 6 ft tall person see the screen. I think that every plane I seem to travel on seems to be designed to suit a 5ft tall asian. They dont seem to take the hint when us normal sized people are sliding down our seats or bending our heads sideways to see the video screen.
Oh well have fun.

That'd be a .375 H&H? Only double crossbolt LH M70 Safari Express made so far, AFAIK. USRAC has only made one batch so far it seems. Like mine, the front swivel band is too close to the forend. [PS to CR 500; Frank O'Reilly's in Vic has these things on special for AUD1690 at the moment].

Cheers,
Doug

I have an identical rifle. Can you get yours to shoot anything "pointy" like X bullets, Accubonds, or Fail Safes? Mine seems to have a pretty long throat so that Partitions will chamber. That makes a loooong jump to the rifling for anything with a decent ballistic coefficient. But, I guess I shouldn't complain to much since at 100 yds it shoots 3/4", 3 shot groups with 260 grain Partitions and a little under an inch with 300 grain A-frame Remington factory loads. Still, it would be nice to find an accurate bullet for long range...especially one that is inexpensive so that I could practice more.