Hi o sung wu, I am right with you on snakes. The ones on my walking sticks are wooden old mate, like the drug store indians of old in the US. Besides it is the evil spirits they attack, not you.

I have lost 2 dogs to a brown & a black in the last 4 years, so to me the only good snake is a dead one.

What ever fool actually got the rotten things protected should be chucked into a pit full of the them. No one cares what some fool law might say, not a soul around here will let any snake, other than carpet snakes, roam their property. We lose too many dogs & horses to them.

In Wide Bay we had wide north facing cement front steps. Taipans in particular loved sunning themselves there in the morning. Any idiot who expected anyone to allow that, with 3 young kids around is a bloody idiot, & obviously an inner city high rise dweller.

On one occasion I found a very angry Taipan in the pool, just before the kids came home from school. In those days I had a 4Ft length of broom handle, with 6Ft of 12G fence wire attached to it, like a whip. This is an excellent implement for disabling snakes, without getting too close, & safer than a gunshot with kids around.

o sung wu,

You might be interested in researching the Ishapore 2A/2A1 (Google + YouTube maybe). Manufactured from 1963 on and purpose made for the 7.62mm NATO (7.62×51) and for the Sino-Indian conflict. It had better steel than the Mk1 Smellie.

This bit of history might interest you and Is Mise as well,
http://www.casr.ca/bg-crr-canadian-ranger-rifle.htm

The Australian Omark (Sportco) Mk44 deserves a mention.

I competed in full bore as a student and for years thereafter.

General Comment
It is very shortsighted government that does not encourage 'military' comps and target shooting generally. It is worthwhile for many good reasons. From one of the clubs,

"Target rifle shooting is one of the few sports where people can genuinely complete on an even basis regardless of age, sex, fitness, or physical disability. In open competition, shooters are graded only on ability. In State and National teams or individual events women compete without discrimination alongside men, teenagers alongside octogenarians, and perfect physical specimens alongside those who have had triple cardiac bypass surgery.

"Target rifle shooting is not age specific, nor gender specific and nor do you have to be an able-bodied individual to do it. I think that's one of the peculiarities of our sport"

Hi there HASBEEN & ONTHEBEACH...

And where are you lurking IS MISE, we need you to provide us all, with some of that sage advice ?

The 'Omark' a South Aussie F/A. Didn't they mfg'd 'Sportco's' in rimfires (.22 and .22 Hornets) as well as conversions on the Martini .310 Cadet, and the 'Slazenger' rimfire's, or was that the SAF at Lithgow ?

I'm sorry gentleman, my memory's not all that brilliant. And as you say ONTHEBEACH, the Omark big bore, in 7.62 deserved more than a mere mention, a brilliant bit of kit ? Fitted with a Central, a Rawson, even the Parker Hale aperture sight and you'd be scoring a 'possible' at 900yards ! I've not shot the 7.62 competition, in my club days only, the .303's.

I purchased a 'Brand New', No1 Mk3 from the MDRCU at ANZAC Range, Liverpool, for the sum of three pounds. Had Mr MOTT (can't think of his first name?) fit a heavy barrel ('ferlach' I think?), 'fully floated', and a near new 'Rawson', and I was on my way.

As you quite rightly point out ONTHEBEACH, the old military Rifle Clubs had no barriers, everyone was welcome, no gender bias, and you'd learn heaps from all the great shooters. Number one; 'SAFETY & DISCIPLINE', how to read the flags, error chasing...everything; a truly fantastic social/sport I reckon. I'd just turned 16 (minimum age) when I joined the Hurstville VDC Club ! I didn't even have my drivers licence then.

VDC meant 'Volunteer Defence Corps' for those who don't know. Talk about learning preparatory skills for the Army eh gentlemen ? Sorry HASBEEN Navy too, 'gulp' ?

I must cease forthwith, otherwise I'll be 'chucked' off the Forum for excessive idle 'chatter' and straying too far from the topic !

SNAKES... are horrible creatures, with beady little eyes, and 'sneaky' personalities ! The only good thing about them, was that cartoon series in the newspaper 'Snake Tales'. That poor little fellow, I felt a bit sorry for him, particularly after 'Lady Snake' had (again) rejected him !

o sung wu,

It is your thread..

You will be heartened to know that 'SMLEs' are still being made and even better by Australia, and the range comp. spirit is alive.

Google Brisbane-based AIA and its M10-B2 Match Rifle. Reproduction of SMLE No. 4 Mk II

o sung wu,

I've unlurked!

I shoot with an Omark in 7.62, they are really accurate, unfortunately our range is only 300 metres.
Sportco made .22 rim fires and shotguns, don't know if they ever made a Hornet.
They did the .22 conversions on the .310 Cadet Martinis- a fantastic little rifle- I've had one for years and it's out of it that I managed to fire 15 aimed shots in one minute.
Slazenger's .22 rf were made at Lithgow (both single shot and repeaters) and they also did a conversion of the SMLE to .22 Hornet with a 5 shot magazine, another conversion was of the SMLE to a single shot.410 shotgun.
I had a Ruger 'Security Six' in .357 Magnum but unfortunately it had a 3-1/2 inch barrel, so had to go when the minimum barrel length laws came in.
This law was utter stupidity or was designed to annoy, as I've carried a Colt Army model, with 7-1/2 inch barrel, concealed and with no difficulty.

Further to the above.

The No1 rifles were not suitable for conversion to 7.62 NATO as it was found that after a number of shots the bodies stretched and/or cracked.
Tho No 4 Mk I/1, and later marks were suitable for conversion but the Mk 1, whilst OK in Europe didn't fare so well in Australia as a few cracked when fired out around Broken Hill in the summer as the heat may have affected the breech pressure, they cracked in the slot for the bolt release catch which had been done away with on the No4 1/1 as a wartime manufacturing economy.