Good evening to you IS MISE...

I was just about to head off to another Site altogether, when you managed to 'unlurk' yourself once more ! Thanks for your information by the way. So Slaz. were made at the SAF. Lithgow ? As I said I've never even held the Omark, so obviously I've not fired one. Everything I've heard about it has been excellent, and as you know the Big Bore guys are quite fussy with their Kit ?

The Martini, is a superb little rifle. With whatever conversions that have been done on them. Beside the .22's, and the Hornets, they were marvellous with the old .218 Bee too, with slightly more 'ommph' than the Hornet ? I can't remember much about the ballistics, but a great little rabbiter I've been told, at a longer range than most .22's are capable. (I DON'T HUNT, by the way IS MISE?) I'm not even sure if you can still purchase 'factory' now, you may have to re-load I suppose ?

The Security Six is a great 'wheel gun' in .357mag. In fact I like all Ruger material. When I was in the job, by choice I'd go for the S.Six every time, with .38spec. HP 110grain + P's (the accepted round for coppers then).

I was originally issued with a standard S & W 'K' mod.10/3 .38spec, and upon becoming a detective, opted for the S & W 'J' mod 36/2 ('Chief's Special') which necessitated lugging around two 'speed loaders' which was a pain. And then on to the Glocks prior to my retirement ! Oh well, happy days !

And further to my last thread IS MISE...

Many thanks for that, I understood they generally wouldn't convert the No1's to the 7.62 but I wasn't sure why ? You've had some guns in your time eh ? Did you ever do anything with the old Martini 450-577's ? I've seen them in .303, .410g. and another couple of calibres, I can no longer remember ?

As I said at the outset, I don't hunt, but I really enjoy the engineering side of quality F/A's! There's nothing I like better then witnessing the really close tolerances, the smooth actions, as you 'lock in a round' particularly with some quite powerful F/A's. the likes of; 375 H & H Mag. or my old Ruger .458W Mag. 'Tropical' single shot. and many others I've been privileged to shoot ?

Mid 1986 I attended the FBI Snipers School in the US, and we were all permitted to fire a limited amount of shots from weapons, the Bureau have within their inventory. Many of us opted to go for the Barrett, M82A1 Anti-Material Rifle. in .50cal.

A heavy brute of a rifle, as you'd expect, at nearly 15kgs. We all shot with it even though for some, there was a bit of trepidation with the 'felt' recoil ? That said, I found it OK, whether it's because I'm a fairly big bloke used to firing my Ruger .458W mag,, I don't know ? It's fitted with a muzzle brake which disperses most of the gases and diminishes the recoil considerably ? To be precise the Barrett is not designed for law enforcement requirements, rather a military application. But you know as well as I do, 'boys with their toys' ah ? Thanks again for your info. much appreciated IS MISE.

Just getting back to the community and social aspect of range sports.

There are supervised activities with free coaching at SSAA ranges throughout Australia. It is not unusual for instance for seniors, men and women, who have time free after retirement to try it out, here is an example, (SSAA throughout Australia, see the phone book),

http://ssaabris.org.au/storage/29804/Flyer%20-GOLD.pdf

Women and men, or women and men separately, single (put with a group) or book groups. Here is another example taken from one location of many, fully supervised, helpful instruction and a different fun outing,

http://ssaabris.org.au/storage/32075/RASA%20Email%20Flyer%20A4%20270914.pdf

It is quite usual for young men who want to celebrate a friend's impending marriage to book an afternoon on the skeet range with coaching and a good laugh. A bbq later at home.

A damned good alternative to the 'traditional' option: different, exciting and fun.

Young women are doing the same in lieu of the boring ritual (and let-down) of the 'hen nights' of the granny generation.

G'day there ONTHEBEACH...

It's no longer the exclusive preserve of (mainly) blokes shooting Big Bore, any more, many a 'dainty' lady can handle a 7.62 quite well from what I've been told ! I must admit other than the odd spouse, I've not heard of too many women participating in the Big Game disciplines, neither would I anymore.

You might recall me telling IS MISE I ran a .458 Ruger, single shot 'Tropical' for awhile, and loved it. While it's true you needed to hold on to the thing it was a great rifle to shoot and I loved every minute of it ! I mainly shot at the 100yard occasionally 50yard competitions, but that was enough for me. After 4 X 5 shot sets my shoulder said quite loudly enough is enough ! The social activities were marvellous as you say.

It was a funny thing ONTHEBEACH, I was never an enthusiastic aspirant of pistol shooting. Carrying the damn thing day after day, there was no novelty to participate in the sport privately. Moreover to purchase a decent centre fire, set you back a few bob too. Although, it was claimed that Garry L. the Oz agent for S & W, would always look after the blokes if they wish to take up the sport ? Still, I think you'd need to be pretty keen to carry one all day, and shoot it on weekends or nights ?

The Big Game Shoots are great if you like the concept of 'Charging Elephant' and similar disciplines ? Most of the events are quite close range out to only 200yards (if memory serves me well). Trying to replicate Big Game hunting in Africa and India. Naturally, everyone wanted an English 'double rifle' either H & H or Purdy. Both could set you back handsomely, $7,000 second hand. Bolt action slightly less ? And one would never think of bringing an American mfgd. rifle to the range, like moi ? That would be sacrilege, according to the purists ? See you again ONTHEBEACH.

Well this is interesting: the OP mentioned weapons of all types, but everybody just wants to talk about guns.

What's up with that? Why the childlike fascination with things that go 'bang'? If a man should have the right to bear arms, why do those arms necessarily have to be firearms?

What about my right to carry vials of mutated anthrax for my own protection? What about my right to gas home invaders with prussic acid? At the very least I should be allowed to lay a small minefield in my front lawn.

Jonathon Swift,

Well done, carrying on the traditional Argumentum ad Absurdum so ably employed by the Original Jonathon.