Thread: Old school hunting

I'm glad the pic has tickled a few's fancy. It brings me bck to reading all those old early hunting books when I was a kid. Tales of carrying blankets and wearing army greatcoats up into the Alps. Rex Forrester books in the early culling days using 303's and living on venison, rice, salt, tea and having to soak army biscuits before they could eat them... I was born far too soft for those days!

the worst stuff was the dried egg powder - revolting stuff - really only good for baking - we used it to make pikelets on wet days -

Originally Posted by grandpamac

Greetings, I wonder if that clay pan and the hills behind are choked with contorta by now. We tend to forget how little of the wizzo clothing, kit and especially rifles was available to most as recently as the 1950's and 60's. GPM.

@grandpamac And even later than that. I bought my first centrefire in 1980; a year after I left school. It was an ex WW2 K98 8x57. It cost around $70 and I had to put it on layby because my butchery apprentice wages couldn't afford that cost. I put an old 4x32 Pecar scope on it. It was beaten up and had a very fine crosshair reticle, but again, was all I could afford. But even then, it was mostly BSA's and Parker Hales that were the predominant new rifles we saw in Taranaki.

Funny; to this day I can still remember firing my first ever centrefire shot through that rifle, and the trepidation before I pulled the trigger; I would have been 17. I'd got my gun licence at 16, and because I asn't 18 mum and dad had to agree to me getting it. The only reason they did was because I'd had firearm training in the ATC. They bought me a Stirling .22 for my 16th birthday.

About 2 years later I bought a new Ruger M77 .270 from Sutherland Sports in NP. Cost me $434, and mum hit the roof when I told her the cost! I paid a deposit, put it on laybuy, took it home. I drove to NP every Friday night to put $20 down on it until I'd paid it off!

Barwicks Auction Mart in Gisborne I can remember as a young fella going in and they had racks of 303 some fully wooded some not many new - BSA Martini action .22 rifles and 410 Kea guns for sale ( the .22 BSA might have been ex training or cadet rifles they had bought at auction ??? ) and lots of ex army clothing - used to ride back up to work on an old triumph 650 wearing an ex army great coat -

Yep.... the Military Surplus stores were our best friend.

@Barry the hunter When I was at high school (76-79) we went on a few courses withnthe ATC to Ohakea. On one of them we were meant to do some range shooting, but they were working on it so no go... But I cn remember them showing us the armoury.... Hooooooly hell; racks of 303s and even some Brens.... Plus SLR's etc of course. But the 303s and Brens...... Even at that age they would have had to mop my drool from the floot.....

Speaking of drooling.... K98s being packed up after WW2....


@NIMROD Dad's old farming mags had the Valentine's surplus store ads on te back page. I used to drool at the ads for new/in grease Jungle carbines and M1 carbines for $26! Sorry for the old man "in my day" references!

ahh yes - unlimited ammo to in some cases - shooting with the old Gisborne Rifle Club we had an annual shoot with the territorials - they would turn up in three or four I think they were K Model bedfords and we had a target shoot - us with our target .303 they used .308 SLR we used to soundly thrash them but lot of fun - but end of shoot they would haul out some Brens and stens and before the beers and BBQ we had some real fun - holy crap imagine that today be bloody court martial at least

1970 brochure

Originally Posted by bumblefoot

Speaking of drooling.... K98s being packed up after WW2....

Attachment 243422
@NIMROD Dad's old farming mags had the Valentine's surplus store ads on te back page. I used to drool at the ads for new/in grease Jungle carbines and M1 carbines for $26! Sorry for the old man "in my day" references!

I wonder how many of those Mausers ended up as Parker Hales or Midlands - jungle carbines- nice concept pity about the complete lack of accuracy -had a MI Carbine for awhile 30.cal particularly useless cartridge from my memory of it - but handy little rifle for pig hunting

I had a Midland 308 for a while; kicked like a bloody enraged bull! Far more felt recoil than the M77 .270 ir any other 308 I'd used. It must've been a stock shape thing, even with a recoil pad.... I got rid of it asap. But I did tell the buyer that it booted like hell and that's why I was selling it.

Originally Posted by bumblefoot

1970 brochure

Attachment 243423

Greetings,
I see the Parker Hale Standard .303 listed at $36.00. I bought one about 1967 and it cost me $29.00 (fourteen pounds 10 shillings) with a new barrel. I could have saved $2.00 by getting one with a checked barrel. Note that the .222 and .308 rifles are a lot cheaper than others of the same make and model. Something to do with supporting CAC springs to mind. In 1970 or 71 a friend and I bought a 3 bedroom house to set up as a Flat. It cost $8,150.00 including chattels (whatever they were). It was a different time.
Regards Grandpamac.

It was a different time; but wages were different too. Take the Ruger for $434. When you consider I was being paid about $60-70 in the hand; that M77 was damn expenxive! We are now in a golden age when it comes to the cost of buying good and generally inherently accurate rifles...

Early 60s in Timaru,the army had a rego day and display on at the army hall.We went as high school kids do,maybe join the army.Was looking at a Bren gun,as i had read about them in my weekly army magazine.Soldier said come over and pick it up,get to see what its like to carry.Well it was bloody heavy,i got it to waist high off the ground and put it back down.Must of been about 30lbs of steel in it,really steel.No plastic of today with 3 shot mags and SS barrels.

AH, nostalgia ain't what it used to be!