Thread: Calibre Choice in the 1970's

50 quid to knob of goat shit...the fellas at combined services club in Blenheim will know..... went there for meal a few years back and took young fella into the display room where all the rifles etc were stored......AWESOME to see them there and good to show young people what our service folk have used over the years.

The animals in the 70s weren't nearly as literate as they are today.

I never had a deer, a big pig etc get up after I'd shot him and tell me "that 308 has poor BC and is not a good choice", or " don't you know a 284 has flatter trajectory after 400 meters", or "excuse me but that 30-30 soft nose you just shot me with only has 990 ft/lbs at 200, while a 308 180gr Norma has 1800 ft/lbs". The animals weren't internet 'experts' back then. So they just fell over and died without a word. Clearly I/they have alot to learn..

@norsk That reminds me years ago l had done a gig guiding Americans on a Chital Deer & pig hunting trip in Northern Queensland & they wanted a bit of a tour through the country side back to the airport ,so for that sort of thing l would pick out towns with a bit of history & do a over night stay in a old outback pub to give them the feel of the country/locals.

We pulled up in a old mining town in the middle of no where , that the bakery was renowned for its pies & cakes & a local that every day took his Brahman bull for a walk down the pub & beer.While they were filling up on pies, l went for a walk in the old main street to try to get service on my phone to confirm the over night booking at the next towns pub for that night & there was the towns old RSL hall, all neglected, broken windows ,the paint on the weatherboards peeling & falling off from lack of use & neglect obviously had not been used for a while. Well bugger me sitting outside in the dirt was a Japanese war booty, Type 3 / Type 92, Heavy Machine Gun,just left rusting , a dog or kid had dug down the couple of inches to show it was only held down by old paint tins filed with concrete with a bit of bent wire.

The guys l was guiding were all Vietnam era veterans & they could not believe it either,often wondered how it escaped the Ozzy Nanny state grubs or how it was not nicked as a wall hanger or if they had sold it whether it would bring enough to fix up the RSL.

#109 @bunji. On the strength of those photos I,d condition score that Hunter @ 4-5 outta 10.Good mate of mine totes his trebly Hunter & regularly sacks Reds out to 300 yards confirming they arn,t flukes.His beater would struggle to score anymore than 1, and it wears the cheapest raggedy arse poxy chinese scope ever imported to this archipelego.The barrel looks like it served on the Western Front in a previous life devouring cordite & yet bugger me it will still shoot the eye out of a needle.Treat em mean....keep em keen

My old .222 works the same. A year ago (ish) my father-in-law offered to get it shortened by half an inch, and recrowned by a retired Gunsmith mate in Wangas. This came about when I mentioned I was going to do it with hack-saw and file, because I found it a bit loose, in that last 1/2 inch when I 'slugged' it with a couple of .22 pellets. Some weeks later, when I picked it up, he said it wasnt done, because his mate reckoned it needed re-barreling. I still havent done it, though I believe it would tighten it up a bit. It still hits golf-balls at 150m and I put this down to expert craftsmen, who knew how to hand-cut chambers and rifling properly. (tikka m55) I often consider getting it re-barreled, but the only time I ever did that to a rifle, it was never the same again, or accurate

@rewa yeah nar those trebly m55's are inherently accurate.For one the trebly just is, and secondly as you rightly say the m55 action and build quality is right up there.Barrels of quality Swedish Bofors steel, then expertly cut rifling rather than budget hammer forged or button rifled.Excellent factory bedding system to complete the package.If it was me I,d just shout the old girl a recrown & back in business.To rebarrel it would also devalue it as an appreciating firearm into the future

Actually, now I think of it, Barry Lissingtons shop, on the Square, was the ultimate Cave. When you walked in, you had to stop and let your eyes adjust,it was so dark. For a small fee, you could fire their old BSA slug-gun at a target, (through an OSH-approved long-box, Cinders). I watched an old-guy discreetly pass-over a pistol from the war, didnt know what to do with it and wouldnt deal with the Feds. He left quickly, so myself and another school-kid were allowed to stare wide-eyed at it for a few minutes..the good old days

Originally Posted by rewa

Actually, now I think of it, Barry Lissingtons shop, on the Square, was the ultimate Cave. When you walked in, you had to stop and let your eyes adjust,it was so dark. For a small fee, you could fire their old BSA slug-gun at a target, (through an OSH-approved long-box, Cinders). I watched an old-guy discreetly pass-over a pistol from the war, didnt know what to do with it and wouldnt deal with the Feds. He left quickly, so myself and another school-kid were allowed to stare wide-eyed at it for a few minutes..the good old days

Norm Hansen on George Street had a slug gun gallery.
Lissington’s became Halletts and moved to Main Street. Most will remember the smart are son Menzies

Originally Posted by Tahr

Norm Hansen on George Street had a slug gun gallery.
Lissington’s became Halletts and moved to Main Street. Most will remember the smart are son Menzies

Certainly remember Menzies and agree with your summary of him.
Ran into him several times at NZDA National's. He always had the best of gear right down to shooting shoes. Money cannot always buy results.
Died a couple of years ago. Dark past.

Slightly off topic but what about all those sports stores way back when.
My old man bought me a TOZ 22 and a sporterised 303 from Turner and LeBruns in Christchurch when I was about 14. Then I bought a BSA CF2 in .270 from Cromb and Merritt in Cashel st. That thing did a couple of trips into Fiordland and thats where it should have stayed. Must have been fit and strong back then to heave that thing up all those vertical faces
Then I bought a Sako Finnbear in .270 from Alan Millars in Dunedin, and then later a Forrester in 22.250 for long range bunny sniping. Very accurate and worked a treat, but only for the first shot, cos it was so bloody noisy that all the rabbits dived back in their holes where it was safe and quiet. I remember Allan had a Mannlicher .270 on the shelf and it was a thing of beauty. He wanted to trade both my Sako's plus some cash but I resisted, only cos with a young family I didn't have spare cash
Then I turned to the dark side and bought a Winchester Featherlight in .223; I glass bedded it and man was it accurate, then a Ruger M77 in .223, then a Vixen in .222 but had it rechambered to .223; all from the local gun store here in Blenheim. Sold that for another Sako in .270 from Hamills in Nelson, and then to a Mk5 Weatherby from H and F in Nelson
Finally set myself up with another Sako Vixen and a customer built 6.5 06 so I guess I'm pretty well done

I lived thru all those years, dairy farming family in rural NZ . Learned on a Lithgow model 12 which I had unsupervised privileges with from age 12, and a box of ammo each month from Dalgety's. The only centerfire in the extended family was a 12g side by side that I never got to shoot. Bought a scoped sporter 303 as a student in Wellington at 18 for bugger all with 2 boxes of ammo and had it for about 4 yrs during which it shot several fence posts and a goat. Sold it with most of the ammo intact to buy a motorbike. Didn't know anyone close enough who went deer stalking and never somehow summoned the wherewithal to get past reading magazines and go out on my own. With secret aspirations newly married, I bought a fully wooded Lithgow in pristine nick from a crate of them in a Hamilton shop for about $27 in 1977, along with a Lee Loader, sleeve of primers, bottle of slugs and a jug of powder. Oh, and an Aussie reloading book. Did a nice-if-I-say-so-myself sporterising job on it. Again it shot a few fenceposts, a large rat and some Raglan goats. Then I took up fly fishing instead. Eventually it was all sold to fund a bassinet. Then came the suits and career, along the way I acquired a Marlin 30-30, Ruger 10-22 and a Mossberg 500 with both barrels. The Marlin actually shot a fallow deer much to the disgust of the Riverhead meat-hunt operators who couldn't stop calling it "that dirty thirty". Ok so I couldn't blow a parry up at about 10 football fields away but that was pretty good venison. Now the suits have gone, the bassinets are borrowed for the weekend only, and I have more rifles than I'll probably ever get to hunt with. And I've still only shot the one deer. Clearly I was looking the wrong way all those years. A lot of goats have graced the freezer, a couple of wallabies and countless rabbits fell to the bow, but next year is the year of the deer, one way or another. And I can choose from 22 Hornet, 222, 223, 22-250, 6.5x55, 7x55, 308, 30-30, 303B, 32-20, 44-40, 357Mag, 45 Colt/.454 Casull. Half of them were first used pre-mid 1970s as far back as 1940s. Better late than never I guess. And no, I pay no attention to the myth about the man who owns only one rifle...

Originally Posted by Jhon

I lived thru all those years, dairy farming family in rural NZ . Learned on a Lithgow model 12 which I had unsupervised privileges with from age 12, and a box of ammo each month from Dalgety's. The only centerfire in the extended family was a 12g side by side that I never got to shoot. Bought a scoped sporter 303 as a student in Wellington at 18 for bugger all with 2 boxes of ammo and had it for about 4 yrs during which it shot several fence posts and a goat. Sold it with most of the ammo intact to buy a motorbike. Didn't know anyone close enough who went deer stalking and never somehow summoned the wherewithal to get past reading magazines and go out on my own. With secret aspirations newly married, I bought a fully wooded Lithgow in pristine nick from a crate of them in a Hamilton shop for about $27 in 1977, along with a Lee Loader, sleeve of primers, bottle of slugs and a jug of powder. Oh, and an Aussie reloading book. Did a nice-if-I-say-so-myself sporterising job on it. Again it shot a few fenceposts, a large rat and some Raglan goats. Then I took up fly fishing instead. Eventually it was all sold to fund a bassinet. Then came the suits and career, along the way I acquired a Marlin 30-30, Ruger 10-22 and a Mossberg 500 with both barrels. The Marlin actually shot a fallow deer much to the disgust of the Riverhead meat-hunt operators who couldn't stop calling it "that dirty thirty". Ok so I couldn't blow a parry up at about 10 football fields away but that was pretty good venison. Now the suits have gone, the bassinets are borrowed for the weekend only, and I have more rifles than I'll probably ever get to hunt with. And I've still only shot the one deer. Clearly I was looking the wrong way all those years. A lot of goats have graced the freezer, a couple of wallabies and countless rabbits fell to the bow, but next year is the year of the deer, one way or another. And I can choose from 22 Hornet, 222, 223, 22-250, 6.5x55, 7x55, 308, 30-30, 303B, 32-20, 44-40, 357Mag, 45 Colt/.454 Casull. Half of them were first used pre-mid 1970s as far back as 1940s. Better late than never I guess. And no, I pay no attention to the myth about the man who owns only one rifle...

That is so good. When I first started out unsupervised (10 or so and blessed with 1000 odd acres) my old man would only give me 3 rounds for the .22, no mag, no scope. I thought he was the meanest prick on earth for it......but, by hell you soon learnt how to stalk up real close, use the wind, make your shot count and when I could bring 3 rabbits back all of the time I progressed to 10 rounds and a mag. Very appreciative looking back now. FYI, still have the same Krico .22 that I started out with that the old man bought new in the early 60's. All the pigs as a young fella were with a .303, open sights.

One of the best threads in a long time. Thanks to all who contributed.

Originally Posted by Plinky

One of the best threads in a long time. Thanks to all who contributed.

Greetings Plinky,
Thanks for your kind words. Although mine was the opening post the credit for the thread must go to those that replied alone.
Regards Grandpamac.

Mmmmm.. I remember back in the day going into town every month or so from the farm in the back-blocks of south Waikato. We'd head straight to the gunshop and look over all the goods. No idea what mum did ...

Began also with a Lithgow model 12 - nice wee 22 and I'd like to have another one. Shot first bunny at age of 6 resting rifle on the old man's forearm. Don't know who got the biggest surprise - me, him or the bunny rabbit! Highly addictive - still shootin them 60+ years later..