Rifletuner

Take a look at the requirements for your state storage laws to be sure it is done in a compliant manner. Generally the requirements are for the weight to be part of the actual safe, eg some plate welded on, not just some weight stacked in the bottom.

Yes mate. Like a lot of things, there is a large part "science" where you can follow a formula and get replicable results. But also an "art" in that you have to develop, a "feel" before you get great results each time.

Glad you are happy with it mate. I still have my L plates on, but each time I work on something to do with knife making, I learn from the experience. I have been watching a heap of youtube videos on kydex sheath making, and it seems I was not heating up the kydex sheet enough. Its kind of a fine line, because if I heat it a little over the edge it burns and is not usable. Yours shows the mark of just a fraction too much heat, but otherwise I was happy with the way it turned out. I hope it serves you well. ???

I have travelled with firearms a lot, and I have asked multiple times about additional allowance for sporting goods. I have never had that happen except one time travelling on Emirates where it was arranged in advance for the Australian Tam going to a world championship event. Coming back from a competition in NZ one time, they wanted to charge me $250 in additional baggage on the return leg home. I said its all sporting equipment, dont I get some additional leeway? The guy just laughed at me ans said "everyone would tell me they are travelling with sporting equipment if we did that".

Yeah, sounds similar to my Supercheap version. Wouldnt surprise me if they are out of the same factory. For air travel, its a bit of a trade off as you have a weight limit to work with, but still need it strong enough to handle the abuse of handlers in the airports. For driving, its not so much of an issue.

The pelican cases are good, and I would say my copy from Supercheap auto is equally good. I have flown with rifles domestically and internationally more times than I can remember - at least 50 times. Any of these heavier duty cases will hold up well. you just need to make sure the foam in the case is supporting the rifle well. The baggage handling practices can be horrendous, so dont try to get by with a light weight case. When I am driving with my rifles in one of these cases, I padlock the case closed, and run a chain through the metal seat mount back to the padlock so the case is secured to the vehicle. That complies with most domestic storage regulation. I did have someone tell me that the rifles have to be transported in a metal case under QLD regs, but have not actually checked that out myself.

Thats not a knife... This is a... Oh, hang on. That is a knife.

I am not a hardcore back pack hunter, so not an area I am strong on. Take my input on the subject in that context. NZ has a lot of options, there is the Tatonka and others. Bushbuck in NZ have been pushing hard the last few years to market a few back packs - they had them on display at the SSAA shot show in Melbourne last year.. The NZ guys have been doing this more / longer than the Aussies, and they seem good at catering to a niche market in NZ. But this is such a growth area in Aus now, I expect we will see more hitting the market. There is Kifaru Australia now, so there may be some options there. They only started earlier this year, or late last year. They did have some stock on display earlier in the year at the Bendigo Deer Expo. They dont have a web site set up yet, but they can be contacted through their face book page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Outdoor-Equipment-Store/Kifaru-Australia-104747010997919/ Most of the other makers in the USA rely on shipping internationally from the USA. Its not a great option, since even the best made pack is a problem if it cant be properly fitted the person wearing it. You can only do so much Q&A before you buy sight unseen, so still plenty of risk with this option. Same reason I dont by boots online unless its one I have owned before. If you are prepared to risk being called a hunting Pooftaaah, there is always Moroka 30. They do fit you, and he recently posted on his facebook about a custom fitting he did for a very short person, so he does have more ability to fit & tailor than the international guys.

Ranging reticles are slow (because maths), imprecise and far less reliable than a modern rangefinder. In the military world, you need a back up for when the electronics fail and you and your squad's like depend on it, but even in the military they do not rely much on ranging with reticles. A recent model range finder will be far better than any ranging reticle option you will find.

Out of the options you have listed, I would definitely go for the Vortex. There are many better units on the market, but it doesnt sound like you need any of the higher end models. Redfield is a division of Leupold, so their rangefinder is probably not bad, but the Vortex warranty is really great so that would be the deciding factor for me.

I have worn Merrell Moabs for the last 10-15 years and like them in the workshop as I find them very lights and comfortable, so really good for a working day on my feet. I have tried them in the hills, but just dont find the grip on the sole adequate for the Vic high country. I managed to find a set of Soloman GTX boots in the clearance bin at Anaconda for $110 and have been running these since late last year. I wanted to try them since a lot of IPSC shooters use the Soloman GTX runners for their action matches and good grip is important for that sort of thing. They are light and the grip pattern has been a lot better than the Merrells. I havent been able to try these in the bush as much as I had expected due to lock-down, fires, etc, but so far my only gripe is that they run very narrow in their sizing. They are something you would want to try in store. If you buy online, definitely use someone with a good returns policy. As far as heavier duty boots, I am in the same boat as you - looking at whats on the market currently. The only thing I will add is that boot sizing will vary from one person to another. What fits like a glove for one person can be very uncomfortable for another. So its really a matter of short listing several brands that have good recommendations, then trying them all on to see if one sits you particularly well.

Yes, black and white. Cant load contour maps. These are both limitations engineered into the 700 so they dont undercut sales of the 750 which is much more expensive. Obviously at the full price of $500, most people were paying and extra $150 odd to get the 750. So I assume the $250 price on the 700 was to clear some slow moving local stock. While I wouldn't knock back colour or topo maps, I dont need them enough to pay $650 for the Rino 750 model. Main things I want aside from basic GPS functionality is radio and tracking of others in the hunting party. So for me the 700 at this price made those features affordable.

Mine didnt come with Mars bars ???

Well, that was quick. Seriously impressive actually. Ordered Friday morning, delivered midday Monday, Brisbane to Melbourne.

Bloody hell that is a good price. Thanks for the heads up. Buying 2 now.

I bought a pair of fleece pants for hunting and found them good, but they picked up every burr and grass seed within the region. Do you have that problem? Or maybe gaiters would stop that? The only issue I could see then is in wet weather, the fleece would get wet and channel the water down my legs and fill my boots. But maybe I haven't worn them under enough different hunting conditions?

Hi BT. I am happy to do that for you. PM me if interested and we can work out how to get it going for you.

Yeah mate, a lot of the Gunny Hunters have been made in A2 steel. But this particular one I have is Elmax steel. Hopefully its as much a Euro wonder steel as everyone is saying.

Lashed out on a new knife to carry in the day pack to handle field dressing duties. I wanted to try the relatively new Bark River Gunny Hunter Light knife to see if the elmax steel works as well as people are saying in reviews. If what they are saying is accurate, it should be possible to brake down several sambar without having to resharpen the blade. Anyhow, looking forward to giving it a try out on game - hopefully the stags get this memo and cooperate.

For what its worth, the consensus seems to be that the Kahles RF binocular is the same as the Vortex Fury. EG this thread: https://www.thestalkingdirectory.co.uk/threads/range-finding-binos.155301/ As far as I can tell, the Kahles RF binoculars come with a 10 year warranty., while what seems to be the same item from Vortex has a lifetime warranty.

Its also worth remembering that all the clothing manufacturers are likely to be selling from their stands at the Melbourne Shot Shot in October. So probably some good bargains to be had there. Certainly hunters element had some good mark downs on a lot of their range at Hunt Expo a month or 2 back, and there were some good looking things marked down on some of the other stands too.

??? No worries.

Mate, based on your profile, I would say you are not too far away from me. I have a belt grinding set up for making knifes that would re-profile this easily. Shoot me a PM if you want to come over and use my grinding set up.

Hi all I am an experienced hunter and shooter, but new to this site. I have hunted most states of Australia, as well as New Caledonia, the USA and 4 different countries in Africa. I have shot a lot of rifle competitions, won some national medals, and represented Australia at 6 world championship rifle shooting competitions. As you might have guessed by now, I like guns & shooting. I have a lot of different rifles, with calibers from 17 cal through to 500 cal. Looking forward to talking some more with people on this site.