fangster

G'day Duncs! Not sure about the network intricacies but the Mrs has been going out doing feeding when I've been stuck elsewhere, and she calls my mobile each time as a "radio check" I suppose you could call it. Test, test your gear, your life may hinge on it. We were caught up in an unfortunate incident which reinforced how important it was to carry some essential gear when out away from medical help. One piece of that gear I believe it's mega important, wherever you are, to be able to reliably call for emergency medical help immediately. Nothing is infallible all the time, but when you are flat on your back hours away from the nearest helping hand that's when you appreciate how important it really is.

Hey Farmgirl if you see us on the weekend ask to look at our satphone we carry around, it's an Iridium on a $30/month telstra plan with calls at $1/min. Use it when in the paddock in case of emergency, we regularly use it to test it's working and has never failed, still manages to keep a lock on satellites if I wander inside and it can see one through a window. It's not to replace an iphone for someone addicted to texting and facebook, it's a potential lifesaver here, where we don't have mobile coverage.

I always carry a pair of Leupold Golden Ring HD 10x42's, they have copped a beating for years. They come in the ute everywhere and on all walks. They are outstanding in the dark or when waiting for the sun to come up whilst glassing into the wind. I tried a few harnesses and dont like them particularly with layering of clothing we do now and taking the harness off/on due to that. Best for me now is the hunting jackets and shirts I wear that have a vertical zippered pocket next to the zip/button up front that lets me sit the binos around my neck on the supplied strap and sit them neatly in the shirt/jacket compartment. Protects them somewhat, too. Seems to be a good compromise between size and magnifiication. Comparing the 8x42's on the market as well and hunting with a mate that has some, I can't quite imagine me ever having anything other than 10x42's.

National park isn't a shopping centre though, they may just have kittens because a machete is used for slashing through scrub, and in NP's all fauna and flora is protected (repeating Gaf) so I cannot imagine why you'd be allowed, or require one unless you were doing what isn't allowed.

Ah yeah, forgot about the little tool kit. Lost mine somewhere. Main thing for me is the knife, scissors and pliers themselves.

I carry a Leatherman 7 days a week, except when I'm going out on the town. Whenever I have workwear on I have the tool in a Kent pouch, on a belt by the same maker and it looks natural. But I guess I don't look like a troublemaking stereotype (hey I don't make up the stereotypes). Out on the gas and oil fields everyone wears one on a daily basis, and this includes in towns. I was in a local Qld national park though with the missus bushwalking recently and grabbed my hunting bumbag. A park ranger saw me and stopped me - I had a sheath knife on it still and he said they were not allowed in the park, I said I'll take it off and stick it in the bumbag and he flatly said no, they are not allowed at all. Rather than start a problem and wreck the day I left it in the car. Never officially checked out whether he was just bullshitting though. Be buggered how you fix anything on a motorcycle with a Leatherman though, except for cutting off zip ties.

That battery looks the money alright. Is it sealed? There are guys here who are almost addicted to the newer LED lights for walkabout and I agree, there are some amazing tiny lights that throw 2-300m (useable in a scope) which if we are honest, nobody I know can accurately shoot from a hasty on-foot position at game at night at even close to that range. And man, some have 3-4 18650 batteries and they are incrediblly powerful and light, can mount to your gun and hardly be noticed. Reflectors only up to 50mm in diameter anfd smaller than the old D Maglites, only 25mm diameter bodies... and no batteries to have to separately carry or leak. Fenring seems to have his info togther on what is the go on all this and it's addictive.

Same deal for me here. Did a bit of checking and found they were shipped on the 2nd/12th. So now to find them.

I ordered some 17670's and somne 18650's from a HK supplier four weeks ago, no delivery yet. Not having much luck with this stuff, so I'll give up I think. BCF has Alum bodied twin AA LED's on sale for $15 that cream anything I've bought so far in an AA torch, young bloke bought one to go to cubs camp and it's so good the missus went and bought six of them for kids presents, guess I need to steal some.

Got the 3 LED adaptors, they come from Hong Kong. But they don't fit any of the torches they're supposed to, too long. Same diameter, but totally different at the back. Did my dough, so let the buyer beware getting something without being able to physically check. Got to figure out whether it's even worth trying to sort it out.

Thanks I'll be doing that straight up. That'll get rid of those power chewing glow worms.

I too bought a Ridgeline jacket, at the end of the winter before last. a Rozor Back soft shell jacket. Wore it once, and hung it up in the cupboard. So then comes last winter and I start to wear it, anbd the main front zip fails. It's a strange stiff sort of sealing kind of zip. The alloy zip carrier that slides up was as soft as lead, and opened up and came off. I tried to put it back, but it just kept bending and just broke in half. The alloy it was made of was this really large grained soft rubbish. I then tried the zips on the pockets, they too were the same. I contacted Ridgeline on a few ocasions, even Mick Matheson from Sporting Shooter contacted them but to no avail, they just didn't care obviously. Had my money. I was working in China at the time and had brought it over to wear, and couldn't do anything else about it over there. Honestly I will never buy their stuff again, even though the Roar jacket I have with the plastic zip is fine. If they don't care about their customers, even to contact me to tell me to get stuffed, why take another risk. Make sure what you buy from them isn't faulty, check every seam and zip, and check that if anything fails the supplier can help you because, from my experience Ridgeline don't give a rats.

The HID lights are superb if you have the dosh to buy them, more light means you can potentially spot more game. Don't forget, if you find a skittish animal that doesn't want to look at the light (and experienced spotlighters know this happens with halogen or HID, white or "yellow"), use the centre of the beam to find the animal, then swing the beam off centre slightly and use the small amount of wasted light right on thre edge of the beam to keep their eyes glowing and try to stop them looking away. Lightforce ligfhts are great for this feature because you can focus the reflector to give you a bit more of asofter edge to the projected light. The feature is there for you to use. Takes away that "HID are too bright, hurts their eyes" story. You can use the super strong beam to find them better, and the softer edge to hold them. If that doesn't work, no light was going to keep them looking at you, some animals are like that and that's just the way it is. I find this works great, but that's me.

Ah yeah, you're right. 6V. Looks like the two rechargeables. Not really needing to buy LED upgrades, when I worked in China last year I bought too many LED torches. Too many... 1/4 the price you get charged here for the popular ones.

Thanks blokes. I tried a 18650 but it won't go in, in the Surefires the CR123A's are a perfect fit so the bigger 18's won't enter. And yeah the 18650 is 3.7 volt as apposed to the 3V of the CR's but I can't imagine with an incandesent bulb it would matter much. The double CR's seem elusive, so I'm going to get the highest capacity RCR123A's (3V) from ebay or wherever, they will suit the chargers I have already for 18650 and 14500's or so it seems. The older non-LED Surefire's are great torches for what they are except that they do sure suck the juice, and it would be nice to keep them going more economically.

Hi all, I have a few older Surefire torches, one in a forend light, that take two CR123 batteries. These drain quite fast compared to the LED torches I have with the 14500 and 18650 batteries. Before I search around for rechargeable CR123's, someone said once that there was a single rechargeable battery that could replace the two originals. Does anybody know?

Optic, Chinese batteries are not meant to be made to a different size, it's just that some aren't dimensionally consistent as they should be, it's a quality issue. You get the quality you pay for in anything. I bought one of the big names of head-band harnesses a few months ago mail order from a tip from one of the long time posters on this site. One where you stick their proprietary torches into it, the kind that straps around your nog and up over it, and it's crap. The torch flops all over the place. I'm not going to bag the brand, figure it out for yourself. 90% of my shooting is at night and I have a H7 and H7R on my head all the time, one or the other. I've tried many others and always go back to them. Sometimes I wonder how much night work some people do that recommend some of the junk out there. Sure the LED Lenser dimmer can be a bit fiddly, but when you know where it is even with gloves which are a necessity here at night it becomes second nature. And yes it's not the cheapest, but compared to some stuff that costs less that has slightly better distance at the expense of good working light close-up, all round they are my favourite for constant use, and are made to take getting caught up on branches and knocked about in the ute without snapping like twigs. Awesome for field dressing, and for those constant walks from the vehicle looking for what you shot amongst the logs. And if you didn't get the H7R and you have a standard H7 and chew through alkaline AAA's every few nights a bit like I did, a trip to Coles for a $25 charger including some rechargeable batteries fixes that right up.

kentsaddlery.com.au I get all my leather done there, check out the hobble belts. My latest is a 1 1/4 inch bobble belt with integral knife pouch, which I had them change to fit a Leatherman Surge for an extra $15. I'm working here in China ATM and wearing it in the workshops, the chinese guys here are going absolutely nuts because all their stuff is just bling bling and they just want one. It's half a weeks wage for a skilled chinese engineering worker though. All you need for a perfect mail order fit is to give them your jeans size in inches, and they will be a perfect fit with a few holes either way (depends on the seasons!). I haven't seen them take more than two days to get something to me in Aus. Custom takes a few more days. And check out the Leatherman pouches to fit belts you already have. Ditch that horrible security guard/paratrooper look. RMW belts? Everyone's got one of them.

EDI-T, they also sell the handlebar mounts to suit their lights (1" dia) for your MTB. I use one with their 300 lumen light. They also sell head mounts for them cheap. This week I received an order and awesomely it came next day.

what the...

Good points.

Where do you get them mate

Looks great, fantastic camo, but not waterproof? If not waterproof, it's not the jacket for the one jacket hunter, or the one to be caught out in should it start to rain. If they are please tell me, as I want one if that's the case. Rain is the best time for the hunter, so a layer type jacket that is totally water and windproof, that has a great hood to keep the head warm and shadow the face, a waterproof bumbag like a Monster, as well as a rifle that doesn't mind being rained on for hours makes it very warm, dry and enjoyable. And the Torrent jacket is a faultless thing, and works perfectly both on cold dry mornings as it does on 5 degrees C days when it's also raining - when the rain is blowing accross at 45 degrees in a howling wind.

Coincidentally I bought one of those Roar jackets in buffalo cam from Cleavers Thursday, and tried it over a wet cold weekend, and it's not warm at all. After some grumbling I realised it's the layering thing, if it's too warm you can't hunt in it, I just wore a polar fleece top under and it was awesome. When walking as you warm, at around 8 degrees, it's perfect over a long sleeve cotton shirt, and out spotlighting in -4 as it was friday night, over polar fleece it was fine. It was totally waterproof and windproof though, but cold is transmitted through from the wind outside, you need that inner layer extra that you can take off as/if it warms. Funny thing though, my deer were always trying to eat it, taking bites all the time when I wore it near them, they must really be fooled by the camo pattern. True, no bullsh1t.

My set-up for the cruiser, clips on and off in seconds. Solid as a rock, no light wobble at all as it's attached firmly to the roof via the gutters. Set up on a home made 25nb pipe with over-centre carches to fix it on, the wires go to two accessopry plugs on the front of the tray so no battery clips. Lightforce swing-up hinged brackets and handles too, and I set the height of the swing away brackets before welding them so that when your elbow is on the door sill, the handle is right there in your hand, so no fatigue after hours of use. And, at that height, there's no need to flip the handles up to shoot. No wasted distracting light on the bonnet either. The driver and shooter also look, when the shooter spots something the driver doesn't, the driver swings the light round and takes over so the shot can be taken. The rest on the drivers door has a cradle to hold his rifle too, so he only has to lift it to the shoot pos, in that case the passenger does the lighting for him. it's a design that has ironed out all the annoying points we've had over the years, and IMO better than a hole in the roof. Bit of foam on each the end of the bar so when you flick up the lights to get out they don't boong on the roof and stress out the fillamants in the bulbs. With two blokes and two lights, you don't miss seeing much. And you can swing the lights to face backwards of course if you are out on the road, but it attracts a bit of attention.