Some of you might recall my self-inflicted dramas in the wonderful world of buying second-hand without trying-before-you-buy: http://forums.nitroexpress.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=174420&page=0&fpart=1&vc=1

Well, my little Winchester M70 .458WM has been rescued by the good doctor, Alex Beer, and I was able to pick it up from the shop yesterday and shoot it today. Alex has fixed the feeding issue, fixed the stock drama, attached the barrel band sling eye and attached a new barrel band foresight (the previous one being bent). With me being on a limited budget for this particular rifle, we went for functional rather than fancy, although I must say I do love the looks and the feel of it.

Out in the scrub, I busted a few termite hills to get into the swing of things, and then popped a paper target out at forty-seven metres. Leaning off the side of a tree in a strong and gusty wind, I think this rifle shoots pretty darn well, despite my two fliers! (Ignore the bottom plate - that was Friday afternoon with the Black Widow recurve.)

Then it was over to the chronograph (Thanks, John M. Just a couple more bows to test, and then I'll send it back down!) and I was very happy with the results there. I feel confident that these loads will work on buffalo. My load is a very conservative 70 grains of 2206H with WLRM primers and 500 grain Woodleigh RNSNs. It seems that 2061fps is what it gives me.

This rifle is an absolute kitten, a dream to shoot! It doesn't have much in the way of recoil, and is very comfortable to hold, aim and fire. Thank you, Alex!

Cheers,

Ben