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My first rifle to use, was my Dad's only rifle. A single shot bolt action Lithgow or Slazenger in .22 rimfire. Open sights, I learned to crawl up to six feet away from rabbits, but also could shoot pesty fruit eating birds out of the top branches of wind swaying gum trees.

I cleaned up his abused rifle. Sadly due to stupid legislation I much later returned it to him, he didn't shoot anymore. Couldn't have someone else firearms in my safe ... his safe like the old days was a place to store his guns with excessive moisture. Purchased them all from him with haste when I saw how rusty they all were. The .410 shotgun somehow survived mostly unscathed. The others ... ruined. Probably smarter to find another Lithgow single and not try to "fix" the newly rusted Grandfather's rifle. Not impressed. I had thoroughly cleaned and oiled them before returning. Keeping a safe in a shed against a wall seems a very bad idea.

MY first rifle is my Remington 788 in .222. The original model. A steel bar of an ugly rifle. But easily the most accurate rifle I have. Awful heavy but effective bridge mounts and a 3-9x Tasco scope. It would still do the goods. I MUST start using it again. Would also make a dandy weight lifting session. Do I still have some of my old ammo for it? I should have, but can't find it.

I used this rifle to head shoot running hares with a Harris bipod in vine rows. They run straight away at times. Well i could have but probably waited to see if they stopped and instant bang. Many rabbits and foxes. I remember one poor fox at hundreds of metres away. Had to shoot it several times. Some bigger "rabbits". And many many feral goats in the Flinders Ranges. Some pigs. I think a friend had a go at a feral donkey with it. Some deer head shot with it as well.

I stopped using it on goats, and donkeys. On goats, too many wounded goats, which took tracking and follow ups. My second rifle, my Parker Hale 1200 in .30-06. Decided to go for something which didn't need such precise shooting. Goats died much quicker with less than perfect hits, and didn't travel far at all.

Now wearing a new custom stock, it is still the rifle I reach for almost all of my medium game hunting. Such as the sambar I took with Gryphon. I took it on my first African plains game safari. It is always the rifle I choose for deer hunting. For the sundry SA fallow hunt, I almost always carry this rifle. Took my first NZ red stag with it. And took my first SA red stag with it as well.

Funny when I got it I was probably the youngest member of the local deer hunting club, but had the biggest rifle, the .30-06. Everyone else was using .243s, .270s and perhaps a 7 mm Rem Mag. The choice completely changed a few years later with most using bigger, more powerful rifles.

Carried it on my first buffalo hunt with 220 gr Norma RNSPs, loaded by the previous owner, Tony Brown or "Tony Browns Mans World" a barber!

He was also a small gun shop with rifle racks in store, fishing gear, a beer fridge, and leather sofa. Never had a haircut with him. But an old school place gentlemen could gather and no doubt bullshit. Never tested it on buffalo. Never found any that trip. We hunted on an abandoned NT station, where every NT man and his dog was probably going. Ny friends did not allow a decent amount of time that trip for hunting, prefering to go fishing. It was called St Vidgeon Station and had lands up against the Gulf of Carpentaria. Back in 1983. It was mostly outside water buff country at the time I believe being South of Arnhemland South of the Roper River. Later Buffalo spread there in great numbers. It was given to Aboriginals so is now part of an Aboriginal reserve.

My third rifle was the Martini-Henry Rosier .577/450.

But the fourth was my Whitworth M98 in .375 H&H Mag. After some troubles with it, and custom work, it is now extremely usable.

With a .222, as .30-06 and a .375, one doesn't really need anything use other than rimfires.

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John aka NitroX

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Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"