Around the year 2009 I was approached by a man who just went in retirement. His wife now insisted he had to find a hobby, and he had decided that hobby should be rifle hunting.
He had not fired a rifle since his military service, and even then, he mainly carried 9mm submachinegun, so very limited experienced in rifle shooting and recoil.
Now he just passed the Danish hunting test, and on that occasion, he had to use a shotgun, for the first time in his life. He found the shotgun unpleasant to shoot, as it, in his opinion, had a heavy recoil.
He now wanted to go on a driven hunt on wild boar and had from a friend head I sometimes went on such hunts I Germany. Of course he could come along, he just needed to get himself a rifle, so I send him of to a gun shop, to by a “suitable rifle”.
Then I invited him to come along to the mandatory “moving target practice” one month later, when he hopefully had gotten his rifle certificate and first chance to try his new rifle.
He phoned me up after less than a week, he got his certificate and was of to pick up his new SAKO rifle. The shop would zero the rifle for him, so he looked forward to take it to the shooting cinema on moving target, and try shooting it for the first time.
The day of “mandatory moving target practice” in the shooting cinema came, and for the first time I saw the new rifle. It was a caliber .416 Wetherby magnum!!!!!.
He only planned to fire the mandatory 5 shots at running pig and 5 shots on standing roebok, as the ammunition according to him was “on the expensive side”.
First shot he ever fired with that rifle was on the standing roebuck 100 meter target, and he was clearly hurt by the recoil, but did not drop the rifle. The operator of the shooting cinema asked if he hurt himself, but he assured it was no problem. The following shots where clearly taken by man who was afraid of his weapon.
The incident resulted in a discussion about caliber for driven hunts and what shops advice. The shop had advised him to take the largest possible caliber he could handle and shown him a 9,3x62 and 338 win mag, but he thought he was smart, to take the largest caliber in the shop. I can only say the shop should have warned him about that big elephant gun, but then again, I know him, and don’t think it would have made any difference.
Now this old stubbern man had that big hard kicker but would under no circumstances admit it kicked more than he could handle.
3 days of driven hunt in Germany resulted in him firing 3 shots without any hits. The last night was spent in a tower, and he fired one shot, and hit his target, what he thought was a racoon, but turned out to be a hare.
Since that night the rifle was called “the hare gun”.
The man stopped hunting and sold his firearms a few years later.
He had not fired a rifle since his military service, and even then, he mainly carried 9mm submachinegun, so very limited experienced in rifle shooting and recoil.
Now he just passed the Danish hunting test, and on that occasion, he had to use a shotgun, for the first time in his life. He found the shotgun unpleasant to shoot, as it, in his opinion, had a heavy recoil.
He now wanted to go on a driven hunt on wild boar and had from a friend head I sometimes went on such hunts I Germany. Of course he could come along, he just needed to get himself a rifle, so I send him of to a gun shop, to by a “suitable rifle”.
Then I invited him to come along to the mandatory “moving target practice” one month later, when he hopefully had gotten his rifle certificate and first chance to try his new rifle.
He phoned me up after less than a week, he got his certificate and was of to pick up his new SAKO rifle. The shop would zero the rifle for him, so he looked forward to take it to the shooting cinema on moving target, and try shooting it for the first time.
The day of “mandatory moving target practice” in the shooting cinema came, and for the first time I saw the new rifle. It was a caliber .416 Wetherby magnum!!!!!.
He only planned to fire the mandatory 5 shots at running pig and 5 shots on standing roebok, as the ammunition according to him was “on the expensive side”.
First shot he ever fired with that rifle was on the standing roebuck 100 meter target, and he was clearly hurt by the recoil, but did not drop the rifle. The operator of the shooting cinema asked if he hurt himself, but he assured it was no problem. The following shots where clearly taken by man who was afraid of his weapon.
The incident resulted in a discussion about caliber for driven hunts and what shops advice. The shop had advised him to take the largest possible caliber he could handle and shown him a 9,3x62 and 338 win mag, but he thought he was smart, to take the largest caliber in the shop. I can only say the shop should have warned him about that big elephant gun, but then again, I know him, and don’t think it would have made any difference.
Now this old stubbern man had that big hard kicker but would under no circumstances admit it kicked more than he could handle.
3 days of driven hunt in Germany resulted in him firing 3 shots without any hits. The last night was spent in a tower, and he fired one shot, and hit his target, what he thought was a racoon, but turned out to be a hare.
Since that night the rifle was called “the hare gun”.
The man stopped hunting and sold his firearms a few years later.
Doing officer training with the SLR, it too took no prisoners if you were careless with your mounting. A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away but those painful memories linger long!
