Firearms have played their part in shaping history for centuries and, for this month’s cover story, Chris Redlich has delved into some of our more recent history with a superb article on the 75th anniversary of Australian National Service and the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan. Chris has intertwined the two and, along the way, discovers one of the unsung heroes back then was a career soldier named Les Hiddins, who’d go on to become a household name as TV’s Bush Tucker Man. Elsewhere this month we launch a new series where some of our regular contributors remember ‘My Most Memorable Hunt’. Senior correspondent John Dunn gets things under way with fond memories of his first trip to the Cobourg Peninsula, where he managed to take his first banteng bull. Bringing us right back up to date, Daniel O’Dea has been in the field with the Wedgetail Orion, an Aussie-Kiwi alliance he describes as being in “the premium category for a bolt-action rifle”. John McDougall runs the numbers on the Khan Settler Sporting shotgun in 12-gauge, Mark van den Boogaart assesses a comprehensive monocular from Garmin and, with all our regular columns and features, we feel there’s plenty to keep you entertained as we see out another winter.