February 2025 - Australian Shooter

For our cover story this month, Joe Norris has documented the touching story of his good friend Trevor, tragically diagnosed with a terminal illness yet keen to make the trip to Africa in search of a trophy Cape buffalo. Read about how Trevor’s loyal mates rallied round and helped turn his dream into reality in what was a hunting expedition like no other. We’ve put three superb rifles in the spotlight this month, starting with the Chapuis X4 which had Mark van den Boogaart singing its praises as he describes it as “an elegant and finely-crafted rifle made for adventure, representative of a quality not often seen at your local gunshop”. Paul Miller freely admits he was in ‘lefty heaven’ when he laid his hands on the Tikka T3X Veil ‘Wideland’, a rifle made at the Sako factory in Finland and one which he says will be difficult for the partnership to improve on. And Ben Unten enjoyed his time with the Rossi R95 Triple Black lever-action, a rifle which had him harking back to the golden age of Hollywood and watching classic John Wayne movies with his dad. Other items under review this time around include ammunition, red dot sights, a long-range torch, binoculars and a reliable riflescope well under the competitive $1000 price point. And of course we have all our regulars columns, letters and the ever-popular Top Shots.