Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Checking your rifle's zero

Very useful thread. Every year I am part of an organised group of 50 or so hunters who hunt on a large, semi desert farm in North West Province of SA. Previously everyone was requested to check their zero on a 100 meter range. We now request them to hit an 8 inch gong at 200 metres. Big diference!

At the end of that trip, I commented to the PH that he had never had to look in my muzzle. He agreed and said that was unusual. A year later a client of his dropped a .500 NE which discharged and shot one of his appie's arms off.

An "appie" is short for Apprentice PH. In Zim, and I'm sure elsewhere, a guy that wants to be a PH has to put in a few years as an "apprentice" PH before he can become a full fledged PH and hunt on his own without further supervision. An apprentice has to get his experience and learn how to hunt, how to handle different situations, and how to work with the client, so usually goes along as an extra hand with the PH and trackers while hunting. In this case, the appie was obviously in the wrong place at the wrong time.