AMMUNITION SCARCE FOR DUCK SEASON

Southland Times, Issue 25024, 9 April 1943, Page 4

AMMUNITION SCARCE FOR DUCK SEASON

Sportsmen’s Improvised Cartridges

The ingenuity of sportsmen knows no bounds. With the approach of the duckshooting season, a short open season for which has been announced, they are casting round for means to overcome the shortage of ammuntion, and the present indications are that there will be a good many sportsmen out on the opening day of the season. Whether wild duck features on the menu in their households after the shooting will depend on the reliability of their improvised ammunition. Some sportsmen are fortunate enough to possess stocks of ammunition, but the supply is very limited and no fresh stocks are available for the majority of shooters. In this extremity, a number of sportsmen have resurrected old and disused machines which were formerly popular among shooters for the filling of cartridge cases. It is surprising how many of these machines have come to light recently, and one prominent sportsman states that he has had offers of loans of several such pieces of apparatus. Old cartridge cases are used and fitted with new caps, gunpowder and shot. These materials are said to be available.

With the approach of the shooting season a number of sportsmen are busy making ammunition by this method. It will certainly add to the detonations on the opening day, but whether it will prove sufficiently reliable to bring down the ducks remains to be seen.