Hi guys, I hope this email finds you well. A few items this week.

Firstly, I will be hosting my own chat this weekend. NZ Sunday the 16^th of March at 7am which roughly equates to Saturday noon for our U.S readers. You can use the time converter (link below) to work out the exact time for your location.

Link to chat:

https://talk.brave.com/2M_vi7eCxisww2KyMPZfaaWAZz0IFQsS-xOW4GeOGB8

Link to world time converter / meeting planner:

https://www.worldtimebuddy.com/?qm=1&lid=2193733,4671654,4992982,6113365,2165798,2636910&h=2193733&date=2025-3-16&sln=7-8&hf=1

As usual, I won’t be coming into this with any topic or agenda etc. The point is to simply make myself available to help each of you along if you have any technical questions. If there are no questions, it will likely end fairly promptly.

The second item is that my podcast with Joseph Von Benedickt was finally published. Joseph is an editor for Shooting Times, Guns and Ammo, Peterson’s Hunting, Rifle Shooter while also hosting the backcountry podcast. Here is a link to the chat:

https://backcountryhunting.libsyn.com/use-enough-gun-with-kiwi-terminal-ballistics-specialist-nathan-foster

The podcast can also be found on Spotify and Apple.

Third and last on the list is a bit of gun porn. I recently put together a 7mm Practical, rebarreling the Bergara 2.0 .300 PRC (featured on the cover of The Practical Guide To Long Range Rifles - second edition). The 2.0 / PRC has an extra long magazine, ideal for long magnums and for chasing the lands. The stock is a Precision Platform made by Clive Judd here in NZ https://precision-platforms.com/ . This stock has all of the excellent features described in Rifles – second ed, a generous forend length for shooting over a pack, wide but in a subtle way, an elongated grip, straight recoiling and with side mounted flush cups to keep it all settled when shooting with a sling (i.e. shooting a rifle properly like a man). These stocks really tame recoil. Epoxy with rock salt was used to create a grip texture, the salt washed off after curing the epoxy. I bedded the receiver and first two inches of the barrel, then spray painted the stock with two pack Caprathane epoxy paint before applying the final camo colors by hand using a scrunch cloth method (no thinners). The barrel is a True-Flite 1:9, 4 groove which I docked at 28” just so that I can have two bites of the cherry once this chamber is worn out. The scope is a Sightron SIII 6-24x50 LRMOA with illuminated center dot. 
 

 

 

I should mention, thanks to the BS bureaucracy of the past four years, Clive is currently unable to deliver stocks to the U.S unless the importer has an FFL / Dealer license. On that note, if there are any prospective importers / FFL license holders out there looking for something with an edge, these are worth looking into. Besides low recoil / excellent ergonomics, these stocks are far more robust than many Carbon fiber items currently on the market which, in order to minimize weight, are quite often built over a weak foam inner and are prone to cracking over time (as per the early B&C’s). I hope also that in sharing this, Clive reads this email and gives me an excellent deal on my next stocks (standard BDL please, one short, one long – you know, just if you happen to have something spare sitting about).

The 7mm Practical has seen a resurgence of late. For a time, it looked as though its popularity was dwindling after Hornady released the 7mm PRC. But now that the honeymoon is over, many shooters including ELR competitors are shifting back to the Practical and I have been receiving email requests for info on a weekly basis. On that note – I have contacted both Manson reamers and Redding to make sure dies and reamers are still readily available. Redding are currently making very accurately (of course) machined neck bushing bump dies – the body / shoulder section only .002” undersize in order to minimize case distortion. These are very nice dies to work with and can be purchased directly from Manson Reamers.

Below is a photo of one of my peers, Chris Murphy during this year’s King of the range ELR comp which he went on to win, shooting a 7mm Practical, CZ 550 action, True-Flite 31.5" barrel 1:8.5 twist, 190 grain A-Tip at 3170fps.

All the best, Nathan.
 

Hi guys, just a quick note to say that I will be running a chat this weekend. All you need to do is cut and past the chat link into your browser and provided your microphone and camera are switched on, you will be good to go.

I will run the Chat this NZ Sunday 16, 7am which translates to USA Sunday the 15^th.

Link to chat:

https://talk.brave.com/OkEKQytg9C6SEmFh107IyQXv1zUm2U1WqMNr7w7PmLg

Link to world time converter / meeting planner:

https://www.worldtimebuddy.com/?qm=1&lid=2193733,2147714,4671654,4992982,6113365&h=2193733&date=2025-2-16&sln=7-8&hf=1

If you have anything that you would like a hand with, please drop in for a chat, I will do my best to help. Don’t be shy or worry about asking dumb questions, we are all learning. If you want to try checking in from a gun range and have me check over your technique, then please do so.

All the best, Nathan.

Hi guys, I hope you had a relaxing Christmas and an enjoyable new year. Am just writing to say that I will be hosting another chat for those interested.

I will run the Chat NZ Monday the 13th, 8am which translates to USA Sunday the 12^th.

Link to chat:

https://talk.brave.com/ZgnJ7qYyJQPgWNVxA8juprU4jSDJ9ibeXOBldQyib4s

Link to world time converter / meeting planner:

https://www.worldtimebuddy.com/?qm=1&lid=2193733,6113365,4671654,4992982,2165798&h=2193733&date=2025-1-13&sln=8-8.5&hf=1

If you have anything that you would like a hand with, please drop in for a chat, I will do my best to help. Don’t be shy or worry about asking dumb questions, we are all learning.

The podcast with Joseph Von Benedikt (Shooting Times / Petersons Hunting) went very well. Joseph was very kind and easy to work with. The 1.5 hour podcast will hopefully be published within the next few weeks (will update when I have details).

All the best.

Hi Guys, just a note to share the link for the next live chat this Sunday the 15^th 8am Auckland NZ time (Saturday 14^th USA / Canada / UK).

Link to this weekend’s live chat:

https://talk.brave.com/CpyV41P_zqmCVf03MacJ5n7o1mDRAZJFZp7IZXv4VEw

Link to time zone converter / meeting planner:

https://www.worldtimebuddy.com/?qm=1&lid=2193733,4992982,4699066,2165798,6174041,2643743&h=2193733&date=2024-12-15&sln=8-8.5&hf=1

Thanks to those who attended last weekend’s chat. For those who missed it, here is the transcript:

https://youtu.be/qyD5vP7NSQ0

All the best.

Hi Guys, will keep it short. I will be hosting another live chat this weekend, Sunday 8am Auckland NZ time (will be Saturday USA / Canada / UK).

Link to live chat:

https://talk.brave.com/dJ8P_cQbddfFUTYKmSkyDb5mRjlrdIAExElgfBM1-Ew

Link to time zone converter / meeting planner:

https://www.worldtimebuddy.com/?qm=1&lid=2193733,6174041,4699066,5125771,2643743&h=2193733&date=2024-12-8&sln=8-8.5&hf=1

Thanks to those who attended last weekend’s chat, we covered some great topics. For those who missed it, here is the transcript:

https://youtu.be/dydeoY5u9Ww?si=OMToGWyZe7nfIaEs

The focus of the chats is to provide ongoing support and clarification for those using the book sets and to help you guys along with whatever projects you have on the go. Besides general gun / cartridge talk, if you have a good web cam, I may also be able to check over your reloading or help with a bedding job etc. Will run the live chats for a while and see how we get on.

All the best.

Hi guys, I hope this message finds you well and that our U.S readers are enjoying Thanksgiving.

This is just a quick note to say that I have finally got my act together and found a suitable platform for live chats and webinars, utilizing Brave Browser software. To this end, I would like to crack on and hold a chat this weekend. It has been way too long since we had our last meet.

As per the usual, I don’t have any particular topics I want to cover. Instead, I will leave it open for you guys to ask questions so that we can fully interact. If you have any gun / cartridge questions, please come along. I am still learning how to use the software but hopefully, I can toggle you to full screen if you need me to look over any rifles / bedding jobs etc.

New Zealand time: Sunday 1st Dec, 7am.

UTC / GMT time: Saturday 30th Nov, 1800.

Link to the webinar (paste into any browser):

https://talk.brave.com/fnPHEStxjiWa9E578BeBtPhZNUVIxSU51VVQN5fVpLk

All the best.

Nathan.

Hi all, just a heads up for our Australian customers - the Falcon turbo and Commy V8 might be gone but MatchGrade is back in the great southern land. 

Both our bedding and stabilizer kits are now available to the peoples of that fine nation who discovered how to split the beer atom and produced numerous national heros including the outback adventurer Russel Coight. 

Australia - where the bloody hell are you buried. 

To purchase MatchGrade products, please visit our Australian distributor: https://trekpac.com.au/

 


 

Hi everyone, I hope this email finds you well during these challenging times. It has been a long time since my last post however I am happy to report that we are still at the coal face. This year has nevertheless presented us with some difficulties with regards to how we deliver our business. Following issues with the Paypal system, we had to retire this service which in turn has affected how we deliver some of our services. It is also worth noting that we are seeing some problems with some email services due to the subject matter (i.e. ballistics / rifles etc.). Emails sent from myself or the website, including order confirmations and download links, may go to the recipient’s spam folder as a result of increased internet security measures. Emails and download links can nevertheless easily be retrieved from the customers spam folder. It is simply a matter of being aware of mail handling. If you have ordered a product and do not for example immediately receive a download link, you will find the email within your spam folder.

Free webinar this Sunday (Saturday Northern hemisphere)

Time: 8am Sunday 19^th December, Auckland NZ time. (Eastern Standard Time: 2pm Saturday 18^th December)

Web link: https://meet.jit.si/moderated/bb04162650a9ddac44d658dee40d249241abdc4bf0b33fe4ebff2bef623034bf

One thing I have been trying to work through is a way that we can all communicate in a more meaningful manner. As much as I have enjoyed the youtube podcasts, they were always one sided with the viewer only able to communicate within a text box which made it very hard for the viewer to provide context to questions. We looked into zoom conferencing but this is quite expensive and I was hoping to be able to offer seminars either free of charge or at a low cost to our viewers.

I believe we have found a temporary solution via jitsi.org. This is free open-source software and users do not need to create an account to use this platform. We are going to trial Jitsi this weekend (see time above). Once at the url (given above), all you need to do is enter your first name or a nickname and press the join meeting button. You will of course have to make sure that your camera and microphone are turned on. The downside of this platform is that it has a limit of 100 people per session, therefore we will have to do this on a first come, first serve basis.

There will be no specific topic for this weekend’s webinar. If you can think of any questions you would like to ask me between now and the weekend, write them down. I am hoping that via video conferencing I can provide greater clarification to specific questions rather than get lost in generalizations. Although this is a free webinar, if you find the information useful and are in a position to help, a small donation thereafter would be appreciated.

Just keep in mind that there may be a few mistakes as I trial this. I am not the most tech savvy.

Video Learning

One positive aspect of the challenges mentioned at the beginning of this email is that we have been forced to look at better delivery systems for our products. Customers will be happy to know that our learning series videos are now hosted on our website as direct downloads. As these are downloadable products, we ask that you please do not share them. The funds from these video help to support our family along with ongoing research. Link to video series:

https://www.ballisticstudies.com/shop/Video+Learning.html

The video files are formatted to MP4 H264 and are generally very large (e.g. 3 to 5 GB), you may therefore wish to use a download manager. This software tool helps to ensure that your video will continue to download if you have a poor (or dropped) connection. A free open-source download manager can be found here:

https://www.freedownloadmanager.org/download.htm

Following a purchase, you will immediately receive two automated emails. The first is your order confirmation. The second email contains a link to your download. If you cannot see the download email, then it is most likely in your spam folder. If you do not receiver either email, then you have most likely entered an incorrect email address when placing your order.

Note that you only have two days to download the file from the email link. The link will expire thereafter (for our security). If you fail to download your file as a result of either an incorrect email address or expiry, we will do our best to help (or provide a refund) however you must take some responsibility for your purchase by entering the correct details and downloading the file immediately.

Note also that some of the latest Apple computer video players are set by default to H265 video format. You will therefore need to make sure that the video player on your Apple device is set up to play H.264 codec videos.

To check that your player will play these videos, click here to download a test video.

Apple / Mac users may also want to try the free VLC media player:

https://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html

Free videos (youtube)

Steph goes hunting with a .257 Weatherby Magnum:

https://youtu.be/mEpBtA7ccaI

Steph goes hunting with the 350 Legend:

https://youtu.be/Um5otKaH2QI

Excerpt from a talk I gave at a Manawatu Deerstalkers club night:

https://youtu.be/Ikc_EjSD_S8

 

Well, that’s about it from us. I would like to take this opportunity to say thanks to each of you for supporting our business and family along with your very kind and supportive emails which brighten our days. I cannot thank you enough for such kind gestures. I do hope that you have been able to get away hunting this year, or at the very least taken time to relax in the wilderness or perhaps engage in practice shooting.

From our family to yours, we wish you all the best for this coming Christmas and the following new year.

Hi all, I hope this blog post finds you well. I just wanted to share a couple of videos. 

The first video contains a few highlights from a talk I gave to the Manawatu regional branch of the New Zealand Deer Stalkers Association. Subjects covered: Fast killing, the rise in popularity of low powered cartridges, Berger bullets.
 

Hi all, just a quick catch up. Steph and I have been busy as usual, engaged in ongoing research and writing writing projects. Following the chaos last year, we decided that we really wanted to continue to knuckle down and stay focused without distraction. So while it may seem that we have been rather quiet, we have been at the coal face through Jan / Feb. Will disclose project details at a later date.

Norma have uploaded part two of my Effective Game killing article. Links to 1 & 2 below:

https://www.norma-ammunition.com/en-gb/norma-academy/dedicated-hunting/ammunition/effective-game-killing-part-2

https://www.norma-ammunition.com/en-gb/norma-academy/dedicated-hunting/ammunition/effective-game-killing

Latest Vimeo work here:

https://vimeo.com/channels/nathanfoster

All the best, Nathan.

Hi guys, sorry I have been a bit absent just lately but its all been for a good cause. Here is what I have been up to:

https://www.norma-ammunition.com/en-gb/norma-academy/dedicated-hunting/ammunition/effective-game-killing

1. Some time ago I was contacted by the management of Norma Sweden. After kindly stating that they were big fans of my research, I was asked if I would like to write education educational material on behalf of Norma. Somewhat jaded by the current (BS) state of the industry in general, I sent a curt reply, clearly stating my thoughts about the new generation of manufacturers, fully expecting that I had just burned yet another bridge. To my surprise, Norma came back to me with open arms - We totally agree, so what do you want to write about? Well I replied, any educational material needs to be built on a solid platform. The fundamentals have to come first. What I would like to do, is update and rewrite my treatise on effective game killing, using Norma ammunition in my examples. But further to this, I am sick and tired of "miracle" bullets so I would like to show not only the strengths of your ammo, but also the limitations. Its high time we had dome transparency in this game and if you care about your customers, then you will allow me to take this angle. Send...

Again I received another kind and agreeable email. Norma management were just as tired of the modern marketing machine as myself. It was time to cut to the chase, to relight the fire, the passion, that 1960's sense of invention and wonder. And so with Norma's blessing, I wrote an updated and highly in depth version of Effective Game Killing. I hope this conveys my sincere respect toward Norma for their bravery in taking this route and serves as a truly useful educational tool. I hope also that it stands as a source of pride for Scandinavian hunters.

I will continue working for Norma in one capacity or another, whether writing or consulting. It is a great honor and I am taking this position most seriously. I know a lot of you are counting on me to keep the flame burning in this game.

2. I finally took some time to sit down and go over all of my .44 cal data! It is pretty much ready for uploading but I will need to compile the tables for the bottom of the article. When I say ready for uploading, my version of editing is to sit down, pull my notes apart, cross examine myself, retest various elements, put it all back together again and then wonder why there are now more squiggly red lines under the words of my edited document than when I first assembled the data several years ago. So it may just be that the article goes live with a few typos. The .44's will nevertheless contain a pile of information which I am sure you will all enjoy. If I am quick enough, it might also give our U.S readers a small distraction while they wait to see the outcome of their current election.

Well, thats about it for me. I will write another post / blog post once the .44's are live. All the best guys.

https://www.norma-ammunition.com/en-gb/norma-academy/dedicated-hunting/ammunition/effective-game-killing
 

Hi All, just a quick post to say that we will be running another youtube live stream in NZ this Sunday at 8am (Saturday afternoon or evening for Northern hemisphere viewers).

Please click on the following link to view the correct screening time and countdown clock for your region: https://youtu.be/tsNFAaSof3I

Note also that you will need to retain the link in order to log into the chat. Youtube will generally hide links to streams until they have been up for some 24 hours (Youtube security protocols). So again, please keep the above link if you wish to view the stream or join the chat.

This week’s chat will be organic as usual. I will most likely start the stream with the first email or live chat question that peaks my interest or that which may be of use to others.

Until then, all the best.

Nathan.

Hi All, today is a very special day for Steph and myself as we announce the release of a new book!

This has been a long time coming and I guess it will come as a surprise to many of you as I have not spoken about this book previously. Many of you have over the years, wanted to know more about myself at a personal level.  The Door is my story, a biography of my journey. Please be aware that this is not a hunting book.

The Door is a co-authored effort between Steph and myself. I wrote the initial draft to lay out the foundations but the story was often so dark that I could not fully relate this journey on my own. Thankfully, Steph also has an immense talent for writing. Although Steph had lived through many of these experiences with me, having read the draft, she sat down and interviewed me while taking notes, sometimes having to drag the memories from me. In this manner through Stephs co-authorship, we were able to put these experiences into print.

https://www.ballisticstudies.com/shop/thedoor.html

Hi all, just a quick note to say that we will be conducting another Youtube live stream this week!

Note that you will need to save the following link in order to view the stream. That or click on the subscribe button on our Youtube channel. Link: https://youtu.be/eEnCMZJ8IhI

The stream will commence at 8am on Saturday the 25^th of July NZ time. For folk living in the northern hemisphere, this will be Friday afternoon or evening. The Youtube link will show you a count down based on your time zone.

The content of this stream will be the same as our last stream (our first foray into this) of which there will be no set format and I will instead answer general hunting,  firearm, reloading questions etc. based on the sidebar questions.

If you would like to see the first stream, please click here: https://youtu.be/-3955Euww6M

Once again, Steph will be cherry picking through the comments and questions. I will try my best to say hi to each of you and answer your questions but as per the previous stream, there will be a limit to how many questions we can handle within the time frame.

All the best.

Other recent uploads:

Tech talk - Cartridge overall length versus magazine lengths

https://youtu.be/qyrmBhaqXtM

7mm Practical 1073 yard practice

https://youtu.be/MKWQ8HX0pDc

Lee Enfield 7.62x54R rifle (45 minute video with gun chat at 38 minute mark)

https://youtu.be/gJ-V4g69qgw

.308 Winchester hack rifle considerations

https://youtu.be/-AHDiV4Gq5M

Are analog (printed) drop charts effective?

https://youtu.be/LuTCQmY3lZk