New Zealand Army Parker Hale C3 A1 7.62 Snipers Rifle

[@ozzieflower4232]

I trained on these rifles in the Canadian Army in the mid to late '80s. I loved them dearly, and although we were using a fixed 6X Kahles (we had to zero and use mountable iron sights as well, at least to 600) scope I shot the best group of my life with one in 1988, using Lake City Match 168 grain ammunition. Long story short, 9 5/8 inch group at 1,000 metres, full value wind from the right. The range was well beyond what the scope could adjust to so at full elevation and full windage I held on the upper right-hand corner of a 4-foot screen with a Figure 12/C (head and shoulders) target pasted to the centre. It took about 1.5 seconds for the round to travel that distance, and to my surprise (and disgust, I didn't believe him) the butts man indicated a Bull. Not wishing to lose my "dope" I fired my next four shots in fairly rapid (under a minute) succession. All shots were indicated as Bulls. The sniper Team Captain and I drove down to the butts to examine the target and much to my surprise there were 5 holes in the face that I could cover with the spread of my fingers, from the tip of my thumb to the tip of my little finger. Everybody there signed and dated the target, I noted the normal log entries in my log book and on the target, then cut it out and kept it. I still have it today. Needless to say, Range Control was NOT pleased that they had to replace the canvas. The rest of the story, as the famous American broadcaster said, is this. Two hours later we ( several sniper group pairs) were shooting from 200 metres. I was using the same rifle, and the same box of ammunition and managed to shoot a 30 (thirty!) inch group. I believe it was God reaching down and touching me on the shoulder, effectively saying ``don`t get too full of yourself my lad, I had a hand in this``. It makes it kind of hard to brag about one without mentioning the other. I figure anyone reading this will understand. Now, on to the Hawkins Position. Probably the single most difficult position to shoot from. The way I was taught and did it was to centre the heel of the butt on my sternum, making sure I was putting as much weight as possible on the point of contact. I lay directly in line behind the rifle, extended and locked my left arm with my left hand on the palm rest (we didn`t have monopods; this would have defeated the purpose of the Hawkins) with it between the thumb and forefinger. To elevate one squeezes the hand and to depress one relaxes the hand. Being taller than most I had the armourers modify my rifle by providing longer butt bolts so that I could put six (6) half (1/2) inch spacers on, rather than the standard two. Although incredibly uncomfortable and painful, eventually I got used to it. By far the most stable, albeit fairly slow, position to fire from. The added benefit of course is that one presents a much smaller and lower silhouette. It's been donkey's years since I've fired one, and in those days "authorized" personnel could sign them out from the recce platoon weapons stores. It was not uncommon to see entries in the log books of such and such a date, weather conditions, terrain, distance, 1 shot, 1500 lb bull moose down. I truly miss the army of those days.

[@vixenator7657]

Carried the same rifle in the Canadian army the early 80s, too. Trained pretty much on the Hawkins with the old padded low hand grip, and the sling wasn't as often. Did the same thing with the iron sights with the old filed front sight out to 600 before we ever got to use our scopes. Loved that rifle.

[@Kysushanz]

I have a Parker Hale .308 Safari and it too is a wonderful rifle - got it second-hand way, way back when I was 16 ~ 18. It prints three rounds in a tight touching cover leaf and 100 metres using BARNAUL 140gn SP hunting ammunition! It has been my "go-to" rifle. Parker Hale's are very under-rated.

[@stevedavid2315]

Great review, thanks for sharing. I am a huge Parker Hale fan, I have a 1200 TX 308 which is basically the civilian version of what you are shooting in the video, a 1200c Super Clip 30/06 that is my big game hunting rifle, a 1200 6mm Remington factory heavy barrel for target and varmint shooting and a custom 1200C 308 I had built into a "quasi" reproduction of the Canadian C3A1.

[@RobertWalker-kv9hn]

I have a Parker Hale 1200 custom in 6mm Remington really great rifle cartridge combo very accurate

[@ramongonzales7494]

Amazing rifle for shooting off basically no bi- tri pod (freehand).

[@tlrsmedia7820]

Thanks mate!

[@markhoulding1938]

Nice shooting. Great for an old gun mate.👍

[@tlrsmedia7820]

Cheers mate.

[@isaacbarton3170]

wow what a nice rig, good work.

[@tlrsmedia7820]

Cheers mate

[@Beardandgun]

Love it mate, nice video

[@tlrsmedia7820]

Thanks my dude.

[@bigtrev761]

🇦🇺😎👍🎄Nice rig

[@toddcraft6919]

TLRS Media Which Kahles scope are you using on this C3. I live in Canada and I’m trying to build a C3. The Canadian Army used the Kahles ZF69 6X42 scope. They are near impossible to find here so far.

[@RobertWalker-kv9hn]

The Khales ZF69 6x42 is the one issued in NZ as well, I have never seen one for sale good luck

[@chase7354]

ive got one of these but in the single shot target rifle version havent shot it yet as i cant find any 7.62 nato ammo near me in aus to shoot it i might convert it to a 308win

[@ozzieflower4232]

You're frightening me.