Mauser M03 - 270 Winchester Does It Again

I'd spent all Saturday sorting Lapua cases and working out how to use the new L.E Wilson reloading dies I'd bought for my 243 Winchester and 6.5x55 barrels. I was keen to make a start on working up loads for those and by mid morning on Sunday had assembled some test shots for the 243. I rushed about the place to get everything ready for an afternoon out - I'd test the loads, sight in a scope and maybe get some stalking and then spotlighting in as well.

By mid afternoon I was firing the first shots with my new Mauser M03 barrel in 243 Winchester. I'd found some 100gn Speer Grand Slam projectiles at a local shop and the first hand-load made it onto the edge of the card. As expected the 40gn charge of 2209 was a light to medium load. Another helped me adjust the sights, back a bit, then three for a group. They went into 21mm at 100m. Pretty good for the first group, with loads that were virtually thrown together. I'm still waiting for the Wilson bullet seating die for the 243, so these bullets were tapped in using a seating stem stolen from an RCBS 220 Swift die. My kids watched and called it MacGyver style!

With the testing done, I went for a good walk with my M03 270 Winchester, then sat with my Landcruiser at dusk, at the bottom of a long broad valley. The south facing slope was lush and green, with patches of clipped grass and bracken. The north facing slope behind was more dry and bare up the top. Every now and then I turned 360 degrees with my binoculars. On one such sweep I whispered as the scene panned past my eyes. "Flock of sheep. Flock of sheep. Another flock of sheep. A flock of black sheep. More sheep, white ones this time"  What? Black sheep? Look again. They're pigs!

Out with the 270 and a sandbag, over the hood of the Landcruiser. Wait a moment for the pigs to move clear of the sheep. Range - 230m. Bang. First one down. They're running left and right along the fence on the ridge top. Three are trying to get through a hole in the wire mesh. Bang. Second one down.

I found another up on the top of the hill where he was looking for his friends. Three down.

Mauser M03 Deluxe

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Now why would I need Lapua cases in 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser and 243 Winchester?

Because, Mauser have finished building my custom ordered M03 Deluxe with a 6.5x55 Match barrel, as well as a 243 Win standard barrel, made without iron sights.

When working out what to order I liked the look of the M03 Deluxe used by Byron Pace in this video.



And I liked the accuracy of the M03 Match demonstrated by Ben-Andre Nilsen in this video.



A combination of the two, in 6.5x55, should do me well, for long range shooting with a Kahles K624i on top. I'll post pics and videos of these new additions to my Mauser M03 system in a few weeks.

Mauser M03 Accuracy - The Second Shot

I returned to the Landcruiser after stalking for a couple of hours, just as the last light of day was fading. I put the Mauser M03 with its 270 Winchester barrel back into the rifle box and made sure the 30-06 I'd checked earlier in the day was ready, along with my favourite fox rifle, a Sako Vixen in 17 Remington.

A slow bumpy cruise down the length of a valley, along an intersecting creek and back over a ridge was entirely free of any excitement, which is so often the way with spotlighting. But those who go out at night on farms know that things can change in a moment. I drove across a few paddocks which overlooked a large flat, all the while heading nearer to one of the farmhouses. I could see the house lights but didn't know that the farming family was gathered on the front deck around the barbecue, watching my headlights weaving and my spotlight scanning. They watched when I stopped a few hundred meters away, adjusted the light, lifted the 17 from the rifle-box and onto the engine hood and shot a pair of foxes. I'd made a squeaking noise by sucking air in through my pursed lips and it brought the foxes in to about 150 meters. I'll be trying that again. I stopped at the house soon after for a chat and learned that my spectators could also see the foxes' eyes. We talked about how the thump of the bullets impacting was delayed by the extra distance to their viewpoint. I bravely knocked back the kind offer of a beer - I would be spotlighting and hopefully shooting for some time yet. Beer, an empty stomach, darkness and firearms are not a good mix. Maybe next time, when I'm all done.

Avoiding the beer was a good decision as I was soon dropping another fox, then another, a few paddocks away. Then I waved the light down and along the flat of a nearby creek and saw half a dozen pigs scurrying along, about 70 meters away. By the time I had the light fixed in position and a rifle lifted, they were gone, into the tea-tree scrub. So frustrating. I drove around the hill in case they popped out on the other side, but they had escaped. I used the road to reposition to the other end of the farm where pigs had been seen recently by another hunter, as well as by myself the weekend before. I moved through a couple of gates quietly, to avoid spooking what I might find on a flat by another creek. It was always worth checking out. Once I'd manoeuvred the Landcruiser through a wooded area I came to a shelf overlooking the flat. A wave of the light found a fox's eyes, 200 meters away. I needed to adjust the car to get into a better position, after which the eyes were not seen again. But in scanning for the fox while squeaking with my lips I saw what was a slightly more solid shadow amongst the others, between the clumps of grass. There wasn't much in it but I looked carefully each time the light passed over that area. I registered the position of the shadow relative to the other light and dark features - the landscape is always tricky under spotlight - then switched the light off for a minute. Once it was on again I felt sure that the shadow had moved. I might be wrong but it was worth persisting with. I set the light up on the car's roof, resting it over a sandbag and propped on my elbows over the warm engine with my binoculars. I watched closely and carefully for a few minutes. There was such a mish-mash of shadows and contrasts it was hard to figure out what I was seeing, if anything. But then I saw what could be a pair of black ears, changing angle under the spotlight. This was looking more and more like a solitary boar, standing still in the light, as they do.

I put the binoculars down and walked to the rear of the Landcruiser. On the way I decided it would be the 30-06 that I'd lift out, given how perfectly it had placed the test shot fired earlier in the day, through the same hole as a previous test. At 200 meters the impact point would be zero relative to the line of sight. With the Zeiss Victory HT 3-12x56 sitting on the Mauser M03 I saw the shadow move again, just a turn of the head, until I could clearly make out the shape of the boar's head and ears. Then I saw the tiny glint of a red eye, looking up at the spotlight. The improved view provided by the big scope, which was perfect for this situation, allowed me to make out the body position of the boar. It was angled a quarter towards me, standing still with its head low. I pushed the cocking lever to the right and took final aim, the Mauser resting perfectly still on front and rear sandbags. This time I didn't use the set trigger - I wanted the firmer 950gm release of the normal trigger. The shot was good, right into the head-body junction. A loud thump reached me a moment later as confirmation, clearly heard through earmuffs and ear plugs. The weight of the M03 soaked up the recoil perfectly. The boar ran out of the spotlight beam. By the time I'd opened the action and settled the rifle safely on the bags, to then stand up in the doorway and adjust the light, it was gone, into the blackberries about 50 meters away. A fair assumption - I couldn't see it anywhere. How on earth can they run like that when hit by a well placed 180 grainer?

A week later I was there again on a sunny afternoon, this time with my son for company. We drove to the same shelf where, with my more experienced eyes and familiarity with the land I've hunted for years, I picked out a shape and colour that looked out of place. My son looked through the binoculars and focussed on the remains of the boar. It had moved only 10 meters from where it was hit. Clearly, there were plenty of other pigs in the area. The boar had been well and truly chomped by his friends, who'd made the most of the meal served up by my Mauser M03.

Mauser M03 Accuracy - The First Shot

For hunters, it's the first shot that matters.

Sure, I'm also interested in the ability of my Mauser M03 rifles to shoot tight groups, but what I care about most will always be how repeatable the first shot is, from a cold, clean barrel. Last weekend I was scouting on a farm for fresh sign of pigs, looking for the tell-tale signs of brown, ripped up turf. Given all of the rain we've had lately, the fields were like an undulating bowling green, but here and there I found scattered scratchings made by a wandering boar. A sow or two with offspring tend to make more concentrated damage, although, a big boar that settles in a place he likes can make the surrounds look like a war zone in no time.

After driving slowly over a crest and through a gap I scanned the paddock that opened up in front of me. Perhaps the fox that the farmer had seen sitting in the open every afternoon during the week would be there. It must have heard the different sound of my vehicle coming - it had already slipped away. After checking the broad bowl of land thoroughly with binoculars, to see if he was sitting quietly and watching me from a patch of bracken, I decided to fire a test shot with my Mauser M03 30-06, to prepare for spotlighting after dark. I lowered the Landcruiser's tailgate to make a table and removed the Zeiss Victory HT 1.5-6x42 and fitted a Victory HT 3-12x56. It would provide me with the brightest view possible with the spotlight. I found an old tree stump and stapled in place the piece of card I'd used a couple of months before with the same combination of rifle, barrel, scope and ammunition. In the meantime the scopes had been switched in and out and the barrel had been removed for cleaning.

Firing a calibration shot with a 30-06 and 180gn bullet, on sandbags over a Landcruiser's engine compartment, is not what I call fun. The Mauser M03 set trigger made it easier. When the riflescope settled after the shot I didn't know what to think. The only hole in the card was the one from last time. Where had the new shot gone? From a hundred meters I couldn't make out a bullet hole in the cracked grey wood of the tree stump. I walked over, picking my way through the puddles and soft patches. The pigs would make a mess of this area if they found it. As I got near to the stump I still couldn't see a hole in the weathered grey wood. Surely I hadn't missed the whole stump? I got my head down to the angle of the shot and looked for where a bullet had hit the ground around the stump. Nothing to see. I looked again at the card, with its one hole. Surely not. I lifted up the card and found a bullet hole in the wood underneath. When I lowered the card the hole in the wood lined up with the hole in the card. Holy crap! It went through the same hole!

That'll do. :-)