New - Discussion Forum for Mauser M03 Blog

There's been many interesting and informative comments sent in by readers of this Mauser M03 Blog, but Blogger is not a great platform for quick and easy discussion. So, I've set up a forum to accompany the blog, using Google Groups. A link to the 'Mauser M03 Blog - Discussion Forum' can be found in the header of each Blog page. Or click this.

I hope readers take the opportunity to join in and discuss their Mauser M03 rifles, the various options and choices they've made, their purchase experiences, the process of becoming familiar with their rifles and then their hunting adventures and target shooting successes. I'm sure there's lots of stories and helpful information out there amongst the user community. Let's share this knowledge and our enjoyment of these well designed and built German rifles.

Who's going to create the first new topic? :-)

Regards, Rick.

Mauser M03 or Poleaxe?

I've been hunting for a big boar that's been hanging around the bottom corner of two farms for several months. I've seen him at night under spotlight, initially mistaking him for an Angus steer in the tussocks and grass, off in the distance. I've seen him a few times wandering on distant hillsides in the early dawn light. One morning I watched from a hilltop as he dawdled towards me and into a patch of heavy bracken, from which he didn't emerge. Google Earth later told me the closest he came was 700 metres. I crossed a few fences and creeks and worked my way over there, having pinpointed his last position. As I bravely snooped around in the shoulder high bracken, which was flattened here and there by his lolling around and digging, I tripped his alarm system from just a little too close for comfort, for him and me. From only five or so metres away he exploded into a charge that made the bracken fronds shake and quiver, thankfully in the direction that was straight away from me. Once again, a wild boar saved me the expense of getting a cardiogram to check that my ticker could still cope with sudden abuse. Raw and natural adrenaline is a stunningly effective drug that fixes pretty well any ailment you might have, for a while. I followed as best I could, finding his stretched out hoof prints once they left the bracken and traversed the closely cropped grass. What a sight it would have been to see him bursting out of cover from across the gully. My daughter keeps telling me the puppy she wants would make a great hunting dog. :-)

The weather is warming up here in Oz. Summer is nearly upon us, but last Thursday morning was forecast to be cold at dawn, with a sunny but cool day to follow. I used the Bureau of Meteorology's new MetEye service to check what the wind would be doing and saw that at 5am it would be between 0 and 5 knots and perfectly directed into my face as I walked to the back area where the boar had taken up residence. Given that I'd been seeing him at distance across paddocks, for only a few minutes in the early dawn light before he found cover, I'd spent some mornings at the rifle range making sure I knew where my bullets were going. I dialled my 6.5x55, 270 Win and 30-06 Mauser M03 barrels in at 100, 300 and 500 metres, then worked out curves for distances out to 1000 metres. These Mauser barrels were consistently hitting the mark at 500 metres and I felt ready for a shot at 700 metres, if I couldn't get closer. It turns out that 700 metres is as far as I could go with the Zeiss Victory HT scope I was using with my 270 barrel. The ASV+ turret runs out of clicks at exactly that range.

It was the 270 I carried out to the Landcruiser in the dark at 4.15am. When I got to the farm I drove as quietly over the cattle-grid as I could (try that!) and then only a short distance before parking to the side of the driveway. I'd turned my headlights off while still out on the road and there was just enough light to see where I was going. This would be an easy walking hunt, with no pack or bumbag. Just a morning stroll for an hour or two, with only my Mauser, a few spare rounds and my earmuffs hanging on an old bootlace across my chest. I had my iPhone and earplugs in the breast pocket of my jacket, which for once was just right for the temperature. It would take me about 20 minutes to get to the hill above the bottom corner, by which time the light would be good enough to see what's to be seen, all around.

I walked quietly but briskly through the paddock, 150 metres down the slope from the farmhouse, without spooking the trainee sheepdog. No need to disturb Mr and Mrs Farmers' morning slumber. We've had a wet winter and a perfect spring so there's some thick and lush grass in the paddocks, particularly where the soil is softest. Makes for a nice change from the all too regular drought conditions. Another nice change was that I wasn't going to have to walk for miles without firing a shot, because there was the boar, right in front of me, enjoying the soft soil and long grass, only 70 metres away. And I'd spent all that time zeroing in at 700 metres! I quickly thought about the wind and despite what the Bureau had promised, I felt a puff on the back of my neck. 'Shit, he's gonna smell me any second', I said in my head as I plucked the earplugs out of the film canister. 'Don't make a noise closing it.' I rushed a bit, rolling them and shoving them in my ears, then lifted the earmuffs onto my head. I cocked the M03 quietly and started walking closer. Only the top half of the boar was visible in the thick and even carpet of grass. His head was down and facing away; I didn't think he'd see me. I stopped at 50 metres. I already had the scope set towards the lower end of its magnification range, on 4 power, but the boar was plenty big enough as the cross hair wobbled over its black mass. I didn't think about the range, so it's just as well I'd set it to 200m the night before, as I tend to do. The boar rotated to the right and his head came up. I saw his big floppy ears and his jaw chewing and then stop. 'Now, before he runs!' The wobbling crosshair passed across his shoulder and my finger pulled. The bang was pleasantly quiet. These earplugs and muffs are good things. The straight stock of my Mauser M03 absorbed the recoil really well and I saw the boar collapse in a wavelike motion, from his hind quarters to his snout. Just like you see on YouTube when some Bavarian prince is doing the shooting. Quite simply, like he'd been poleaxed.

So much for not disturbing folk who are still in bed. Oh well.

Someone will be curious; it was a Berger 150gn VLD Hunting bullet that did the trick. While these are named VLD for very low drag, they're an early design of Berger's and aren't super pointy like newer VLD designs. They've stuck with the designation since, they explained when I enquired, to avoid confusion. Not working! These Berger hunting bullets are designed to penetrate 10cm and then blow up, dumping their energy and sending fragments everywhere. This one didn't exit. It was instantly effective.

I was happy to have finally caught up with this boar. Everything had worked perfectly. But curiously, I also felt like it had been too easy. I hadn't walked more than five minutes from the car; probably less. I've always been as quiet as possible when closing doors and loading up magazines. You never know if a big pig is just over there.

A large boar shot with a Mauser M03 270 Winchester and a Berger 150gn VLD Hunting bullet.

A large boar shot with a Mauser M03 270 Winchester and a Berger 150gn VLD Hunting bullet.

Mauser M03 - Good Accuracy at 500 Metres with 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser

I went to the rifle range this morning with the job of getting my Mauser M03 with its 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser Match barrel dialled in at 500 metres, with a new bullet, being the Berger 130gn VLD Hunting. Up at the 500 metre mark I set up a nice new target then lifted a bunch of metallic silhouette rams onto their pedestals, to use in checking that the barrel and scope were close to being zeroed before punching holes in paper. A couple of other guys were setting rams up too and quickly sprayed fresh white paint over the recent bullet hits. Once I was back at the firing line I knocked two of them down with the first two shots of the day, using up a couple of soon to be superseded loads made with Nosler Accubond 140gn projectiles.

I used a pair of Wilson neck-sizing and bullet-seating dies to make up four reloads with the Berger 130gn bullets, with 46gn of ADI 2209 as the propellant. For the first shot I aimed at the middle of a ram. It went over the top, which is understandable. The 130gn Bergers are lighter and more slippery than the Nosler 140 grainers, so shoot a bit flatter. My second shot was aimed at the bottom of the ram's belly, but still went over, though not by much. I measured the difference between point of aim and point of impact with the Kahles K624i's MSR reticle and adjusted six clicks down. My third shot knocked the ram over - great fun that. :-) So I knocked another one over.

I reloaded the four empty cases and turned my attention to the target shown in the picture below. The shimmering heat mirage was distorting my view and made aiming at the fly quite tricky. I could only see it if the dot in the middle of the MSR reticle was away from it, so to take each shot I slowly moved the dot towards the fly and then tripped the Mauser's set trigger at what looked like the right moment. The shots felt pretty good. Checking with a big spotting scope was not much use - too much heat mirage being blown from left to right in the breeze that was varying around 5+ knots. It was only when I drove back up to the 500 metre mark that I saw the three shot group. The dispersion was half my handspan, so about 10 centimetres. I'm pretty sure I said to myself, 'Not bad! I think I'll be sticking with this load.'

I'd fired the fourth shot at the middle of a ram that was sitting to the right of my paper target. I hit it, smack in the middle, evidenced by a splotch in the fresh paint. Thank you to the guy who had the spray can. But this ram didn't fall over. That can happen if the shot lands too close to the middle, I was told. A less accurate rifle might have done a better job, by hitting the ram closer to the edge.

It's just as well these new Berger bullets are working in this Mauser M03 barrel. I'd forgotten that I already had a few boxes, so when the importer announced that new stock had arrived I ordered a few more. Bewdy!

A group fired at 500m with a Mauser M03 in 6.5x55 using Berger 130gn VLD Hunting bullets.

Mauser M03 - The 'New' Shorter Barrels

I'm keen to get your thoughts on Mauser's decision to make their full-length M03 barrels a few centimetres shorter than they used to be. This change was noted by RoyalTW who commented in an earlier post on 6.5x55 accuracy testing. I checked with Mauser and the answer is that M03 magnum calibre barrels have changed from 65cm to 62cm, while the M03 standard calibre barrels have gone from 60cm down to 56cm.

This means that the full length M03 barrels are now the same length as M12 barrels. I've also had a look at Mauser's webpages for M98 rifles. The M98 Magnum version has a 62cm barrel. After a bit of digging I found info on the M98 Custom (that is the 'normal' M98, the non 'Magnum' version, available in many calibres, several of which are magnums), which has a 60cm barrel. I found this in the Hunting Rifles Brochure under Downloads. There's a note that says 'other barrel lengths available on request'. So there should be, at M98 prices!

It seems that the trimming of M03 barrels came in on 1 July 2015. That's right folks, keep reading the Mauser M03 Blog for all the latest news. :-(

There's pros and cons here.

On the plus side:

- the shorter barrels will be easier to handle and point and a touch lighter. Some customers will like this, especially when comparing with a Blaser R8, which, with its shorter action and (previously) shorter barrels is whippier than a Mauser M03. Well, that's fine if you like that.

- shorter barrels can be more accurate than longer ones, as the effect of barrel vibration on shot dispersion is reduced. We're splitting hairs here, but that is what benchrest shooters do.

- your old and long M03 barrels are now collector's items and are possibly worth more. Mauser dealers with old stock of the 60 and 65cm barrels are sure to realise this. Don't point it out if you're buying.

- you get less of the excellent Mauser metal with the shorter barrels, so they should cost less. :-) Good luck with that.

However:

- there will be a reduction in muzzle velocity, though Mauser advise that this should be only 3 to 8 metres/second from a 3 cm shorter barrel, depending on calibre.

- there will be a minor increase in muzzle blast, but nothing like the increased blast from using a muzzle brake.

Click here to see Mauser's updated Caliber Overview document on their M03 Options webpage. Scroll down and open or save the Caliber Overview pdf. As you'll see, there's even shorter barrels available, at 47cm and 51cm. A short, solid barrel is just the ticket for driven boar, apparently. Maybe that's why I sometimes miss pigs that are on the run - my antique barrels are too long!

So, what do you think? Are there other benefits or problems with this change? If you read my earlier posts you'll see I'm a fan of the long barrels Mauser used to make for the M03. Looks like I might have to get with the program and update my thinking. Hmmm …. .

Mauser M03 - Accuracy with 243 Win and 270 Win

I've uploaded a new video, showing load development testing for my 243 Win barrel with a new bullet, being the Berger 95gn Match Grade Classic Hunting. This projectile is not too pointy and will feed well through the magazine. It should be ideal for all of the shooting I will do with my 243. After working up the loads with three shot groups I got to the top load of 43 grains of 2209, which looks to be the most accurate. I settled on a seating depth of 20 thousandths of an inch, which these Mauser M03 barrels all seem to like. I then fired a group with this new load at 300 metres.

At the end of the video I fire a quick test shot at 300 metres with my Mauser M03 with a 270 Win barrel installed, to simulate a first shot at a distant pig, deer or even a fox. It lands close to the group fired with the 243. :-)

What is not on the video is a similar single test shot fired with my Mauser M03 in 30-06, at 200 metres. I asked a guy who was finished for the day if I could shoot at one of his unused target circles, out at that range. The deeply seated clunky looking 180gn Core Lokt bullet from a Remington factory load landed right in the circle, first shot.

I'm happy to report that these rifles are working. :-)

I set the Zeiss scope's ASV+ ring to 300 and the shot was pretty well bang on at 300 metres.

I've added the picture below of the three shot group fired at 300 metres with my Mauser M03's 243 Winchester barrel, which measures 54mm across. The two loaded cartridges show a comparison of the two 6mm Berger 95gn bullets I've tried. Both are seated 20 thousandths from the lands. The longer bullet is the Match Grade VLD Hunting while the shorter one is the Match Grade Classic Hunting. As shown in the video embedded above, the bottom hole is from a quick test shot with my Mauser M03 in 270 Winchester.

Three shot group at 300m with Mauser M03 in 243 Win, plus a test shot with a 270 Win

Mauser M03 - Barrel Change Accuracy

I found this new video by Byron Pace from The Shooting Show, demonstrating the repeatable accuracy of a Mauser M03 in 308 Winchester after removing and replacing the riflescope and barrel. I've trimmed the video to show only the two minutes of discussion on accurate grouping, but feel free to watch the rest of the session, on all of the other features of the M03 system. I'm now getting similar results with hand-loads with 270 Winchester, 243 Winchester, 6.5x55 Swedish and 30-06 Springfield barrels.

Mauser M03 - Excellent Accuracy with M03 Target

I just found this new video by Max Hunt and Ragnhild Ranheim, which looks at the Mauser M03 rifles and tests the accuracy of the M03 Target. 'Right on the money' is the verdict. Excellent shooting with a great rifle that results in outstanding accuracy.

Max has prepared German, English, Danish and Swedish language versions of the video. I enjoy watching all of them and learning a few words in each language. The Swedish and English versions I've embedded below show short clips of groups being fired. Or you can watch the full versions using the video controls.

A Mauser M03 Meets Eight Pigs

Rule No 1. Always listen when a farmer says there's a property nearby with swarms of pigs running amok.

I followed up on that advice the same day while driving home, dropping in to the new property to introduce myself. That first visit was late last year. A couple of Sundays ago I was driving in the area with only binoculars in the car and pulled over on the side of the road, to study the paddocks as dusk fell. I picked up a pair of foxes half a kilometre away and kept an eye on them while scanning the rest of the view. It was exciting but not surprising when I found a pig at about 800 metres, rooting up the ground beneath a small stand of eucalypts. 

Last Saturday I drove out there again, early enough to see the sunlight sneak down the hills in the background and then onto the frosty fields. The two foxes were still there, sniffing around, chasing each other and sneaking up on the heavily pregnant ewes. I didn't have clear permission to shoot on the property yet, so, instead of quickly lining them up I simply watched for an hour. I had them in the middle of the binocular's field of view, fascinated by the way they were standing on their back legs and batting their front paws together, when eight pigs walked into the scene. That was enough for me to get out of the Landcruiser and set sandbags up on the bonnet, but only to hold my binoculars steady while taking photos through them with my iPhone. I took a few stills and then tried for a video, but swiped too far and got a time-lapse.

Just watching these pigs was driving me nuts so I soon drove away and down to the homestead to confirm I was OK to walk up to them with a Mauser M03 in my hands. Nobody home. I drove back and the pigs were still there. Aargh! The property owner and I played phone tag for the rest of the day, which ended with me being good to go for Sunday morning.

I got there even earlier, when the dark was just starting to lift and settled into a comfortable position to watch the paddocks through the side window. It was a clear, frosty morning again and keeping warm was a challenge. A doona would've been good. Once again I watched the foxes, this time playing tug-of-war with a scrap of dried sheep skin. Sunlight had flooded the fields when, bang on time, the same eight pigs entered at stage left. 

It must have a been a squirt of adrenaline that made my pulse and my breathing quicken, along with completely forgetting the cold. A session on Google Earth during the week had told me the pigs were 600 metres away so I didn't think they'd notice me getting my M03 in 270 Win out of the rifle box, or the quiet clicking of the Landcruiser's doors being shut. With spare ammunition, ear plugs and my phone in jacket pockets, I leaned the rifle against the fence and slipped over a nearby gate. My earmuffs were hanging on a cord over my chest and clunked against the icy metal. Bugger! But the pigs didn't care. 

I had to walk for 200 metres straight towards them through sloshy mud and ice, then cut to the right through a gate and walked the same distance on a tangent, heading for the only tree that would provide cover for me to move in closer. It was the sideways movement they'd pick up I thought, so I tried to walk slowly and casually, as if I was a random bushwalker who didn't have a Mauser over his shoulder. It must have worked because I soon had the tree in the right position. I kept it between me and the large sow in the mob; the smaller pigs milling around her would be less likely to react if they detected my movement. I crept towards the tree, getting to the point where the whole mob was obscured by the trunk. I'd made it. The distance was now only 160 metres.

I took a position to the left of the tree, resting my front hand against the trunk, cradling the M03's forestock. I swung the cocking lever to the Fire position and looked for the sow. This shot was going to be interesting. It would be the first after removing a good dose of copper and powder fouling from the barrel, which had been disassembled for easier cleaning. It was bright, shiny and new in that bore. I'd put the rifle and Zeiss scope back together, then installed a different ASV+ ring on the elevation turret, ready to perform some click adjustments to suit a new batch of handloads made with Berger 150 grain VLD Hunting bullets. I was confident that I'd made the switch correctly from the Norma factory ammo I'd been using so far, based on records of test shots I'd made at the range. The first bullet should go exactly where the crosshair was pointing.

It did.

Bedlam followed. The sow was properly hit in the boiler room and bolted off to the right, but not quickly enough to keep up with her seven offspring. They were three-quarter grown and mighty fast. I fired three shots at the runners, but missed. Then I saw them cueing up to slip through their hole in the fence. That would have been the ideal time to shoot! Must remember for next time. I saved the last two shots for the sow, leaking oil badly but engine still running. The echoes died away and all was still. I looked to see if the foxes were sitting off to the left, spectating. But no. 

  

Mauser M03 - Perfect First Shot After Barrel Change

The animals around here are funny. They work in shifts. The foxes clock-on at 7pm, work briskly for a few hours, then have a siesta until the last dark before dawn. The pigs turn up at work just as the foxes are finishing their shift. They plough the fields for six hours then sneak away as soon as the light starts to come up. They're very humble workers and don't enjoy having their good work acknowledged. It's weird how predictable they are and last night was no exception.

By midnight I'd given 10 foxes their notice of termination. They haven't had anyone supervising their work over the summer months and on this first tour of inspection for the year I saw that there was a lot of sitting around on the job. For the most part it was my Sako 17 Remington that did the firing. However, at 10.45 I found a fox that was settling down for a snooze on a rocky slope above a long, sloping paddock. I'd just zocked a workmate with the 17 at 130 metres in the bottom corner and picked up the eyes of the sleepy fox at the other end. I drove up and parked the Landcruiser side-on when I was about 200 metres from where I thought the eye had been and scanned with the spotlight. It took a minute before 'ping', eyes still in the same spot. Hasn't moved and probably won't now. I decided to lift my Mauser M03 with the 243 Winchester barrel from the rifle box in the back of the 'cruiser.

Before leaving home in the afternoon I'd replaced the 6.5x55 Match barrel on my M03 Deluxe stock with the standard profile 243 barrel. Then I put the Kahles K624i back on top. I checked my notes and adjusted the turrets to 109 Up and 8 Right, which should be zero at 200m with the hand-loads I've settled on, made with Berger 68gn Flat Base bullets and 40gn of 2208. I mentioned to the farmer that he might hear me fire a sighting shot soon after driving into the paddocks, but I went for a dusk sneak-about with the 30-06 first and then decided that I wouldn't give the workers a heads-up that their inspector was on duty tonight. My shot with the 243 at the fox that was curling up for a snooze amongst the rocks would be the first since that barrel change.

I settled the rifle on the sandbags I'd put on the Landcruiser's bonnet and adjusted the angle up to the rocky slope. Then I switched the spotlight back on and tweaked its aim. No eyes at all this time. Looking through the Kahles set on 16x made it possible to pick out the fluffed-up fox that was getting itself comfortable. It was quite easy really; the lack of vegetation meant there was less shadow effect from the point source artificial light and so the scene was more three dimensional and easier to interpret than usual. I expected the bullet's trajectory to be cutting through the line of sight at the distance and so rested the central floating dot of the MSR reticle right on the middle of the furry ball. The scene was well lit so I didn't bother with switching the illumination on. Push the set trigger forward, final adjustment, flick-bang - - whop. You're fired!

I was very satisfied with how my Mauser M03 with its 243 Winchester barrel had performed with this first shot. It proved that my faith in the system, at first on a promise but then verified with my own testing in this short video, was well founded. I enjoyed that feeling that comes when we choose a complex, technical and high quality system and it turns out to be every bit as good as we'd hoped it would be. Nice.

These were the next two foxes to be dismissed from their employment last night. They were getting to know each other ahead of the mating season in June/July.



 I dealt with three more foxes in the paddock I found these two in, just before midnight, when, right on cue, all of the others turned into pumpkins. I didn't see anything after that until 2.30am and sure enough, it was a pig and a bigger monster boar than the one of two posts ago. It was so big and slow moving, as solitary boars can be when lit up, I studied it for a while, in the dim, distant beam, a dark form on the dappled black and grey of the tussocks, ferns and shadows. I used my binoculars at first and then the Zeiss 3-12x56mm scope mounted on my Mauser M03 in 30-06. It was so big I was concerned it might be an Angus steer. I was glad for the de-cocking system on the Mauser's bolt while I was trying to figure out cow vs pig. Imagine explaining how the pig you accidentally shot with your old rifle, because you forgot to switch the safety on, turned into a cow by morning. Another Easter miracle! Then the dark shape turned sideways and looked and walked all piggy like, straight out of the edge of the tightened beam of my Lightforce lamp. All the better for seeing you with! Try as I might for the next hour or so I couldn't get a bead on this monster of monsters. I eventually had him lined up again, even further away, but with sheep immediately behind him. A clever pig, who still has a job.

Update: I went back very early two mornings later, on Easter Monday. He wasn't in exactly the same spot; a bit further down the paddock and just beyond a crest. By the time I'd driven over the rise and spotted him he was in a steady but gentle trot through the tussocks, heading left along a fence line and for the forest 500 metres away. However, a stand of young trees that would obscure my view was only 200 metres in front of him. I drove another 100 metres and spun the 'cruiser side-on. It took about 30 seconds to kill the engine, pull on the handbrake, set up the spotlight with a sandbag on the roof and then put my M03 on sandbags over the bonnet. I'd positioned the light so he'd trot into the beam and settled to aim, for a shot of 200 metres. As he reached the right hand edge of the light I put my cheek to the Mauser, to find myself wondering why the scope was completely dark. By the time I'd discovered and removed the very nice elasticised Zeiss scope caps, he was departing the beam. I checked that the Mauser would not flop sideways off the sandbags and let it go so I could stand up in the doorway and adjust the light again. I'm sure I swore a few times. With the light turned to put the beam in front of him once more I quickly got behind the rifle and had only a second to line up the shot. The trigger was so crisp I didn't even notice it. After the boom I heard a solid 'Whump' come back from the 180gn Core Lokt projectile, just before the boar reached the trees. Where he went after that is a mystery, but most likely he found a deep channel between the tussocks, in which the pigs of the district famously hide. Perhaps I should get that Dachshund my daughter keeps asking for?

Mauser M03 - 300m Accuracy with 270 Win

I spent several hours at the rifle range today, firing test shots at 100m and 300m with my Mauser M03 rifles, to work out which of the ASV+ rings to use with the Zeiss Victory HT scopes. First, zero the rifle at 100m, then re-zero at 300m and count the clicks between. Compare the number of clicks with the ballistic curves presented in the Victory HT instruction manual and choose one of the nine turret rings supplied with each scope.

The results with my barrels were:

30-06:
Factory Ammunition - Remington 180gn Core Lokt - 18 clicks (= 18cm at 100m or 1.8 Milliradian)
Hand Load - 180gn Nosler Ballistic Tip & 56.5gn of 2209 -16 clicks

270 Win:
Factory Ammunition - Norma 150gn Spire Point - 16 clicks
Hand Load - 150gn Berger VLD Hunting & 52gn of 2209 - 15 clicks

6.5x55:
Hand Load - 140gn Nosler Accubond & 46gn of 2209 - 14 clicks
Hand Load - 130gn Berger VLD Hunting & 46gn of 2209 - 12 clicks

The picture below shows the three shot group I fired at 300m with the 270 Winchester barrel, using the 150gn Berger VLD Hunting hand load listed above. Shot separation is about 39mm. This was with a 10x scope. I'm calling this very good accuracy, particularly for a hunting weight rifle with a standard profile barrel. (Edit - it's 0.5 MoA at 300m in fact - not bad!). When I see my next big boar I'm going to ask it to stay still while I back away a few hundred metres and bowl it over from there.

Three shot group fired at 300 metres with Mauser M03 in 270 Winchester - Berger 150gn VLD Hunting bullets

Mauser M03 vs Monster Pig

Finally the weather has cooled enough to make a morning hunt enjoyable. This morning in fact. We've been experiencing a warmer than usual start to Autumn, though with a lot more rain than we normally get this time of year. Consequently the farmlands are beautiful and green with lush grass sprouting up in places. The forest floor is soft and damp instead of dry and crunchy. I guess this is part of the reason why the big boar didn't notice me coming along down the 'Secret Valley' that's hidden at the back of a farm nearby. It's the most picturesque and pleasant part of the farm, nestled up against the real forest beyond and only discovered by me a couple of years ago. I thought I knew every part of the farm before walking over the low ridge that keeps it hidden. Since that first time I've visited regularly, each time thinking that this is the perfect setting to meet up with a deer or some pigs; it just looks so right. Who really wants to find what their looking for on a barren, rocky, scrabbly slope, littered with sheep skulls and ancient, desiccated scraps of timber?

I'd taken the route through the Secret Valley thirty or forty times without seeing anything hunt-able. Sure, I'd snuck up on some wombats, tossing pebbles at them from 10 metres to alert them to my presence. Silly things. How they survived the Aborigines is beyond me. They must taste pretty crap. I persisted with the Secret Valley simply because it was such a lovely stretch of semi-open woodland to visit and for that desire to meet the perfect animal in this perfect place. And so it was. Pity I'm not the perfect hunter.

The law here is that we're not allowed to travel with our firearms loaded and ready to shoot at an instant's notice. Fair enough. When I pulled over on the country road in the dark of the morning just before arriving at the farm I filled the Mauser's magazine with five 270 Winchester Norma spire points. I put the magazine on the passenger seat and drove around some paddocks the farmer had suggested I look at, but my spotlight didn't find any black lumps. It did find a few sets of foxes' eyes, including one junior fox who just sat there in the headlights at 40 metres looking back at me. Next time matey. The dawn light gradually pushed some of the darkness away and my Landcruiser and I found ourselves in the middle of a broad sloping paddock, from which the trail to the Secret Valley starts.



Before getting out of the car I twisted around to where my Mauser M03 was resting in its now unzipped rifle bag in the rear seat footwell and slipped a 'plus one' round into the chamber, to then close the bolt. It was still only half light when I lifted the rifle from under its centre point and noticed that the magazine was not installed. I soon corrected that, the 'Tung' noise of the sprung catch telling me it was properly home. Check that the rifle is un-cocked. Check again by testing that the bolt handle doesn't lift. All good. Ready to move.

I was soon easing my way through the fence wires and heading into the trees seen behind the Landcruiser. I curved my way up the ridge to the saddle above the car's front door. The sightlines under the canopy are quite good in places, though patches of impenetrable tea-tree scrub block the view on some slopes. It was 15 minutes and some undulations later that the view opened up to a clear field the length of a couple of tennis courts. Smack in the middle was the Monster Pig. He hadn't seen me. He hadn't smelled me. He hadn't heard me put my earmuffs on. If he had I don't think he would have cared. This guy was king of the forest and looked like he wouldn't give a rats if a couple of pig dogs turned up. Have 'em for breakfast he would. Was it 60 metres or 70 when I decided I was close enough? Can't be sure but either way I didn't feel like I needed to get closer, not for fear of missing but so I could run away like a little girl if he came at me. Scary Monster Pig!

I stood still in the beautiful Secret Valley and quietly cocked my beautiful Mauser M03, just like in this video. I had the Mauser up to my shoulder with the black monster centred in the Zeiss cross hair.

CLICK!

WTF?

Dud round??

I waited a few seconds and quietly opened the bolt halfway, to look gingerly into the chamber with the rifle at arm's length and my head pulled away. It was still a bit dark and even darker in the barrel opening; I couldn't see anything shiny and brass-like coming out with the bolt, or left behind in the chamber. Where the hell did that cartridge I put in get to? Still totally confused but reminded by my wide open eyes that there was a monster pig waiting for me over there, I quietly but positively cycled the bolt, watching as it stripped the top cartridge from the magazine and pushed it into the chamber. The action closed with that 'safe-as-houses' feeling you get with a Mauser and I lined the pig up again. He'd moved over to where he could root up a new thistle in the soft soil. Some dead woody scrub was now in between us but I figured it wouldn't matter, waited for a good wobble and fired. I got a BANG this time (yay!) but the wobble was a bit higher on his back than I would have liked.

The Monster Pig ran, thankfully away from me and towards the edge of the scrub about 15 metres from where he'd been digging. I couldn't be sure but it looked like he was running a bit funny. Or maybe that was just him getting his sprint started. I threw the bolt back and slammed a new cartridge home. 'We doan need no fancy-schmantsy straight pulls 'roun' here!' I fired again before he got to the scrub line and saw in the scope that it should have been a hit, probably in the rear quarters. Not a Texas-heart-shot; more into his back leg on the right side. Didn't slow him up though. Didn't make him squeal like a pig. Tough king pig! Perhaps I missed, both times?

Like a certified scaredy cat I checked along the edge of the scrub and listened for movement. I'd forgotten to remove my earmuffs so hadn't heard him running away. I could see his hoof marks in the short grass but no blood. It was then that I realised the 'plus one' round I'd put into the barrel must have slipped out and down through the empty magazine-well before I closed the bolt. Goose! After a while I decided to continue along the Secret Valley and circle around to the other side of the hill that the Monster Pig had run up. I'd rather find him there than have him find me in the thick stuff.

There was no sign of Mr Pig so I continued along my intended route, all the way down the creek-line until it exited the farm a few kilometres away. On the way back a couple of hours later I turned up into the Secret Valley, thinking that I would have a good look for the Monster, knowing he would be either long gone or long dead, hopefully not far from where he heard my shots. Like Daniel Boone I traced each hoof-print in the close cropped grass and then the forest floor. I took a few wrong turns as game trails forked away through the scrubby undergrowth, returning each time to the last good sighting of a disturbed leaf or fluffed up soil. I'd gone about 75 metres, including through some uncomfortably tight tea-tree scrub with no visibility either side, when I saw this!



What a relief! I hadn't been a shit shot today after all. I quickly took a photo in case it was all I would have to write about. A few more steps along the trail and I saw this.



Then this.



And that was it! I walked another two or three hundred metres, traversing along the woody slope in the direction the pig was taking. Nothing. I must have lost the trail so worked my way back to the photo above. I stood there and examined every leaf, stick and piece of bark. Off to the left and down the slope a bit I saw an indent in the forest litter. Then another. Daniel Boone meets The Mentalist deduced that he went thataways. In another 15 metres I'd lost him again. Back a bit, look harder. 'Ah, he went through this deeper bark strewn section here. But how did he get through that mess of branches? I'm not going to try that. I'll go through here, up a bit higher.' 20 metres further on and after some serious twisting and bending I kneeled and scanned through the clearer sight lines at waist height. I picked up a consistently coloured lump down near where I thought he'd headed. I locked on and looked carefully. That has to be him. I got closer and saw the Monster Pig, lying on his side. I worked through the last section of scrub with my Mauser ready, in case he was only snoozing. But no. He's dead.

The mix of shade and sunlight and the way he was lying made it difficult to take a good picture, but here's a couple to give you the idea. He's not the biggest Monster Pig of all time, but plenty big enough. The wide angle lens of my iPhone makes him look smaller than he really is. Really!



He's longer than a Mauser M03 140th Anniversary model with a standard 270 Win barrel, which is 112cm. I didn't try moving him into the shade for a better picture; I don't think I'd have been able to.



Mr and Mrs Farmer said 'Thanks' when they saw the pictures. One less big pig to mess up their paddocks. I said 'Thanks' too and promised to come back with my very accurate M03 in 243 Win next week, to get that young fox and his friends.

Mauser M03 - Good Accuracy with 6.5x55

I'm just back from doing some load development with my Mauser M03 Deluxe and its 6.5x55 Match barrel. I'm now working with Berger 130gn VLD Hunting bullets and after a few test shots settled on 46gn of AR 2209, with the projectiles seated 30 thousandths of an inch from the lands.

The first picture shows a couple of confirmation shots at 100m, to set a baseline for elevating the reticle for the next shots at 300m, which needed 12 clicks up on the Kahles K624i scope.

Test shots at 100m with Mauser M03 - 6.5x55

I used the ballistics calculator at hornady.com to get right on target with the first shot at 300m. It's a hot day at the end of summer and the mirage turned the target square into wobbly mush I could hardly see. The breeze was steady, from left to right, hence the shots at 300m are pushed to the right. The group fired at 300m measures about 1.5 inches or 39mm, i.e. about half minute of angle.

3 shot group fired at 300 metres with Mauser M03 - 6.5x55

In a couple of weeks I'll get to the range on a weekday when it's not so busy and take the shots out to 500m. I'm keen to see how these Berger VLD Hunting bullets perform at that distance.

Mauser M03 - Good Accuracy with 30-06

The parcel with my new Wilson reloading dies for 30-06 Springfield arrived on Monday. During the week I prepared a few cases to use in my Mauser M03 30-06 barrel, to work up some new loads on Sunday morning. I had success right from the start, with a moderate load of 55gn of AR 2209 pushing my favourite 30 caliber bullet - the 180gn Nosler Ballistic Tip. The mid-morning mirage was making the cross-hair wobble more than the separation of these two shots, so I was quite pleased. Clearly, my M03 was happy with the Ballistic Tips.



When I'm developing new loads I fire two shot groups, to quickly check if the combination of powder type, powder load, bullet style, bullet weight and seating depth are going to work. After these first two shots I adjusted my powder thrower to increase the load to 56.5gn of 2209 and made up three more rounds, at close to maximum pressure. The barrel oscillations with this load flipped the first projectile four centimetres higher than where the 55gn group had landed; I wasn't thinking this was going to be a great group. However, the second shot overlapped the first. The pressure was now on me for the third shot. I mucked that up and pulled it slightly to the right; I could tell by the sight picture when the rifle jumped. Even so, the three shots are just under a 14mm group. I wonder what this Mauser M03 could do with better sandbags and better technique? Fact is, I'm far from being good at shooting straight when the target is a piece of white cardboard and a 30-06 is about to erupt right next to me. The set trigger definitely helps, but that cross hair is never perfectly still.

I think 180gn Nosler Ballistic Tips pushed by 56.5gn of 2209 and seated 20 thousandths of an inch from the lands will be a good load to use in this Mauser M03 barrel.

Mauser M03 - Good Accuracy with 270 Win

In some earlier posts to this Mauser M03 Blog I promised to see if my M03 270 Win and 30-06 barrels could produce better accuracy with hand loads than with the factory ammunition I'd been using so far. Well (cue fanfare), with my first attempt to live up to this promise I have some results from my 270 to share. Pics below.

After over a week of rain and wind it was calm and sunny on Tuesday this week so I gathered my Wilson reloading dies and other bits and pieces and headed out to the rifle range, hoping it wouldn't be too crowded. I got there just as a break between firing serials was about to end and quickly stapled a clean card to a target board. I was about to run it out to the 100 meter mark when the range officer, who was kindly waiting for me, said, 'Don't you want to put something to aim at on it?' Good point! I didn't want to hold the others up so quickly drew just the one square, seen in the picture below. While more aim points could have been handy, working with just one made for a good photo in the end.

My tests were with Berger 150gn VLD Hunting bullets. While these are called 'Very Low Drag' by Berger, with a G1 ballistic coefficient of .531, they are not too long or pointy to feed properly from the M03 magazine. Just before heading to the range I worked out the maximum cartridge overall length (COL) for these projectiles in this barrel, using the method outlined below (now with a nice title to help the search engines find it):

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How to Measure a Rifle Chamber for Maximum Cartridge Overall Length and Depth of Bullet Seating From the Lands.

- I carefully inserted a snug fitting cleaning rod down the bore from the muzzle end until the flat end of the rod was resting against the face of the closed bolt. I'd checked that the chamber and barrel were clear of course, so I was happy to cock the bolt to ensure it was tensioned and its bearing surfaces were engaged with those in the barrel. I put a small but strong hand clamp with stiff rubber clamping pads on the cleaning rod and snugged it up against the muzzle crown, while checking that the cleaning rod was still pressed against the bolt face.

- I opened the bolt and carefully withdrew the cleaning rod by about 15cm, then left it resting in the barrel. I was careful not to disturb the clamp.

- With a case that had been neck-sized but not yet primed or filled with powder I fitted one of the Berger 150gn VLD Hunting projectiles so it was barely finger tight. I put this into the chamber and used the bolt to push it in gently until it stopped, with the projectile resting against the lands of the rifling.

- I slowly eased the cleaning rod back into the barrel until its flat face rested against the tip of the projectile.I used the inside measuring tips of my vernier calipers to measure the distance between the pad of the clamp and the crown of the barrel it had rested against before. This distance equals the maximum length of a loaded cartridge for that combination of barrel and projectile.

NB: If the end of the cleaning rod is female threaded, recessed, hollow, angled or simply higher on the outside than in the centre, the bullet tip might protrude into the recess or low spot while taking the measurement, resulting in a shorter maximum COL measurement than you'd get with a flat ended rod. This won't be dangerous, as you'll be seating your bullets further from the lands than you think. It could be confusing though.

- I subtracted 20 thousandths of an inch from that maximum to use as a starting point for COL. Upon firing, the projectile would have to move that far before meeting the lands and engraving into the rifling, while still being held by the case neck. Makes for good accuracy, so they say.

Another NB: Developing hand loads in general and seating bullets close to the lands to improve accuracy (possibly) is not something to be doing if you're not completely right in the head. If going down this route, use your brain, don't drink alcohol or use fancier substances, study your reloading manual carefully and don't be stoopid. :-)

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Once I was at the range I looked up Nick Harvey's Reloading Manual (which has advice on starting and maximum loads for Australian ADI rifle propellants) and settled on 49 grains of AR2209 for my first two shots. ADI make the propellants used in Australia's military ammunition and I've found it to be very good. It's designed to be more temperature stable than other powders and can produce very fine accuracy. I don't have a set of wind-proof digital powder scales, so measured the loads using a powder thrower that I'd calibrated for maximum loads with my scales at home. A full turn inwards of the adjustment screw would equal a 1.5 grain reduction in the measured load, with 2209. Two turns would take me down from 52 grains to 49.

The two shots with (what should be about) 49 grains were aimed at the middle of the square. 'Wow, they're close together!' I thought, looking through the 10x magnification of my Zeiss scope. They landed about 3 cm to the right of where the rifle is sighted for the Norma 150 grain spire point factory ammo I've been using.

Next, I rotated the powder funnel's load adjusting screw out by 1 turn, to deliver around 50.5 grains of 2209. When I was about to fire I realised the new shots could land near the previous ones if I used the same aim point, so rested the cross hair on the top right corner of the square. A figure-eight! 50.5 grains is looking pretty good. Now let's push up to what ol' Nick reckons is a maximum load and see what happens. My two shots with 52 grains were aimed at the bottom left corner of the square and produced another figure-eight. The RWS primers were not too flattened so I went up another half turn, to 52.75 grains. I'd drawn another square lower on the board during a break and aimed at that. These loads were still not too hot for the rifle but spread out like those at 49 grains, about 10 mm centre to centre, which is very good but pretty crap compared to overlapping holes.

Three pairs of hand load test shots fired with a Mauser M03 270 Win 

I'd been reloading the same five fire-formed cases throughout and decided to make up three rounds at 50.5 grains, a moderate load with the best accuracy so far. My cases would last well with that charge. The bottom photo shows this last group, aimed at the middle of a new square, after moving the scope's reticle two clicks to the left. I'd let the barrel cool a bit, but it was still pretty warm at the start of this group. What makes me happy is that the third shot landed between the first two. That's a good sign that the combination of rifle and ammunition is working well. I measured this three shot group at a touch over 10 mm. I am wondering if I can do better by using the full suite of case preparation tools and techniques, to turn the case necks, do some length trimming, neck chamfering, primer hole deburring and case sorting by weight. It won't hurt and might help. I might even put a scope that's bigger than 10 power on next time. And get up earlier to dodge the wind that was picking up.

A 10.5mm group fired from a Mauser M03 270 Win with Berger 150 projectiles

Conclusion: This Mauser M03 with its 270 Winchester barrel is capable of outstanding accuracy, which can be achieved with a bare minimum of load development with projectiles that are not as easy to work with as others, such as flat base bullets with less pointy noses. If the piggies want to grumble about me shooting at them with a rifle that isn't accurate enough, they won't have a leg to stand on.