Hunting with a Mauser M03 - Perfect Accuracy

I followed up my successful stalk last Sunday, described in the previous post, with another visit to the same paddocks late on Tuesday afternoon. As a preview of how that went I'll just say that I was seeing pigs before I'd even unlocked the roadside gate. :-)

I started writing this blog a few years ago to help fill a hole in the internet, being the lack of reports from owners on the performance and accuracy of the Mauser M03 rifle system. Well, I'm ready to say that even though there's more I can do with precision hand loading techniques to wring tighter and tighter groups from these barrels, I'm totally satisfied with the accuracy I'm witnessing, over a bench rest at the range, over the hood of my car or out stalking. The result on Tuesday was three from three, and all quite testing shots. Perfect accuracy.

A young sow at the forest edge. Mauser M03, 270 Winchester, Berger 150gn VLD Hunting

This first one was the larger of a pair I spotted in the shadows of the forest that runs along the opposite side of the paddock I was about to enter from the road. I was sweeping the tree line with my binoculars before making the inevitable noise of opening the gate and felt the usual jolt of excitement, which never seems to fade. Problem is, I was still dressed in town clothes and my Mauser, it's bolt and the bolt head were still secured in three different places. The two pigs were 700 metres away; it was unlikely they would be bothered by me rushing around like Homer Simpson with his hair on fire, changing my socks, lacing up my boots, changing shirts, assembling a rifle, rattling ammunition into a magazine, then unlocking the gate and driving in. I checked; they hadn't been spooked, so I kept driving towards them, quietly, in first gear. Stalking in a Landcruiser. Luxury!

The pigs had moved into the paddock through a hole in the fence made earlier by their friends and found a nearby patch of fresh, green grass. Over summer the sheep and cattle have trodden the earth under the gumtrees into dust while seeking shelter from the sun. A couple of weeks of unusually good and steady autumn rain has transformed these zones into little gardens of Eden. When I was 250 metres from them I carefully turned the Landcruiser ninety degrees to the right, so I could use the hood as a firing rest. I was worried that this move would make them run, but they kept on grazing, out in the last rays of the afternoon sun. I stayed ducked down as I set up a pair of rice-filled bags to support my M03; the 270 Winchester again. It already had a round in the chamber, perfectly safe because of the Mauser's cocking mechanism. I simply needed to swing that cocking lever to the right and fine tune the rifle's elevation with the rear bag. I dialled the Zeiss scope up to 10 power; these weren't huge pigs and flare from the sun was quite troublesome. I paused and thought, 'OK, the barrel has been oiled after the wet day last Sunday, then wiped dry this afternoon with a pull-through. It should print slightly high for this first shot'. I left the scope's elevation set to 200 metres. I didn't bother with the set trigger; the 950gm normal weight trigger is just perfect for shots like this. But I did have my left hand tweaking the butt stock in the rear bag, for aiming, rather than holding the fore stock tightly. This meant that the rifle jumped with the recoil and all I saw after that was the smaller pig bolting as if his life depended on it.

'So what happened?'

I wondered if I'd messed up a perfect opportunity as I started to drive over there, having abandoned all attempts at being stealthy. No pig. 'Shit! How did that miss?' I drove past the fresh lawn of grass seedlings and along the fence and then spotted a tan coloured lump in the older, dry grass, just inside the forest edge. The pig had run 40 metres, got through the hole and then conked out. It was a perfect double lung shot, which is exactly what I'd aimed for. In a moment I'd gone from confused and annoyed to pleased and proud; hunters will know this feeling.

The sun was below the horizon by the time I'd walked up onto the ridge in the adjacent paddock, where I'd shot the big boar on Sunday. Half an hour later the light was fading fast but was still bright enough for me to watch a huge sow walk out from some tussocks and into a clear field, about 150 metres below me. In moments, four medium size pigs caught up with her; piglets from last spring no doubt. I slipped behind the cover of a nearby tree and took a rest with my left hand against the trunk. I waited for the smaller pigs to get out of the way then put a shot into the sow's shoulder. I wanted her to drop on the spot and that's exactly what the Mauser and the Berger 150 grain VLD Hunting bullet made happen. Because she didn't run, her followers didn't run. The three that were still standing after the next shot did though, in three different directions. It was remarkable how quickly they got themselves back together. Only a minute later I saw them further down the slope by a creek, milling around, about 300 metres away, wondering what to do. From previous situations like this I've seen that young pigs will come back if given the chance, so I waited. By the time they were coming closer it was just a bit too dark. I could see them circling around each other, 100 metres beyond where the sow was, but not clearly enough to take a shot.

I walked back to get the Landcruiser in the dark, with a plan to set up with the spotlight and wait. Once I had the car in place and everything ready, some magic happened. It's Easter, and Easter means chocolate, holidays and a full moon. It was the full moon that got my attention, when it came up from behind the same hills that revealed the sun a couple of days earlier, in that glowing red, smoky, foggy, spectacular dawn. The air was crystal clear now and the low angle of the moon lit the field up with surprising definition. I had a wonderful view of the scene below me and plenty of light to see details with binoculars or riflescope. I've never really needed the fine illuminated dot in the Zeiss Victory HT 2.5-10 x 50 scope that I use with this M03. I dialled it right down so it was barely there, this perfect little floating firefly that I could drift over the pigs that were sure to appear. But, the afternoon and evening had been perfect enough and it all came to an end, when a solid blanket of cloud slipped under the moon and shut the show down. Oh well. Next time.

A whopping great sow. Mauser M03, 270 Win barrel, Berger 150gn VLD Hunting

A little orc from the sow's litter last Spring. Mauser M03, 270 Win, Berger 150gn VLD Hunting