A Mauser M03 Hunting Story - The Coldest Deer Hunt

A reader of this Mauser M03 blog - M03Fan - has kindly given me permission to publish the story of his latest deer hunting adventure in New Hampshire. The story is also posted in the Discussion Forum, so you might get to enjoy it twice. Great pictures! The last one says it all. Thanks M03Fan. Regards, Rick.

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Just came back from the coldest deer hunt I can remember up in New Hampshire's Great North Woods with my M03 in .308. This M03 was born as a Stutzen, but I later added a regular .308 barrel to it.

A Mauser M03 in 308 Win with a Leica scope, on a hunt in the snow. 

Freezing my face off... I think it was -3F (-19C) when starting Friday after Thanksgiving.

A Mauser M03 hunter, on a mission.

There was plenty of fresh tracks in the snow, so no doubt animals were around. But sitting still in such cold was not easy. 

But the wait paid off in the end!!  Suddenly I hear something to my left.  A little 6 pointer jumps up in front of me, maybe 20 yards away.  And he just stands there for a good 30 seconds, having a staring contest with me, wondering what I'm doing in his neck of the woods.  Then he makes a jump, a little bit further into the woods, and again stares as me (probably because I look like an idiot with all the crazy clothes on me).  All this time, I’ve been sitting still like frozen (which I also was), afraid that even the slightest movement would scare him off, so the rifle is resting on my shooting stick and my leg.

But then he turns his head away for a moment, giving me an opportunity to lift the rifle up and cock it.  Bang!  As always, if I can do my part, the M03 will perform flawlessly and .308 being plenty for a whitetail, he dropped right where he was standing.  He even made a little snow angel.

A few hours later back at the hunting lodge. We were all so very happy that Mr. Deer decided to come for dinner!

The end result of a cold day out hunting with a Mauser M03.

Mauser M03 - Fast Switch-Barrel Action

It was a beautiful day. Perfect sunshine after a frosty morning. No wind to speak of. Well, not until a gentle breeze in the late-afternoon. More on that later.

I’d shelved my plans to look for feral pigs on a nearby farm when I heard from the owner that sheep and cattle were being moved all over the place, in preparation for lambing that would start next week. Instead, I would make good use of the gorgeous weather and do some reconnaissance amongst the hills next to the farm. They offer a delightful mix of deep forest, woodlands, scrub and open slopes and ridges. I would be carrying only chocolate topped muesli bars and binoculars. You already know what happened, of course. :-)

A manager from a local parks and wildlife office told me last week that in these hills I would find all manner of troublesome critters. Some with bushy tails. Others with tusks. Even some with antlers. Two kinds of those, he said. Hmmm! :-) He also said it was an area regularly frequented by mating pairs or family groups of common, yellow booted, iPhone fixated, bipedal primates and therefore he would strongly recommend that I not be seen carrying a bang-stick. We knowingly discussed how this could lead to the unnecessary arrival of a small swarm of other primates, of the black booted, poker-faced, blue-light swat variety. Hmmm. :-|

I parked my car at the northern end of the hills and traversed southwards along and up the steep eastern slopes, to reach the highest peak, which afforded a wonderful view of the surrounding farmlands. I saw plenty of hoof marks and pig rooting, but no trees rubbed by antlers. Up the top, with warm sunshine on my shoulders and barely a hint of breeze I walked further south along the descending ridge-line. The forest gradually cleared and opened up to give me a great view down to the farm I wasn’t going to be hunting on today. My binoculars are to blame for what happened next.

The farm looked very pretty from up on top of the ridge. My face would have looked pretty funny when I spotted the mob of pigs that had just left the sanctuary of the bushland, to now be ambling along through the lush, green grass that several hundred heavily pregnant ewes were meant to be enjoying. My iPhone is to blame for what happened after that. ‘We’ve finished mustering. You’re welcome to have a go at them,’ was the property owner’s answer.

Google Earth tells me that I was three and a half kilometres from my car. I tested my heart as I walked as fast as I could back up along the ridge to the mountain top. I then jogged down the long, lightly timbered northern slope. My Mauser M03 was snugly packed up and locked away in a Mauser rifle case and even though I was in a hurry, I took my time to assemble it carefully. Not carefully enough though. I forgot to install the bolt and cock the action before torquing the barrel bolts. More on that later.

I drove into the farm and tracked along the fence at the edge of the forest I’d been walking through earlier, keeping an eye on the hills above me to gauge where I should stop before bumping into the pigs. I didn’t want them to hear or see my Landcruiser. I judged well and walked through a dip and up to a crest before spotting a small swarm of piglets buzzing around each other, out in the open. I was walking smoothly but briskly, aware that the breeze had picked up as the shadows of the afternoon lengthened. It was blowing directly from me to them. I took a firing rest beside a big, old gum tree and then observed through my rifle-scope that all of the piglets were lifting their heads and sniffing the air. They started moving to the right and away from me, towards the hills and the forest. But where are the bigger pigs? The direction the piglets took gave them away, partially hidden in the grass. Two sows caught my scent at that moment and immediately turned for the forest.

I knew that the first shot from my 270’s clean barrel would fly a little higher than usual, but it seems I didn’t allow enough for that. Or, the reason that shot missed the larger sow could be that I didn’t get the barrel tightening sequence right. ‘Remember Rick. Bolt in, cocked, then the final tightening.’ My eye caught a flash of brass flying in the dappled sunlight as I reloaded. The sows were jogging a lot faster now, heading for a hole in the fence. The piglets couldn’t keep up. The leading sow paused to wait and caught a Berger 150gn projectile in the shoulder. Geez they work well.

What else works well is the Mauser M03 take-down switch barrel system. It took me a couple of minutes to put together a completely disassembled rifle, right down to the bolt head being removed for security. This rifle then knocked over a medium size sow at 150 metres, albeit with the second shot. The miss with the first shot was my fault.

A Special Mauser M03 in 338 RUM - Looking for a New Owner

Hello to all fans of the Mauser M03 rifle system.

This post is about a very special Mauser M03 which is reluctantly being offered for sale by a contact in the UK. Pictures below.

Derek is a veteran of many African safaris, regularly made in the company of his good friend and hunting partner of 46 years, Barry. Sadly, Barry has been summoned to a happy hunting ground in another place. I purchased a Mauser M03 rifle case from Barry's wife, which Derek posted to me here in Australia on her behalf. I'll have to write a story about this case - it truly is a most convenient and gentlemanly way of transporting a beautiful rifle between home and the day's hunting ground.

So here's a question. Do you have a 338 Remington Ultra Magnum in your Mauser M03 collection? What about one with an African stock in Grade 7 walnut? I'm sure yours has a fluted, match barrel that's prepared for a moderator, along with a kick-stop, engraved magazine and every accessory needed to take such a beauty out for some work.

No? Oh.

Well, Derek has one.

He ordered it with the intention of making one more trip to Africa with Barry. That trip had to be cancelled and after a pause for reflection Derek has decided that this rifle really needs to fulfil its destiny, though, in someone else's hands. He has good experience with what a powerful 338 calibre rifle can do on the plains. He will enjoy reading a report about what this particular rifle can achieve, be it in Africa with Kudu, in British Columbia with grizzlies, in Montana with elk, Norway with elg, or in Australia with three big piggies standing in a row. So far this rifle has only been fired at a plywood deer cutout that Derek spotted in his back yard one day. Those things are tough and it took twelve carefully aimed shots before it raised the white flag. I'll post some pictures below.

The rifle is listed for sale with Derek's gunsmith in Scotland, at a price of £3750 GBP. My computer tells me this is about $5350 USD, €4350 Euro and $6900 AUD. Everyone here knows what a new order Mauser M03 costs. Factor in the special features with this one and its minimal use ... . That's a good price. I wish it was still 2010 when Australia dodged the financial crisis. Our dollar was amazing then.

If you would like to know more please strike up a conversation with Derek on the Mauser M03 Blog Discussion Forum (link at top of page, or here), where I will cross-post this message. You and Derek can switch to private messages as you see fit. Or post a comment here. I'll see those and will put you in touch if needed. Please encourage Derek to talk about his trips to Africa; he has some stories to tell which we'll all find interesting.

Regards, Rick.

Mauser M03 - Scope Ring Height

Mark in British Columbia made contact with me via the Mauser M03 Blog Discussion Forum, to talk about the height of Mauser's 30mm scope rings. The ones he had for use with a 30mm diameter Schmidt & Bender scope had a height of 9 mm - too high for many people I'm sure. Here's the 'Before' photo.

Mark's hunt for the Mauser Double Square Mount rings I'm using with my Zeiss Victory HT scopes was proving fruitless. These have a 5 mm rise from the bridge to the bottom of the scope. I rang Mialls Gun Shop in Melbourne, Australia to see if they still had them and could post to Canada. Yep, no problem was their answer.

Mark ordered some rings and a mount base from Mialls and has now installed them to the scope and Double Square Mount bridge, with the following result - the 'After' photo. That's better!

Mark finds that the scope aligns with his eye immediately now, upon shouldering the very nice stock he has. This is a good thing; an important safety factor for the next time (hopefully not!) he's charged by a grizzly bear while out deer or moose hunting. After the last frightening encounter of this kind, which ended as shown below, Mark has adopted the Mauser M03 setup we see above as his safety equipment - and hunting rifle. And here's me worrying about bumping into a wild boar while it's all fat and lazy and lolling around in a wallow.

I think 'Bear Whisperer' might be a good nick-name for Mark, given his skills in attracting and pacifying them with a minimum of fuss. Or perhaps 'Bear Chills'? :-) The black bear below can only agree. I hear that bears are being reintroduced into the woodlands of western Europe, in part to help control the numbers of deer and wildschwein. I bloody hope no-one comes up with the bright idea of releasing bears here in Australia, to help with our kangaroo and pig numbers. Deer numbers too, actually. Although, if they did, I'd develop a whole new appreciation for my own Mauser M03s. :-|

Mauser M03 - Good Accuracy After Bolt Catch Repairs

This blog post comes from a successful repair story that's run its course over in the Mauser M03 Blog Discussion Forum. It will help other Mauser M03 users find this information if searching. What's interesting is, after being totally disassembled the accuracy delivered by the rifle, scope and ammunition is simply brilliant.

A forum member was having problems with the bolt not always being stopped by the bolt catch during extraction. That's not what you want when there's bears in the woods! Here's a video showing the problem. There's others at M03 Fan's YouTube channel .

Careful inspection indicated that wear at the leading edge of the bolt catch might be causing the catch to slip under the mating surface of the bolt head, rather than engaging properly and arresting the rearward movement of the bolt. The following images will help tell the story. First, here's the top part of the bolt catch. The second image shows a close up of the leading edge.










The rifle was disassembled by the owner and the receiver and bolt were sent off to the Mauser/Blaser agent for repair. Gunsmiths there welded new metal to the top of the bolt catch, then machined it back to the right shape. A very effective repair job. If you're going to try this at home, I suggest removing the bolt catch from the receiver before getting stuck in with your favourite welder. ;-) The part below will be easier to work with once it's out of the rifle. :-)

And here's a good picture that M03 Fan took of his Mauser M03 receiver, out of the stock and nicely laid out. A fun Sunday afternoon project.

But the best part of the story is that with the resurfaced bolt catch back in the receiver and the rifle fully reassembled, test firing showed that the bullet impact point was unchanged. The 10 shots fired through the owner's 308 Win barrel were very nicely grouped. The repeatable accuracy of the Mauser M03 rifle system is proven once again. A great result!

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Mauser M03 - Magazine Disassembly

A topic came up on the Mauser M03 Blog Discussion Forum, about rounds jamming when the bolt was being closed slowly. I'd had some experience with this when using long pointy bullets in handloads, seated out a long way to be close to the lands. As I wrote in the forum, this is asking for it!  The original poster was having a different problem. When the last cartridge was being fed slowly from his magnum rifle magazines, the rim was popping up too high once it cleared the rails. Feeding quickly worked OK, as with my M03s.

Most rifles feed best from the magazine when the bullets are round or flat tipped and standard cartridge overall length isn't exceeded. Most rifles also feed best when the bolt is moved forward briskly.

"But I like the long pointy bullets." :-(  "And I like feeding slowly sometimes." :-|

If I get a jam when I'm feeding slowly it's usually the third round in the magazine that does it. The magazine spring is not pushing up as hard as it was for the first two rounds. The round below the third round (which we'll now call the top round) gets a nudge from the bevel where the bolt head meets the bolt body and starts moving forward too. When the bullet tip of the top round rises up the magazine's feeding ramp the case's rim is levered down, which tilts the nose of the round below it down. This makes the rim of the round below engage with the bolt head/body bevel even better. The tip of the round below contacts the rubber bumper on the inside of the magazine's front wall and digs in a little. The reduced upwards pressure from the magazine spring is enough to help it get stuck in that posture. As the bolt keeps pushing the top round forward there comes a point where the lack of upwards pressure from the round below causes its rim to slip under the bolt face. Bingo - we have a jam.

To reiterate, this only happens if I'm feeding very slowly from the magazine and only with the third (and sometimes the fourth) round. I can always feed the first round from a full magazine slowly and quietly if needed. I'm glad I did when I met this pig shortly after walking away from my car.

Using a dry PTFE (Teflon) spray to make the insides of the magazine slippery was suggested in the forum, based on experience with the particular slow feeding problem I've described. I'll be giving that a go and decided to disassemble the magazine, to clean the insides and help the application work optimally. Gulp! Here's how that went.

- I didn't have a narrow enough punch for the pins at the front of the magazine, so took a small nail and flattened its tip. I rested the magazine on the edge of a small piece of wood, with a cloth between, such that the bottom plate would not be subject to any force.

- What looks like three pins holding the plastic front piece onto the metal sides of the magazine are in fact six short pins, each 7.5mm long. They should only be driven in about 2.5 mm, to clear the holes in the outer plastic walls of the front piece and the metal sides of the magazine. The pins will then be retained by the inner walls of the front piece.

- The two top pins can be driven in further as there is nothing inside of them to interfere, but the four bottom pins should not be pushed in more than 2.5 mm, as they will make contact with the rubber insert that protects the bullet tips. If you feel resistance, stop hammering!

- The pins are easily pushed with gentle tapping. Once they've been pushed in enough the plastic front piece will easily separate from the magazine's metal sides. The pins might fall out so be careful not to lose them.

- The rubber insert can then be prised and pulled out gently. It needs to be, to retrieve the four bottom pins. I used a broad flat tip screwdriver and then some bent nose pliers with smooth gripping surfaces, to avoid marring the rubber.

- The magazine spring can then be pulled out from under the follower. It's asymmetrical, so take note of its orientation. The higher of the two spring tips goes to the back of the magazine, to ensure that the magazine follower pushes the rim of the top cartridge up effectively.

- The magazine follower itself can then be slid out of the magazine, with some tilting to clear the indents in the side panels. During factory assembly a little grease was applied to the underside of the follower, to help the spring's contact points slide as it compresses and expands. I think I'll put a little new grease there, once the PTFE has cured.

To be clear on this, I've only ever noticed jamming when I've been feeding very slowly. It's then only with the third or sometimes the fourth round in the magazine. There's a number of contributing factors and one surefire fix, which Mauser would offer in the form of, 'Just close the bolt quickly and enjoy your rifle!' You'll see in this video, that's exactly what Walter Siebert at Mauser does. :-)

Mauser M03 - Installing Riflescopes to Double Square Mounts

Please read the whole of this post before starting to mount your scope. Thanks, Rick.

For some time now I've been meaning to write a post on what I've learnt from installing my Zeiss and Kahles riflescopes to Mauser's Double Square Mounts. A comment with a question on this came in overnight, so this will be my attempt to pass on some knowledge. 'What's the problem? They're just scope mounts', I hear you say. Well, there is a difference between fitting scopes to Mauser M03s with Double Square Mounts and fitting scopes with 'normal' non-quick-release mounts to 'normal' receivers.

When mounting any riflescope to any receiver the idea is to achieve a tension free installation. For example, the mounting hardware should not impart any torsion to the scope tube. Nor should the scope tube impart any torsion to the mounting hardware! Now, with a normal receiver it's not at all easy to tell if the installation job has been completed in a tension free manner. The scope and mounts are fixed on to the receiver and that's that. Job's done. Too bad if there is tension, because you can't tell. Well, not easily. Accuracy might be affected and good luck trying to figure out why. :-(

With Mauser's M03 Double Square Mounts it's easy to tell if the mounting job has resulted in torsion being imparted between the scope and the mount. It's also quite easy to avoid this happening in the first place. What I'll do is provide a list of actions for installing the scope and mounts and then describe what to look for to check if the fitment job is tension free. But first I'll outline the key point in the process, which is: to avoid introducing torsion between the scope tube and the Double Square Mount's bridge, be sure to slowly and progressively tighten all of the screws in the mounting system in a oft repeated cycle, starting with the bridge already installed and locked onto the receiver. 

Tools needed:

• a small profile Torx size T20 screwdriver, or T20 bit fitted to a long shafted handle. This is for tightening the two bridge to ring-base screws.

• a small profile Torx size T10 screwdriver, for tightening the eight ring-top screws.  

• optional - a torque screwdriver for final torquing of the screws. Using fingers and judgement can be just as good.

Procedure:

• start by resting the stock and receiver (with magazine removed) on a pair of steady sandbags or the like. I left the barrel installed, for better balance and to ensure the receiver was tensioned in its ready-to-fire state. It's handy to have the receiver positioned so that the butt is at the end of a bench, to make it easy to rest a shoulder against the butt to check eye-relief once the scope is lying loosely in the bottom rings. Best not to be picking the rifle up at this point.

• starting with the Double Square Mount's bridge and scope rings disassembled, apply a small (tiny) amount of grease to the leading edges of the bridge's swivelling cloverleaves and to the circular mating surfaces above them. Do the same to the corresponding surfaces in the mounting recesses of the receiver. Settle the bridge onto the receiver. Before using the locking arms, check that the fit of the bridge to the receiver is even and flush at both ends, with no light gaps visible. Put a white card or envelope behind to help reveal any gaps. There shouldn't be any. A little pressure with your hand might be needed to settle the bridge into place properly and to hold it against the receiver. If there's gaps, that bridge is wonky. I doubt you'll have a problem though. Close the locking arms. I try to do mine bit by bit at both ends, but I don't think it really matters if you do one all the way, then the other. If you want you can try to avoid marring the surface finish on the side of the square mounts where the locking tabs rub before snapping into their recesses. Hold their tips away from the sides of the bridge. Or you can create some patina that comes from experienced hands using quality equipment, leaving tell-tale marks that show how much the gear has been enjoyed over the years. :-)

Note: I have never 'bedded' a mount to a receiver. This process involves installing only one of the front or rear cloverleaves into its receiver recess, with the bridge and already fitted scope sticking out to the side, then rotating the scope clockwise through 120 degrees until the cloverleaf pops free. There is at least one YouTube video that demonstrates this and I've had one salesman ask if I wanted him to do it, to my new rifles and mounts. Luckily I new what he was talking about and said, 'No!' What this bedding process does is loosen up what might be a tight fitting of the bridge's circular mating surfaces to the receiver's circular recesses, thereby making it easier to lift the unlocked scope and mounts away from the rifle. OK, understood, but I'll leave mine nice and tight thanks very much.

• use the two bridge to ring-base screws (size T20 heads) to lightly attach the ring-bases. They should still be free to swivel a little. Given that the bridge is already mounted onto the receiver, reach with the T20 screwdriver up through the magazine-well. Be careful not to scratch the walnut around the magazine-well opening. Do not apply lubricant to the screws. To avoid damage to the screw fittings (or to the scope tube from over tightening the ring screws), torque settings should be achieved with unlubricated, metal to metal screw thread contact.

• make sure the ring-bases are at a right angle to the bridge and gently lower the scope tubes onto them. Try to avoid rotating or sliding the scope once it's in position. The edges of the rings feel sharp, but they are not burred. If positional adjustment is needed, gently lift the scope slightly free of the rings. Try to get the crosshairs lined up close to horizontal and vertical, for final adjustment later on. The pictures in this post (one of which is copied below) show that I position my scopes so that the end of the ocular lens is above the bottom of the dip in the stock's grip. This might work for you too. The idea is to have the scope in the right place so that when the rifle is lifted to the shoulder the full image circle is visible without needing to crane the head forward. Or move it back - getting whacked on the eyebrow is no fun.

Note how the end of the ocular lens is above the dip in the stock's grip. Works for me.

• to get the reticle aligned, sit on a low stool behind the rifle with your eye at bore height. To keep your head steady, rest your nose and cheekbone against the stock and butt. Look through the bore until the circles of the near and far end of the bore are concentric. Now look up at the scope. There should be just a sliver of illumination showing in the ocular lens, with the top of the vertical crosshair near the middle of it. Keep switching your eye from the bore to the lens and if necessary, carefully and gently rotate the scope in the ring-bases until the top end of the crosshair is centred. If there's any resistance while rotating the scope tube, lift it slightly.

• place the ring-tops on the scope tubes above the ring-bases and adjust them so that the gaps between the tops and bases are even at both sides. Drop the eight screws (size T10 heads) into position. Use the T10 screwdriver to get the screws engaged with the threads of the ring-bases, but don't apply any tension yet. Check again that the side gaps between the rings are even. Look down at the screws and give them all a number, moving from left to right and down the length of the scope. The screw at top-left will be 1, the screw at top-right will be 2, ... , the screw at bottom left will be 7 and the screw at bottom right will be 8. We'll call the T20 screws under the bridge A and B.

Mauser M03 Double Square Mount - numbering the screws for the tightening pattern, described below.

• now that the weight of the scope is keeping the ring-bases at a right angle to the bridge, it's time to apply the slightest amount of tension to screws A and B. Barely snug them up this first time, while pushing down a little on the scope to keep the ring-bases from rotating

• then, start applying the slightest amount of tension to each ring screw, in a pattern that will ensure the scope is not rotated in the rings by tightening one screw or another too much. Use the following order for the first round, again, with only the slightest amount of tension being applied. 1, 4, 5, 8, 2, 3, 6, 7. Then add a touch more tension to A and B, while pushing down gently on the scope again.

• repeat this cycle with screws 1 through to 8 and A and B several times, slowly and progressively increasing the tension. It might take twenty cycles if you go gently and slowly. Screws A and B are likely to start feeling a bit tight more quickly than screws 1 to 8. That's expected, but try to reach the end of tightening for all screws at the same time, noting the different torque settings described in the dot-point below. Keep checking that the side gaps between the rings are narrowing evenly. There should be about a millimetre of gap remaining at the end of tightening.

• I couldn't find any guidance from Mauser or the scope manufacturers on torque settings for these screws, so settled on settings listed by other manufacturers that looked right and matched my previous experience. I finished the tightening sequence when I had reached 2 Nm for the ring screws (1 to 8) and 4 Nm for the bridge to ring-base screws (A and B). These settings are close to 18 lb/in and 35 lb/in respectively. For the ring screws 1 to 8, this is not particularly tight and is comfortably achieved by firm finger tightening with a screwdriver. For the bridge to ring-base screws A and B, it's more of a firm hand hold on the screwdriver. Depending on your setup and tools, the final tightening of A and B might be done once the mounts and scope are off the receiver, as reaching up with a tool through the magazine-well is a bit awkward. There is no need to use a wrench to get more leverage on any of these screws! I'm going to suggest that you avoid using a torque wrench, even a very small one (and even though I did at first). These wrenches are not very accurate, particularly at the lower end of their ranges. It's too easy to turn a screw too tight, waiting for the click, with insufficient feel for how tight things are getting. I was very careful when using my little torque wrench that one time, but didn't enjoy the lack of feel. Better to rely on the nerves in your hands, or a trusted, quality, light duty torque screwdriver, that preferably has the setting that's needed in the middle to top half of its adjustment range. If I keep getting older (probable) and keep losing the fine sensation of touch in my fingers (possible) I might have to treat myself to this nice set of torque screwdrivers from Wera in Germany. :-) (who have since advised me that these tools are made next door in the Czech Republic. That's OK - the Czechs have a fine history of quality manufacturing.)

Checking for Torsion.

• once all of the screws have been tightened, unlock the Double Square Mount's locking levers. As with locking these levers, I try to unlock mine progressively at both ends, so that one isn't completely loose while the other is completely tight, but it probably doesn't matter. Lift the scope and mounts off the receiver and then carefully lower them back into place again. Let the mount settle on the receiver, with a little push if needed, but don't swing the locking arms. Use the white card or envelope in good light to see if there are any air gaps between the mount bases and the receiver. There should be nothing to see. Check to feel if there is any side to side rocking of the mount bases on the receiver. There shouldn't be any. If there is it's caused by the front and rear rings having been tightened onto the scope tubes slightly rotated relative to each other. This can happen if the ring and base screws were not tightened in the gentle, progressive and cyclical manner described in the dot-points above. Chances are no harm has been done; simply loosen all the screws progressively, starting with A and B first, then 1 to 8, and start the mounting process again, being more careful this time. :-) However, I'm anticipating that if the instructions listed above have been followed, there'll be no problems.

Lastly, please respond with a blog comment or a forum post to let us all know how you get on. If your scopes have already been installed into Double Square Mounts, are you feeling any rocking of the mount bases on the receiver, or seeing any light gaps?

Mauser M03 - Works on Foxes

There was a big, fat full moon on Wednesday night. In my part of the world it rose just after sunset and stayed up there until dawn. A perfect full moon. It could have been ruined by cloudy weather but the sky was crystal clear. And to top it all off, the temperature only got down to -1C, which a Landcruiser's heater can easily deal with, even with the driver's window down. However, I will admit to putting a glove on while holding the spotlight out the window, after midnight.

I had a chat with the farmer when I arrived, to get the latest tips on where the pigs had been hanging out. No news on that front, but I was asked to keep a count of how many foxes I saw. I thanked the farmer for the glowing piles of logs in one of the paddocks, which would be handy for warming my bones early in the morning, as well as for heating up a can of food for dinner.  He laughed as he remembered a similar situation years ago, when he'd inadvertently invented the MOABBB - the Mother Of All Baked Beans Bombs.

The first two foxes I saw were in the big paddock below the farm house, where the earth is soft and wet and full of tasty morsels for foxes and pigs alike. To be picked up at distance a fox needs to be looking at the spotlight, which they will curiously do if it's not too bright for them. That's why my first shot was at the more distant fox, at 240 metres, with my Mauser M03 Deluxe, using the 243 Winchester barrel and Kahles K624i scope I'd checked in the previous post. I knew it was bang on. Given the good weight of the M03, there was very little felt recoil from the Berger 68 gn Flat Base bullet. The second fox was further left and down the slope, at only 150 metres. The shot I'd just fired didn't bother it and it didn't move until it didn't move, ever again. That's how we like our foxes here in Australia. The deader the better. I took this photo once the sun was up, with a light frost making its fur sparkle.

Fox no 2 shot with a Mauser M03 with a 243 Win barrel. Berger 68gn Flat Base.

The next two foxes were running around together at the other end of the property, near another of the farm houses. I wanted to keep the noise down (best to ask those who heard the bangs over the sound of the telly if I was successful!) so pulled out my Sako Vixen in .17 Remington. Two foxes fell, east and west of the house. A third one, which was almost the first one, got away just before I was ready. He looked like an old timer who might have learnt that when that bright light turns up and the rumbling noise stops, a loud bang soon follows. I'm out'a here!

Fox no 3, knocked over with a Sako .17 Rem and a 25gn Hornady bullet.

Fox no 4, shot the night before with a Sako .17 Rem.

I slept in the back of the 'cruiser from one o'clock until four, parked above the broad view where I got this big boar last October. It seems the word had got out that it wasn't easy pickings anymore in that paddock. Once I was up and at 'em, a sweep with my binoculars under moonlight, and then again by spotlight, found nothing. I'd been confident I'd see pigs here, but not this time. No foxes either. Hmmm?? :-(

Never mind. The light was soon growing as the moon handed over to the sun and by then I was shivering as I quietly stalked back and forth between two overlooks, each with pig-mangled pasture spreading out below as evidence of these being favourite rooting grounds for years on end. I watched with anticipation as the sun broke over the hills in the distance, cheering on the rays of warmth which were striking here and there around me, but not where I was standing, for some inexplicable reason. My patience was eventually rewarded with the gift of warmth. I'll never tire of standing sentry at dawn over a perfect hunting ground, with a Mauser over my shoulder.

I found a fox with the Zeiss scope, about one and a half kilometres away, still in the shadows and working it's way across the paddocks, vaguely in my direction. It disappeared into a blackberry infested creek line. Ten minutes of me enjoying the sun later, it popped out of the blackberries only 130 metres below me. 'Chances are I'm not going to see a mob of pigs burst out behind it', I thought. Earplugs in, earmuffs on, 270 up to my shoulder, left elbow resting on hip, left thumb under the trigger guard, two fingers under the magazine. Quite steady. The fox didn't stop trotting and was about to be hidden by bushes so I fired and missed. Instead of running it decided to sit, next to a young, forked gum tree and tried to figure out what that noise was, and that new pock mark in the ground. It wasn't there a second ago. Clearly this was not the old fox from last night. My second shot was going to have to sneak between the forking tree trunks. Wobble, wobble, wobble, pull! Got him! A touch too much gun, but needs must.

Fox no 5, clobbered with a Mauser M03 at 120m with a 270 Win barrel and 150gn Berger bullet.

Mauser M03 - Barrel Change Accuracy - First Shot - 243 Winchester

Watch this!



Fantastic barrel change repeatability from the Mauser M03 rifle system. :-)

I should add, this is the first shot fired after completely disassembling this M03 Deluxe receiver and stock a few weeks ago, as described in this post.

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