Hunting in Norway with a Mauser M03

It's summer here in Australia and I haven't been doing much hunting with my Mausers. However, I have received a hunting story from Simen in Norway who bought his new M03 around the same time I bought mine. Reading it has made me look forward to the colder months again. The Mauser M03 in the first picture is a Norwegian Classic model with Grade 5 walnut. Simen has fired a few hundred shots through the barrel and is getting tightly clustered groups. Here's the story that goes with the pictures, below.

It was a cold October morning in Norway. I had just woken up to the familiar smell of coffee, hunting gear and weapon oil. I loaded the gear and dog into the Jeep and set off. Just about 4 kilometers away I stopped, meeting up with the rest of the hunting party. Everyone showed up, even the guy who had a stroke last year, making him almost paralyzed in the left side of his body. That's when you know the Norwegian moose hunting season has started. We had some laughs and drew stands. I'm one of the two dog handlers so stands really don't matter that much to me, but truth to be told, it would later that day. 

We set off and I got the message that everyone was at their stand, so my Norwegian Elkhound, Dina, and I set to work. There wasn't much to brag about in the first drive, just a couple of roe deer seen but not shot. After the drive we gathered around the fire, eating and exchanging funny stories and experiences. Again we draw for stands and again I don't really bother to take note. This drive started slow, with nothing seen, heard or smelled. I decided to take a 5 minute break just to get in sync with the other dog handler. I looked at my dog and noticed that Dina was smelling something. Her head was pointed upwards with closed eyes; there are definitely moose in the area. Dina and I walked another 300 meters before she started pulling really hard. Now I'm 110% sure. I let her off and she ran away like a gust of wind. I let the other hunters know that she's loose. Not long after Dina was 800 meters away and I heard barking. Once again I let the hunters know that she was pushing a moose. The sound of a gun rang out in the forest, leaving it in silence. I hear on the radio "I've shot a bull!". It was the guy who had a stroke almost a year ago. A big smile develops on my face, not only because I'm happy for him, but because of the work my dog did. She was only 11 months old and most dogs of the breed don't really work until they are two or three.

I stayed sitting where I was, waiting for my dog to return so that we could practice tracking. She performed perfectly! The hunting party returned to the fire and talked about the achievements of Dina and the successful hunter. He shot the moose while it was running at full pace and at almost point blank range. More funny stories were exchanged while we passed the time. I was quite tired after the second drive and the temperature had increased a lot, so I decided to draw a stand this time. Usually I hate sitting and waiting, but on this day it had become so warm I really didn't mind. I drew stand number five, which is in the open with many animal trails running close by. The stand is also located on top of a small berg, which gave me some altitude. I sat at the stand waiting, looking at stand number six sometimes, just to make sure of where the guy occupying that stand was. After about one and a half hours I heard something on the radio, "The dog has found a moose and is carrying it towards stand six". I stood up with the M03 ready just in case and saw that the guy in stand six was ready as well. We both heard branches breaking and the adrenaline started pumping. 30 seconds later a moose ran out, broadside to my stand. I cocked the rifle, lifted it to my shoulder and lined up the open sights. A shot rang out. I heard the bullet penetrating the moose, hitting the rock behind it. The moose kept running, this time directly away from me. I aimed for the back of it's head and another shot rang out, this time without any clear signs of a hit. The moose ran back into the forest. I let the party know that I had fired and hit it and at the same time heard the noises of it falling over. Another smile grew on my face and soon after I found it, laying dead four meters past the forest line, with a perfect shot in the lungs and one in the neck. 

Simen, his Mauser M03 in 30-06 and his moose - in Norway.

This is Dina, Simen's young but already effective Norwegian Elkhound

Mauser M03 - Barrel Change

I made a short video on the weekend showing the 6.5x55 Match barrel being removed and the 243 Winchester barrel being installed. The Kahles K624i scope is then reinstalled to the receiver. I had loosened the two barrel mounting screws before starting the camera. They were as 'hand-tight' as I could get them, so getting them loosened was a bit of a trick. I don't use a torque wrench; I just tighten by hand, as consistently as I can, with the Mauser T-key. It seems to be working as the 243 barrel dropped two rabbits with the first two shots, at 230 meters. :-)

Mauser M03 + Kahles K624i + Rabbits

This is a quick mobile post from yesterday's outing. With the first shot from the 6.5x55 barrel, cold & clean, I dropped the rabbit seen through the Kahles. Same again with the next two shots, all at 250m. Later in the day I installed the 243 barrel and hit at 230m with the first shots. Very happy with the repeatability and accuracy of the Mauser M03 system.

Mauser M03 Deluxe in 6.5x55 with Kahles K624i riflescope

The view through a Kahles K624i scope with MSR-K reticle

With the 6.5x55 & 140gn Nosler Accubonds,
better velocity from 46gn of 2209.

Mauser M03 - Chronographing 6.5x55 Loads

In the video linked below I'm firing 6.5x55 hand loads over a chronograph. The idea is to use the velocity and ballistic coefficient of the projectile to work out the ballistic curve, for long range shooting. But I think I'll be working the load up to a higher velocity, which hopefully will help improve the group size too - often does. These loads were Lapua cases and 45 grains of 2209 pushing Nosler Accubond 140 grain bullets. The average velocity from the 60cm barrel was 2667fps. The group size is 24mm; not as good as the 12.5mm three shot group from the previous week.

Lapua Cases - 243 Win & 6.5x55

I'm developing hand-loads for my Mauser M03 barrels in 243 Winchester and 6.5x55 calibers. The pictures below show the spread of weights for new Lapua cases, in 0.1 grain groupings. 

The 243 cases are in a wide, peaky, skewed Bell curve distribution; the mode is 171.3gn. Can you see the case that is fifth from the end of the long column? Even the best cases come with dings.

The spread for the 6.5x55 cases is not as wide, but isn't a neat Bell curve either. The mode for the 6.5 cases is 179.2 gn. It's an unusual distribution, which almost suggests the cases are from two batches.

I need a volunteer to do this with a thousand cases, to see if the curves get neater. :-)

Lapua 243 Winchester cases, sorted into 0.1 grain groupings. Mode = 171.3gn.

Lapua 6.5x55 cases, sorted into 0.1 grain groupings. Mode = 179.2gn.

Mauser M03 - Accuracy - 243 Win & 6.5x55

It was a beautiful spring day yesterday, though the wind picked up a little in the afternoon while I was doing some load testing with my Mauser M03 Deluxe and two barrels - a standard profile 243 Winchester and a match profile 6.5x55. The video below shows a group from the 243 and then the first three shot group from the 6.5. I'm quite happy with how these barrels are working. The target board I'm using, the same as in my earlier videos, shows how hand loading is delivering better results than the factory ammunition used with my 270 Win and 30-06 barrels. I'll be developing hand loads for those later.

The 243 load uses 95gn Berger VLD Hunting and 42gn of 2209.
For the 6.5x55 it's 140gn Nosler Accubond and 45gn of 2209.
Lapua cases and RWS primers for both.

Mauser M03 - Hunting in Norway

Here are some photos of Simen Naess' new Mauser M03 in use during a hunt for caribou in Norway. The terrain is wide and open and getting into a good firing position involved much stalking and crawling, over moss, grass, rocks and shrubs, while paying full attention to the wind and the state of the herd. Simen's M03 has the beautiful Grade 5 walnut seen in an earlier post and is fitted with a 30-06 barrel. This new M03 is already living the full life of a real hunting rifle. The stock will be developing a patina that tells the story of the adventures it has been on with Simen, while still looking great from the proper maintenance it receives, including with a good, natural stock treatment.

Thanks for the photos Simen. :-)

Mauser M03 Deluxe - Photos

This weekend was all about doing maintenance on my trusty old Landcruiser. Saturday - changed the front and rear differential oils, topped up the gearbox and transfer case and adjusted the handbrake. Sunday morning - checked the wheel bearings. By the time I'd tidied up and scoffed some lunch it was getting a bit late to head out hunting. Not to mention how stiff and sore I was from crawling around under that Landcruiser. But, the late afternoon was ideal for a few photos of my new Mauser M03 Deluxe. This is Mauser's Grade 5 walnut.

I've included at the bottom photos of a selection of stocks, taken by Mauser while my Deluxe was being made. They were sent to Miall's Gun Shop and then to me, so I could nominate an order of preference. Upon ordering the rifle I was asked if I had a general preference and 'Dark wood with stripes' was sent to Germany on my behalf. Stocks Nr. 1 and Nr. 2 are plenty dark, but after some deliberation I put Nr. 3 first, which is dark and light, with colour and stripes. I had quite a smile on when I opened the shipping box a few months later, to see the complex grain of Nr. 3 with my own eyes. :-)

Mauser M03 Deluxe with Kahles K624i

A new Mauser M03 in Norway

A Mauser friend in Norway has provided pictures of his new M03. Fantastic wood! I think I'm right in reporting that this is Grade 6 walnut and that the barrel is a 30-06. Excellent choices.

Enjoy. :-)

Correction - this is Grade 5 walnut, which Mauser has fashioned into a beautiful, warm, impressive and purposeful rifle stock. It is being put to use right now and I wish the owner 'good hunting!'

Mauser M03 - Accuracy - 243 Winchester

Before heading out hunting a few weeks ago and again yesterday I quickly loaded up some 243 Winchester rounds, to test for pressure with the new Lapua cases I'm using. I'm not doing serious load development yet, just some quick proofing. Any time spent at a noisy rifle range is time that could have been spent better out hunting.

The first time I tried the new 243 barrel was with Speer Grand Slam 100gn projectiles. The pic below shows that targets the size of pigs out to 200m are in trouble, by I want better than that. I loaded these three rounds with my new Wilson in-line dies and a K&M arbor press, so could feel the tension of the bullets being seated. The very end of each neck was turned in slightly from fire-forming, which made seating the next bullet difficult. I think this happened because I put a small chamfer on the outside of the neck rim with an RCBS neck chamfering tool. That slight bevel might be a problem under high pressure in the chamber, causing the end of the neck to be pinched in. I'd put two chamfer angles on the inside of the necks as well, to make seating easy, but the pinching inwards right at the opening was still a problem. Given the trouble I had seating the bullets, I wasn't expecting them to shoot well.

A poor group from badly loaded test rounds. 6mm Speer Grand Slam 100gn

Some new 95gn Berger VLD Hunting bullets had arrived in the mail, so I tried these with some fired cases that had the neck pinching rectified, with a K&M neck expanding tool. This is normally used to prepare cases for neck turning, but is also good for straightening out any neck pinching. These bullets seated smoothly and consistently. I set them to 20 thousandths of an inch from the lands on top of 42 grains of 2209.

Resting over the front of my Landcruiser again, in a bit of crosswind on a farm, the first shot with the Bergers, with a clean and cold barrel, landed right where I wanted it to. The point of impact was consistent with the Speer Grand Slams, so that's a bonus. I fired the second and had to look really closely through my Kahles 24 power scope. Same hole! I should have stopped there as I don't ever expect to shoot a feral beastie three times. The third shot landed slightly lower - could've been me shaking a bit - my Landcruiser is not a concrete bench. This is a great result for loads that were thrown together before heading out. 13.5mm centre to centre. I will be tuning this load by adjusting the seating depth and the powder charge, so it could get better. I might actually waste a morning at a range to see how good this barrel can be.

The bolt is from my new Mauser M03 Deluxe, which has the 243 Win barrel fitted at the moment. Once I have loads for this one sorted, I'll start on the 6.5x55 Match barrel. Should be good. :-)

A better group with 6mm Berger VLD Hunting 95gn.