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