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All of the favorable comments about the M03 made me take a hard look at it. The couple of M03 owners I've talked to are enthusiastic and on-line reviews seem to be good (best long-term one I found is here: http://gunmart.net/gun_review/mauser_m_03_extreme_part_I/ ).

Right now there are several M03's selling for well below retail. But I wanted to know how much the extra pieces were going to cost, and got this list of prices from a U.S. retailer. Maybe they'll be useful for somebody else too:

Africa barrels = $2,391
Standard barrels = $1,033 in non magnum calibers
Standard barrels = $1,441 in magnum calibers
Match barrels = $1,444 in standard calibers
Match barrels = $1,852 in magnum calibers
Fluting is a $996 add-on

Bolt heads = $200
Magazines = $208
Double cases = $393 and the single is $348

Scope mount = $603 in any configuration

My opinion: this could be a downright affordable take-down/switch barrel set-up in the "standard" configuration, if you stay within a caliber family that lets you use the same magazine and bolt head. But if you started mixing & matching parent cases and wanted "Africa" barrels you're no better off than buying a more typical bolt action (the entire 9.3x62 barrel assembly for my Empire 98 cost less than one of the M03 Arfica barrels).

I really like the engineering on the scope mount, but the pricing is outrageous...I have several very, very good scopes that didn't cost that much.

In the end: I located and bought an M03, brand new/unfired/in the box, for $1,995. It's not in a caliber that I'm really interested in (300 WSM) but at that price I figured it was hard to go wrong.

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