Mckinney,

I also think their rifles and shotguns are better now, certainly since they started using CNC and modern steel. I have been in their factory a couple of years ago, and can confirm that they are still apt at their old craft, but have arrived in the 21st century at the same time. So, now we started the argument

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As you have driven through Transylvania, you know that it mostly consists of little villages and hamlets, and that there is not much besides flat farmland and the occasional monastery. In those parts, you will find no wildlife, just Romania's famous stray dogs. However, at the northern edge of that region are the Carpatian mountains, and they are full of wildlife - red stag, chamois, wolves, bears and so on. During communist times, only the dictator was allowed to hunt bears, and he is responsible for the high numbers. I had only been there for three days and saw 3 bears and a wolf.

The .404 was in deed a Mauser, but a modern one at that, a Mauser 03, which is a gun with exchangeable barrels, not that traditional. That is my main gun, I use it in 6.5x65, .300 WM and .404. The special thing about it is, that it is in my opinion currently the most accurate out-of-the-box hunting rifle, even though it is a system with exchangeable barrels. The .300 barrel is a match barrel, and I use it with a S&B PII 5-25x56 sniper scope and handloads with Berger bullets for long-range shooting. On occasion, I have benchrest shooters next to me at the range, with all their garb, 17 pound guns and high-tech rests, shooting 6mm BR and so on. So far, I have outshot them every time, just shooting from a sandbag, that's how good that gun is. The gun is stock, except for the fact that I hand-lap the barrels of all guns I own (also the H&H, which made her shoot a lot better). Therefore I have never taken a picture of the Mauser. However, I had upgraded the gun with really nice wood and have a picture with the bear where you can see that a bit. So here is another picture of the bear with my Mauser: