Mick,
I've got to be honest and state now that owning that rifle left a sour taste in my mouth....by the time i got rid of it, i was just happy to see the end of it. However Brithunter has also experienced ownership of this rifle and was pleased...perhaps he was the lucky one or perhaps mine was a version different from his.
Anyway, i'll describe my experiences and you decide:
I bought mine for about £400 new from a dealer in Kent named Chris..now the guy was honest and stated that it was being sold cheap because the suppliers were awash with them. Mauser had imported them thinking that they'd benefit from the good press received of the Blaser but it just never happened. People just weren't buying them. Now i owned a Schmidt Rubin K11 at the time and loved that rifle and also owned a very accurate Mauser 22 prone rifle so i bought one in .243
There was a choice of calibres, but not stock - it was synthetic or synthetic. So armed with a new set of rings, rifle and a couple of boxes of sako .243 rounds i went home happy.
OK, home and i fitted a modest Leupold 3-9x40 scope and a harris bipod.
1st Problem - flexible forend on stock. The stock put pressure on the barrel just through the weight of the rifle sitting on the bipod and being mounted on the shoulder. I couldn't get a replacement stock anywhere so i was forced to mill out additional stock and apply glass fibre. Thankfully i had access to an overhead mill so it only took a couple of days work but annoyed me that such a respected rifle manufacturer hadn't considered it being used with a bipod.
2nd Problem - over to the 100yd range at Bisley to zero. Now i didn't expect the rounds to hit the bull, but i did expect them to be on the same part of the target! I quickly went through those initial 60 sako rounds, went up to the dealer and bought an additional 40rds of federal and 40 rds of Norma. Now i checked everything - the scope, the rings, the stock, all the screws. I even tried my scope on a mate's rifle to confirm that i didn't have a duff scope, but the best i achieved that day was just under 4 inches with the Norma bullets! I drove back to Essex with calls of 'should have bought a remmy' ringing in my ears.
I spent the next few months seeking out owners through various shooting forums and picking their brains. Now eventually i found a very knowledgable old gunsmith in the Straight Pull Rifle Forum who had bought the rifle, was dismayed at it's lack of accuracy and had practically stripped his down to individual parts. Essentially the bullets were travelling so far before engaging the lands that to achieve consistentcy you had to opt for the heavier bullets and reloading them over long. I did email Mauser directly but never did get a responce.
From memory i eventually settled on 105gr Sierra Gameking and 39grs of Vhit 160 but could only guarantee 1.5 - 2" inches at 100yds. As i shot primarily muntys at the time and often over 100yds in open fields, the rifle just wasn't accurate enough to ensure minimum suffering to the beasts. It had to go
I enjoy being different and having something different from the mass produced crowd, but i immediately replaced it with a savage 110. I just couldn't face going through the mill again.
You pay your money and take your chances, but i in good conscience I would not recommend that rifle to another, based on my own experience and that of others i know have had similar experiences.