Thread: An M12 Mauser goes for it's first walk and takes a 155TMK hunting.

Saturday, dawn oclock finds me sitting in a saddle glassing a mob of red deer 650m up the hill from me, no possible approach, lots of heavy cover close by and they were paying attention...... So, off I go to another spot where I might have the advantage of height, get a brew going and settle in


After a couple of hrs and nothing doing I make a move and start cross gaining the row of guts beneath me so I can have a better look into some of the heavy Matagouri cover, still nothing on, so I get into some dead ground and crossed the river and park up for a brew, lunch and a sleep. Mid afternoon, glassing the matagouri on the faces opposite me, finally catch a movement, watch for a bit and finally see the picture, a fat wee Fallow has got a bit too hot on the face in the sun, and dropped down the face to the heavier cover on the flat to get better shade.

Watched for a bit to make sure of where he parked, and got going, no way through the crap, so slowly and quietly with low profile, spend the next hr watching the wind and working my way around the Matagouri belt and manage to lose his exact location......... That's me crawling through the Matagouri on the hill up a wee shute that lead to a rocky knob with enough cover for me to look for him again.

Was expecting a longer shot opportunity, 250yd+ so had a 155 TMK in the chamber, not the 165 Gameking hp sub 250yd load, spot the deer in a "clearing" that measured about 2 square meters, having a late afternoon nibble. Ranged at 150 yds, bit of an ask for the TMK, but I had a good angle for shot placement, so away it went, just as he became aware....

Bamm, straight into the deck he went and all over rover. Took a gps fix on my position, took a compass bearing on his location and with the range known exactly, was confident of finding him even several meters into the Matagouri belt. As soon as I was on the the level ground, without the fixs, I would have been fucked finding him, as it was it still took 20 minutes to get him, only a young fella, but damn he was fat!


Was really keen on studying the TMK effects, have not been able to find much on the net about how they go, figured if I avoid bone I should be ok,
entry was a slot I could stick four fingers in, along side the spine between the shoulders, no exit, no bits to find, heart and lungs gone, starting velocity 2850 fps, too close, too fast- I think it will be a great bullet out further, it's bc and velocity advantage over the current 168 Amax makes it my go to long range load until it proves otherwise. Behind the shoulder or in the neck under 250yds I think.


The M12 gets a deer on it's very first walk, a little heavier than I would like, but it shoots stupidly well without the suppressor ( not bad for a 20" unsuppressed .308), it carries really well and it just "fits", keeping it till I die.

I needed a day out, no hunting and all work was getting me a bit ratty...

Cheers mate great story!

great stuff...sounds like a good wallaby load too. enjoy the venison.

Nicely written, felt like I was there. Looks like a tasty beast.

thanks and enjoyed reading about your trip!!
Nice to get some info on how the 155 TMKs are performing in the 308!!!
Have used the 155 A-maxs in a couple of 308"s that i have owned over the years and have been impressed with their performance!!!
picture testing them ( and myself lol ) target shooting at 1017yds a few years ago lol

All the very best.

Nothing wrong with those results, some good eating coming up there. Well Done.