Thank you fellow gun dudes for the kind comments. That mauser will indeed stay like that for the forseeable future, or until I find a red glue laminate forend to splice on.
We took this rifle out yesterday, and set the 14" gong out at 275 yards. (that's all the room we had). I've kinda gotten away from open sight shooting, and that 14 inches looked pretty small out there. I was surprised however to find that with a casual rest off the Jeep that we could ring it very regularly. From sitting position I was nearly 50%. Standing, I sucked.
This cartridge hits VERY hard, and is a blast to shoot. I'm gonna get a mold to cast my own for it, and will probably burn a lot of powder through this gun. jd