Sauve shooter from Sauer
Sauer, the well known German rifle manufacturer, is famous for highquality switchbarrel rifles such as the Model 202. Now this innovative company has come up with the eye catcher Model 404, a rifle that will certainly attract a lot of attention.
Johannes Coertze of Formalito, the official South African Sauer agent, invited me to join him and Julian Wengenmayr of Sauer for a shooting session at the Krokodilspruit Shooting Range to put the Model 404 Elegance through its paces. Other model 404s are: The Classic, Synchro, Avantgarde and Grande Lux. This particular rifle, chambered for the .3006 Springfield cartridge, was the first ever Model 404 to enter South Africa. Like the Model 202, the 404 is a switchbarrel, but it has a number of unique features.
STOCK, BARREL AND MAGAZINE
Let’s start with the stock. It has a two-piece stock that can be removed in a jiffy by using the universal tool/Allen wrench that also acts as a detachable front sling swivel. Just press the release button, pull out the sling swivel en fold open die Allen wrench. By the way, the front and rear sling swivels are springloaded to prevent any squeaks while you carry the rifle, they are made of stainless steel and are anodised to prevent them from rusting. A bolt in die butt and another in the foreend allows you to remove the stock in less than a minute. A pleasant surprise was the fact that the stock of the test model had some castoff for righthanded shooters. According to Sauer, stocks for lefthanders are also available. That certainly is a nice touch.
To remove the barrel, you simply undo three bolts on the righthand side of the receiver, swing a short lever down (to slightly wedge open the receiver) and pull the barrel out. When assembling the rifle again Sauer recommends that you tighten the bolts, numbered 1, 2 and 3 in sequence. That will ensure that the rifle’s point of impact does not change. We disassembled and assembled the rifle several times during the shooting session and the point of impact changed so little that you can discard it for all practical purposes – it would not cause you to miss a springbuck at 250m. All Sauer barrels are cold hammerforged and barrel lengths vary from 20 to 24” depending on the model. The test model had adjustable open sights, a single square notch blade at the rear and square ramp at the front. The rear blade is driftadjustable for windage, while the front sight adjusts for elevation.
Our test model had an aluminium receiver, but Sauer Model 404s can be had with either aluminium or steel receivers. Rifles with steel receivers cost R6 000 or more. A lightweight aluminium receiver is perfect on a switchbarrel such as the 404, because the bolt locks up directly in the barrel, not the receiver. The receiver is merely there to “hang” the barrel on, act as a guide for the bolt »
» and to house the trigger group and the detachable magazine. As you can see in the photo, the receiver comes from the factory with integral grooves to accept Sauer’s unique universal, quick detachable scope mount/ ring system.
Sauer’s 404 sports a detachable magazine with a magazine lock. After inserting the maga zine you push the magazine release button forward to lock it into place. This handy feature will prevent the accidental loss of a magazine during a hunt.
The magazine follower has a unique shape – apparently to aid with the smooth feeding of cartridges from the magazine. By the way, that is the only piece of plastic on this rifle. The magazine capacity is somewhat limited, only three for standard calibres such as the .3006.
The bolt has six locking lugs, a springloaded, hook type extractor and twin springloaded ejectors in the boltface. Because the Sauer allows you to use different calibres with different casehead sizes, the bolthead is removable. You can use from a .243 Win to a .375 H&H with the same rifle. To switch to a different bolthead only requires two simple steps. The boltrelease is located on the lefthand side of the receiver at the rear base of the trigger guard. By simply pushing it in, the whole bolt can be withdrawn from the receiver.
UNIQUE TRIGGER
Another unique feature is Sauer’s Quattro trigger that allows a Model 404 owner to quickly and easily adjust the length of pull, the pull weight of the trigger and the angle at which the trigger sits inside the trigger guard. On the lefthand side of the receiver, just above the trigger guard is a hole into which the Allen wrench fits. The shooter can choose between four different trigger pull weights; 550g (1.2lbs), 750g (1.7lbs), 1000g (2.2lbs) and 1250g (2.7lbs). After removing the stock and inserting the wrench, quarter turns allow the user to choose the desired pull weight.
The trigger also has an 8mm adjustment range for length of pull. Just loosen the Allen screw at the base of the trigger (this one does not work with the universal sling swivel tool) move it forward or rearwards to effect the desired length of pull, swivel it to suit your shooting style and tighten the screw again. The trigger blade has a swivel range of five degrees.
To operate the rifle, load it and cycle the bolt to chamber a round. Then push/slide the manual cocking piece/button, »
» located on the bolt shroud, forward until it locks into place. Now the rifle is ready to fire. To put it on safe or decock it, push the cocking piece up slightly and in and release it to slide down.
With the cocking piece at rest (or with the rifle on “safe” if you wish) the bolt is also locked and cannot be opened. To open the bolt, you have to push the cocking piece slightly forward and simultaneously lift the bolthandle and pull back the bolt. An automatic firingpin safety prevents the rifle from firing when the bolt is not fully closed.
The balance of the Sauer Model 404 is good, it handles very well and is lively in the hands. With the trigger adjusted to fit my length of pull the rifle fitted me well and I liked the feel of the pistol grip with its slight Wundhammer palm swell. The trigger broke crisply and cleanly.
Unfortunately we only had two brands of ammunition available for the short shooting session – 180gr PMP Standard ammunition and Remington 180 grainers loaded with Swift AFrame bullets. Julian told me before the shoot that the rifle shoots very well with RWS ammunition.
He also told me that the rifle had been disassembled and assembled many times (almost 40 times) during its South African tour to train the Sauer staff and to show the rifle to dealers and customers.
Well, it still shot pretty well. I was able to fire groups that measure round about 1MOA at 100m with the PMP ammunition, while the groups with the Remingtons were slightly bigger. Even though we had no time to find a favourite factory load or use handloads in the Sauer 404, it produced very good hunting accuracy.
If you miss a springbuck at 250 or even 300m it will be your fault, not the rifle’s. The Sauer did show a preference for a hot barrel though – our best groups were fired from a hot barrel. The rifle did string some shots, but it was never enough to affect practical hunting accuracy. Fortunately the first shot from a cold barrel was always spot on.
COMFORTABLE SHOOT
Not being a heavy rifle I expected the Sauer to give me a good clout with the 180 grainers (even though the .3006 is not a big kicker) but the Model 404 was very comfortable to shoot. Kudos also to the universal mounting system. Although we removed the scope several times during the morning’s shoot, there was no discernable move of the point of impact.
What did I not like about the Sauer? Aside from the limited magazine capacity, I really cannot find anything bad to say about this rifle. Switchbarrels and twopiece stocks might not be every one’s cup of tea, but I find it hard to come up with something negative to say about the Model 404.
I really enjoyed shooting the Sauer Model 404 and wish I could have had its excellent trigger fitted to all my rifles. As a hunting rifle, I would certainly recommend the Sauer without any reservations.
The Elegance model will retail for about R60 000 in South Africa, but more affordable models are also available. Formalito will introduce the Model 404 to the public at the HuntEx show (25 to 27 April). It will be on display at certain selected dealers. Customers can place orders at the show and Johannes tells me their stock will arrive before the end of this hunting season. • For more information on the Model 404 call Formalito on 012-664-7793.