Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles To All Blaser OWNERS

yep, just like the sporting shotguns

What I like about the R 93:

1. Nothing need be done about the trigger or magazine because they're as good as it gets right out of the box.
2. Good product support. Not all Blaser barrels are good. I had a TERRIBLE one in 257 Weatherby Magnum that I'd bought used from a guy. After much trial and at least 100 rounds through it, the best I could hope for was 2 or 3 inch groups at 100 yards. I called Blaser USA who had me send the barrel to them. They apparently couldn't get it to shoot either so sent me a brand new barrel which is entirely satisfactory. And Blaser USA did know I'd bought the barrel used.
3. Having several barrels and one or two stocks/receivers means you can shoot more different cartridges and still have room in the gun safe.
4. If you travel to hunt, you can easily put a scoped rifle and an extra barrel or a handgun in a gun case that will incure no extra charge for airline travel.
5. There is no tension on the firing pin spring when decocked meaning you can safely carry one with the safty on and a round in the chamber.
6. Using Blaser's QD scope rings you can easily take a scope off and put it on again with no loss of zero.

What I don't like about the R 93:

1. The way the composit stocks on mine are designed, they're not ideal for shooting with iron sights if your barrel happens to have them though it is doable. They're fine with scopes.
2. The 22-250 barrels only came with a 1:14 twist. Since I wanted a .224 caliber barrel with a 1:10 or faster twist, I went with the 223 Remington.
3. The location of the front sling swivel stud is such that you can't easily use it with most bipods. In that regard, the Germans should wise up. Yes, I know, you can install a sling swivel stud where it belongs but that looks goofy with two sling swivel studs.
4. The reason the R 93 is no longer made is because those in Europe don't think quite like we do. They don't give a life time warranty. They manufacture something for a time, come up with something new, like the R 8, and after a time stop supporting the older product. Given that the more economical R 93 sold for about $2,500, I think Blaser should consider supporting it for a bit longer.

I hate the way Blasers look. After spending my childhood reading O'Conner, I have pretty distinct ideas about what I think a classic hunting rifle should look like. I have, or had, the good fortune to have rifles by Echols, Wiebe, Goudy, Ottmar, Bolliger, Goens, Penrod, and a few others. I love them all.

However...none work as well as my Blasers. I want to hate them, but they just work. Unerringly accurate, easy to cycle from the shoulder without bolt rotation taking you out of your sight picture, incredibly easier to travel with, a better trigger, a better safety, 4 inches shorter, great feeding, great reliability, a great scope mounting system. I have even come to like the detachable magazine, after for years expressing the mantra that detachable magazines are just one more thing to go wrong. In addition, you can go back and forth between wood and synthetic stocks, calibers, scopes-all in all an incredible system.
It is also easy to carry a spare bolt and scope on long hunts as backup, although I've never needed to.

They're not good for people that like to tinker with their rifles, or wildcatters.

Nitrited barrels are the bomb IMO- way better than stainless steel, cerakote, whatever in my experience

Blasers-I hate 'em, but I appreciate them. They're all I take hunting nowadays. I went to FTW shooting school with my Penrod built Win 70 and my Blaser-for me, I just shoot better with the Blaser. May not be true for everybody, but for me it was undeniable.

BTW, in my opinion, R8>>R93 in all ways except sveltness/weight.

Makes sense. I just checked cheek weld on several of my rifles. My rifles with Brown Precision and Banser/High Tech stocks and Tikkas all have very similar characteristics regarding comb height and cheek weld, which has always worked for me with a scope. Should one want a higher comb than a Brown, Bansner or Blaser, I can understand why they would go to a chassis stock like the Fix you mention.

Goes to show how personal stock fit can be.

I learned to shoot with shotguns. The stock doesn't bother me.

Price is not in the RAR range for sure. My R-93. Two barrels, two saddle mounts, and a factory hard case ran about 4K retail in about 2000. I did a little better. A budget of 12k would have bought eight more barrels and a few saddle mounts or fewer barrels and a bunch of scopes. Way too many.....

As another poster said, good finish, good barrels, good trigger, but it is not for tinkerers. My only grump today is that the cocking/decoking piece is hard to work with an arthritic thumb. Old age creeping up on me.

Jack

I've had my R93 for many years.

I currently have barrels in 22 LR, 300 Win Mag and 9.3x62. I have had probably bought and sold 6 other calibers in those years (few I wish I had back, like the .280).

If they made a 450 Bushmaster barrel, it would be truly a 1 gun, do everything for me. (Zone 3 in Michigan requires straight wall calibers for hunting deer).

Attached is the best deal I have seen in a long time to get someone into a Blaser. eurooptics has a $1.999 deal going.

https://www.eurooptic.com/R8-PDB-S-...-S-Dark-Brown-Complet.aspx?homepage_link

The above matches much of my experience. It took me two tries to get used to them. Try one was an R8 with the detachable trigger that I traded two AR15s for when the AR market was hot. Didn't like the detachable trigger and had a hard time getting used to it, so I sold it. When the S model came out, I bought another and haven't looked back. I mainly have Mauser 98s and Blasers with a few Tikkas, Vanguards and Rugers mixed in. I have a hard time using anything but Blasers these days. The main downsides have been mentioned: a little heavy but not bad, safety is a little stiff and goofy position of sling swivel stud, which can fixed.

Regarding Africa tough, I asked the safari operator in Namibia about them this Summer. He said something about them being as good of a rifle that one could use in Africa with the only downside being that he had heard of a couple of instances of people having trouble using the safety under stressful dangerous game conditions.

I hunt dry, dusty country in the US that is much like the Namibian desert. I like that the bolt on the Blaser seals tightly enough to keep much of the dirt out. As a test, I have taken a couple of handfuls of finely grained sand and dumped in the open action. The gun still operated and fired, but the bolt was a little harder to close than a Mauser would have been because it doesn't have the camming power of a M98.

Where are you finding an R8 for $2200? I see full synthetic for around 3k but not wooden stock.

You must be quite the scientific researcher or are able to print money if you can dump sand into the action of a $5k+ rifle!

Attention --

This thread is FROM 2017. Maybe relative to $$$$$.


Jerry

The R8 S model (ADL type magazine) can be found for less than $2,700, not including a scope mount.

Thanks for pointing that out. I want to buy a rifle that shoots well out of the box. As much as I'd like to think I'm going to be spending a ton of time in the mountains it's not going to happen so I don't need an extreme conditions rifle. I'm sick of the thump of my 300mag and have lost confidence in it.....thus I'm leaning toward 7-08. Don't need a bargain rifle and if it makes a difference I'm willing to spend 3k-ish. Soooooo......should it be blaser, sako, custom or what?

I want one just so I can go up to people and tell them I hunt with a Blazer

You should first learn to spell it correctly.

It is my belief that the Blaser platform will give you exactly what you are seeking without having to send it off to have trigger work done or the bolt trued or the barrel bedded to the stock.
Blaser rifles are especially good with heavy for caliber loads but mine shoots all the various weight hunting loads very well. The 7mm-08 doesn't need to be propped up. Everyone is aware of how capable it is but I think it is extremely good with the Blaser. I have 7mm-08 barrels in the R93 and the R8.

Ok, I thought most people would get that. Tough crowd.

It has taken a while, as I get sidetracked by Merkel's but I've managed to snag a few

I now have four barrels being 243 Win, 7mm-08, 300 WSM,9.3 x 62 and 3 stock/receiver sets, two wood and one synthetic.




Wood stock/receiver and 243 Win Barrel



Typical accuracy from the four barrels




Wood stock/9.3 x 62




IIRC, 9.3 x 62, 7mm-08, and 300 WSM barrels, synthetic stock.


I also have two K 95's, in 270 Win (with irons) and 30-06.





I've about decided that if push came to shove I'd keep one wood and one synthetic receiver set, the 9.3 x 62 barrel





and the K95 in 30-06.




ya!


GWB

Nice geedubya! Thanks OSU sig.

Which means they probably pronounce it that way!!