Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Blaser R8 & DG

What do you all think about a big bore Blaser R8 for dangerous game both in Africa & Alaska?
Or is the only acceptable action / rifle a "true" CFR ( am told a Sako is NOT...)
and push feeds not really ideal, in case you have to shoot form awkward positions?
Thanks.

My PH in Tanzania, Florent Mathieu has one and loves it. I do not like the action. I'm a Mauser man.

PS. - I'm a Mauser and a CRF man, but really...........as a client it really doesn't matter push or CRF. The first shot is all that matters.

If on dangerous game you have to shoot from an awkward position, change position.

Hunted elephant with a hunter that used a 375 Blaser. He put 4 shots in it in the time I got 3 off.

Like Hatari says, it's the first shot that counts.

This should be a great thread. No doubt the Blaser is a great rifle, but the action turns some off. Im sure Jorge will chime in soon

Well, I'm here and Hatari & Peter pretty well covered that over-engineered Rube-Goldberg shooting device.

PS: I'd hunt with one anyday..

Guns are such a personal decision but for the most part just about any gun manufactured today will work. Some need tweaking for reliability but in the end they all work and go bang.

At least the 10 round mag on a DG gun hasn't found popularity yet
The single shot and DR are popular now and with them you are limited to 1 or 2 shots I have not seen how many hunters have been killed by only having one or two rounds in there gun each year but it has to be in the hundreds

Thank...I appreciate all the posts &input...it really was the RELIABILITY of course, not so much the capability ( "they all work & go bang",)
I know that...
...but this "action" is unique ( I think?) and most who I talk to say "CRF. CRF...CRF ....Mauser, Mauser. Mauser...and NOT even "push feed" ala' Remington or Sako, because when it comes to dangerous game [i]you want that controlled feed to be sure you can fire if knocked down, fall, trip, gun upside down[/i]...whatever?

I would say there is no appreciable difference between a push feed and CRF. I would have to question one�s honesty or at the very least competency if they said they had experienced a failure with push feed. If you�re under charge and fail to successfully cycle a round, results will likely be remarkably similar with either type. I believe the Blaser to be a good design.

Yogi, How about the Kimber?

http://www.kimberamerica.com/rifles/specialty/talkeetna

Well, I'll add an anecdote. I had a R93 in 375 and a couple other chamberings. I took the 375 to Africa wjere it performed flawlessly in the red dust of Namibia. In the midst the verbal tempest over the flaws of a push-feed vs. CRF of Mauser and clones on the Fire, here, i put close to seven hundred rounds through that Blaser, and often three as fast as i could fire it. Which was very fast. I tried to make it misfeed, see if it could fail to pick up a cartridge, etc. It never did fail in those ways, but i did on occasion experiemce the "Blaser click" which occurs when the operator fails to slam the bolt all the way forward (closed).

I am not sure if this is to be considered a design flaw or operator error. In all other ways it was a superlative rifle.

Yogi,

I've had my R-8 Pro for about a year now.

30-06 barrel is an honest 3/4 MOA shooter. Slickest bolt action I've ever shot and the trigger, well to use an overly used clique, breaks like a glass rod. Next is a 9.3X62 for me>

MHO,

I wouldn't use one for one reason:

Life is too short for an ugly gun.

They probably said the same thing about the first Model 70. I know they said it about the first black plastic stocks. But I sorta identify Model 70s with Africa.

Sorry... for me, hunting, especially DG is not a fashion show or gun beauty contest, lol.
ALL I care about is reliabilty and second to that, speed of second shot, since as good as you are (or think you are...?), ones 1st shot may not be the "coup de grace" and your a$$ may depend on a quick follow up.

If Browning made a BAR in .375H&H or .458 Win Mag, I probably get it as I believe that BAR time honored & tested action is as reliable and jam free (maybe more so...especially user caused jams, short stroke, failure to slam Blaser bolt forward, etc.) as any bolt gun, and certainly be a whole lot faster follow up, if needed, than any bolt rifle, Blaser included!

My My how your opinion has changed from earlier this year when you watched "Tracks Across Africa"

Originally Posted By: Kay9Cop
Originally Posted By: jorgeI
I almost took the plunge on a Blaser until I saw three different episodes on TV, one of them sponsored by them, where the hunter had issues with jams on hurried shots.


Do you by chance remember the shows' names and what the episode was about? I'd be interested in watching them.


Tracks Across Africa, Buffalo hunt in Tanzania and the other was Under Wild Skies.
_________________________

Yogi,
I think that's why double are the rage, no problems on the f/u shot. Gotta get that base sized right or the BAR has a "click" problem also, don't ask me how I know
Don
PS I love BARs, I have a collection

"base sized right or the BAR has a "click" problem also"...
??? What do you mean..."base size", what, scope base?

Yogi
what mean awkward positions???
have R93 30-06 from '98 and have shoot it in any positions LOL
Bought it for driven hut and never regret that decision. Reloading is much more fast than normal bolt action and this is reliabe. Even if you have failure ("click") you can reload it with second and shoot again.
Do not use it in Africa as for that have Sauer-Weatherby caliber 9,3x64 brenneker. But if have bought instead of Sauer-Weathergy Blaser in 375H&H had use that. Therefore there is nothing wrong in Blaser to use for DG.

No it really hasn't. What it was meant to convey is I would not turn down a hunt just because the rifle was an R8 or even a 700 for that matter. I do not recall the exat episode of TAA but it was in Tanzania and the other incident was on Makris's show Under Wild Skies.

Yogi, I am curious what you ended up buying for your rifle? Blaser, CZ, Sako, Kimber? You sure did receive many different opinions on the different websites? Just curious.