Blaser Are they any good??

SussexFallow

Well-Known Member
Im thinking about getting an r8 professional. Currently using a sako 308 and custom rifle 243ai. Am I doing the right thing ?? What do the blasers have that other rifles dont ?

ATB Steve
 
steve I was out with a friend off here last night he came over to my patch as my guest
he has the R8 professional topped off with a z61 BT

I have the R8 in wood luxus upgrade and to say were both over the moon with our rifles
would be an understatement .
we both came to the conclusion we would never change back
we both moved up from sakos
regards pete .
 
I used to have a R93 but traded it in for a R8 with Grade 5 wood, a reliable & accurate rifle that I find particularly easy to use and has the possibility of adding further calibres by a simple barrel change. If you are thinking of buying one see if you can try one before purchasing. atb Tim
 
Sussex Fallow,

Blaser's tend to polarise opinion. I've never owned one, but have used a few. The old model was difficult to load from the top, but the latest one (R8) gets round that. The ones I know about have been reliable and accurate.

You might want to think about what you want from a rifle. Blasers are a straight pull action, which complicates their construction (when compared with a standard bolt action) and adds to cost. They also have interchangable barrels, which again adds to cost. If you're not going to gain any advantage from these USP's there may be no point in paying the extra money for them.

Having said the above, a lot of people buy Blaser's because they admire the engineering / build quality and like to have something a bit different.

Cheers,

Bob
 
Hi Steve.
I have a R8 pro in 308 & 243 pleased with the rifle, the straight pull took a bit of getting used to after using sakos for many years. Try before you buy i did and was impressed as Pete says i wont be going back. Speak to HME on this site Paul has all the Blasers & the range so you can try before you buy, hes a good chap to deal with.
Very enjoyable evening stalk Pete ATB Steve
 
Av got an r8 black and it's the dogs balls just traded my Callum ferguson 6.5 284 for it and am over the moon
They for me are top of the class for a factory rifle
Straight out the box shooting 1/4 inch groups with Nosler factory rounds too
You tube has some cracking videos of them too
 
As Bob said Blasers seem to divide people right down the middle, some love them and some hate them. It must be said that it is rare to find someone who has actually used one who hates them but never the less it would be very wise to try before you buy just in case they aren't for you. I wanted one rifle to do everything right out of the box with no need to spend my time fitting new triggers and bedding actions and changing stocks and rebarreling which seems to happen a lot with some models of rifle. I bought an R93 in 308 and have never looked back and if I had to do it again I would buy another R93 in 308, it is still the only rifle I have.

With the Blaser you buy into a whole package but there are lots of other very nice rifles out there, many of them more conventional. I shoot left handed so that is one factor as it is easy to make the Blaser left handed and I also travel back and forth to Scotland by boat and plane a lot and in that situation the Blaser is ideal as it breaks down into a small flightcase I had made that looks nothing like a gun case and that isn't much bigger than a brief case. I also like that the Blaser gets a good reputation for being rust proof as sometimes I stalk in Scotland, put then rifle into the case, and then travel for a day or two with no chance of a good clean and sometimes it is a little wet. I also like the manual cocking mechanism as it means I can carry the rifle with the added safety that the firing pin is not cocked until I do it manually. The rifle will shoot nearly any factory ammo into an inch and shoots most loads to as near the same point of aim as makes no difference, it also launches 150 grain reloads at 3000fps with no sign of pressure. All these are small things on their own but for me they add up to a package that suits me and how I travel and shoot and they make the rifle really easy to live with.

On the down side it is expensive for what you get, especially when you factor in scope mounts and so on. Also there are the internet rumours of action "failures" which those who dislike Blaser are always keen to tout however when I did my research I found that the numbers were very, very low and much lower than for other models and also that the people (mostly just one person to be accurate) involved in the well documented ones had done something very stupid indeed, often repeatedly. I believe the R8 "action" is even more robust than the R93. It was also the case with the R93 that there were occasional reports of misfires, and I experienced this myself, however I would imagine this is long since solved and would not be an issue in the R8 and my personal experience is that it happened once in over 2000 rounds and removing the bolt and replacing it in the "action" resolved the problem with no repeat in many years now.
 
As Bob said Blasers seem to divide people right down the middle, some love them and some hate them. It must be said that it is rare to find someone who has actually used one who hates them but never the less it would be very wise to try before you buy just in case they aren't for you. I wanted one rifle to do everything right out of the box with no need to spend my time fitting new triggers and bedding actions and changing stocks and rebarreling which seems to happen a lot with some models of rifle. I bought an R93 in 308 and have never looked back and if I had to do it again I would buy another R93 in 308, it is still the only rifle I have.

With the Blaser you buy into a whole package but there are lots of other very nice rifles out there, many of them more conventional. I shoot left handed so that is one factor as it is easy to make the Blaser left handed and I also travel back and forth to Scotland by boat and plane a lot and in that situation the Blaser is ideal as it breaks down into a small flightcase I had made that looks nothing like a gun case and that isn't much bigger than a brief case. I also like that the Blaser gets a good reputation for being rust proof as sometimes I stalk in Scotland, put then rifle into the case, and then travel for a day or two with no chance of a good clean and sometimes it is a little wet. I also like the manual cocking mechanism as it means I can carry the rifle with the added safety that the firing pin is not cocked until I do it manually. The rifle will shoot nearly any factory ammo into an inch and shoots most loads to as near the same point of aim as makes no difference, it also launches 150 grain reloads at 3000fps with no sign of pressure. All these are small things on their own but for me they add up to a package that suits me and how I travel and shoot and they make the rifle really easy to live with.

On the down side it is expensive for what you get, especially when you factor in scope mounts and so on. Also there are the internet rumours of action "failures" which those who dislike Blaser are always keen to tout however when I did my research I found that the numbers were very, very low and much lower than for other models and also that the people (mostly just one person to be accurate) involved in the well documented ones had done something very stupid indeed, often repeatedly. I believe the R8 "action" is even more robust than the R93. It was also the case with the R93 that there were occasional reports of misfires, and I experienced this myself, however I would imagine this is long since solved and would not be an issue in the R8 and my personal experience is that it happened once in over 2000 rounds and removing the bolt and replacing it in the "action" resolved the problem with no repeat in many years now.
Caorach has detailed the pro's and cons very well here, having gone from the R93 to the R8 I would advise buying the R8 but do try before buying to see if it suits you. atb Tim
 
took a couple of dutch guys out before xmas for a mate they had blasers the top loading type ,after gingerly stalking to the seat with the guest he safely unloaded his rifle before climbing the seat .he reloaded the round and KERCHING slammed the bolt forward shattering the quiet not quite what i was expecting as i always just slide my conventional bolt action over nice and smoothly .....like a steyr can :D ,kinda put me right off dont know if this can be done quitely guys ? he did this a few times as we swapped seats during the day .


ps he didnt shoot anything even though i managed to get him on a few
 
I have a R8 in 6.5 & . 223 barrels. Both calibres are very accurate with factory ammo, sub half inch with both plus i use the same moderator. Barrel, bolt head & magazine change out under 5mins. The straight pull i like for quick reloading. All in all an excellent rifle plus i managed to get a good deal on mine.
 
Roedinator wrote "we both moved up from sakos " :rofl::stir:

mike sorry if it looked like i was knocking sakos at all this was not my intention
I was just stating facts that these were the rifles we were using before
we decided to join the dark side .
the result would have been the same whatever weapon we had been using :D :stir:

regards pete .
 
Pete, does the Blaser have some special form of retaining mechanism for mods?:D

hi steve
no just a 15 x 1 spigot thread typical of superb german enginering
and no problems since the S D rifle shoot at monmouth thanks
look forward to seeing you there this year .

yours current S D rifle shoot champ pete :D:D :smug:
 
Blaser R93 in .243/.300 Win Mag and .375 H & H.
Variation in for .223 and .308 and will not be going for anything else but a Blaser.

But everybody to there own.
 
mike sorry if it looked like i was knocking sakos at all this was not my intention
I was just stating facts that these were the rifles we were using before
we decided to join the dark side.

Like Pete,I also had a Sako 75 before getting a Blaser R93. The Sako is a fine rifle but if I started again I would go straight for the Blaser. As others have said, the interchangeability, reliability and accuracy were deciding factors forme. Having said that, I've learned already that when reloading it's full-sizing, not neck-sizing, that is the order of the day :oops:

Blasers are an acquired taste, so definitely try before you buy if possible.
 
took a couple of dutch guys out before xmas for a mate they had blasers the top loading type ,after gingerly stalking to the seat with the guest he safely unloaded his rifle before climbing the seat .he reloaded the round and KERCHING slammed the bolt forward shattering the quiet not quite what i was expecting as i always just slide my conventional bolt action over nice and smoothly .....like a steyr can :D ,kinda put me right off dont know if this can be done quitely guys ? he did this a few times as we swapped seats during the day .


ps he didnt shoot anything even though i managed to get him on a few

What on earth was he doing. I thought one of the main features of the R93 was the ability to de-cock the action with the safety thus allowing safe movement around your ground.

I took my first deer with an R93 in .243 and then many more in 25-06.

If I could cope with one rifle I would buy one. As it is I am an addict. Plus in recent years they have doubled in cost, yet not in value in my mind.....
 
What on earth was he doing. I thought one of the main features of the R93 was the ability to de-cock the action with the safety thus allowing safe movement around your ground.

Blaser cocking systems are of course renowned (But only by those who know). The cocking slide does allow cocking and uncocking of the trigger and is quite unlike a safety catch.

However, all loaded rifles should be treated as unsafe, so unloading to get up/down from a high seat or negotiate any obstacle would be normal practise whatever the rifle. :tiphat:
 
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