R93 honest review

ezzy6.5

Well-Known Member
I might get a bit of stick for this but I have read so much about Blasers on the site I thought it might be an idea to write a quick, honest review of my R93.
I have owned a fair few bolt action rifles, single shots, lever guns (1). the majority have been Tikka's, a Ruger, a Parker hale, a winchester, and a Dave tooley. unfortuantely I suffer from the terrible affliction of being left handed. Sadly this really narrows your options for new rifles unless you are prepared to use a right handed bolt. Prior to my buying a Blaser I had a Tikka LH 695 in 6.5x55. It was a good solid rifle and it shot 1/2" groups from the bench.
One day I got it into my head that I wanted to try something different so I started looking around for a new rifle. The LH 595/695 Tikkas were discontinued. You could only get Sako's in certain calibres or stock options. Eventually I started looking at the R93.

For me, the R93 was available in lots of different stock/calibre options as a true left hander. I liked the safety system. It was factory threaded with a spiggot which I like. I found it to be a very nice handling rifle. It was a bit different from everything else.

In the end I bought a R93 off road in .270 (about 2 years ago now)
When I took it out of the box and put it all together I was very impressed with the build quality and the way it went together. The plastic off road stock is quite flexible in the fore end and I was concerned that this would be a problem when shooting off the bipod (it wasn't) I had Gregor fit a proper front stud as the Blaser one was to narrow for a bipod/qd sling.
I decided to research the best mod to fit and discovered that not all mods are made with the M15x1 spiggoted fitment. So on went a T8 that I allready had.

Some things I have found out about the R93.
The off road Pro stock is much nicer than the off road
if you dont keep your case length trimmed down correctly you will get miss fires
The trigger is great
The QR scope mount is adjustable and can in some rare cases need to be tightened with a very thin screwdriver (this turned my rifle from 1" groups into tiny groups instantly. Wish id realised 12 months ago)
If you wear loose cotton gloves it can be possible to get one trapped under the safety catch as you release it.
no matter how slowly I close the bolt it still works.
you can load it quietly, no problem.
I will probably never need to use the breakdown feature but I can and it will deffinately return to zero (I have tested this to death)
If you like tweaking you rifles the R93 is not for you (there is nothing you can do to them) buy a remington.
If I had one thing I miss it is the lack of a detatchable mag but I new about that before.

Would I buy another? yes if I could just find an excuse for a 9.3 tracker with an aimpoint on it.
Interested to see if any other Blaser owners can build on this.

Ezzy
 
The Blaser r8 has a detachable mag/trigger unit, I find this more convenient than the non-detachable on the r93. atb Tim
 
Hi stu
good honest review as you say
I would only add that with the R8 you get the detachable mag which you know anyway
Also as you say a very accurate rifle that gives you confidence which is everything in shooting
I opted with 243 and 30 . 06 on my R8 so im set up to shoot anything from fox to plains game
job done really one happy bunny .
regards pete .
 
I spent the weekend before last with two new R8's. I don't see the R8 as a significant improvement over the R93, in fact I don't see it as any sort of improvement. It is certainly not worth an extra £600 over the price of a new R93. I also think Blaser were pretty cynical in changing the designs to ensure there is no cross compatibility between the R8 and R93.

My only real criticism of the R93 is that the magazine is a bit awkward to load. I dont see why a drop in box in the style of a Sako 75 magazine could not be made to work. The new drop box / trigger assembly on the R8 is no improvement - in fact it is a f#ck up waiting to happen.

Trigger on the R8 is absolutely fantastic though.
 
I have an R93 in .308 and 22.250 and totally agree with ezzy6.5 with regard to left handed rifles. This was one of the main reasons to get the blaser, so I have the same feel with different calibres, both left handed.I have seen all the nay-sayers on here but I am very happy with it so each to their own.
And as all are in agreement, the trigger is great.
 
I find my R93 a bloody nuisance, it has ruined my 'range time' terribly ;)
I now find that trying out different loads and different bullet weights at 100 yards make no difference, they all seem to be as accurate as each other, that is due to the quality of the barrel.
The only time I find any difference now, is when I set up a cronograph and shoot over different distances and that takes half the fun out of it :D.
My range time now consists of altering the chrono speeds as all the bullets generally hit where I aim.
I shot three .243 PPU rounds at the target at 100yards the other day and had to walk up to the target to confirm a hit, the strike was so close I couldn't see three strikes through the spotting 'scope because they were so close together.
I have a .243 and a 30-06 barrel and can see no other reason to require anything else, although I do take my Remmy .308 and .222 out now and again just so as not to get too complacent.
 
I too have the curse of being left eyed.. so I have always shot everything left handed!
I tried quite a few guns before I had the chance to try the R93. I too was taken with the very positive safety which really does allegedly prevent a round being fired on impact unlike standard bolts. The easily change of caliber and the reliable zero using the saddle mount was a significant feature for me and gives huge flexibility within the bolt head group preventing having to fiddle too much to swap the gun over.
However some shooting buddies are right handed damn em so I now have a right handed bolt so that I can easily swap the guns over whenever needed without too much messing about. The ease of swapping 'scopes by simply changing the saddle mount can be a real positive especially for driven game?
Would I spend the extra for the R8? Probably not! The R93 is more accurate than I am.. as already mentioned will shoot pretty much any round into a good tight group and is all I'll need for any quarry I am likely to target anywhere worldwide.
I have the .243 and 7 x08 but planning on adding a larger caliber for trips abroad for bigger game.

Just my two penneth for what its worth?

Regards

Fraser
 
I have an R93 and to be honest I had no intention of getting a Blaser. I was in Macleods one day with some friends off of SD who were up stalking, I only went for the ride! Anyway while I was there I asked Gregor if he had any second hand S&B 6x42's yes he said, nipped off and came back with the scope attached to a rifle, and was all set to remove it from what I now know to be a saddle mount. The upshot was I had a quick look through the scope while it was still mounted, liked it and bought it along with the gun it was on, it felt very good when mounted. I now have barrels in 243, the original, and 6.5X55 and 7X57, I find the gun very comfortable, accurate and reliable. I like the fact that I can just whip the scope off when loading it which makes it easier, not as easy as a magazine some may argue. Having got used to it I find the safety/cocking mechanism easy to operate and the safety aspect is very reassuring, the trigger is perfect well to me it is.

I had read about the various issues regarding the misfires etc but have yet to experience one, I always check the case length on every reload. The return to zero is something I am still in awe of, the fact that I can change barrels and scopes and it is still spot on amazes me, I have finally learnt to trust it. As of yet I can't fault it but that does not mean to say that I will never fault it, but at the moment it ticks all the boxes and beats all the other rifles I have had in all departments. Forgot to say that the zero business never fails even after the spirited quad rides it experiences.

John
 
Seems like every left hander (like me also ) on here ends up with a Blaser Iv'e had my R93 for ten years in .243 ,7x57 , and 30-06 love the trigger
saves me loads of ammo cos its always zero and like JAYB says gives you confidence when your out . If you miss its you !!!!
 
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