Blaser???

RPA.260

Well-Known Member
Hi

I am looking into another rifle, I have at present x2 RPA,s (purchased 7-8years ago at the £1800 price) and x2 Sako's a 85 and a 75 as CF hunting rifles.

I have looked at a Blaser in the shop and the only other times I have come across them is with some one on a DSC course holding us up because he was too busy changing barrels etc and couldn't zero. Another time was on shoot were again held the group up messing about because he had forgot which scope adjustment needed for which barrel, then took a hour to zero and it put me right off I thought what a lot of messing to shoot a deer.

I am still with a open mind on the whole concept but consistency worries me in something that comes apart and tolerances in machining etc etc. Are the reliable??? I take me two sako's for instance both with Z6i's I pick the 308 up this evening and guarantee it shoots 1" high at 100m. The same applies to my 22-250 if I picked it up to go foxing.

Can you put hand on heart switch barrels/adjust scope and do what you have to do with them, step out the door and with 100% confidence shoot a deer at 200m.

I am generally interested in one but what I have seen does not fill me with the confidence or going down that route.

I don't want to start a debate and I am not targeting Blaser users (I know your sensitive:stir:) , just after peoples experiences so I can use these to make a decision.


Thanks in advance
 
Given what you say above, I'm not sure I understand why you are interested in owning one? You outline above various perceived disadvantages over a more conventional rifle, what for you would be the perceived advantages?
 
Given what you say above, I'm not sure I understand why you are interested in owning one? You outline above various perceived disadvantages over a more conventional rifle, what for you would be the perceived advantages?

Frankly the switch barrel concept is great if you are only allowed one rifle but in multiple calibres but in the UK it's just as cheap and a lot less faff to get two guns in two calibres.

However, that being said, whatever floats your boat is good for you...I wouldn't give one house room myself.
 
PM I have not had any practical experiences with them at all and I do like the concept of having a rifle and really get to know it. The advantages I can see is having this one rifle I can work with but this inter changing, is it working in practice reliably??

The disadvantages I am out lining are only what I can see, If they work in practice then all of a sudden they are not a disadvantage. As I say the only time I have seen them in the field are on these two occasions and I don't want to write them off just on these too instances if 50 people on here are using them and find them great.
 
Hi

I am looking into another rifle, I have at present x2 RPA,s (purchased 7-8years ago at the £1800 price) and x2 Sako's a 85 and a 75 as CF hunting rifles.

I have looked at a Blaser in the shop and the only other times I have come across them is with some one on a DSC course holding us up because he was too busy changing barrels etc and couldn't zero. Another time was on shoot were again held the group up messing about because he had forgot which scope adjustment needed for which barrel, then took a hour to zero and it put me right off I thought what a lot of messing to shoot a deer.

I am still with a open mind on the whole concept but consistency worries me in something that comes apart and tolerances in machining etc etc. Are the reliable??? I take me two sako's for instance both with Z6i's I pick the 308 up this evening and guarantee it shoots 1" high at 100m. The same applies to my 22-250 if I picked it up to go foxing.

Can you put hand on heart switch barrels/adjust scope and do what you have to do with them, step out the door and with 100% confidence shoot a deer at 200m.

I am generally interested in one but what I have seen does not fill me with the confidence or going down that route.

I don't want to start a debate and I am not targeting Blaser users (I know your sensitive:stir:) , just after peoples experiences so I can use these to make a decision.


Thanks in advance


Pulling up a chair,this will be good:popcorn:
 
Frankly the switch barrel concept is great if you are only allowed one rifle but in multiple calibres but in the UK it's just as cheap and a lot less faff to get two guns in two calibres.

However, that being said, whatever floats your boat is good for you...I wouldn't give one house room myself.

Thanks, I guess I just feel I may be missing out.
 
I have just bought my first rifle and made the decision that I wanted a switch barrel. I cannot afford a Blaser and settled for a Mauser M03. The club gun is an R8 - the barrels are constantly being swapped between 30-06 and .308 depending on who is using them. There is a Z6i for the 30-06 and a Z4i for the .308. I have not seen either configuration not return to zero. Paul, the range owner took the R8 to Africa and it zeroed out of the case when he checked before his first hunt.

The R8 has had thousands of rounds through it.

Unlike me (I want one rifle with may be eventually 3 barrels) you are obviously into owning nice rifles - so why a switch barrel - I'm probably missing something but that's down to my age.:coat:


Also pitched my chair - :popcorn:
 
Nothing wrong with the rifle it is the nut behind the butt that caused you problems on the occasions that you mention. I've seen similar situations all too often to those that you describe with fixed barrel rifles and stupid shooters. Some guys simply don't have the brains to operate a spud gun. :stir:

Saying that I'm not a fan of the Blaser system myself but I have to admit that it works and they shoot very well indeed normally. My own choice of switch barrel rifle would be slightly different if I were looking for one but possibly from the same group of companies.
 
My take on switch barrels is that they are wonderful for when you need a bigger calibre for bigger game for a trip once or twice a year - ie you have a 243 set up for your every day stalking, but a 9.3x62 for your annual pig hunt. If you are regularly needing say a Foxing rifle and a stalking rifle you are probably better off two different setups, each setup for their specific job. So a heavy-ish barreled 22-250 with a powerful scope and bipod etc with which to take foxes out to 250 yds and then a sported weight deer calibre for stalking needs.

in terms of familiarity, our brains are certainly capable of becoming familiar with two or three different rifles -just takes a bit of time on the range or dry firing.
 
For me the major advantage with the "switch barrel" idea is that the rifle comes apart and packs away into something not much larger than a brief case for transport.

Mine is often taken apart and has always gone back together perfectly, and shoots to exactly the same point afterwards. As a test I've shot groups where I've taken the rifle apart and put it back together at some point in the process and the shots afterwards have always been in the same group.

As you might have seen I also, recently, posted a series of test targets on here which ended up with a 20 round group shot with all sorts of different ammo, bullet weight, velocity, prone and off sticks and also with some bullets that I didn't know what they were but just stuck them on top of a normal book load for that weight of bullet. I also loaded the "unknown" bullets at random lengths. The group was about the size I would have expected for normal field shooting so none of the factors, apart from the shooter, were having any impact on the group.

It is simply impossible to fault the Blaser when it comes to the engineering, or at least to date I haven't found a way despite trying quite hard. As a completely reliable, no fuss, tool for stalking it is very, very good indeed which is why I have one and despite being an engineer myself the only improvement I can see that could be made is that it's a big ugly.
 
whilst the blaser is a lovely idea and seems to be accurate I think it is a solution to a problem that isn't really there ?

I wouldn't have one and it's not the price (although I think they are over priced) because I already own a number of more expensive 'traditional' turnbolts ?
 
They are certainly interesting and quite fancied one myself but I don't want to spend that much on a single rifle ATM,maybe in the future. For me I would use a Schmidt 4-16 PMII and switch between how ever many barrels as you wanted. But I quite like variety and a choice of guns (yeah I'm gready).

I reckon you are best to find someone near you who doesn't mind showing you theirs and letting you have a go or if not make you're way up to http://www.ivythornsporting.co.uk seems to be a wealth of knowledge around the Blaser/Mauser family of rifles.
 
Once upon a time I had a cupboard full of guns.
A .222 a 22-250, 2 x .243s 2 x .308s and a 7x57r
I polished and cleaned them regularly and took it in turns to use one or the other.
I had a clear out and am now left with two rifles, a Remington .222 that is part of my family and I cannot imagine being without it, and a Blaser R93 with three barrels each with it's dedicated 'scope.
I have a .243, .308 and a 30-06.
As has already been mentioned and goes without saying they are easily transportable due to their size when broken down so not easily recognisable as a firearm when travelling.
I recently posted on the site somewhere already about my new .308 barrel where I zeroed it and fired a selection of different weight bullets, different charges and makes of powders and used 23 rounds to punch a hole in a target less than the size of a golf ball fired off the back of my landrover in a rather erratic wind too, so not exactly 'range conditions'.
That was from a brand new barrel that had not been 'shot in' using the shoot/clean/shoot/clean regime recommended by lots of others.
My 30-06 barrel was obtained just two days before a trip to Lithuania and was zeroed by the very kind gentleman that sold me it in the pit at the back of his shop, with three shots of my own home loads and just to make sure, I used another two shots to satisfy myself.
I then trotted off to Lithuania and the first pig I saw was from a high seat at 120 yards across the clearing and I took it with confidence and accuracy afforded to me by using my Blaser.
Although I have dedicated scopes for each barrel, they all take their turns in being dismantled and packed for transport and are always spot on when re-assembled.
 
I've used a r93 with a 6,5x55 and a 9,3x62 barrel, never had any problems with zeroing when switching between barrels. I put a piece of tape and marked the different settings on the turret if I used the same scope on several of my barrels or any of my other Blaser guns. Most of the times there are not that many clicks between the different barrels. I also had a 3006 barrel that had the same zero as my d99 drilling.
 
Well just to join the fun I have also recently joined the blue oyster club and bought a Blaser R93 off a very nice man off this very site. My reasoning was I wanted the switch barrel capability and the return to zero when remounted.
I have 2 scopes for the 243 barrel, 1 for deer shooting on quick release mounts and the other on a long picatinnny mount with an archer nv behind it.
I zeroed it with the day scope first then removed that and zeroed the night scope. I went out that evening changed back to the day scope and shot a Muntie. Then Friday night I went out changed back to the night scope and shot a fox, next morning back to the day scope and shot another fox.

so, so far it seems to be holding zero pretty well and no need for a dedicated foxing rifle. And now my rifles will sit in the cabinet in their bags so I can save at least 6 seconds of loading up time. And they do not get scratched either.

advantages
it can come apart and look discreet.
if like me you go out with a number of rifles then you remove the problem by having one barrel and changing scope for different applications. Return to zero works very well. That makes me feel better because even though my truck is safely parked on the farm, I still worry about about some knob breaking in and stealing a rifle, now worst case is they would just get a barrel or mabe a scope.
so far, and I am new in to my new found sexuality :D They seem to be very accurate.
by changing the bolt you can go from right hand to left hand.

disadvantages
if you buy new they are ######g expensive! I would never buy one new. But apparently I have a bit of a reputation for being tight.
To unload it I have to cycle the bolt. That does irritate me. I prefer magazine fed.
cost of anything blaser. Bloody expensive. My mounts are non blaser and quick release so I can go from one scope to another in seconds. So you can get around that.

so far I am very pleased with what I have bought. Everything has been secondhand. Yes it has cost me more but I think that for me I made the right choice, ask me in a years time and see if I am still a happy bunny.
 
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