Blaser R8 Barrel spec

Tikka595

Well-Known Member
Now that I have decided to go the dark side..:D
I am going to buy an R8 pro success, but they have a few barrel choices available..
Standard weight, Mid weight and Heavy match barrels with the extra fluting also offered
As these guns are very accurate out of the box is it worth upgrading the barrel from standard? will I see extra accuracy from the investment..
I am a fan of a fluted barrel more for looks than anything else..
I will most lightly go for a .243 rifle first, for some varminting, foxes, muntjac & roe then thinking 6.5x55 barrel for larger UK deer(not a big fan of recoil Swed is pleasant to shoot)
then at a later date pick up a 3006 or 7mm? barrel for boar etc for that odd occasion... then I will be covered for everything

So please give me your thoughts

Cheers Tikka595
 
First welcome to the darkside
As for barrel spec I went 243 and 30 .06 this covers about everything
I have the standard weight barrels on mine which balance up nicely
but as you say I do like the look of the fluted version
If that's what you like then go for it
regards pete
 
I've got a mauser m03 in 6.5x55 std barrel 17mm which is fine for stalking 3-4 shot group no problem
if I was to buy a bigger cal like 375 and upwards I'd go 19mm heavy with iron sights no mod

i thaught there were only 2 sizes 17mm std and 19mm heavy but you can choose fluted in both and thread or no thread and iron sights on both

fluted barrels are are usually double the cost of a std
 
Bear in mind that if you want different weights of barrel you will also need different stocks for the profile, i have 30.06 and 7mm rem mag in standard barrel at 24 and 26 inch both balance very well with an ASE Utra on them.
 
I've not long had my R8 and went through the same torment when deciding which barrel to choose. The fluted is nice but won't improve accuracy. With a £500 premium for the fluting I decided against it, particularly because the moderator would cover a good part of it. I can't comment on the semi weight, but I felt that the main reasons for my choosing an R8 was because of the balance and light weight, so didn't see the need to add weight to the barrel. I don't regret getting the std profile and I'm really pleased with it.

atb

Mac
 
My first R93 was a 300WM in a standard profile. I then added a 243, 308, 223, 22-250 with the heavy match barrel for the simple reason that I wanted the heavy barrel. I then added another 300WM, 222Rem and 9.3x62 in semi weight for driven hunting (the 222 is for practice) Finally I bought a 375H&H for Africa which comes in a heavy profile. All are super accurate. As others have mentioned, get a stock that will accept all profiles, because a stock fitted to accommodate a standard barrel will not accommodate the semi weight or match barrel.
 
Personally I prefer the standard barrels as they balance the rifle perfectly and keep the rifles overall length very compact.
Carrying a Blaser with a standard barrel is much more comfortable and quicker to point than a rifle with an ordinary bolt action.
I shoot 223, 6XC, 7x64, and 9.3x62 all in standard profile and all are incredibly accurate without any mucking around, with factory ammunition.
I had a rifle range scientist explain to me very adamantly recently at the range, that a Blaser could not possibly hold it's point of impact because you are removing the barrel, and the action bolts are not consistently tightened to the same tension each time the barrel is refitted.
My brother then sat down and shot a 19mm group of five shoots, with RWS factory ammunition, 173grain soft points.
Between each shot he removed the barrel and scope.
My brother being the smartarse that he is then said to him "now let's pull your target rifle apart four times and see how it shoots".

The standard barrels are very good.
 
i own a few r93 in various calibre's and one is a .243 with a heavy weight fluted barrel , i must admit it is slightly heavier than the standard but not that much heavier , it does shoot very very well but not that much better than standard barrels , the only real benefit i can see is the heavy barrel does keep cooler if shots are taken close together hence the reason i use it for park culls, a standard barrel will fit in a heavy barrel stock but it does look very free floating but a heavy barrel will not go into the standard stock , it all depends on what you want to spend and what you find pleasing to the eye but as a general purpose stalking rifle there is no noticeable benefit with the heavy weight
regards andy
 
You raise a very good point. If you are going to be doing long strings of shots, the heavier barrel may be an advantag in terms of cooling, especially in a 22-250 or 243.
 
Thanks for all your reply's
I didn't know about the different profiles with the R8 stocks regarding light and heavy barrels
and Fluting costing another £500 with no noticeable accuracy benefit.. have too think if its really that important to me..!
I will have a good look at the Shooting Show on Sunday and confirm my ideal package
I will then sort barrels/calibre's to replace my Tikka's as the are sold.
I reload my own and I will continue to do so.. I have read that you must use full length resize dies and not just neck size or the bolt will not close and not fire ?
Do any of you use your Blasers for long range varminting on crows rabbits out to 500/600yrds
What factory ammo do people use in their Blasers
sorry for all the questions.. sad I know..!
Cheers Tikka595
 
RWS 140gr DK in 6.5x55 are supurb in my mauser ( same barrel ) and can shoot better than me

Norma 40gr BT in .223 are also supurb ( if you were thinking of a .223 )
 
Now that I have decided to go the dark side..:D
I am going to buy an R8 pro success, but they have a few barrel choices available..
Standard weight, Mid weight and Heavy match barrels with the extra fluting also offered
As these guns are very accurate out of the box is it worth upgrading the barrel from standard? will I see extra accuracy from the investment..
I am a fan of a fluted barrel more for looks than anything else..
I will most lightly go for a .243 rifle first, for some varminting, foxes, muntjac & roe then thinking 6.5x55 barrel for larger UK deer(not a big fan of recoil Swed is pleasant to shoot)
then at a later date pick up a 3006 or 7mm? barrel for boar etc for that odd occasion... then I will be covered for everything

So please give me your thoughts

Cheers Tikka595


Welcome to the right side!
 
When I got mine, 30-06 success to replace my sako I just altered my existing AOL on the ammo I already had and it shot like a demon never looked back, obviously check for signs of pressure but they were spot on. Unless you are going to put some serious amount of shots through it in short succession I would just go with the standard barrel you can drop three deer with one quick enough the barrel don't know it's got hot :D
 
Thanks for all your reply's

I reload my own and I will continue to do so.. I have read that you must use full length resize dies and not just neck size or the bolt will not close and not fire ?
What factory ammo do people use in their Blasers

Cheers Tikka595

Another urban myth(?)........ never worried me, with all my rifles I cycle all my fired cases through the action...... those that the bolt doesn't close comfortably on get a full-length, the others just get a neck size.

Blasers seem to be very tolerant with standard factory ammo accuracy-wise.

I run standard barrels in the widest channel I could get... I bought a Match .243 barrel and that would touch the channel sides just tilted on a 'pod so I opened the channel out even further with a piece of glass paper around a good old Parker Hale mod (I think? :lol:) But.......... the stalker/foxer I go up to every year just runs a Match .243 barrel in an off-road pro stock for his NV rifle and doesn't worry about whether it touches or not......doesn't seem to affect his success rate or the accuracy of the rifle be it off the wing mirror, bonnet, rock, turf, quad etc etc.

I'm off to the show on Friday and will call in on Brock and Norris to see what they can offer for custom Blaser barrels. :lol: It's been done by Bix & Andy and nice to see someone in the UK doing the same. That opens up a whole new set of options..... especially to R93 owners. :cool:

Cheers

Fizz
:cool:
 
Personally I prefer the standard barrels as they balance the rifle perfectly and keep the rifles overall length very compact.
Carrying a Blaser with a standard barrel is much more comfortable and quicker to point than a rifle with an ordinary bolt action.
I shoot 223, 6XC, 7x64, and 9.3x62 all in standard profile and all are incredibly accurate without any mucking around, with factory ammunition.
I had a rifle range scientist explain to me very adamantly recently at the range, that a Blaser could not possibly hold it's point of impact because you are removing the barrel, and the action bolts are not consistently tightened to the same tension each time the barrel is refitted.
My brother then sat down and shot a 19mm group of five shoots, with RWS factory ammunition, 173grain soft points.
Between each shot he removed the barrel and scope.
My brother being the smartarse that he is then said to him "now let's pull your target rifle apart four times and see how it shoots".

The standard barrels are very good.
Don't think it matters a bit about the action bolts with the scope mounted on the barrel as long as the scope returns to it's original alignment which it does with the blaser system there's not anything to stop the barrel and scope being in perfect line every time, sure that's why they are so accurate, just my theory anyway.
 
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