8k to spend on a rifle: high end custom rifle or blaser R8?

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triggertrix said:
I’ve bought and used a LOT of rifles. I’ve never paid more than £500 for any of them as far as I recall. They’ve almost all shot 1/2”
groups with a bit of bedding and massaging. I have never bought a new rifle.

£8k on a rifle, that’s a lot of money. Even if I was wealthy, I’d struggle to justify it.

But, ‘if’, probably buy one of Joel Dorleacs buy-back custom Mauser 98 rifles. New are £20k ish, but many of his customers buy them, use them a few times and sell them back to him for an upgrade, they are remarkable pieces. His all weather precision rifles are amazing too, that’s a good option in fact!
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Yeah that's a lot of money. I prefer to spend 8k on a rifle than 20k on a motorbike. To each their own i guess
 
Ronin said:
Just buy a bugara with the 8k and have 7999 left over to spend wisely 😂
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Damn, they got cheaper, a couple months ago i saw a basic model for sale at 1000 euros.

Btw i disagree, a tikka is much better than a Bergara as some people here teached me once!
 
bowji john said:
I’ve spent a silly amount of wonga on rifles

Some were worth the money (6.5 creed by @Ronin)

Some were an absolute shambles!!!

Three that stand/stood the test of time

1. Blaser R8 (in a multitude of calibres)
2. @Ronin long range creation
3. Cz 452 as, now with about 200,000 rds through it, I’m quite familiar with it
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Cz 452s, as most cz's hunting products, are just cheap and unreliable. I have seen so many issues with these rifles. My cz 452's (i had 2, varmint model .22lr) had both rust issues and feeling issues with various ammo, plus one magazine out of the 3 i had was defective. Then i bought a 527 carbine in 7.62×39, i had to send it back because it didn't eject spent casings. A friend of mine had a 550 and it was a piece of garbage honestly. Anither one had another cz, i think it was a 550 as well, and his stock cracked randomly while the rifle was gently put on the ground in a case. The bluing on all the rifles i mentioned is very low quality and the rust is basically a feature of these rifles. For the price they are acceptable and sometimes even surprisingly accurate but durability and reliability in my experience are very bad.

Cz made colt cr6920 seem to be very good quality on the other hand and also the bren and some other tactical products seems to be gtg.
 
randello88 said:
1st place: Accuracy, reliability, durability, weight (8-12 lbs for my applications)

2nd place: comfort of use

If it looks good even better
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After using R8/R93 for several years during the harshest winter conditions I would say the R8 is a very, very good gun. I also have a custom gun that I use during these conditions. Both work very well and are very accurate. The thing with the R8 is that you can pick it a part, clean it, put it together and you don´t have to zero it.
 
AHPP said:
DTA SRS?
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Not a bad should actually. Certainly accurate and the recent incarnation can be had well within weight. It accepts both short and long action calibres. I’ve always fancied one myself but the price puts me off. One went in an auction last year for a reasonable price. Still kick myself as it failed to sell in the previous auction at a lower premium.
 
randello88 said:
Cz 452s, as most cz's hunting products, are just cheap and unreliable. I have seen so many issues with these rifles. My cz 452's (i had 2, varmint model .22lr) had both rust issues and feeling issues with various ammo, plus one magazine out of the 3 i had was defective. Then i bought a 527 carbine in 7.62×39, i had to send it back because it didn't eject spent casings. A friend of mine had a 550 and it was a piece of garbage honestly. Anither one had another cz, i think it was a 550 as well, and his stock cracked randomly while the rifle was gently put on the ground in a case. The bluing on all the rifles i mentioned is very low quality and the rust is basically a feature of these rifles. For the price they are acceptable and sometimes even surprisingly accurate but durability and reliability in my experience are very bad.

Cz made colt cr6920 seem to be very good quality on the other hand and also the bren and some other tactical products seems to be gtg.
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So to recapitulate only according to what you have said:
- 'Tikka rifles are pretty low quality" based on what you have heard? Any objective facts about it? There are loads of happy users that would strongly disagree. Even more, several trustworthy gunsmiths that manufacture custom rifles recommend Tikka as one of the best out-of-the-box rifles.
- CZ550 rifles are literally "a piece of garbage" based on the experience of two friends of yours? Just because of that, these rifles qualify for "piece of garbage" and "rust is basically a feature of them"?

Please, do not take me wrong, but I think that these kind of statements are too harsh and gratuitous and that one shoud aim to express himself in more sensible and prudent terms.

I own two CZ550 (30.06 Spr. and 7x64) and two Brno ZK600 (.270 Win and 7x57) and I have been using them for 17 years. The ZKK were previously used by my father. I have never had any problem with rust or with the stock falling apart. The same applies for hunters I know that live in the coast. In my experience, they are reliable, accurate with most types of commercial ammunition and they have done everything I wanted them to do. The bluing is good and far better than that of more expensive and modern rifles. I have used them in every kind of condition and they have always performed flawlessly. And my rifles have not necessarily been well maintained. Shame on me. Furthermore, bear in mind that a lot of Professional Hunters use CZ550 rifles in Africa as their favourite working rifle and this has to be for a reason. For sure, CZ are not the most refined and smooth firearms and they do not have the best finishes and details. But without a shade of doubt, they are absolutely dependable and they have a very robust action.
I had a Mauser M12 whose barrel got rusted while stalking roe deer after three days of use, without even getting wet. I have also seen a friend's Blaser R93 getting totally rusted after being usrd for one day under heavy rain. But this does not mean that these rifles are worthless trash or low quality.
 
Buy my R8 Carbon Ruthenium Success chassis for £5500, add a bolt head and a custom barrel from Michael Rainback in a profile and calibre of your choice and you have the best of both worlds for your £8k and it will hold it’s value. No brainer!!!!
 

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scotch_egg said:
Not a bad should actually. Certainly accurate and the recent incarnation can be had well within weight. It accepts both short and long action calibres. I’ve always fancied one myself but the price puts me off. One went in an auction last year for a reasonable price. Still kick myself as it failed to sell in the previous auction at a lower premium.
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I think they're excellent. Proper tube ergonomics, bolt strokes under your cheek so you can stay in the aim and short for barrel length. Acceptable extra weight over a Fix because it would survive being run over where a Fix wouldn't and is just as robust as an AI but better for the tube bullpup reasons. I let one with 243 and 308 barrels go a while ago because I couldn't be bothered to get a variation. Mistake.
 
AHPP said:
I think they're excellent. Proper tube ergonomics, bolt strokes under your cheek so you can stay in the aim and short for barrel length. Acceptable extra weight over a Fix because it would survive being run over where a Fix wouldn't and is just as robust as an AI but better for the tube bullpup reasons. I let one with 243 and 308 barrels go a while ago because I couldn't be bothered to get a variation. Mistake.
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🤣🤣🤣🤣 I’ll be honest I can’t see many rifles surviving being run over. The barrels will bend as non of them are entirely flat. The fox is a lot lighter than either an AI or DTA, les than half the weight. Different purposes. Hence I have an AX as well. The bolt manipulation of the DTA whilst shouldered isn’t as easy as the standard position due to the dexterity of the shoulder and elbow.

I may add a DTA to the stable at some point. But first I’m importing some America Rifle Company Coup De Grâce actions to build a 6mmbr repeater on a spuhr chassis. No one brings them in so I’m doing it myself. Might offer a few for sale. Seem to be slipping into the industry.
 
scotch_egg said:
🤣🤣🤣🤣 I’ll be honest I can’t see many rifles surviving being run over. The barrels will bend as non of them are entirely flat. The fox is a lot lighter than either an AI or DTA, les than half the weight. Different purposes. Hence I have an AX as well. The bolt manipulation of the DTA whilst shouldered isn’t as easy as the standard position due to the dexterity of the shoulder and elbow.

I may add a DTA to the stable at some point. But first I’m importing some America Rifle Company Coup De Grâce actions to build a 6mmbr repeater on a spuhr chassis. No one brings them in so I’m doing it myself. Might offer a few for sale. Seem to be slipping into the industry.
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Aye. I only mentioned it because similarly expensive. I thought the DTA bolt being so far back would be a problem but I shot one for a day (including some non-prone I think) and completely forgot about it. Just wasn't a problem.
I can't get excited over just another good action or chassis now. With information, materials and manufacturing as good as they are, either make a big leap or don't bother. That to me means bullpups with usable triggers, good ergonomics and making things smaller and lighter.
 
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AHPP said:
Aye. I only mentioned it because similarly expensive. I thought the DTA bolt being so far back would be a problem but I shot one for a day (including some non-prone I think) and completely forgot about it. Just wasn't a problem.
I can't get excited over just another good action or chassis now. With information, materials and manufacturing as good as they are, either make a big leap or don't bother. That to me means bullpups with usable triggers, good ergonomics and making things smaller and lighter.
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A DTA is £8k over here.

AI is £5500

Custom £5500 ish

Blaser £4000 ish

Fix £5000 (over here)
 
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