In 1994, after a shooting accident near
Koblenz in Germany, the R93 was criticised with claims that it could not withstand high pressures, and that the bolt would unlock when excessive pressures were generated.[
citation needed]
In August 2003, 41-year-old Norwegian Jan Sørlie had an accident where his R93 chambered for
8×68mm S exploded, resulting in loss of an eye and a skull fracture requiring titanium replacement.
[20][21] Sørlie reported that had used handloaded ammunition loaded with 5.05 g (77.9 gr) Norma MRP powder and a 12.7 g (196 gr) projectile.
[20][21]
In January 2004, 38-year-old German Albrecht Huf had an accident near
Koblenz in Germany where his R93 chambered in
.300 Weatherby Magnumexploded. Huf sustained injury to his thumb, jaw and
zygomatic bone. He claimed to have used Weatherby factory ammunition only.
[22] An investigation by the German
DEVA institute concluded that
handloaded .300 Weatherby Magnum ammunition had been used that greatly exceeded the maximum safe gas pressure for the round.
[23]
In July 2009, Spaniard Jesus Nieto had an accident near Madrid in Spain where his R93 rifle chambered for
7mm Remington Magnum exploded, causing the bolt carrier to hit and damage his
maxilar bone. The accident was determined by the shooter to be due to faulty ammunition leaving a fired bullet stuck in the barrel, causing an explosion on the subsequent shot. The shooter stated that he had used Remington Safari Grade commercial ammunition.
[21]
In July 2014, 69-year-old Christer Svensson experienced an accident where his R93 chambered for
.30-06 Springfield exploded while loading his rifle on a shooting range near
Bollnäs in Sweden, resulting in the bolt hitting his face.
[24] Svensson was using
Norma factory ammunition. He turned in the rifle to Blaser, but wanted the
Swedish National Forensic Centre to investigate the matter. However, he later agreed to the wish of Blaser and its Swedish distributors that all technical investigation would be performed by the German DEVA institute. The DEVA report concluded that the damages to the firearm almost certainly came from a combination of an overpressure and a problem with the casing of the cartridge.
[25] Svensson told the Swedish hunting and firearms magazine
Svensk Jakt that he had difficulties getting his firearm back from the testing, and that it had been modified when he finally received it. He stated that the
chamber and bolt head had been chopped off, and that the barrel did not have a stamped serial number anymore, and claimed the serial number appeared to have been reapplied by hand. He also claimed his rifle originally had a front sight mounted to it which was missing on the returned barrel.
In August 2014, Svensk Jakt wrote that another Swede, Tony Kristoffersson, had experienced an explosion with his R93 while on a Beaver hunt the same year. He described that his rifle had made a clicking sound as if it had failed to fire, but exploded when he tried to pull the bolt back, which resulted in the bolt hitting his hand.
[25] The Swedish Blaser distributor later stated that while it is possible to pull the trigger without the bolt being fully locked into battery, the firing pin is designed such that it will not hit the primer with sufficient force to ignite the cartridge.
. It was on long range hunting I believe. Is any truth on this? Are they reliable?
