Mojave
WKR
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2019
- Messages
- 2,204
It has been fashionable by people who don't really get it to hate on them since 1993. When the original R93 came out.
To me the biggest factors that I like about it:
1. Trigger, as much as I prefer two stage triggers, this is one of the best single stage triggers made.
2. Magazines are sized to the actual group of cartridges, instead of adjusting feed lips and hoping.
3. Decocker, the single greatest part of the rifle.
4. Great quality hammer forged barrels. That are then hardened to the point that are very hard to wear out in a normal hunting scenario.
5. Stocks are stiff, even if they are made of plastic. They are like Glock frames.
6. Scope mounts directly to the barrel, allowing for a incredible reliability, not seen in any other system.
7. Over 50 different cartridges are chambered in the rifle from 17 HMR to 500 Jefferies.
8. As the R8 (and R93) sit in an aluminum chassis, allowing for the action and stock to never touch, and the barrel to remain free floated, there is great repeatability in the system and great ease in upgrading to aftermarket stocks.
9. There are also aftermarket scope mounts, so you don't need to buy Blaser's $450 scope mount.
Things I am not in love with:
1. No single barrel maker has been able to consistently produce a product equal to what Blaser does. And some of them have been dangerous. Where spare barrels of a non-Blaser manufacture of any serious quality are available.
2. Wish there was a two stage trigger.
3. It isn't light.
4. Blaser charges $400 or more for every stupid option. You want a fully adjustable ultimate stock it is a $1000 upgrade. A 21mm match or 19mm semi-weight barrel is a $500 option. Fluted is another $500. Threaded is another $400. For another $400 with most companies you can get a carbon fiber barrel.
Things I know other people hate that don't bother me about the system:
1. The cost, as a non-Doctor/Lawyer type the $4500 outlay for a rifle or $1350 outlay for a barrel sucks. I wish they were $500, but if you compare a barrel change on a Savage 110 to that of an R8/R93 in time alone I can understand the price upgrade. I can do a R8 from 6.5x55 to 338 Blaser in about 2-3 minutes. Including mounting another scope, the barrel, and changing the magazine. This leaves me with a new caliber that if previously sighted in is ready to hunt in 2-3 minutes.
Takes me about 2-3 minutes just to get a factory Savage barrel set up in the vice to get to wrenching on it. Then it is not sighted in, and I still have to set the rifle up, scope, screw everything back together, torque it down and then mount a scope. The modularity of the Blaser kicks the shit out of a regular rifle.
The rifle isn't for everyone. A lot of the added features are lost on most happy nimrods. Even in Germany where it is one of the most popular rifles with something like a 30% share of the market, 70% of all German hunters don't like or don't want one. In Scandanavia the Sauer 404 is almost as popular.
Blaser is also a everything brand. They sell backpacks, bipods, hunting clothing, scopes, binoculars, gun cases and a few other items.
Rarely in my 3 years of going to drive hunts in Germany did I ever see someone totally kitted out with Blaser head to toe. I have seen hundreds of American hunters bathed in Kuiu, Sitka, First Lite, Browning, and other brands.
The Blaser company owns JP Sauer, Leimke Night Vision, Minox Optik, Mauser and Rigby. Most of these optical and firearms are built in their factories in Germany.
I currently own 3 stocks and 3 barrels. If I had another two, bolt housing groups I'd have 3 complete rifles. They are the only rifles other than a 22LR that I own. I have been down this road with the Blaser company many times, I personally like them a lot.
I was on a hunt years ago where a hunter I didn't know, shot another hunter I didn't know through the collar bone and he survived. He thought the rifle was empty and there was some really stupid gunmanship that resulted in someone almost dying. With the Blaser stupid gunsmanship is a much harder thing to do. As you can decock the rifle. I usually carry it without a round in the chamber decocked.
The only other rifle I know of that you can decock is the Sauer 404. You could also decock the Mauser m03 but it isn't in production anymore.
To me the biggest factors that I like about it:
1. Trigger, as much as I prefer two stage triggers, this is one of the best single stage triggers made.
2. Magazines are sized to the actual group of cartridges, instead of adjusting feed lips and hoping.
3. Decocker, the single greatest part of the rifle.
4. Great quality hammer forged barrels. That are then hardened to the point that are very hard to wear out in a normal hunting scenario.
5. Stocks are stiff, even if they are made of plastic. They are like Glock frames.
6. Scope mounts directly to the barrel, allowing for a incredible reliability, not seen in any other system.
7. Over 50 different cartridges are chambered in the rifle from 17 HMR to 500 Jefferies.
8. As the R8 (and R93) sit in an aluminum chassis, allowing for the action and stock to never touch, and the barrel to remain free floated, there is great repeatability in the system and great ease in upgrading to aftermarket stocks.
9. There are also aftermarket scope mounts, so you don't need to buy Blaser's $450 scope mount.
Things I am not in love with:
1. No single barrel maker has been able to consistently produce a product equal to what Blaser does. And some of them have been dangerous. Where spare barrels of a non-Blaser manufacture of any serious quality are available.
2. Wish there was a two stage trigger.
3. It isn't light.
4. Blaser charges $400 or more for every stupid option. You want a fully adjustable ultimate stock it is a $1000 upgrade. A 21mm match or 19mm semi-weight barrel is a $500 option. Fluted is another $500. Threaded is another $400. For another $400 with most companies you can get a carbon fiber barrel.
Things I know other people hate that don't bother me about the system:
1. The cost, as a non-Doctor/Lawyer type the $4500 outlay for a rifle or $1350 outlay for a barrel sucks. I wish they were $500, but if you compare a barrel change on a Savage 110 to that of an R8/R93 in time alone I can understand the price upgrade. I can do a R8 from 6.5x55 to 338 Blaser in about 2-3 minutes. Including mounting another scope, the barrel, and changing the magazine. This leaves me with a new caliber that if previously sighted in is ready to hunt in 2-3 minutes.
Takes me about 2-3 minutes just to get a factory Savage barrel set up in the vice to get to wrenching on it. Then it is not sighted in, and I still have to set the rifle up, scope, screw everything back together, torque it down and then mount a scope. The modularity of the Blaser kicks the shit out of a regular rifle.
The rifle isn't for everyone. A lot of the added features are lost on most happy nimrods. Even in Germany where it is one of the most popular rifles with something like a 30% share of the market, 70% of all German hunters don't like or don't want one. In Scandanavia the Sauer 404 is almost as popular.
Blaser is also a everything brand. They sell backpacks, bipods, hunting clothing, scopes, binoculars, gun cases and a few other items.
Rarely in my 3 years of going to drive hunts in Germany did I ever see someone totally kitted out with Blaser head to toe. I have seen hundreds of American hunters bathed in Kuiu, Sitka, First Lite, Browning, and other brands.
The Blaser company owns JP Sauer, Leimke Night Vision, Minox Optik, Mauser and Rigby. Most of these optical and firearms are built in their factories in Germany.
I currently own 3 stocks and 3 barrels. If I had another two, bolt housing groups I'd have 3 complete rifles. They are the only rifles other than a 22LR that I own. I have been down this road with the Blaser company many times, I personally like them a lot.
I was on a hunt years ago where a hunter I didn't know, shot another hunter I didn't know through the collar bone and he survived. He thought the rifle was empty and there was some really stupid gunmanship that resulted in someone almost dying. With the Blaser stupid gunsmanship is a much harder thing to do. As you can decock the rifle. I usually carry it without a round in the chamber decocked.
The only other rifle I know of that you can decock is the Sauer 404. You could also decock the Mauser m03 but it isn't in production anymore.
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