Blaser

[Mojave]

Out of curiously, does anyone know where to source something like one of the following for the R8 with DBM -
1. KRG W-3 / Bravo
2. Manners T2A / CS-2 / LRH (etc.)
3. McMillan A3 / U10

Blaser has always been cool, but I’m just in a place where I will not own/buy a gun that doesn’t at least give the option to mount a stock I actually like. Many of the features are “lost” on my heathen soul ;-).

Receiver geometry of an r8 requires a stock designed for it. There are links earlier in this post. Several stock makers $500-2500

 

[DJL2]

Receiver geometry of an r8 requires a stock designed for it. There are links earlier in this post. Several stock makers $500-2500

I did peruse the links you posted. It seems like most folks are just doing their spin on the OEM offering... perhaps that's an over simplification, but that was my "hot take." I strongly dislike the OEM stock design - not a knock on Blaser so much as a near universal critique. I suppose this would end up being a custom project if I wanted to go that route.

 

[Mojave]

Finding a non-sporter stock is a challenge. There are a few chassis.

 

[Mojave]

The newest R8 with a magazine might be for you. They haven't hit American shores yet.

 

[DuckDogDr]

My gunsmith buddy had one to work on… not sure if it was abused before hand or what the deal was with it… but that first impression is not a pony that would be in my stable or even in the pasture….especially for what they ask for them things

 

[Mojave]

My gunsmith buddy had one to work on… not sure if it was abused before hand or what the deal was with it… but that first impression is not a pony that would be in my stable or even in the pasture….especially for what they ask for them things

Gunsmiths generally do not like blasers because they either do not understand how they work or they don’t like the fact they virtually run without a gunsmith and all of the aspects of the rifle can be changed without a gunsmith

 

[Southern Lights]

I read one gunsmith saying he had to bed every Blaser he's seen to get them to shoot accurately. I felt like opening up a home for abused Blasers and adopt out every one the guy touched because he didn't know what he was doing.

If you like tinkering with guns, the Blaser is not for you. They just work. Their biggest pitfall is you can get into the calibre swapping game. You need to be sure if you are traveling you have the right barrel, bolt head and mag insert if you are swapping things around. You'd be upset if you had a standard barrel but left your .223 bolt head installed. Other than that, they require no tinkering to be accurate and reliable so they are natural gunsmith repellents.

 

[DJL2]

That’s the appeal! Strikes me as absurd that someone would attempt to bed a Blaser… that’s not how the system is designed to work. Traditional stock, provided the smith doesn’t botch it? Sure.

I’ve had nothing but bad to mediocre experiences with bedding… well, save one. I’ve bedded s couple rifles myself. Ugly as sin, didn’t really do much for the gun (didn’t hurt at least). Paid a smith once, looked good… until I shot it and it started breaking apart. The bedding ruined that rifle’s precision… proven empirically when I hogged/ground out the bedding and replaced it with a mini-chassis.

I love my Delta-51 - looks great, shoots great… but, faced with the prospect of buying multiples of that rifle or something like an AI and/or a Blaser, especially with Mike talking retirement… well… I’m gonna spend some time thinking about how to sort this Blaser business out to my satisfaction.

 

[Mojave]

I have had them down to pieces and I don't know what you would bed without screwing up in the interface between the shank of the barrel and the "receiver". I would think this would tilt the barrel shank out of alignment slightly with the bolt.

Since coming back from Germany in the Spring of 2019, I have gone on an epic build and Blaser run.

Built 5 American Rifle Company Nucleus actions, and 1 Bighorn TL3. They all shot, they were all amazing actions and they all took an absolute butt ton of work. Stocks that need a skosh more bedding/inletting and so on. Everything had to be done by a major tool operation, or sent out to someone with a lathe. Even with my own action wrench and gauges, it took a lot of work to

I have two custom R8 stocks and a regular professional. Other than the weight, the leave zero to be desired over anything other than a chassis rifle.

I need to get my barrels threaded, but beyond that I am living the life.

 

[the hack]

Newish hunter here so I'm no far down the rabbit hole of guns. Where can I buy an R8 stateside for the "best" price? Or is this a fool's errand and I have to pay what I pay? Thanks in advance!

 

[BjornF16]

Newish hunter here so I'm no far down the rabbit hole of guns. Where can I buy an R8 stateside for the "best" price? Or is this a fool's errand and I have to pay what I pay? Thanks in advance!

Are you a veteran? If so, then Guidefitter and EuroOptic can be best prices.

There are a couple of R8s for sale here in Rokslide classifieds…you can buy with confidence from @Mojave

Sold - Pair of Blaser R8 stocks

I have two of these, they are posted elsewhere. R8 Professional S this has some use, but would suit most new buyers. No real marks on it. $1600 plus you pay shipping. Inletted for a 17mm standard stock. This is an R8-S not a R93, R8-S's don't have a removable magazine trigger group. You...

www.rokslide.com

If I didn’t already have one, I’d jump on that Jaeger with carbon furniture…

His R8-S is a bargain. The -S doesn’t have the removable trigger group; you load from the top of the action.

If you buy either of Mojave’s stocks, you would need to add barrel, bolt and bolt housing.

 

[Mojave]

Thanks!

 

[the hack]

Thanks a ton for the help!

 

[sdogn8]

Something about a walnut stock blaster r8 gets me excited. They’re pretty guns. Definitely on the list to own one day.

 

[D16er]

Standard barrels are extremely accurate. Match barrels are heavier and fluted…it’s a contour thing not an accuracy thing.

Im no reloader so I wont be able to work up loads but how do the Blaser standard barrels fare with factory loads?

In comparison to lets say a blueprinted/trued Rem 700 action with a good barrel?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Southern Lights]

Im no reloader so I wont be able to work up loads but how do the Blaser standard barrels fare with factory loads?

In comparison to lets say a blueprinted/trued Rem 700 action with a good barrel?

Thanks in advance.

With Hornady Superperformance and Extreme Hunter loads my barrels are 0.5MOA or better. In my .270 the 130gr. SST load is dynamite. Accurate and puts down animals like lightning. This is a standard weight barrel. I do varmint hunts out to 800m with this rifle and it's accurate.

I just got a match grade 6.5x55 barrel and accuracy is similarly good with my handloads. I have not tried much factory in it yet. The main difference is it takes more to heat up and mirage the scope. But otherwise I find every Blaser barrel I've shot to be excellent.

IMO, Blasers wreck every blueprinted 700 I've come across. The entire package is designed from the ground up to maintain accuracy even when completely disassembled and reassembled in the field. They always return to zero and I completely trust the system to not be the reason why I miss a shot.

Besides accuracy, they are at least 4" shorter than comparable hunting rifles making them easier to maneuver/carry in the field. Finally, the safety is a decocker so they are one of the few rifles you can carry with a round in the chamber and know it is completely and totally safe. You can tumble down a hill with it and since it is not cocked there is no way it can fire. I find this great when I'm stalking and expecting to jump something. I can have a round ready to go and know it's totally safe and won't have accidental discharge like a traditional safety could that keeps the rifle cocked.

 

[D16er]

With Hornady Superperformance and Extreme Hunter loads my barrels are 0.5MOA or better. In my .270 the 130gr. SST load is dynamite. Accurate and puts down animals like lightning. This is a standard weight barrel. I do varmint hunts out to 800m with this rifle and it's accurate.

I just got a match grade 6.5x55 barrel and accuracy is similarly good with my handloads. I have not tried much factory in it yet. The main difference is it takes more to heat up and mirage the scope. But otherwise I find every Blaser barrel I've shot to be excellent.

IMO, Blasers wreck every blueprinted 700 I've come across. The entire package is designed from the ground up to maintain accuracy even when completely disassembled and reassembled in the field. They always return to zero and I completely trust the system to not be the reason why I miss a shot.

Besides accuracy, they are at least 4" shorter than comparable hunting rifles making them easier to maneuver/carry in the field. Finally, the safety is a decocker so they are one of the few rifles you can carry with a round in the chamber and know it is completely and totally safe. You can tumble down a hill with it and since it is not cocked there is no way it can fire. I find this great when I'm stalking and expecting to jump something. I can have a round ready to go and know it's totally safe and won't have accidental discharge like a traditional safety could that keeps the rifle cocked.

Thanks for the response, one thing I kept reading on custom rifle websites was the .50 moa guarantee @ 100 yds from factory loads. I want a “nice” rifle primarily for hunting but I do plan on shooting a lot with it and would like something fairly accurate, espcially when these rifles are north of 4k. The primary function that sold me on the Blasers is the ability to “rebarrel/change calibers” without a gunsmith, but not at the expense of accuracy.

In your experience how do you compare it to a Copper Rifle? Forgive my ignorance if this is an apples to oranges comparison.

 

[Southern Lights]

Thanks for the response, one thing I kept reading on custom rifle websites was the .50 moa guarantee @ 100 yds from factory loads. I want a “nice” rifle primarily for hunting but I do plan on shooting a lot with it and would like something fairly accurate, espcially when these rifles are north of 4k. The primary function that sold me on the Blasers is the ability to “rebarrel/change calibers” without a gunsmith, but not at the expense of accuracy.

In your experience how do you compare it to a Copper Rifle? Forgive my ignorance if this is an apples to oranges comparison.

I don't know anything about them.

Just understand that the 700 action was designed to be cheap to produce. The Blaser rifle was designed to be an extremely accurate switch caliber system with a very fast straight pull action. So they are quite a bit different in design goals.

The 700 advantage is that parts are very widely available and any competent gunsmith can make you a barrel. With Blaser you need to use their barrels and never requires a gunsmith. However I think Blaser barrels are at least as good, if not better, than custom barrels I've used. They are accurate and the steel is very good so they have excellent barrel life.

If you like tinkering with rifles, the 700 is a better choice. If you just want something accurate and reliable and are OK with not being able to customize/tinker then the Blaser is a better choice. In fact, I recommend you never take a Blaser into a gunsmith to do any kind of work unless they are Blaser affiliated. They can only create misery for you. But with that said, my Blaser has fired a lot of rounds and my mate's have fired countless thousands of rounds as well, and we've all never had any issues with them. They just work, are accurate, and always return to zero.

 

[D16er]

I don't know anything about them.

Just understand that the 700 action was designed to be cheap to produce. The Blaser rifle was designed to be an extremely accurate switch caliber system with a very fast straight pull action. So they are quite a bit different in design goals.

The 700 advantage is that parts are very widely available and any competent gunsmith can make you a barrel. With Blaser you need to use their barrels and never requires a gunsmith. However I think Blaser barrels are at least as good, if not better, than custom barrels I've used. They are accurate and the steel is very good so they have excellent barrel life.

If you like tinkering with rifles, the 700 is a better choice. If you just want something accurate and reliable and are OK with not being able to customize/tinker then the Blaser is a better choice. In fact, I recommend you never take a Blaser into a gunsmith to do any kind of work unless they are Blaser affiliated. They can only create misery for you. But with that said, my Blaser has fired a lot of rounds and my mate's have fired countless thousands of rounds as well, and we've all never had any issues with them. They just work, are accurate, and always return to zero.

Thank you for the information, definitely helps in making the right selection for me.

 

[fwafwow]

Just put down some money on a k95 and plan on hunting the heck out of it so I’ll tell you after this year what I think!

I sure wish someone made an all carbon fiber stock for these. Would make for an awesome all weather backpacking rifle

@left hunter - how has the K95 worked for you?

I managed to forget about Blasers and this thread and have in the interim purchased a Tikka and Sako and I’m thinking of unloading two Coopers. Now I just re-read this entire thread. And I can’t help but think about going from 2 Coopers, a Tikka and a Sako to one day owning just one Blaser with 2 barrels.

Has the exchange rate changed to make the Blaser less expensive in the US?