I've got a synthetic thumbhole R8. Very reliable and accurate. Good to go straight out of the box, no need to polish or run-in anything. I found the quality of standard sights to be crap and had them changed for "HIVIZ" ones (highly recommend it to anyone wanting to actually use the irons). You can order your rifle with the HIVIS ones mounted directly at the factory. Trigger is pretty good with no creep and consistent braking. Some people fear losing the trigger/magazine group - it is hard to justify it and if you really feel paranoid about it you can lock the ejection of the magazine group. It takes about 30seconds and then the magazine cannot be removed or fall out. It is fairly pointless but possible nevertheless. The benefit of that system is a reduced overall length of the gun. R8 is about 10cm – 4inches shorter than magnum CZ550 for the same barrel length. In my experience, it is very easy to learn to operate straight bolt – the operation is such that you do lift the handle somewhat to unlock it and the rearward movement comes quite naturally. It is very quick indeed. It’s crucial that you close the bolt fully or your gun may not fire. If the bolt is not fully closed and you squeeze the trigger the firing pin will first drive the bolt fully locked (for safety reasons) and only then connect with the primer. If you have a very soft primer it may ignite it though usually you get a click and a mild impression on the primer. The operation is safe as the primer is only touched once the mechanism is fully locked but a click in place of a bang is obviously most undesirable. Similarly, if you don’t full length size your cases when reloading you ought to drive that bolt home with some authority to ensure it is properly closed. I’m not talking about hammering the thing closed just firm operation, with properly sized/factory ammo it is butter smooth. Safety wise the action is certainly stronger than typical bolt design as you get 360 degrees lock up instead of a more limited one with just a few lugs. Should a case rupture the gases are directed sideways thought ports in the barrel. It would take tremendous amount of force to drive the bolt backwards and should this happen in any gun with bolt in the barrel lock up results will be similar – most unpleasant and quite unpredictable. With bolt lockup in the action instead of the barrel one can theoretically hope that the barrel will fly downrange instead of the bolt flying backwards but it is an unpredictable business. Some people seem to believe that the cut out in tradition bolt action stock will hold the bolt in place should the lockup break but I fail to see how a thin piece of wood can hold what solid steel lugs could not. Supposedly the R8 mechanism was tested to 120,000psi without failure. A comment on the scope mounts – yes they are very repeatable but may or may not fit other barrels without adjustment. My ones can be swapped between 223 and 308 barrels but in order to mount them on 375 they need to be adjusted slightly (quarter turn with a screwdriver) – information for those wanting to use one scope for more than one barrel. Overall all I like the gun a lot and have shot rabbits, buffalo and everything in between with it.
, but can later go towards accessories
