Thinking about taking the plunge and buying a Blaser R8. I know how terrific rifle they are but my question is scope repeatability with different barrels. If I have a scope mounted with a Blaser quick detach mount that is zeroed and switch to a different barrel will that barrel also be zeroed? Example if I have a 300 win mag zeroed at 200 yards and switch to 375 will the 375 be zeroed? This is a big deal as could save thousands on a multiple barrel set up.
If your intent
jimbo is to take only one barrel on each safari e.g. PG safari with .300 this year and DG safari with the .375 next year, then you can stop reading right here: one scope / one mount is fine,
assuming you are wise enough NOT to buy an astronomical scope that would be useless and actually dangerous on a DG hunt. You will just resight when training for the upcoming safari.
On the other hand, if your intent
jimbo is to take both barrels on the same safari, you will need to be able to swap the scope from one to the other at night in camp
(you could also conceivably swap it during the day hunt in the truck, but I recommend against it: too many opportunities for Murphy to invite himself to the party...), and the following will apply.
One thing you need to consider as well. The scope mounts have to be adjusted to fit each individual barrel. So you can’t simply move your scope from barrel to barrel, without having to adjust the scope mount itself. You could possibly get lucky and have two barrels that would work with the same mount tension, but that’s very unlikely.
I have seen Blaser scoped mounts able to mount on a couple of barrels without adjustment but quite often they don’t and expecting them to have and hold zero for two different barrels and calibers would be a bit much to expect. I don’t think any manufacturer would make such a claim.
I have 7 barrels and have not found that the scope mounts transfer between rifles very well. The tolerances, while very, very close, are not exact. Adjusting the mount will change the POI.
No adjustment to the mounts
They are blaser qd mounts
Just release and put on next barrel
Then adjust scope for diff caliber and done
Hey
@Tally-Ho HUNTING SAFARIS, Thanks for your input on this. I'm awaiting delivery on an R8 with 257 WB Mag (lighter plains game and whitetail, etc. at home), 375 H&H (heavier plains game), and 416 Rem Mag (buffalo) barrels. I bought 2 scopes. I'm thinking I can leave one scope on the 257 barrel, and "share" one scope between the 375 and the 416 barrels. Those calibers have pretty similar trajectories, so once I've checked out the zero for each, I'm hoping I can keep note of how many clicks to adjust the scope, dial it in, quick range check, and off we go. Do you think that plan will work?
Not questioning your lucky experience Stuart, but you are lucky
I have only Blaser factory barrels: .458 Lott; .375 H&H; .300 Wby; .257 Wby; .223 Rem; .22 LR, and my wife also has only Blaser factory barrels: 9.3x62; .270 Win; .222 Rem. We have only Blaser factory bases. My experience has been opposite to yours:
not one of our nine Blaser factory mounts will fit correctly on another Blaser factory barrel than the one for which the tightness of the base two back screws was adjusted.
This is actually one thing that has puzzled me from day one on the R8.
I absolutely DID expect the machining of the scope bases notches to be as precise and consistent as any other machining on the Blaser rifle, but they are not. I do not know why.
There could be explanations e.g. are they heat or cold treating the barrels after their machining? I do not know, but consistent they generally are not, and sometimes by far: in general the clamps are sometime just too tight, or just not tight enough, but between my .300 Wby barrel and my .257 Wby barrel, the base of one does not clamp on the other and conversely the base of the other is loose on the one even when clamped (I do not remember which is which).
Sure, randomly two barrels can certainly have exactly the same spacing between the two sets of right and left notches, and randomly such two barrels can certainly find their way to the same home, but it has not been the case for our 9 barrels.
Which means we have 9 bases and 9 scopes, and yes, I agree:
Just takes a really expensive set up to the extreme when you add $500+ per mount and $1500+ per scope per barrel
Based on Stuart's (Tally-Ho HUNTING SAFARIS) experience, which I do not doubt, you could be lucky,
jimbo, so you can try to buy the two barrels and start with only one scope base, and it may fit both barrels...
IF the one base fits perfectly two barrels (big IF in my own experience with 9 barrels) you will then be able to play the clicking game to move the scope from one barrel to the other, and I predict the following:
- There is not telling what your situation may be. Because there is only one scope for two calibers, you cannot use a BDC turret and you will be sighting at MPBR distance for each caliber. At random, the two barrels could shoot the same group at 100 yards, or they could a foot apart...
- The groups could be close enough - a few clicks - that you could mark the white lines etched on the turrets with a fine red permanent marker for one caliber and a blue or green one for the other caliber. It works! I have such marks on the elevation turrets of three .22 LR rifes to move the zero from 100 to 150 yards.
- Or, the groups could be far enough that you would need a half-or-more turn on the turrets, in which case the above tip of marking the white lines etched on the turrets does not work well because now you need to remember in which direction to turn the turrets. So, you will make "the card" that will remind you what to click when. It will work 100% in your house.
- By the time you forget or loose "the card" once at the range, you will print 10 of them and leave one in every hunting shirt and a few spares in the rifle case.
- By the time you clicked wrong and you now have no idea how to get back to zero, "the card" will serve no purpose.
- In the end, you will buy a second scope and mount, and this will be good for you because you will have a DG scope (1-4 or 1-6 x 26 straight tube) on the .375 pipe, and a PG scope (3-12 or 4-16 x 40+ bell objective) on the .300 pipe, each adapted to their barrel, and each adapted to what you hunt them with.
I am genuinely curious Stuart's (
Tally-Ho HUNTING SAFARIS), How do you deal with this? Are the two zeros close enough in your case that it is just a few clicks and you marked the turrets? Or are you swapping the scope seldom enough and for long a period enough that you just resight with a few shots?