Question for those who have Blaser R8’s

[BeeMaa]

@bowjijohn - I'm with @TOBY458 on this. I owned the Professional Hunter steel receiver stock with 16 oz kickstop with a 416RM 22mm Selous barrel...bare rifle was over 10#. Way too heavy IMO for a 416.

I sold it for 2 reasons. First...wicked heavy. Second...for what I need, a lightweight 375H&H does the job quite well and is a pleasure to carry. Here is mine ready to hunt at just over 10#.

EDIT - I also have a 7# turkey shotgun that I shoot 3.5" 2 1/4 oz loads at 1200 fps, and it's at the limit of my tolerance for recoil. I imagine it's about comparable to a 416RM if it had weighed a few pounds less. Never shot them side by side, but the turkey gun is brutal during pattern testing.

 

[bowjijohn]

@bowjijohn - I'm with @TOBY458 on this. I owned the Professional Hunter steel receiver stock with 16 oz kickstop with a 416RM 22mm Selous barrel...bare rifle was over 10#. Way too heavy IMO for a 416.
View attachment 451135
I sold it for 2 reasons. First...wicked heavy. Second...for what I need, a lightweight 375H&H does the job quite well and is a pleasure to carry. Here is mine ready to hunt at just over 10#.
View attachment 451137

Then I shall take both of your advice and go for a semi weight fluted barrel

Probably around 23'' or 24'' of usable length

 

[BeeMaa]

Then I shall take both of your advice and go for a semi weight fluted barrel

Probably around 23'' or 24'' of usable length

One of the great things about the R8 is the magazine being on top of the trigger assembly, in essence making the rifle about 4" shorter than a traditional bolt action with all other things being equal. So you can have your 24 inch barrel and it handles like a 20"...have your cake and eat it too.

 

[bowjijohn]

24'' semi weight ordered

One thing that has come to light is that Blaser apparently no longer sells a UM bolt head, preferring to sell bolt heads for each of their magnum calibres.

I think we have found that a 300 RUM bolt, machined out by 3 thou will do the job

What ever the bolt head solution is, cleverer people than I are sorting this issue out!

I have flip flopped over this so many times, but I am now happy that I've chosen the right course of action.

Practice and drills will change of course, as all many of my drills have been based around the Mauser 98

I suspect several of my bolt actions will be shown the door in the future

Can't believe I have taken so long for the penny to drop - as I've had the Blaser R8 pro success for 5 years - enough time to understand just what I have as a superbly engineered and flexible platform

 

[bowjijohn]

Just as an update

The company who I have employed to build by 404 J custom barrel have sent me examples of their custom barrel work

Looks OK to me

 

[BeeMaa]

Just as an update

The company who I have employed to build by 404 J custom barrel have sent me examples of their custom barrel work

View attachment 452242

View attachment 452248

Looks OK to me

Looks good. But the proof is in the pudding…how does it shoot?

 

[bowjijohn]

Ha

I wont get mine for several months so I won't know for a while

Those who I have talked to, who have one or two of their barrels, are pleased with them though