R8 3 accidental discharges, human error or?

[Altitude sickness]

I just watched a young teen age girl shoot a Buffalo, croc and Leopard with an R8. She managed with the safety just fine. And no AD or ND’s :>)))

 

[TOBY458]

I just watched a young teen age girl shoot a Buffalo, croc and Leopard with an R8. She managed with the safety just fine. And no AD or ND’s :>)))

Yet some grown men complain about the difficulty.... lol!

 

[Tokoloshe Safaris]

I went to Safari outdoors yesterday to handle a R8 and see if i could make a F up they had the rifles but no bolt assemblies.

They young man that I spoke to said that they had heard of several instances of complaints from operators not owners.
They believe it comes from closing the bolt while finger on trigger. Again i do not know i still have not tried to duplicate with a unloaded gun. Again I say I have nothing against the system.

 

[sureshot375]

I just watched a young teen age girl shoot a Buffalo, croc and Leopard with an R8. She managed with the safety just fine. And no AD or ND’s :>)))

Well sure, but how much vodka was she drinking every day?

 

[R eight]

I went to Safari outdoors yesterday to handle a R8 and see if i could make a F up they had the rifles but no bolt assemblies.

They young man that I spoke to said that they had heard of several instances of complaints from operators not owners.
They believe it comes from closing the bolt while finger on trigger. Again i do not know i still have not tried to duplicate with a unloaded gun. Again I say I have nothing against the system.

I do not think that would be physically possible…I unless you’re using a left handed bolt whilst shooting right handed or vice versa.

I’ll pull an R8 out of the safe after brekkie and give it a try.

 

[R eight]

Well if you try hard enough it is possible to have the trigger finger on the trigger when you close the bolt with your dominant hand….but you have to make a special effort to do so. If you were using a bolt which was opposite to your dominant hand then easily done.

But, even if you did….will the rifle discharge ? I can’t say with certainty. But I doubt it. When I just tried this (with an unloaded rifle) it felt very similar to what you would expect to feel if you did the same to any turn bolt rifle.

I’ll try it with a live round when I’m next able to. But I’ll be surprised if she discharges.

As to the original post/question…. My guess is it is pure negligence on behalf of the operator.

 

[Dinsdale]

Well if you try hard enough it is possible to have the trigger finger on the trigger when you close the bolt with your dominant hand….but you have to make a special effort to do so. If you were using a bolt which was opposite to your dominant hand then easily done.

But, even if you did….will the rifle discharge ? I can’t say with certainty. But I doubt it. When I just tried this (with an unloaded rifle) it felt very similar to what you would expect to feel if you did the same to any turn bolt rifle.

I’ll try it with a live round when I’m next able to. But I’ll be surprised if she discharges.

As to the original post/question…. My guess is it is pure negligence on behalf of the operator.

I’m going to guess that he means finger on the trigger when you cock the gun, not close the bolt; since most of the discussion centered around that….

 

[R eight]

I’m going to guess that he means finger on the trigger when you cock the gun, not close the bolt; since most of the discussion centered around that….

I’ll try that now

 

[R eight]

I’ll try that now

 

[Dinsdale]

Curiosity got the best of me also; and I tried all 3 of my R 93’s, and even swapped around bolts a few times.

Same result.

Still think it was a goof up by the hunter fiddling around based on the difficulty of getting the rifle cocked in the blind.

 

[R eight]

Curiosity got the best of me also; and I tried all 3 of my R 93’s, and even swapped around bolts a few times.

Same result.

Still think it was a goof up by the hunter fiddling around based on the difficulty of getting the rifle cocked in the blind.

Yeah I agree. Funny thing about these Blasers is that every barstard has an opinion…..unfortunately very few are based on actual use.

 

[bowjijohn]

I just tried it too - on my 404 Jeff set up (as it is with that rig that I’m potentially most under pressure)

I couldn’t reproduce the ND that I thought I’d once done a few years ago

It is possible, of course, to ND if you touch the trigger whilst de cocking

But it doesn’t appear to be possible whilst cocking

It seems to me that you are no more likely to ND with a Blaser than a Mauser

… and the shooting world is filled with examples of NDs occurring with a 98 - especially when working the bolt rapidly

That is why FGASA makes such a big deal of operating the bolt with the palm of the hand rather than finger and thumb

 

[Tokoloshe Safaris]

Well if you try hard enough it is possible to have the trigger finger on the trigger when you close the bolt with your dominant hand….but you have to make a special effort to do so. If you were using a bolt which was opposite to your dominant hand then easily done.

But, even if you did….will the rifle discharge ? I can’t say with certainty. But I doubt it. When I just tried this (with an unloaded rifle) it felt very similar to what you would expect to feel if you did the same to any turn bolt rifle.

I’ll try it with a live round when I’m next able to. But I’ll be surprised if she discharges.

As to the original post/question…. My guess is it is pure negligence on behalf of the operator.

I believe it was operator error, I just wanted to know more about the R8 so we are better able to assist our hunter and keep everyone safe.

 

[Pondoro]

I am not a Blaser fan, do not like the consept, but blaming the R8 for AD is in my opinion is ridicilous.. Light triggers..? Keep your fingers away..

It basically, in my opinion, comes down to fumbling with fingers during operation..same issue as doubling a double rifle.. I own 5 double rifles..vintage brits and a Krieghoff .470..never had a double discharge...but I shot side by side shotguns a lot before buying my first double rifle..I guess that helped..

So I think the AD´s are caused by too little practise on unfamiliar weapon systems..

 

[Philip Glass]

I know that some of you out there think the R8 is the finest rifle ever built. I am not posting this to take anything away from what I assume is a fine rifle.

Here is the situation we recently experienced. We had a foreign hunter and language was a big problem. This story was relayed to me from the PH that we assigned to him.

The clients first AD took place in camp with our PH watching him from a distance. He seemed to be operating the cocking device when the rifle had the first AD. Yes, the rifle should never be loaded in camp, the PH watched him unload upon arriving in camp. At some time unknown to the PH he put one or more rounds into the magazine.
The other two took place at night while hyena hunting. Now the PH is watching him very closely, but being a night hunt, lighting was not perfect. A hyena appeared and the client tried to cock his rifle with his right hand thumb, he could not then he tried using his left hand thumb and as he did the rifle AD. This happened a second time under almost identical circumstances. Fortunately the client had now expended all of his ammunition and his hunting was finished. One last note. As I stated language was a problem, but after both night time ADs he stated, good professional trigger? What ever the hell that means?

I am in no way saying that the R-8 is unsafe, I would just like to better understand how this could have taken place. I have a suspicion what ever caused this was not a manufacturer fault.

Lon

This is nothing new and not unique to the R8. KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER UNTIL READY TO SHOOT!
He was not familiar with his rifle and had his finger on the trigger as he struggled to put the rifle on fire. This was user error and other PH’s have seen this before with European clients.

 

[Daggaboy375]

A R8 cocker/safety takes more force to engage than most of my rifles.

Poor trigger discipline makes the trigger a great location for novices to gain added leverage.

Do what R Eight did with most all other rifles and the rifle will fire.

DB

 

[Bert the Turtle]

I am not a Blaser fan, do not like the consept, but blaming the R8 for AD is in my opinion is ridicilous.. Light triggers..? Keep your fingers away..

Light trigger isn’t the issue. The issue is unmitigated dumbassery. Heavy trigger, light trigger, any trigger, doesn’t matter. Don’t touch the trigger until you intend to shoot something.

Booking an African safari requires means but not experience or competence. The only issue with the R8 is that it is an excellent, reliable, and modestly expensive rifle. It attracts people with means but doesn't discriminate either way regards experience or competence. That is not a fault of the rifle.

 

[Backyardsniper]

I owned an R8 for a brief time and I will give my observations on the "system" and why I didn't stick with it. As far as the safety issue, I really like the safety system. It is the same as my double rifle, and after carrying it in the bush when I switched back to my Sako during different parts of the hunt I actually found myself constantly paranoid that the safety might get bumped to the fire position due to all of the ducking, dodging, and brushing up against all the limbs, vines, and other vegetation while stalking. The cocking lever on the Krieghoff and R8 make me feel a lot better when stalking with a group where it is almost inevitable that you will to some degree or another inadvertently flag someone, and there is always such a high possibility of tripping with all the vines and such.
It is a great system with a fantastic trigger and excellent repeatability. The only safety issue that I found to be a possibility is I once had my ring finger smack the trigger while working the bolt really fast. It was during the transition from the bolt handle back to the pistol grip. The trigger guard is directly under the bolt handle and I had my hand open as I was coming back to the grip. This was simply a matter of the way I was used to working a bolt on a standard bolt action and was an issue with this particular set up, not really the system, just a case of my muscle memory not matching up with the way this action is designed. Luckily it was during a dry run while I was getting used to the straight pull bolt, that's what practice like that is for.
I had an issue where the rifle would kick itself on safe or "decock" after firing. Blaser was great to work with though, they sent me a new bolt in the mail right away and I mailed them back the old one, problem was solved.

In short I really like the rifle, it was just not my cup of tea. I do love the safety system and that has become one of my favorite parts of my K gun.