SAFETY WARNING!

[Witold Krzyżanowski]

I am not engeener.

For me hunter - Mauser is simpler. In low temp., humid conditions operates more reliable - opinions also from professional hunters from Greenland.
Claw extractor - sometimes very important.
Bolt with small grooves looks vulnerable for sand and ice.
Locking system looks more reliable in Mauser - solid like a rock.
More than 100 y. tradition and some improvments. I and II War primary weapon.
German says - Mauser er idioten sicher - idiots proof.
In Blaser I see so many small parts.

I bought Blase because travel a lot and need something portable, popular.
Now I am sure that I will buy backup rifle from Brno, Ruger, Winchester.
Top quality Mauser actions are too expensive for traveling.

You see my foto - I shoot that musox after falling to salt water with my Brno 375 HH. Of course I check barrel. Next I hunt several days without any cleaning - superb, reliable stuff.

I agree with pmwojtek.
Witold

 

[Kano]

A Blaser straight pull is faster to reload, and you can have several calibers with one rifle.

Throw it at the back of a pickup, put some sand and mud in it, let it rust ever so slightly inside the action, and you'll call Mama Mauser very quick...

Open the action, look at these flimsy rails, and try to imagine in which shape the thing would be if you left it with the trackers for ten minutes...

If your life depends on something, you want it rock solid, as simple as possible, and reliable in whatever conditions it finds itself. That's why AK and Mauser reign supreme in their respective fields. They are not the fastest, they are not pretty, they are sloppy and full of large gaps, but they get the job done when others have jammed long ago...

 

[Witold Krzyżanowski]

I agre with Kano. Action Mauser m98 is just perfect.
Witold

 

[Wheels]

I'm not aware of any "bolt in the face" accident with the R8. .

I have read of instances of the problem but don't know anything about them. ie: possible hot charge, etc. This is photos from a five minute internet search. More info is out there if you want to do the research.

 

[robertq]

I have a Blaser R9
I purchase it in 08, I had a problem with the safety.When you would slide the safety up it would no stay you had to push it a few times before it stayed. The same process would happen when taking the safety off. I sent it back to blaser to be fixed.When speaking to a Blaser rep. he stated the proper way to use the pull back bolt was with a open hand and slam it.....
I look at all the photo and listen to all the opinions....
Let's look at how many people get injury's from the R93 and how many R93's made...
1) was the bolt pushed all the way ?
2) was there reloading involved ?
3) Do you think if all this is true, would you send you bolt back to Blaser for a check ?
4) human factor is also involved.
I think the Blaser is a fine rifle, but all of this has me thinking...... We need facts.....
There is another point I would like to make, remember the Remington 700 bolt action discharging when the safety was on what was the out come.
If I owned a Remington and had heard of this I would send it back for a check...
The point I'm making is when you send your gun back to the manufacture they will make all modification with out you knowing.

 

[Bruce Fletcher]

Don't hold your breath waiting for any reality based reason why a straight pull action is more advantageous than a Model 98 Mauser action, or reasonable copy of same (Brno ZKK / 602, CZ 550, Mod-70, etc.)

Straight pull bolt action is much quicker on the second shot. The only thing faster with the second shot is a double rifle.

 

[Velo Dog]

Straight pull bolt action is much quicker on the second shot. The only thing faster with the second shot is a double rifle.

Hi Bruce Fletcher,

Your definition of "much quicker" is evidently different than my definition of that term.

What I see as an almost imperceivable difference in time laps in delivering an .. accurate 2nd or 3rd etc., shot between the turn bolt and the straight pull is narrowed even further when discussing calibers with stout recoil.

Incidentally, I seem to be about as fast with my 11 pound .458 Lott Mauser as I am with my 9.9 pound Heym double in .458 Winchester, in terms of delivering an accurate second shot, due of course to plenty of recoil.

Personally, even if my perception of what seems like a very small fraction of a second is wrong, I would never risk my life, or even the sight in one eye for speed of re-chambering another round.

It is good that guys like you and I have our own ideas because that is part of what makes life interesting.

Kind regards,
Velo Dog.

 

[Big5]

Hi Bruce Fletcher,

Your definition of "much quicker" is evidently different than my definition of that term.

What I see as an almost imperceivable difference in time laps in delivering an .. accurate 2nd or 3rd etc., shot between the turn bolt and the straight pull is narrowed even further when discussing calibers with stout recoil.

Incidentally, I seem to be about as fast with my 11 pound .458 Lott Mauser as I am with my 9.9 pound Heym double in .458 Winchester, in terms of delivering an accurate second shot, due of course to plenty of recoil.

Personally, even if my perception of what seems like a very small fraction of a second is wrong, I would never risk my life, or even the sight in one eye for speed of re-chambering another round.

It is good that guys like you and I have our own ideas because that is part of what makes life interesting.

Kind regards,
Velo Dog.

+1 . . . To each his own, but I too will stick to a good ol' turn bolt action versus a straight pull bolt for the various reasons stated above. I won't gamble with my eyesight when I believe any real speed difference under practical field hunting conditions would be academic.

Either way, good hunting to you all.

 

[BG338]

BG338 - is there a website I can access to get more information on the incidents mentioned? You said you know the person who was injured by the blow back. Where and when it happened, who the victim was etc.

Hi bud - yes I do know them but like in most cases the information has not been realest to the public ! I suspect the person this happened to will take legal action and seek everything they are entitled to - for this failure of the Blaser Rifle - weather the information on the failure or the pics become public - I don't know - I hope they do but I can only imagine that Blaser will not want the pics and photos of the rifle or the ammo to hit the Internet !

I know nothing about the Blaser so am unaware of fundamental defects. The same kind of accident can happen with regular mauser actions as I unfortunately can attest to. Faulty headspacing may be a problem. The kind of headspace problems that can blow guns up and blow bolts back is excessive headspace. If headspace is excessive, the round will chamber easily--too easy. A "tight" round usually isn't a problem. With excessive head space the cartridge case may stretch to the rupture point, releasing deadly pressures into the chamber. The same kind of problem may occur when a slightly smaller cartridge is fired in a larger rifle. I've seen this twice. Both times a .270 Win round was fired in a 7 rem mag. One rifle, a Browning semi-automatic, was completely blown up.

Interestingly, "hot" handloads rarely blow up guns. At worst, the over-expanded cartridge case may stick in the chamber and the bolt may be impossible to operate. An underloaded cartridge case can be a real problem, however. Ordinarily the cartridge case behind the bullet is nearly full of powder i.e. the powder doesn't move much when the cartridge case is placed in different positions. If the cartridge case is significantly underloaded, however, the powder can move. When the cartridge is placed on the horizontal, as it will be when shooting a rifle, the powder distributes itself along the "bottom" of the cartridge case ["bottom" is that half of the cartridge case closest to the ground]. This leaves an airspace on the "top" of the powder. When the primer fires, the fire flashes over the entire upper surface of the powder, igniting almost all the powder instantaneously. The pressures increase enormously and the cartridge case may explode with very negative results.

I had a serious accident--with head injuries--from a Carcano 6.5 mm rifle. I was doing experiments on the Kennedy assassination and had purchased 5 Carcano rifles of Oswald-type to conduct my experiments. All went well using only one rifle. I probably fired 75 rounds through the rifle without problems. For reasons that escape me now, I decided to try another identical rifle. To complete my experiments, I wanted my bullet to exit the rifle going the same speed that it struck Kennedy's head at [if I can remember rightly] at 157 feet. Therefore, I pulled 5 old Carcano cartridges apart and decided that it might be best if I use new powder rather than the old--maybe 70 year old--powder that was in the original loaded cartridges. Of course, using a reloading manual, I downloaded in such a way that the bullet should leave the muzzle at maybe 1800 fps rather than the 2200 or so that the cartridge is rated at. Probably, although I can no longer remember it, the new powder was more modern and "hotter" than the original powder i.e. it took a smaller volume of powder to produce the same effect. Therefore my 5 reloaded cartridges were very much underloaded in terms of cartridge case volume.

I took the first shot with the 2nd Carcano and the rifle blew up. It was like getting hit in the face with a baseball bat. The stock split and the bolt blew halfway out of the rifle. Hot gas and metal frags were blown back in my face. The only thing that saved my right eye was the scope. It must have been blown back against my orbit protecting my eye from flying shell case and bullet fragments. A piece of metal, likely the primer, destroyed my right maxillary sinus. Anyway, I don't recommend it. There is no doubt the round was underloaded but there is a possibility that the 2nd rifle wasn't headspaced correctly. All of these rifles were very old war surplus and it is quite possible that bolts and rifles were mixed up. My fault.

I purchased a used, lever-action, model 99 Savage Rifle. I was firing store-bought ammo with 150 grain bullets. The rifle isn't terribly accurate but accurate enough for ranch deer shooting.....but....recently I noticed that the fired primers were just a little bit "blown". No other overpressure signs but the primers were pushed back just a little. This is the first time I've ever noticed this using a factory rifle with store-bought factory ammo. The rifle--probably from the day it came from the factory--has too much headspace. I'm presently trying to remedy this potentially dangerous situation but, if I can't fix it, I'll have to hang my beautiful rifle up as a decoration.

I have it on good source that the Australian Snipers Who use Blaser Rifles are having massive Problems with Head Spacing Issues ! And I believe the Australian SOG (Special Operations Group ) will also be moving away from these rifles due to the consern for there members safety after a member from the forensic department sore the spent brass from this rifle and reported back to the Vic police - I believe the vic police also sent a letter to Blaser recommending all these rifles be recalled for inspect due to the failure ! Has this happened ? I don't believe Blaser have action this that I know of !

 

[Scott Slough]

Straight pull bolt action is much quicker on the second shot. The only thing faster with the second shot is a double rifle.

The only thing faster is making the first shot count so you don't need a second shot!

 

[Pondoro]

I would not touch (use..) a R93 or R8 for that matter for all the tea in China..

A friend bought a R8 Kilombero in .375H&H (NOK 64.000,- )...my impression of it is clumsy, overly heavy and when working the bolt it sounds like moving around cheap chinese steel...

What IS it with this Blaser thing....like the emperors new clothing or what...??

 

[Velo Dog]

What IS it with this Blaser thing....like the emperors new clothing or what...??

Pondoro,

Yours is the most profound question I have seen in quite a long time.

Cheers,
Velo Dog.

 

[Kano]

What IS it with this Blaser thing....like the emperors new clothing or what...??

It's a bit like when one says that he doesn't like Glocks...

 

[Velo Dog]

It's a bit like when one says that he doesn't like Glocks...

Glocks do not put me off because they occasionally slam a steel bar into the shooter's face, such as are the reports on the latest straight pull rifles of today (the old Canadian Ross rifle did that sometimes as well).

Glocks put me off because they are very square or "block-like" and their triggers feel "mushy".

 

[Kano]

Velo, I meant that as soon as you criticize a Blaser or a Glock - for whatever reason - the aficionados react viscerally, and you can't hold a reasoned discussion... It's a bit like trying to make sense in a discussion about religion.

Fully agreed, Glocks don't send the slide flying back into your teeth!

 

[Velo Dog]

Velo, I meant that as soon as you criticize a Blaser or a Glock - for whatever reason - the aficionados react viscerally, and you can't hold a reasoned discussion... It's a bit like trying to make sense in a discussion about religion.

Fully agreed, Glocks don't send the slide flying back into your teeth!

I totally got that but it is difficult for a smartass like myself to pass up a cheap shot at any unwieldy handgun, with mushy trigger pull, much less any rifle known to sometimes slam a steel bar into the shooter's face.

 

[Velo Dog]

You are right about the visceral responses.
Kinda reminds me of when I was in the 5th grade, when I almost got beat up for saying I didn't like Beetle music.
I had to run like a rabbit toward the Teacher on the play ground, or face the consequences of my blasphemy.
I wasn't even being a smartass that time, I really did not care for their music, still don't care for it (or Glocks, or straight pull rifles, politicians, plastic stocks, mean women and I could go on all day -LOL).

 

[Kano]

I wasn't even being a smartass that time, I really did not care for their music, still don't care for it (or Glocks, or straight pull rifles, politicians, plastic stocks, mean women and I could go on all day -LOL).

Guess that pretty much rules out you voting for Hillary, does it?

 

[Panielsen]

Some Gunsmiths will say that Carcanos are best left unfired, in collections and displays.
And I will say that you're fortunate to not have been injured any worse than you were.

It's a shame Oswald's didn't bite him!

 

[Panielsen]

Glocks do not put me off because they occasionally slam a steel bar into the shooter's face, such as are the reports on the latest straight pull rifles of today (the old Canadian Ross rifle did that sometimes as well).

Glocks put me off because they are very square or "block-like" and their triggers feel "mushy".

Like shooting a stick of butter!