More German genius impressed Daniel O’Dea
The Germans are renowned for their engineering expertise and if it’s a premium product there’s a good chance it’s made there. Names like Porsche, Mecedes, BMW and Audi in automotive, Zeiss and Leica in optics and companies such as Siemens, Bosch and Miele are all leaders in their fields for innovation, technology and design.
Likewise Blaser falls into this category. Founded in 1957 by Horst Blaser, the firm quickly developed a reputation for building high-quality hunting rifles and shotguns, specialising in the quintessentially European multi-barrel ‘drilling’ designs. This is where you may have two shotgun barrels over a centrefire rifle barrel, or even a shotgun barrel stacked with two centrefire rifle barrels of different calibres. Their Model DB14 for instance might incorporate a 20-gauge shotgun alongside both a .308 Winchester and .222 Remington rifle barrel, all combined in the one firearm.
In 1993 Blaser hit the European market with an all-new straight-pull design in the R93. This new rifle offered a unique and speedy straight-pull bolt cycle combined with an efficiently simple barrel change system, a package offering swift follow-up shots, accuracy and flexibility of calibre change in the field. The rifle proved highly popular with more than 200,000 built during its 23 years of production. Blaser’s most recent straight-pull rifle is the R8 and that’s the one we’re looking at here.
In the Blaser R8, instead of just a single rifle we have a modular system, one which seemingly offers unmatched flexibility and innovative design. Built around a solid metal billet receiver, barrels mate perfectly via two pillars which bolt and bed perfectly, providing a completely free-floating barrel for an inherently accurate and harmonious connection. Barrel swaps can be achieved by simply loosening the two bolts with the tool provided, remove and replace.
Rather than an action or receiver ring as such where bolt lugs lock in and the barrel threads into, Blaser barrels are hammer forged to include the chamber to which the proprietary radial bolt head locks in directly. This isn’t via two or three bolt lugs as in a conventional bolt-action rifle, rather by 14 points of radial connection for exceptionally strong lock-up.
In something unique to my experience, the detectable magazine housing actually includes the trigger pack. The whole assembly is an amalgamation of metal and polymer which not only incorporates the trigger pack but a removable polymer cartridge that’s interchangeable dependent on calibre choice.
Bolt assembly is another example of precision machining and intricate small parts coming together to somehow combine complexity with simplicity. Your fingernail is ample to operate a latch which raises a small spring-loaded lever to remove the bolt head, as required for calibre changes (calibre dependent). In fact simplicity through complexity pretty much sums-up this rifle, a complex machine which ends up very user-friendly. German indeed.
Distributor Outdoor Sporting Agencies provide an R8 in the Blaser Professional Success model featuring a thumbhole stock, along with a Blaser B2 2.5-15x56iC riflescope in Blaser Saddle Mount. That’s right, a Blaser riflescope. In order to provide quality hunting optics to perfectly complement their range of rifles, in 2013 the company acquired Minox (of Lecia, Minox) – the famous German camera manufacturer who themselves have been making quality optics since 1945 – thus forming Blaser Optics.
Equally Germanic the scope features a 30mm main tube machined from a solid metal blank, making for a relatively compact but hefty unit made to withstand the heaviest recoil. Proprietary multi-layered lens coatings produce brightness and clarity arguably equal to the best European premium optics. Large turret towers left and top allow for elevation and windage adjustment at 1cm per click at 100m, while a right tower provides parallax adjustment from 50m to infinity and also contains adjustment for the illuminated A4-style reticle. A screw-off cap at the end of this third turret also houses a single CR2023 battery.
The scope features Blaser’s iC or ‘illumination Control’. It took me a little while to work it out, but this clever tech means once synced with your R8 rifle, illumination will turn on and off automatically as the rifle bolt is cocked and decocked, more of which later.
The saddle mount is yet another example of supreme German engineering, where two small circular posts on the mount mate perfectly with corresponding notches on the R8’s barrel. These clamp in place via two small thumb levers which fold inwards, out of the way, once locked in position. The mount can be removed and replaced at will without loss of zero and carries a 10-year guarantee.
In the field or at the range the Blaser R8 Professional Success demonstrates a lot of built-in active safety features, at the heart of them the oversized thumb safety to the rear of the bolt. Unlike most bolt-actions where the safety catch effectively blocks a spring-tensioned firing pin from moving forward and/or trigger backwards, in this one activating the thumb safety effectively decocks the bolt by removing tension from the firing pin spring.
Pressing the thumb safety forward cocks the bolt and reward decocks it. The whole system is reminiscent of any hammer-fired gun be it lever-action rifle, hammer-fired shotgun or handgun, where it can be carried hammer-down for safety and brought to action by cocking the hammer. As mentioned earlier, if fitted with a Blaser-compatible iC scope this action also turns illumination on and off.
Adding to the safety systems, removing the magazine automatically de-cocks the bolt, activating the thumb safety hence removing the magazine. This of course includes the trigger pack which, by default, renders the rifle incapable of firing. Likewise, with the safety activated the bolt is also locked closed, preventing accidental opening if moving through heavy brush.
Initially I found the whole idea of the trigger housing detaching with the magazine somewhat disconcerting – what happens it fell out and was lost on a hunt? Yet Blaser have thought of that too in their design, as the magazine release incorporates not one catch but two, one either side of the assembly which must be depressed in unison to release the pack.
If you’re still concerned about this unlikely scenario, a small catch at the bottom of the magazine well, accessible by finger with the action open allows you to lock the assembly, overriding the magazine release catches and leaving it locked in place. The only downside is while single rounds can be easily loaded directly into the chamber, I founded topping-up the magazine while in the rifle isn’t a simple task. In short, you’d want the job done with rounds onboard at the start of any engagement.
The rifle supplied was chambered in .30-06 Springfield, father of the now more popular .308 Winchester and still a fan favourite with many a deer hunter, myself included. Range testing was limited by a shortish supply of Hornady American Whitetail ammo in the 150gr loading, which I augmented with 180gr Remington Core-Lokt and 150gr Federal Power Shok factory loads. Accuracy was highly acceptable with most groups falling within the 1-1.5 MOA range, ironically my best being the first one from a cold bore with Hornady which measured just under an inch. Perhaps I should have stopped there.
Sadly with ammo and components costing what they do, gone are the days of running through half a dozen packs of different factory rounds or working up tailored handloads for a rifle you’ll be sending back to the distributor next week. Regardless, accuracy displayed was more than acceptable for a hunting rifle in .30-06 and I’ve no doubt even better would be achieved once run-in and with the right ammo.
Trigger pull was delightfully light yet totally predictable. With a trigger weight below 2lb, averaging just 1lb 14oz on my Lyman gauge, you might think it too light for field use. Yet never did I feel unnecessarily surprised with the release coming precisely when called for, very crisp with zero creep and I’d rate it with some of the best trigger pulls I’ve ever encountered.
Off the bench and into the field the R8 proved deadly when I stalked in on a couple of sows turning over sods where I’d had a dozer pushing blackberry. Hugging a tree line to within about 80m, the first dropped instantly to a bullet between the shoulder and ear. The second screamed up the hill through berry and brush only to be tagged as it passed into a small clearing, the speed of the straight-pull action providing a rapid reload for a finisher before it made it to the other side.
The gun’s balance and great optic made tracking through the shadows a breeze, especially when aided by the automatic activation of the illuminated centre dot on the reticle, which lit up perfectly against the black hide of the sow. A perfect rifle/scope pairing for the circumstances.
The Blaser R8 Professional Success is a premium rifle offering a host of great features and technology. As a modular firearm there are many options with respect to stock and action finishes, barrel and calibre choices etc. Customisation is really a specialty with Blaser, though of course premium products come at a premium price with the package as tested retailing for more than $10,000.
Blaser proffer a good option for those who might choose quality over quantity. With a rifle set up with a couple of additional barrels potentially replacing a safe full of guns as well as a good option for the travelling hunter, where it can be broken down into a case and re-assembled without loss of zero. More at www.osaaustralia.com.au and a shout-out to Horsley Park Gun Shop www.horsleyparkgunshop.com.au who assisted with logistical supply.