Blaser R8 for Dangerous Game

[wesheltonj]

The SAKO 100, will be switch barrel, but not straight pull. Scope mounts to the barrel. And come in wood and plastic. The only thing I don’t like about is the the riser cheek piece like a shotgun. Beretta’s call I am sure.

I really like Blaser, but I done like the European check design and prefer the English cheek design. Unfortunately, Blaser discontinued the Sporter model and only the Safari models have them now.

 

[Nhoro]

Sorry guys, blaser is the future of dangerous game. It is perfect in every way. Good luck with that, hope it works out for you.

 

[Nhoro]

Oh and can any of you explain to the good people of this forum how you can top up your magazine on an R8. The only way i found was a complicated angled slide, wiggle and push. Seems the magazine was never designed for such a thing as top loading the mag

 

[VertigoBE]

Sorry guys, blaser is the future of dangerous game. It is perfect in every way. Good luck with that, hope it works out for you.

I would not say that the R8 is the future of dangerous game rifles, but it is showing where hunting rifles are evolving to. More modularity, take-down without losing zero, straight-pull, multi-caliber. If they could integrate CRF as well as mag top up, it would be even further on the way.

If it weren't why would you think everyone is trying to copy it?

I see this a bit like stick shift versus automatic. At some point in the future all new cars will be automatics anyway. Doesn't mean that one must love them, I prefer a stick shift, but I can still recognize that all things considered, the automatic, if well executed, is the way forward.

No I do not own an R8, I have handled them, never really used one. I can still recognize the brilliance of the design while not being enthralled by them. My heart lies elsewhere. Which is why my first rifle was a Mauser M03, same switch barrel, same precision, etc . but more classic looking lines.

 

[Opposite Pole]

Oh and can any of you explain to the good people of this forum how you can top up your magazine on an R8. The only way i found was a complicated angled slide, wiggle and push. Seems the magazine was never designed for such a thing as top loading the mag

Keep in mind I'm doing this while holding the rifle between my legs and recording it with a phone held in my hand.

 

[BeeMaa]

Keep in mind I'm doing this while holding the rifle between my legs and recording it with a phone held in my hand.

I was hoping you would post that video again. Thanks.

 

[AES]

I would not say that the R8 is the future of dangerous game rifles, but it is showing where hunting rifles are evolving to. More modularity, take-down without losing zero, straight-pull, multi-caliber. If they could integrate CRF as well as mag top up, it would be even further on the way.

If it weren't why would you think everyone is trying to copy it?

I see this a bit like stick shift versus automatic. At some point in the future all new cars will be automatics anyway. Doesn't mean that one must love them, I prefer a stick shift, but I can still recognize that all things considered, the automatic, if well executed, is the way forward.

No I do not own an R8, I have handled them, never really used one. I can still recognize the brilliance of the design while not being enthralled by them. My heart lies elsewhere. Which is why my first rifle was a Mauser M03, same switch barrel, same precision, etc . but more classic looking lines.

Good input. The R8 is NOT the future of dangerous game hunting by virtue of being modular. That is a fact (which I would be happy to discuss, if helpful, but assume we all agree). The limitation is that you can only shoot one caliber from an R8 at a time, either way. When you have the 300 WM barrel affixed and are 3 hours into tracking a Kudu and your dream buff pops out, it is not helpful that you have that 458 barrel in your pack or back at the truck. The versatility is cool but does not eliminate the need for multiple calibers that can be quickly accessed (or a single large caliber which would obviate the need for modularity). Clearly you could just stay on a big barrel all of the time but, then, the versatility isn’t as much of a benefit. I have an R8 - and it is an exceptional rifle - but its utility is largely mitigated in Africa by virtue of the variety of game that one is hunting/may opportunistically encounter at any given time. Even in a day hunt v. Night critter hunt where the desired caliber is likely wildly different; the mags, bolt assembly etc has to be changed out (along with the barrel and optics) which mitigates any real cost benefit. I like it more for non-Africa hunting where the targeted bag is likely to be species of a more narrow size bracket and, if not, are likely tackled on different outings where a barrel switch could be facilitated. Just my opinion.

 

[Opposite Pole]

I was hoping you would post that video again. Thanks.

I wanted to post the other one but couldn’t find it so recorded a new one.

 

[TOBY458]

Good input. The R8 is NOT the future of dangerous game hunting by virtue of being modular. That is a fact (which I would be happy to discuss, if helpful, but assume we all agree). The limitation is that you can only shoot one caliber from an R8 at a time, either way. When you have the 300 WM barrel affixed and are 3 hours into tracking a Kudu and your dream buff pops out, it is not helpful that you have that 458 barrel in your pack or back at the truck. The versatility is cool but does not eliminate the need for multiple calibers that can be quickly accessed (or a single large caliber which would obviate the need for modularity). Clearly you could just stay on a big barrel all of the time but, then, the versatility isn’t as much of a benefit. I have an R8 - and it is an exceptional rifle - but its utility is largely mitigated in Africa by virtue of the variety of game that one is hunting/may opportunistically encounter at any given time. Even in a day hunt v. Night critter hunt where the desired caliber is likely wildly different; the mags, bolt assembly etc has to be changed out (along with the barrel and optics) which mitigates any real cost benefit. I like it more for non-Africa hunting where the targeted bag is likely to be species of a more narrow size bracket and, if not, are likely tackled on different outings where a barrel switch could be facilitated. Just my opinion.

In my mind, the beauty of the R8 is more in the take down ability for travel, and being able to bring two barrels for the overall hunt, in the same handy hard case. I agree with you that it's unlikely you'd ever want to change barrels in the field, but I doubt anyone buys an R8 for that reason. In my case, I simply like the ability to bring along two calibers, and not have to carry a 50lb full-length case as I have always done in the past.
On my last hunt, we were hunting Elephant and Buffalo at the same time, so if I had a 458 or similar caliber barrel on that hunt, I would have likely used that on the Buffalo and Elephant, then swapped out for a lighter caliber for the other smaller animals I hunted, once the larger game was taken. On my particular hunt, there wasn't much PG around, and it was too thick to shoot any longer distances. So the 458 would have worked for anything we ran into. And to be honest, I would never jeopardize an Elephant or Buffalo hunt to shoot PG anyway. But that's just me.
This past trip I ended up using the 375 H&H R8 barrel exclusively, as my Winchester 70 416 Rem Mag suffered a broken front during transit, and I wanted the ability to use iron sights if we needed to do a follow-up on a wounded Buffalo or Elephant. So any 375 would have worked obviously. And I could've just brought one rifle in one caliber, and the versatility of the switch barrel system would've been lost. But next time I'll have the R8 with two barrels, and can hopefully use two calibers on both large and smaller game.

 

[Tra3]

Sorry guys, blaser is the future of dangerous game. It is perfect in every way. Good luck with that, hope it works out for you.

For those of us that have hunted dangerous game with it, I don’t hear anyone saying it didn’t work. Mine worked great.

Adding rounds to the magazine is very easy. But I guess that is because I’ve done it a number of times. In reality, if you are adding rounds in an actual hunt, things didn’t go very well on the first 4 shots.

The family of R8’s will get more use in Montana over the next 6 days. They work better than any other gun I’ve owned. But I’ve only got about 100 days hunting with an R8, so I might be missing something. I suspect that the majority of people that actually use one hunting for a good period of time will come to the same conclusion. It is hard not to be a fan boy when something works really well.

 

[BenKK]

Relatively new to my R8, it’s a .375H&H. I’m using handloaded Woodleigh 350 grain RNSN HDs.

First bull got stroppy 200m away, a known mischief maker, and eventually decided to have a go. I got ready to repel boarders and as he hit the 50m or 60m mark I hit him in his chest and he tipped-over. Made some fantastic curries and stews!

Second was a stressed-out old bull that had accidentally fed too close to the community and so was targeted by a big mob of camp dogs. He went mental, understandably, and nearly connected on the workmen. They asked me to please sort it out so three quick shots at 8m at the office block did the trick and life could safely resume and the dogs were delighted.

Third one was a giant a sneaked to 20m from, brained.

Haven’t got a scope yet, so all open sights.

Very happy with the R8, cool system.

 

[Red Leg]

I agree with @TOBY458 that the real advantage to me is its compactness for international travel. Sighted in at home and reassembled at destination, it will still shoot to exactly the same setting.

Due to the trigger and magazine design, I also get a full length rifle with overall dimensions much shorter than conventional actioned rifles. An attribute typically only shared with single shots.

Finally, the rifles have the finest factory trigger of any production rifle in my experience.

It is perfectly ok to prefer other rifles and designs for whatever purpose. My last African trip was with a Rigby in hand. What I find ridiculous is someone proclaiming a Blaser’s unsuitability for for whatever purpose with essentially no practical experience with the rifle. For some reason the R8 draws that sort of uninformed criticism more than most.

 

[Opposite Pole]

Good input. The R8 is NOT the future of dangerous game hunting by virtue of being modular. That is a fact (which I would be happy to discuss, if helpful, but assume we all agree). The limitation is that you can only shoot one caliber from an R8 at a time, either way. When you have the 300 WM barrel affixed and are 3 hours into tracking a Kudu and your dream buff pops out, it is not helpful that you have that 458 barrel in your pack or back at the truck. The versatility is cool but does not eliminate the need for multiple calibers that can be quickly accessed (or a single large caliber which would obviate the need for modularity). Clearly you could just stay on a big barrel all of the time but, then, the versatility isn’t as much of a benefit. I have an R8 - and it is an exceptional rifle - but its utility is largely mitigated in Africa by virtue of the variety of game that one is hunting/may opportunistically encounter at any given time. Even in a day hunt v. Night critter hunt where the desired caliber is likely wildly different; the mags, bolt assembly etc has to be changed out (along with the barrel and optics) which mitigates any real cost benefit. I like it more for non-Africa hunting where the targeted bag is likely to be species of a more narrow size bracket and, if not, are likely tackled on different outings where a barrel switch could be facilitated. Just my opinion.

Just to clarify, I am not stating that the R8 or any other design for that matter is or is not the future of DG hunting and is or is not a superior choice. But I don't understand your argument. This is like saying that a double rifle is not a good DG choice because it's modular and if you happen to have 7x57R or 20G barrels fitted to the receiver and your dream big game appears you do not have the correct gun on hand. One could also say the same thing about a Mauser 98 or Win M70, if you only have a 7x57 M98 or 270Win M70 on hand the said Buffalo will remain unmolested. Without reasonable and legal for game calibre on hand, no shots will be fired, no firearm design can change that other than perhaps multi-barrel gun with different chamberings in each barrel, that however means a single-shot rifle for each calibre.

 

[bowjijohn]

I've stayed out of this as, though I have owned my R8 pro for about 5 years and currently have 3 calibres for it, I'm still awaiting the 404 Jeff barrel and bolt head

I've not therefore had the opportunity to test it in the bush

One of my concerns was the ease of top loading - I am interested therefore in that video above

 

[Opposite Pole]

One of my concerns was the ease of top loading - I am interested therefore in that video above

I don’t think I have ever loaded my R8 any other way.

 

[bowjijohn]

I don’t think I have ever loaded my R8 any other way.

Interesting - I've never been able to easily top load either the 6.5 or 223

i gave up thinking it was not do-able

I'll try again

I had intended to buy a second trigger group as a work around for high speed reloading - perhaps I won't need to

 

[Opposite Pole]

Interesting - I've never been able to easily top load either the 6.5 or 223

i gave up thinking it was not do-able

I'll try again

I had intended to buy a second trigger group as a work around for high speed reloading - perhaps I won't need to

I never had any problems loading 223 either, don't know about 6.5 - don't have one. Consider though, that R8 is also available in a non-removable magazine version that can only be top loaded.

 

[BeeMaa]

@bowjijohn - the Pro S stock has the non-removable trigger group/magazine. I know a couple members who have them and operate them without issue but I’m not sure of the calibers.

For our rifles, I normally leave the trigger group/magazine in the locked position to prevent any possible accidental dropping of it while hunting. I only unlock it for changing the magazine insert. This means that we exclusively top load our magazines. Another advantage of doing this is muscle memory.

 

[Challer]

True, but how often do you shift from being right-handed to left-handed?

When on the bench, I often use a left hand bolt with a right hand bolt head. for everything else, it's all right hand. Not 100% germane to this but doubt the Beretta can do this.

 

[bowjijohn]

@bowjijohn - the Pro S stock has the non-removable trigger group/magazine. I know a couple members who have them and operate them without issue but I’m not sure of the calibers.

For our rifles, I normally leave the trigger group/magazine in the locked position to prevent any possible accidental dropping of it while hunting. I only unlock it for changing the magazine insert. This means that we exclusively top load our magazines. Another advantage of doing this is muscle memory.

I shall be very pleased if the muscle memory I’ve built up with endless high speed and blindfold reloads (FGASA training) will convert to the R8 for the medium calibre

I’ve now ditched both Mauser 98s as both fail to cycle well under pressure

looking forward to getting the 404 and a replacement 9.3 barrel for the Blaser