Blaser R8 Owner in USA

ajamils said:

What a BEAUTY!! This one definitely looks the part but if I am picking one up from dealer stock then I how can I verify if he tells me that it's a grade 8 vs regular grade 4?

Also, looking at your's, which looks AMAZING..... I'm llttle confused about the LUXUS version. Since Jaegar comes in beatiful wood as well, is the difference between it and LUXUS is just the engraving on t the receiver?

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Yes

ajamils said:

What a BEAUTY!! This one definitely looks the part but if I am picking one up from dealer stock then I how can I verify if he tells me that it's a grade 8 vs regular grade 4?

Also, looking at your's, which looks AMAZING..... I'm llttle confused about the LUXUS version. Since Jaegar comes in beatiful wood as well, is the difference between it and LUXUS is just the engraving on t the receiver?

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The Luxus has the grey receiver and engraving. The Jaeger has either a black or grey receiver and no engraving. Good wood can be had on either one, but the best wood comes on the Selous and Kilimanjaro.

I remember having buyers remorse right after I ordered my first Blaser R8. I had ordered a standard Professional synthedic stock with a 8x68s barrel. I main reason I went with Blaser because I was intrigued with the 8x68s and the straight pull action. Once my rifle arrived and I started shooting it I new I had made the right choice. I now own a few more.

I think the R8 is one of the best engineered and manufactured rifles of any kind. The magazines are constructed for various groups of calibers. The smaller or shorter caliber magazines have a bolt stop which adjusts the bolt throw and provides proper feeding. I have never had a feeding or extraction issue the R8.

dchamp said:

I remember having buyers remorse right after I ordered my first Blaser R8. I had ordered a standard Professional synthedic stock with a 8x68s barrel. I main reason I went with Blaser because I was intrigued with the 8x68s and the straight pull action. Once my rifle arrived and I started shooting it I new I had made the right choice. I now own a few more.

I think the R8 is one of the best engineered and manufactured rifles of any kind. The magazines are constructed for various groups of calibers. The smaller or shorter caliber magazines have a bolt stop which adjusts the bolt throw and provides proper feeding. I have never had a feeding or extraction issue the R8.

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Since I posted this, I have spent way too many hours researching and I am definitely sold on the R8 but price of entry keep giving me a pause. What I would like to get, costs almost $10K and with that kinda money I can have multiple BRX1s and Sauer 505

The only possible solution to this issue I see is to stop researching and just buy the gun . In worse case, I should be able to resell without much loss.

money was concern for me when i bought mine last year. I pieced it together and spread the pain out. Buy a stock when find good deal on one. Buy a barrel when one pops up, etc. I have yet to find a single deal on QD scope mounts though...

ajamils said:

Since I posted this, I have spent way too many hours researching and I am definitely sold on the R8 but price of entry keep giving me a pause. What I would like to get, costs almost $10K and with that kinda money I can have multiple BRX1s and Sauer 505

The only possible solution to this issue I see is to stop researching and just buy the gun . In worse case, I should be able to resell without much loss.

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That’s what I did!

375Ruger416 said:

That’s what I did!

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Me too, haven't regretted it for a sec, and resale value is really high her. Congrats

I truly understand your trepidation at the cost of a Blaser. It was a little above my pay grade but after some saving, purchased one in late 2022. Due to all of the enablers on here I wanted a 9.3x62 and ended up with the R8. I soon added .300 Wby and .270 Win barrels.
Several others have well expounded on the attributes of the R8, but these are the points that stick out for me. The trigger breaks so cleanly, it’s almost spooky. The shortness of the rifle due to the trigger position makes it handle like an extension of your body. Almost everything I shoot thru it, shoots under an inch. The scope mount returns to zero every time. (Note: If taking the mounted scope off one barrel and putting it on another, you may have to adjust the side tension screws.) I love that the rifle is cocked or uncocked. Cocking is easy, but the decocking took a little playing with to become adept at it. The action is smooth, but as others have said, the bolt does need to be closed with some authority. Switching bolt heads is a piece of cake and tool less. Switching magazines is easy. If you’re worried about losing the trigger / mag unit, there is a little switch inside to lock it in place.
I’m not overly interested in it’s take down ability for travel, but it’s a huge plus to have the ability if needed.
Even though it was a financial stretch, I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

dailordasailor said:

money was concern for me when i bought mine last year. I pieced it together and spread the pain out. Buy a stock when find good deal on one. Buy a barrel when one pops up, etc. I have yet to find a single deal on QD scope mounts though...

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I use a brand from Europe called Makuik. I like the a lot and about 300 per instead of 500.

ajamils said:

Since I posted this, I have spent way too many hours researching and I am definitely sold on the R8 but price of entry keep giving me a pause. What I would like to get, costs almost $10K and with that kinda money I can have multiple BRX1s and Sauer 505

The only possible solution to this issue I see is to stop researching and just buy the gun . In worse case, I should be able to resell without much loss.

Click to expand...

The Blasers start to pay off when you get your 2nd, 3rd etc... barrel.

I can't see a scenario where comparable Sauer 505 costs less than an R8. Key word being comparable.

The 404/505 have all the same benefits on paper that the R8 does in terms of modularity but everything costs more...barrels, bolts/bolt heads, stocks/forends, etc. Plus you have to buy a $300 magazine per cartridge family, which Blaser generally includes with the barrel. I am sure you can build a Blaser that costs more than a base model 404/505 but if it's apples to apples the Sauer is gonna be 20% more if you do extra barrels and associated parts...that is if you can even get the parts.

As a 404 and R8 owner...I never thought I'd call Blaser "a better value", but here we are. I understand MSRP on the 505 starts at $3500, which is about $1000 less than the 404 was. Moving to the Blaser saddle mounts is great also...the SUM mounts on the 404 were pretty ironically named...least universal mount out there...worked only on the 404 and there were no other options.

Based on the US support of the 404 I would also be concerned about banking on the 505 ever getting the advertised level of product support.

If you spec a Grade 7 Kilombero or Selous with the 22mm barrel then yeah...its gonna be more than a base model 505 and a couple Berettas. If you go base-model to base-model and add the barrels/other parts you want the Blaser looks pretty good.

All that said, they're both excellent and you won't regret whichever on you choose.

I don't regret the spend on my rifle. It has very quickly become my favourite. I like the way it handles and love the way it shoots.

I haven't found a deal on anything yet either which tells me they tend to hold their value and there are not enough of them around to put downward pressure on prices. Buy once, cry once.

To those that offered advice on the problems I listed in my previous post, I apologize for the delay responding. Sometimes I get an email that the thread was updated, other times I don't. I figured this thread had gone dormant after I made my issues known. Sorry about that!

With regard to the .223 not firing every time, I'm glad that others have had the same issue. It is only with that barrel and bolt face. The only inconvenience is that I'm tempted to immediately pull it partially open and close it again when I hear the click which would be really bad form if it was just a delayed fire. I remind myself to wait 30 seconds. I have some new Starline brass that I'm going to load up just to make sure it wasn't a problem with the brass of my last batch of reloads.

With regard to the scope mounting, my complaint is not with respect to zero it is regarding the mount itself. When I take it off the .223 it fits too loosely on the .375 and must be tightened using that annoying star-shaped screw on the mount and the ridiculously skinny and weak Blaser screwdriver. I solved this problem by buying a beautiful Z8i (yes, I blame AH for that) for the .375 and now don't change scopes between barrels.

Last, with regard to the first round of .375 feeding improperly, I really think it just needs to be worn in a bit. If the bolt is closed when I push the mag into place it works fine but if the bolt is open the spring inside the magazine seems to fail to adequately push the front of the cartridge up and it sits very flat inside the magwell. When I push forward the bullet nose doesn't slide up and into the chamber, it hits something (I think the back edge of the barrel) and stops. If I put the magazine in with the bolt open I just push down slightly on the back end of the cartridge to realign the way the cartridge lies in the magwell and everything works as it should.

Again, thanks to those that offered advice. I won't be as slow to respond next time.

JoninCO said:

I can't see a scenario where comparable Sauer 505 costs less than an R8. Key word being comparable.

The 404/505 have all the same benefits on paper that the R8 does in terms of modularity but everything costs more...barrels, bolts/bolt heads, stocks/forends, etc. Plus you have to buy a $300 magazine per cartridge family, which Blaser generally includes with the barrel. I am sure you can build a Blaser that costs more than a base model 404/505 but if it's apples to apples the Sauer is gonna be 20% more if you do extra barrels and associated parts...that is if you can even get the parts.

As a 404 and R8 owner...I never thought I'd call Blaser "a better value", but here we are. I understand MSRP on the 505 starts at $3500, which is about $1000 less than the 404 was. Moving to the Blaser saddle mounts is great also...the SUM mounts on the 404 were pretty ironically named...least universal mount out there...worked only on the 404 and there were no other options.

Based on the US support of the 404 I would also be concerned about banking on the 505 ever getting the advertised level of product support.

If you spec a Grade 7 Kilombero or Selous with the 22mm barrel then yeah...its gonna be more than a base model 505 and a couple Berettas. If you go base-model to base-model and add the barrels/other parts you want the Blaser looks pretty good.

All that said, they're both excellent and you won't regret whichever on you choose.

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All valid points............but how can you not love this thing?



On serious note, I agree Sauer will have to go a long way to establish the market and availability of part (at least in USA) the way Blaser has. To me Sauer 505 is more like a single rifle as I do not see it offering similar flexibility of options that Blaser. After all Blaser is the "Lego" gun.... mix and match.

I love it, they're beautiful. I would argue the Sauer has more flexibility in concept, they just don't support it. The receiver fits all available barrel contours and furniture, you don't have to contend with aluminum v. steel, wood v. polymer, standard vs Jaeger, 15/19/22mm barrels, and all that jazz. Any 505 part works with any 505 receiver. Changing furniture is much more flexible in particular.

It gives up something in the optics mounting category, as you'll have to re-zero or have multiple optics that aren't attacked to the barrel, and they don't have rimfire conversions right now, caliber options are more limited, and all that stuff. On paper though, it has all the adaptability of an R8 and maybe a little more.

As far as the USA goes...Blaser is Sauer is Mauser (and to some degree Rigby) as all the L&O brands in the US share the same CEO, marketing, sales, warehousing, customer support. The R8 is much more established here so it gets more support. If they want to push Sauer, which they did with the 100/101, it's the exact same people pushing Blaser.

Daisy said:

I use a brand from Europe called Makuik. I like the a lot and about 300 per instead of 500.

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Thank for the info. Are there any manufacturers that offer something similar in USA?

ajamils said:

Thank for the info. Are there any manufacturers that offer something similar in USA?

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No. Blaser. Innomount. Makuik

ajamils said:

Thank for the info. Are there any manufacturers that offer something similar in USA?

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I bought a used steel rail, brand name Rusan, with the intention of swapping the rings from 1" to 30mm but I ended up not needing it at all.

The rail is good quality and I like the idea of being able to swap out the rings

Look on ebay for R8 mounts. I have 2 of them (offered by zruncho).

Innomount is my preferred scope mount for Blaser barrels. Here is a link to where I purchased mine.