Blaser R8 for Dangerous Game

BeeMaa said:

Dick Murray Custom Leather package showed up today.
Cartridge holder and sling, rubbed down with some leather conditioner and installed.

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Sweet rig you’re putting together

Wait until you see Mrs BeeMaa's with the REAL wood.
Not sure what she has in mind other than the Levy's sling she aleady has.
But she likes the looks of the buttstock cartridge holder.
Big plus that it doesn't obstruct the bolt from removal.

Shot my R8 (300WM) for the first time today...

I have good news and I have bad news.
The good news is that the rifle shoots AWESOME and I'm in love with the trigger.
Bad news is I forgot to even take a picture of my target.

My optics have yet to arrive, so I was just using irons.
It shoots about 3" left and an inch high at 50 yards, so I will need to make an adjustment.
Groups were nice and tight, when I did my part...about 2" spread on a 4 shot group.
My eyes are accounting for more of the inaccuracy than the rifle I'm sure.

I absolutely love the straight pull action.
After shooting a couple of groups with the R8, my friend asked me to shoot his SMLE4 in 303B.
Must have spent about 3 seconds trying to pull the bolt directly back on his rifle...he laughed.
And I've been spoiled rotten by the trigger on the R8, I can't say enough good things about it.

Spoke with Euro Optic yesterday and they are waiting on a few more items to show up.
Looking like February or April and we should have everything.
Updates when it the stuff comes in.

Good! Bet you can’t wait for that swaro.

Glad you like your R8 BeeMaa it's a great platform. I'll offer you a few tidbits on operating the system. These are my ideas from my experience, others may differ.
1. When seating the barrel; run up the adjusting nuts until they stop and then snug them lightly. There is no need to crank them with a lot of torque.
2. Setting up the mounts for the scope. The same applies as for the barrel, there is no need to over tighten the lever locks on the Blaser Mounts jus follow their instructions.
3. Iron Sights. I forget the size of the allen wrench required, I think it is .5mm. The front sight adjusts elevation and the rear sight windage, the manual should show this. There are two screws for adjusting the rear sight, one on each side of the blade. Loosen the screw on the side you want the blade to move towards and turn the other screw on the other side to push the blade in the in the direction of the screw you loosened. Beware, the blade can come completely off if both screws are loosened enough. But that's not a big deal.
4. If or when you buy a barrel in a smaller caliber you may find that the magazine insert is different and will probably have a bolt stop in it. All this means is that you will not be able to remove the bolt without first removing the trigger group which holds the magazine.
5. There are two ways to load cartridges; you can top load or you can remove the trigger group and insert the cartridges by front loading. Sometimes people find top loading a little difficult with certain cartridges.

Blaser has some youtube videos which, show some of the things I have mentioned, are worth while watching.

Congrats on your new purchase. I can’t say enough great things about the r8. If I may make a suggestion. I have/had a trijicon Rmr 1moa red dot on a rm60 mount for my .458 lott safari barrel on a Selious stock. I was getting better groups with iron sight than with the red dot. After thinking about it and talking to blaser at DSC I decide to put a blaser picatinny rail with a slim rmr mount on top. The rm60 mount only uses the back two scope mount holes the picatinny uses all four. I believe that the rm60 and large recoil of the Lott was causing a slight undetectable movement in the setup. Not sure if it will happen with .375 but be aware that it can occur. Enjoy and good luck in your trip.

Please excuse any typos as this was typed on a not so smart smartphone.

MMAL said:

Congrats on your new purchase. I can’t say enough great things about the r8. If I may make a suggestion. I have/had a trijicon Rmr 1moa red dot on a rm60 mount for my .458 lott safari barrel on a Selious stock. I was getting better groups with iron sight than with the red dot. After thinking about it and talking to blaser at DSC I decide to put a blaser picatinny rail with a slim rmr mount on top. The rm60 mount only uses the back two scope mount holes the picatinny uses all four. I believe that the rm60 and large recoil of the Lott was causing a slight undetectable movement in the setup. Not sure if it will happen with .375 but be aware that it can occur. Enjoy and good luck in your trip.

Please excuse any typos as this was typed on a not so smart smartphone.

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Appreciate the information because that's the exact set up I will have.
Although I'm planning on using the RMR with the 416RM barrel.
Did you feel like the Picatinny and RMR mount moved your head higher off the stock?
Any chance of a picture of your current set up?

I read in a prior post that was going to be your setup hence my post. Yes it is higher but the rmr is now more in line with a scope height instead of iron sight height. Actually more comfortable for me. I will post a picture later today

Happy 4 U Brother!!!!

@BeeMaa Great to hear your enjoying the R8!

Pictures of my setup. I cut and replied to picatinny rail shorter. The dot is @1 3/4 inches above barrel center.

@MMAL, thank you sir.
That is some incredible curly wood you have there.

I will see how the RMR in the RM60 works out.
I'm still considering a Swaro Z6i 1-6x24 if I don't like the RMR.

I will be making an adjustment to the scopes for my R8 barrels.

416RM - 1-8x24
375H&H - 1.7-13.3x42
300WM - 2-16x50
All will be rail mounted Swaro Z8i's in Contessa QR mounts.

Wow, sweet setup! That’s a serious investment in glass!

BeeMaa said:

I will be making an adjustment to the scopes for my R8 barrels.

416RM - 1-8x24
375H&H - 1.7-13.3x42
300WM - 2-16x50
All will be rail mounted Swaro Z8i's in Contessa QR mounts.

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Really dig that 1.7-13....

BeeMaa said:

I will be making an adjustment to the scopes for my R8 barrels.

416RM - 1-8x24
375H&H - 1.7-13.3x42
300WM - 2-16x50
All will be rail mounted Swaro Z8i's in Contessa QR mounts.

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Why Contessa rather than Blaser mount?

samu said:

Why Contessa rather than Blaser mount?

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Couple reasons for it.
First is how do they perform, they both perform equally well as mentioned earlier by @Red Leg.
Second is speed and the Contessa is faster and easier to operate.
Third - price or value (however you want to put it), the Contessa is nearly $200 less expensive.

I would not be hesitant to spend more money on something that I believed worked better.
But in this case, my wife (Department of Finance) has found a bit of respite.

Fastrig said:

Really dig that 1.7-13....

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Yeah, go figure that they are THAT exacting.
Made me chuckle as well.
Cheers.

BeeMaa said:

Couple reasons for it.
First is how do they perform, they both perform equally well as mentioned earlier by @Red Leg.
Second is speed and the Contessa is faster and easier to operate.
Third - price or value (however you want to put it), the Contessa is nearly $200 less expensive.

I would not be hesitant to spend more money on something that I believed worked better.
But in this case, my wife (Department of Finance) has found a bit of respite.

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Understandable. I was about to go with Innomount on mine but shop made me a deal on the Blaser original with the rifle. I see the advantage of single lever on Contessa but I'm not planning to take the scope off the barrel really.

samu said:

Understandable. I was about to go with Innomount on mine but shop made me a deal on the Blaser original with the rifle. I see the advantage of single lever on Contessa but I'm not planning to take the scope off the barrel really.

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Having QD mounts (for me) is for a few reasons.
First is travel - I travel with my scope in my carry-on bag.
Second is DG hunting and following up in the thick brush, you want your iron sights available.
Third is possibly carrying a spare scope in the event your primary gets damaged.

Personally I don't carry a spare scope, if my scope is damaged my backup are iron sights.
For that reason I practice with irons regularly and double check them on arrival with the scope.
If the scope becomes damaged, I will limit my shot distance accordingly.

Obviously it is up to you, but there are several very good QD scope mounting options.
The price of these is also pretty close to the fixed versions.
For that reason, I see the value in QD mounts.