Blaser R8 - Steel or Aluminum Receiver in Pro Safari Rifle in .416 or .458?

[Green Chile]

With hippos out of the water and tuskless, you are talking about 2 of the most aggressive animals plus their weight and thick skins require the best bullets available and some punch. I would consider the 416 or 458 Lott with a premium flat nosed solid for that special application. The R8 is a very fast action but I would practice offhand and run the gun hard...don't baby it on the cycling. I would also stay away from the highest pressure reloads and back it off a bit to get reliability in hotter weather.

 

[bowjijohn]

That’s with a 22 mm selous barrel? 25.6 inch long?

It was a custom

22mm

I think 23”

J

 

[375Ruger416]

With hippos out of the water and tuskless, you are talking about 2 of the most aggressive animals plus their weight and thick skins require the best bullets available and some punch. I would consider the 416 or 458 Lott with a premium flat nosed solid for that special application. The R8 is a very fast action but I would practice offhand and run the gun hard...don't baby it on the cycling. I would also stay away from the highest pressure reloads and back it off a bit to get reliability in hotter weather.

That’s the plan. Have found both Cup Nose Solids and Flat point solids by North Fork. 375 300 gr just don’t seem like enough even with excellent shot placement - assuming I can shoot the 416 well.

 

[Green Chile]

I killed my last ele with cup point solids in the 416 Rigby. It's not technically correct for ele but the heart shot bull only went a short distance and fell on the run. Very clean.

 

[UpNorthMI]

Just catching up with this thread. I see i never posted how my new Blaser R8 in .416 Rem Mag shot.

Here is my rifle configuration already posted above several pages prior:

BLASER R8 PRO SAFARI, RIGHT HAND. 416 REMINGTON MAGNUM. GREEN WITH RUBBER GRIPS. WITH KICKSTOP, SAFARI CONTOUR SELOUS BARREL, standard action, not steel. Swarovski Z8i 1-8 x 24 fitted on QR mount.

It is fitted with a Professional ambidextrous polymer stock with a widened barrel channel and is an aluminum receiver, the barrel is 22mm safari Selous model. The stock is fitted with a kick stop recoil dampener. The rifle seems to be offered in this configuration or with an optional steel receiver. I believe the widening of the barrel channel is done in the US on the aluminum receivers.

I've shot the new rifle on several occasions now, my first comment is that the recoil is very similar to my standard R8 in .375 H&H (17 mm barrel) that is not fitted with a kick stop. This was a surprise as I was sure I was going to get a lot more recoil from the .416 Rem Mag, I guess the front weight of the 22mm barrel and the kick stop help considerably.

Personally I like the feel of the weight and the balance of the gun. It was very comfortable to shoot this gun off the bench, it took me 2 shots to zero at 100 yards and my initial and subsequent groups are around 1". I was shocked that this rifle shot so well for such a big round.

Overall I'm super impressed with the R8 in .416 Rem Mag in the configuration that I finally selected.

It was my trip last year to Australia where we shot 32 buffalo and many other large animals that convinced me to acquire a .416 caliber bolt action rifle. My son and I were hunting in Australia with a .375 H&H Blaser R8 and a .416/500 NE double, I quickly learned that 400 grain .416 bullets were far superior to shooting 300 grain .375 bullets at large animals. It's difficult to give some measurable data on knock down capability, there are many factors involved, but I can only say that if you want something more effective than a .375 a .416 caliber in Win Mag, Rigby or similar is a great step up.

I hope my review and comments on this post that I started in the Summer of 2025 is helpful to others that are considering moving to a larger caliber than .375 and particularly for a larger caliber Blaser R8. Personally I think the .416 will be suited to anything I want to shoot in my life. I consider it an excellent choice for Buffalo, I need to get my next hunt booked!

I'm certainly not knocking .458, 470, .505 etc. but personally I feel very confident of shooting my .416 well, this is important for me to have a comfortable, well shooting, effective caliber. I plan on getting a lot more practice over distances going back to 300 yards and getting a red dot Trijicon RMR on the gun to practice with.

 

[BeeMaa]

@UpNorthMI - I believe you owe us at least a few pics of the rifle you purchased. I'd like to see the full kit if you have a chance.

 

[Luminous Ham]

I killed my last ele with cup point solids in the 416 Rigby. It's not technically correct for ele but the heart shot bull only went a short distance and fell on the run. Very clean.

Sorry, have been pondering over this: 'not technically correct for ele'. What does that mean?

 

[KIH]

Somehow R8 Kilombero is not in the configurator. only Selous of the Safari models. And it have been like this for weeks.

 

[BeeMaa]

Sorry, have been pondering over this: 'not technically correct for ele'. What does that mean?

@Green Chile used a North Fork Cup Point Solid bullet that looks like this. Upon impact it expands at the tip to create a larger wound channel.

Typically someone would use a flat point solid on elephant that looks like this for better straight line penetration. You are not worried about the size of the wound channel with a brain shot, it's the penetration that makes the difference. Of course the shot he took was perfect and the elephant was recovered quickly.

This is what they look like when they are recovered from an animal. Barely any noticeable change in shape and almost possible to reload.

 

[Luminous Ham]

Got it, thanks.