Blaser S2 in 500 NE

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About all I know about doubles is they have 2 barrels and they are typically expensive. I saw this Blaser S2 listed on Hendershot's website and then went looking on Gunbroker and this appears to be a pretty good deal. Just thought I'd pass this info along to anyone that's interested.
https://hendershots.net/product/blaser-s2-safari-luxus-500-nitro-express/
S2-500.3-300x200.jpg
 
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Too much gun for me, but the price is very good if the rifle is in good shape. Red Leg has experience in Africa hunting with S2s. He can go into detail that I can't even approach.
 
I think they are great rifles - and apparently no longer in production - or at least not imported here. They are not to everyone's taste. They were designed with great ergonomics - not to mirror previous designs. So, to some people, they look funny. The action is unique and can't go off face. They have fabulous open sights, and yet are designed from the ground up to use the Blaser proprietary scope mount (instantly detachable). The barrels are interchangeable, and all mine or incredibly accurate. My .375 is a true 250 meter + rifle. It uses the Krieghoff style cocker rather than a safety which some people hate, but which I find just as easy as a safety, and is the only way to carry two rounds in a double with the certainty of not blowing off your PH's head as you follow him through the Jess holding the rifle on one's shoulder in an African carry.

Terry Weiland hated them from the moment they were introduced which didn't help their launch. He really dislikes the auto decock - though I have never seen him attack auto-safeties with the same vigor. I suspect he just finds the look an affront to what should be the appearance of a double rifle. All I know is my S2 is my only double which consistently produces 100m 2-inch composite groups, and is MOA from each barrel individually.

Finally, Hendershot's is a great dealer and you can be certain any rifle he sells will be exactly as described.
 
I wanted to see one at the Blaser booth at DSC and was told they no longer make them due to the cost of production being so high compared to their selling price. So at this point I still have not seen one in the flesh!!! Or maybe I should say the blue steel and walnut!!!
 
I'm almost sure the double Pieter Erasmus uses is an S2 in 500 NE. I can tell you that it has a big punch and it's all anyone would want to fire at dangerous game! I shot it twice and that was enough!
 
I'm almost sure the double Pieter Erasmus uses is an S2 in 500 NE. I can tell you that it has a big punch and it's all anyone would want to fire at dangerous game! I shot it twice and that was enough!

You're right Charlie,

Pieter has the S2 in .500 NE.
 
QUOTE It uses the Krieghoff style cocker rather than a safety which some people hate, but which I find just as easy as a safety,UNQUOTE

The Blaser S2 has a de-cocker system, but it is not like the Krieghoff system!

The Blaser S-2 combi-cocking system de-cocks the rifle if opened for any reason. Even if one opens the rifle to check if loaded the rifle de-cocks its self. Now if you get in the middle of a charge with a cape Buffalo or lion, and fire one of both barrels, and it doesn't stop the target when the barrels are opened for the re-load the rifle de-cocks it's self and must be manually re-cocked before shots three and four can be fired.

The Krieghoff combi-cocking system is heads ands shoulders above the Blazer-S2. Once the Krieghoff is loaded and cocked, even if opened for ANY reason the rifle remains cocked, so that the same situation as with the Blaser above shots 1 and 2 are fired and the rifle is opened for the re-load, the rifle automatically re-cocks the rifle, and it is ready to fire as soon as it is closed on the new rounds. If those rounds are not needed one has only to push the combi-cocking liver slightly forward and released the rifle is loaded but de-cocked, but if those two rounds are needed all one has to do is aim and pull the triggers again.

IMO! That is a difference worth looking at! I simply do not want to walk into the weeds with a buffalo or lion with a rifle that has no facility to re-cock itself when it is re-loaded in the tight spot.

Both rifles are very safe to carry loaded to protect others in the party, but I would much rather have the K-gun to protect myself in a tight spot.

IMO the reason they quit making the S-2 is many double rifle hunters also didn't like the S-2s' cocking system.

THe Blaser S-2 has a place but I don't think it is the best choice for dangerous game in tight bush regardless of chambering!
.............................Opinions vary, however!:Nailbiting:
 
You're right Charlie,

Pieter has the S2 in .500 NE.

Sure would be nice to own one! At this price it's affordable! But it's also a couple of plains game animals on the next hunt!
 
QUOTE It uses the Krieghoff style cocker rather than a safety which some people hate, but which I find just as easy as a safety,UNQUOTE

The Blaser S2 has a de-cocker system, but it is not like the Krieghoff system!

The Blaser S-2 combi-cocking system de-cocks the rifle if opened for any reason. Even if one opens the rifle to check if loaded the rifle de-cocks its self. Now if you get in the middle of a charge with a cape Buffalo or lion, and fire one of both barrels, and it doesn't stop the target when the barrels are opened for the re-load the rifle de-cocks it's self and must be manually re-cocked before shots three and four can be fired.

The Krieghoff combi-cocking system is heads ands shoulders above the Blazer-S2. Once the Krieghoff is loaded and cocked, even if opened for ANY reason the rifle remains cocked, so that the same situation as with the Blaser above shots 1 and 2 are fired and the rifle is opened for the re-load, the rifle automatically re-cocks the rifle, and it is ready to fire as soon as it is closed on the new rounds. If those rounds are not needed one has only to push the combi-cocking liver slightly forward and released the rifle is loaded but de-cocked, but if those two rounds are needed all one has to do is aim and pull the triggers again.

IMO! That is a difference worth looking at! I simply do not want to walk into the weeds with a buffalo or lion with a rifle that has no facility to re-cock itself when it is re-loaded in the tight spot.

Both rifles are very safe to carry loaded to protect others in the party, but I would much rather have the K-gun to protect myself in a tight spot.

IMO the reason they quit making the S-2 is many double rifle hunters also didn't like the S-2s' cocking system.

THe Blaser S-2 has a place but I don't think it is the best choice for dangerous game in tight bush regardless of chambering!
.............................Opinions vary, however!:Nailbiting:
That is Terry Weiland's point. I think he should have actually used one on a hunt to see if this was really an issue or merely a new drill to learn. Since I have used the S2 for DG, I would suggest the latter, but perhaps you have more experience with one than I have.
 
I took a very hard look at the Blaser S2 but I just couldnt get past the decocking system. I also wasn't a huge fan of how the rifle balances, the 500 NE I handled seem to be muzzle heavy.

-matt
 
I took a very hard look at the Blaser S2 but I just couldnt get past the decocking system. I also wasn't a huge fan of how the rifle balances, the 500 NE I handled seem to be muzzle heavy.

-matt
I understand. I personally find the cocking lever no more difficult than - well - a safety. And so the decoking issue no different than any other double fitted with an auto safety. It is also, by far, the most accurate double that I have ever shot or owned. That, by the way, encompasses several.
 
That is Terry Weiland's point. I think he should have actually used one on a hunt to see if this was really an issue or merely a new drill to learn. Since I have used the S2 for DG, I would suggest the latter, but perhaps you have more experience with one than I have.

RedLeg, I very happy that you like your Blaser S2 and that the system didn't cause you a problem. I rarely agree with Terry on just about anything, but do agree with him on this subject!
The fact is a properly set up double rifle is one that has removed any draw-back to a quick re-load in a tight situation, when there is fewer things to think about, or extra movements needed to complete a STOP, when failure to do so in time to avoid being injured or killed by a close quarters with a very determined and lethal animal. That is the job a good double rifle is made for.

Like the auto safety, which is much easer to remedy than having to re-cock a double rifle after the first two shots do not stop a Buff, Lion, or elephant, is not a feature I want on any double rifle I own.

To show you what I mean, in a timed shoot out of seven double rifles I own I happened to be shooting the only one I had not removed the automatic feature on the safety. This was a timed shoot on a small 8 inch target with a 2 inch 10 ring. This was 10 shooters shooting at the same time each being timed by a spotter with a digital stop watch. Time started when the first shot was fired, and stopped when shot four was fired.
The rifles were set up with both barrels loaded, and required four shots the placed within the 8 inches to be counted. the target was at 25 yds the distance where most cape buffalo charges start. With pressure on the shooters wo win this contest. The highest score that one could make was 40 points if all four shots hit the 2 inch 10 ring. No shot that missed the 8 inch black were counted.
I took third place out of two line ups of 10 (20 shooters) with a score of 36 points in four seconds flat. Top this off I forgot the auto safety, even though I had shot over 100 rounds from this rifle both on the range, and hunting of non-dangerous game with this rifle, I was fully aware of the draw back the safety presented, but under pressure and time sensitive competition, which is not as much pressure as a close encounter with a buffalo, or lion I simply forgot and tried to fire number three shot with that safety in the on position and if it had had the auto feature removed I could have shaved another second off that time. That extra second if facing a lion within 25 yds may have cost me my life, or at least a mauling!

Just like any extra thing needed to complete a job, especially under extreme pressure is a potential hazard to your well being. The K-gun negates that auto de-cocking once cocked, yet is just as safe to be carried fully loaded as the S2, but when opened to be recharged in a close fight, it RE-COCKS ITS SELF! That is the difference!
....................................Mac:Bored:
 
RedLeg, I very happy that you like your Blaser S2 and that the system didn't cause you a problem. I rarely agree with Terry on just about anything, but do agree with him on this subject!
The fact is a properly set up double rifle is one that has removed any draw-back to a quick re-load in a tight situation, when there is fewer things to think about, or extra movements needed to complete a STOP, when failure to do so in time to avoid being injured or killed by a close quarters with a very determined and lethal animal. That is the job a good double rifle is made for.

Like the auto safety, which is much easer to remedy than having to re-cock a double rifle after the first two shots do not stop a Buff, Lion, or elephant, is not a feature I want on any double rifle I own.

To show you what I mean, in a timed shoot out of seven double rifles I own I happened to be shooting the only one I had not removed the automatic feature on the safety. This was a timed shoot on a small 8 inch target with a 2 inch 10 ring. This was 10 shooters shooting at the same time each being timed by a spotter with a digital stop watch. Time started when the first shot was fired, and stopped when shot four was fired.
The rifles were set up with both barrels loaded, and required four shots the placed within the 8 inches to be counted. the target was at 25 yds the distance where most cape buffalo charges start. With pressure on the shooters wo win this contest. The highest score that one could make was 40 points if all four shots hit the 2 inch 10 ring. No shot that missed the 8 inch black were counted.
I took third place out of two line ups of 10 (20 shooters) with a score of 36 points in four seconds flat. Top this off I forgot the auto safety, even though I had shot over 100 rounds from this rifle both on the range, and hunting of non-dangerous game with this rifle, I was fully aware of the draw back the safety presented, but under pressure and time sensitive competition, which is not as much pressure as a close encounter with a buffalo, or lion I simply forgot and tried to fire number three shot with that safety in the on position and if it had had the auto feature removed I could have shaved another second off that time. That extra second if facing a lion within 25 yds may have cost me my life, or at least a mauling!

Just like any extra thing needed to complete a job, especially under extreme pressure is a potential hazard to your well being. The K-gun negates that auto de-cocking once cocked, yet is just as safe to be carried fully loaded as the S2, but when opened to be recharged in a close fight, it RE-COCKS ITS SELF! That is the difference!
....................................Mac:Bored:

Thoughtful response based upon evidence. Many thanks. However, most of your points are, from my perspective at least, completely irrelevant to my choice of a double to actually use in Africa.

Allow me to take you through my analysis of why the S2 is for my role a superior SxS option. First of all, I am a client. I am not a professional hunter whose daily responsibilities could entail stopping potential inbound angry beasts. I suppose it would be fun to fantasize being bwana at the range, but I am more than anything practical about such things. I am not a PH and am not going to be one. Nevertheless, I like double rifles. I can pay money for a PH to artificially create the conditions where I can use a heavy double at very close range; or, as noted above, I can play critter stopper at the range; or, and this is my preference, I can find a double which enables my role as client without putting an additional burden or risk on my PH and the tracker. The S2 does that perfectly. But to appreciate it, one can not think of it as a classic stopping rifle.

As I have noted in other threads, as a client, my most important job is to place the first shot on dangerous game as accurately and lethally as possible. A conventional double does not lend itself to that mission (see artificial situations above). The S2 does. Equipped with generous open sights, the rifle was designed from the ground up to use a detachable scope. All three sets of barrels of my rifle (.375, 30-06, and 500/416) shoot MOA from each barrel. Combined four-shot groups range from 2.5 inches for the '06 and .375 at 100 meters to the 3.5 inch groups which the 500/416 achieves at the same distance. I sight the right barrel to the crosshair at 100 meters, giving me first shot accuracy out to 250+ yards for the '06 and .375. I have an immediate second shot which will be minute of impala if not dikdik to the same distance. As a client, that is an extremely handy attribute when trailing buff and spotting that huge kudu looking at us from the next ridge. I don't search for another rifle. Rather, I simply shoot him with the double. And of course, on any buffalo, I have that wonderful optical aid to thread a bullet exactly where it needs to go on that critical first shot (and again with that instant second one ready to go.) And should things not go well, dismounting the scope takes seconds, and my extremely accurate rifle becomes a pretty efficient double for follow-up.

I would agree that an ejector, non-automatic safety double rifle is a better pure stopping rifle. But again, that is not my job on real hunts in the real world. My job's most critical functions occur at the opening of an engagement. And for that the S2 is exceptional.

And I really do not find the S2 (or Krieghoff) cockers an issue in the least. Like most thing shooting, it is a motor skill perfected through practice.
 
Thank you RedLeg for a civil and very well thought out reply. I think, however, you seem to think wrongly that my only use of double rifles is "PLAYING PH" on the shooting range. In that regard those exercises are practice to develop muscle memory that becomes automatic when the chips are down in the bush where you are responsible for your own safety when TSHTF.

I understand that my use of the competition to show the time taken to use one extra movement can and has caused people to be mauled and sometimes killed, would tend to give you that impression.
Sir I bought my first double rifle in 1958 when I was 21yeas old, and have owned almost every brand you can name and hunted three continents, and several countries and almost half the states in the USA with little else for the last 58 years.
All I'm trying to do here is to make clear to not so much for you but anyone trying to decide between a Blaser S2 or a Krieghoff double rifle what the difference is between the two. Since most seem to think both have the same cocking system, I think it should be made clear to all potential buyers who are trying to choose between those two rifles.
I understand the job of a client as long as conditions allow that to be the case, but those who totally depend on the PH to pull their nuts out of the fire have their head in the sand. What happens if the PH is the first one that is hit, and you are left to pull his out of the fire, and you forget to re-cock under pressure? I'm sure PH Gibbos' family would have loved for the client to stop that elephant the took him out a couple of months ago.

Sir I don't believe you really think your responsibility ends at the first shot simply because you are a client.
...........................I'm gone! :)
 
Would love to have this discussion over a single malt - maybe a campfire close by. I'll try to stand back from comments like "head in the sand" and "nuts out of the fire". I think it further somewhat unfair to imply that I suggested that my or any clients responsibility ends with the first shot. Indeed everything that follows is a result of that shot. But to my mind, that is what makes that first shot so critical. I suspect I would absolutely agree with any assertion you would care to make about stopping rifles. I would simply argue that a stopping rifle is a poor place to begin for a client's primary rifle - particularly and especially a client's first double and perhaps first hunt for dangerous game. From my perspective, the Ian Gibsons of the world are going to be far safer with a client who can make sure of that first shot rather than covering one trying to do the same with a stopping rifle. And, as I am sure you well know, Gibbo's death had nothing to do with a client's shot of any kind.

I too like doubles. And though you have fifteen years on me, I too have a lot of time behind the butt of various conceptions of fine SxS weapons. Unlike you, I regrettably haven't owned all of them, and I certainly haven't hunted everywhere with them. But I have hunted enough with doubles and other weapons to conclude that stopping and initial engagement rifles are ideally different things. I would suggest that I am not the first person to reach that conclusion. And I believe strongly we are more likely to get the new SxS investor in trouble by having him try to use a stopping rifle as a client's rifle rather than the reverse. So, if there is a chance that I am correct, that the client's first shot is indeed critical, then I too am making a plea to potential buyers to set themselves up with a double which enables that shot. I have simply pointed out that the S2 is uniquely designed to offer that sort of first round assurance with meaningful, if not perfect, traditional double rifle back-up capability.

I will be first admit that my use of this double is somewhat non traditional. But then neither is the S2. Regrettably, enough traditionalists have disparaged the rifle sufficiently to see it dropped from production. (You can celebrate :) !) But I think that is a shame, because I believe the S2 provided a unique capability ideally configured for African hunting client.
 
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Redleg, I am in agreement with a full 90% of what you just posted and I too would love to share a camp fire under the Southern Cross someday! As far as the S2 is concerned, my only objection is it's inability to re-cock it's self when reloading shots three and four.
...............................................Jambo Mac(y)
 
Whatever gives a person the most confidence, I say. For me, that's a Mauser 98 in 30-06 and a newly-acquired Ruger 77 in 416. I think we'd each carry a Purdey double afield, if so blessed (a 450/400 would be my pick), but most of us live in a very different reality.
 
I would love to have a double but I've managed to get the job done without.
 
I got the Blaser s2 470NE
With enough practice anyone could learn how to decock while lifting the rifle.
If you learn always to decock while lifting, you will never forget to decock. I do the same with my Blaser r93 375HH or any rifle.
I never lift my rifle if I dont intend to shoot.
With this routine it doesnt mather what double you use. Only if you shoot from the hip...
 

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