Blaser vs Rigby

[JPbowhunter]

Happy British client in the centre with magnum .375 made by John Rigby and Co hanging on his shoulder . Picure was taken in 1965 . Excellent gun . I am on the left wearing my hat with my Ishapore shot-gun slung on my back . My partner is on left side holding the .3006 rifle belonging to my client . It was a successful Shikar. Rigby guns are very reliable. This genleman went on half a dozen Shikars with us and his gun never let us down.
However , l have only ever heard good things about Blaser . German guns are very robust.

Great photo, what an incredible time to have been alive. Hunting gaur, tiger, leopard, serow etc. In British India would have been incredible. I'm biased being a big Jim Corbett fan but I would have taken an inidian shikar over an african safari any day.

 

[Deleted member 43267]

It doesn't matter. Tambo is going to lose your rifle for 24 to 48 hours. If you are connecting, you will be in another country and be using a camp rifle. I do admire the "two rifles in one small case" that you get with the Blaser R8, and the decocking feature adds an element of safety for the PH and tracker. But my next rifle will likely be another Mauser M12 extreme because my hunting tends to be on the rough side in terms of terrain, bouncing vehicles, and sand, or complete weather awfulness during the NY deer season. And I have a soft spot for the M12 because it performed so well last year and seems to shoot anything you chamber with great accuracy.

Jeff

 

[Kawshik Rahman]

Great photo, what an incredible time to have been alive. Hunting gaur, tiger, leopard, serow etc. In British India would have been incredible. I'm biased being a big Jim Corbett fan but I would have taken an inidian shikar over an african safari any day.

Thank you for your kind words . Of all the animals I have ever hunted in Bangladesh and India , it is the blue bull ( which we call Nilgai) which l enjoyed hunting the most . Their meat is similar to coarse beef and my late mother made excellent kababs using their kidneys ( Gurdah Kabab). I have not hunted or eaten them in six decades. Now that Nilgai can be hunted in Uttar Pradesh and Kuch Bihar again , l hope to hunt one in December with my niece and my Beretta 12 bore.
Shikar season in India used to last seven months and we were very active. What African Safaris have accomplished is enviable as they have preserved the beautiful art of hunting , while India is now sadly a strong hold for vegetarian and shikar hating fools who know nothing about actual conservation or ethics.

 

[Goose Cracker]

So, Blaser or Rigby?

I will admit that I was not a Blaser fan until 2019. I've fooled around with them a bit at the gun shop and at shows, but never got to fire one. I love the classic Rigbys.

I got to hunt in the UK for roe deer and muntjac twice in 2019 (April and August). My guide, Ben Heath (who is excellent and very highly recommended) suggested I use his rifle rather than the hassle of traveling with my own. Ben's primary "deer stalking rifle" is a Blaser R8 Professional Success in 6.5x55. It is suppressed and sports a Zeiss Victory V8 4.8-36X56 (34mm tube) with an illuminated #4 reticle. A pretty expensive set-up, and certainly one I wasn't going to turn down. I figure the same set up would run about $8500 without the suppressor. But suppressors are shocking inexpensive outside the US.

I really struggled with the Blaser "safety" the first day I used the rifle. Second day I started to get the hang of it. Fast forward four months to my second trip with Ben and by the fourth day of using the Blaser it was like second nature. I say "safety", but technically it's a cocker/de-cocker I think, which is really handy. I love the idea of walking around with the rifle uncocked until you are ready to fire. I'm sold on the Blaser after using it a couple times. Very accurate, very versatile, great trigger, easily transportable, etc. Lots of reasons to love them.

There are only three (potential) drawbacks as far as I'm concerned:
1. Price. They are expensive. Any/all of it. A second barrel is $1200+ which is as much as many/most full bolt guns. Scope mounts are $450.
2. While the trigger is great, there is a lot of plastic/polymer for an expensive gun and it seems weird to remove the trigger group to get to the magazine. Won't rust or pit, that's for sure.
3. There are a lot of moving parts on a Blaser. It's strongest attribute could be considered a weakness - how eminently customizable it is. But to be that customizable, lots of parts need to move.

With all that said, I very well may own one in the next few years. They are a genius bit of engineering and all the folks that have them seem to love them. Lots of Blaser owners I very much respect as well.

Pic of Ben's Blaser R8 Pro Success. He uses this gun extensively - as in 250+ deer a year in the damp coolness that is England. Never a single hiccup as far as I know. Also pictured are the Viper-flex quad sticks, which are excellent. Bought myself a set after I used them back in April. Shot a roebuck in the neck at 182m and a fox at over 200m. Almost like shooting off a bench.

 

[Accidental Villain]

I had the pleasure of examining a couple of the earliest new Rigby big game rifles and wasn't at all disappointed. They were just what I was expecting. Superb. A top of the line very well made magnum Mauser action which takes a lot of expertize, resources and machining to make. I wouldn't at all be surprised if the production cost of making that action is higher than the total production cost of a standard Blaser. The stocks was made from selected for very dense and straight grained 300 to at least 400 years old Ruglans Regia walnut. That's very rare and expensive blanks. On the retail market those stock blanks would be in the at least 4000 $ range maybe more if such blanks ever would appear on the retail market. They are usually picked up by high end gun makers. And the Rigbys are very very well put together. They are ready for decades of hard African hunting and would be just as good or even better by the years.
To me the thought of comparing Rigby big game with a Blaser is ridiculous. I saw in one of the earlier posts someone using a car metaphor...well, to me its the difference between average blended scotch and quarter cask single malt from one of the great makers. It will get you just as drunk but one of them tastes a hell of a lot better and will last a hell of a lot longer..;p

 

[Brian Rothhammer]

Oh come on. I have a pristine original pre-war Wesley Richards .318 takedown. I think, it is what most would agree is representative state of the art in a well made take down of the period. It is an interesting little rifle that I love. It is reasonably accurate for a take down. ..... That is until one takes it down and puts it back together. Everything works the same - just not to precisely the exact same point of aim. Dismount and remount the scope and things get more interesting. Oh it is minute of buffalo out of the case - but it isn’t a buffalo caliber - at least now. That has been my experience in all interrupted screw systems. Cool technology for the period but somewhat archaic eighty or ninety years later. A Blaser R8 returns exactly to zero time after time after time after time. And with no thread wear to the barrel or take down system.

The Steyr built Mannlicher Schoenauer Take Down Models of M1900 - M1910 were built on a system also used by Westley Richards. The entire barreled action lifts out as a unit, there is no 'interrupted thread' connection, everything stays aligned. I don't know where Pondoro is using a coin. The closest thing to a tool used to 'take down' the MS is a bullet tip, stick, or similar object to press into ta hole in the magazine bottom plate to release a flat spring therein. From there, remove magazine by twisting bottom plate and pulling down, flip lever fore of trigger guard, pull forend pin and the action is free to be lifted upward and free of the stock.

Mannlicher Schoenauer takedown model as built by Steyr. Stoeger Catalog, 1939.

Westley Richards, 1912.

Mannlicher Schoenauer M1910 Takedown Model, cased.

 

[Brian Rothhammer]

My

Great photo, what an incredible time to have been alive. Hunting gaur, tiger, leopard, serow etc. In British India would have been incredible. I'm biased being a big Jim Corbett fan but I would have taken an inidian shikar over an african safari any day.

Leopard Hunting

• Brian Rothhammer
• Jan 3, 2019

John Forrest Easton, center, with M1910 'factory takedown model'

My Granddad, center.

M1910, held by My Grandfather

• Brian Rothhammer
• Jan 3, 2019
• 1

My M1910, held by My Grandfather who bought it 'second hand' while he was a Goodyear executive...

His (my) Mannlicher Schoenauer M1910 Takedown (9,5X57 - .375 Nitro Express Rimless).

 

[Rell]

Shooting a Blaser is like kissing your cousin. Not satisfying and feels wrong.

 

[PerH]

The Mauser/Licher Rifle | Classic Arms Journal

 

[Hunter-Habib]

I’ll take the third option : Get a John Rigby London Best in .505 Gibbs AND a Blaser R8 in .375 Holland & Holland Magnum .

 

[colorado]

So it’s a weekend and I want to invoke some comments. The Blaser nuts are all over those things and the Rigby are offering some nice CRF rifles assembled by them.

What are you preferences and what other big end rifles should I have named?

I can afford either but I’d like to try a Blaser or a Rigby. I do like the traditional looks etc on the Rigby but I haven’t seen either up close.

I like all nice rifles but preferences vary what’s yours?. I have functional reliable sporting rifles, I Like quality scopes too and could not spent like $3000 plus for a scope for these high end rifles. If I won the Lotto I may consider having something like that but then I would want more than one I guess.

Using these would add to the glamour, the experience and the nostalgia of hunting Africa or elsewhere but would it improve my success.

Blasers ...

Rigby

You decide

 

[Red Leg]

Shooting a Blaser is like kissing your cousin. Not satisfying and feels wrong.

You are so original.

I assume you have used one a lot to have such an informed opinion? Do please tell us Blaser owners what we have somehow missed.

I should add, I own a Rigby and love it - it will be accompanying me to Zambia tomorrow for plains game. My current favorite whitetail rifle is a Bailey Bradshaw single shot in 7x65R. It is perfection for Texas whitetail.

However, the finest and most useful production rifles in my game room are my Blasers - not really close.

 

[264]

Even the days I get nothing its good to be carrying a Rigby................

 

[Rell]

I hunt Africa two to three times a year most years. I use three different PHs regularly and consistently. Two have been given Blasers and won’t hunt them for DG even though one is a 375 and the other a 416. All three describe the unease of watching a client pull out a Blaser on the range the first day. All three have told me stories of failures. In fairness all three describe many of those failures to operator error working the bolt, failure to lock into battery being the most common issue. I’ve used them twice and had one problem that was almost certainly me trying to work the action gently and quietly. My fault … yes but any of my granite mountain arms M98 actioned rifles would not have had the issue. I get they are a switch barrel solution and that’s important in some countries with certain restrictions. They tend to be accurate, maybe even more accurate then a M98 on average? But for DG my opinion is that they are less reliable and a compromise. If you are confident in yours, have mastered it completely and it’s never failed you, that’s great but for reliability, I’ll keep a M98 and a double handy.

 

[Red Leg]

I hunt Africa two to three times a year most years. I use three different PHs regularly and consistently. Two have been given Blasers and won’t hunt them for DG even though one is a 375 and the other a 416. All three describe the unease of watching a client pull out a Blaser on the range the first day. All three have told me stories of failures. In fairness all three describe many of those failures to operator error working the bolt, failure to lock into battery being the most common issue. I’ve used them twice and had one problem that was almost certainly me trying to work the action gently and quietly. My fault … yes but any of my granite mountain arms M98 actioned rifles would not have had the issue. I get they are a switch barrel solution and that’s important in some countries with certain restrictions. They tend to be accurate, maybe even more accurate then a M98 on average? But for DG my opinion is that they are less reliable and a compromise. If you are confident in yours, have mastered it completely and it’s never failed you, that’s great but for reliability, I’ll keep a M98 and a double handy.

I genuinely appreciate the fact that you have used one. Most critics have perhaps seen one. I am fortunate to have an extensive gun room with what most would consider contains some rather well made rifles of one form or another. That gun room contains several doubles as well.

However, I simply can not come up with a better solution for hunting Africa (or anywhere else that requires a plane ride) than a R8. The multiple barrels are of some interest, but the rifle's transportability, accuracy, ergonomics, and trigger are better than any other production rifle of which I am aware. That is what interests me. That doesn't mean that I won't take another rifle (see below) - but none of them are a better solution.

For instance, I love my .318 Westley Richards takedown, the sale of which would underwrite several R8's. Ergonomics are very good and transportability is superb. Trigger - after much work is acceptable, and accuracy is ok. By any reasonable standards other than nostalgia and craftmanship, it is not nearly the rifle of a basic R8. My Libhart .404 is a modern masterpiece. I have yet to bring it to Africa because I can't improve upon the sheer utility of a R8 in .375.

I keep hearing about these PHs who don't care for the Blaser. I have yet to meet one. Those who have handled mine, have been impressed. They will certainly have found no issue with its performance on game.

I am heading out to Zambia tomorrow with a Rigby in .275. I love the rifle, and we will use it on an assortment of PG. It will perform superbly. But, my R8 with .300 Win Mag barrel attached would do everything just a tad better.

 

[Rell]

Totally respect your opinion and experience.

My solution to the take down concept was the H&H system (I think it’s called that). I had Joe Smithson build me a 375H&H that’s pretty handy.

 

[Graham Hunter]

The Blaser is an odd solution for a problem that never existed.. Rigby´s Mauser M98 actioned boltrifles have proved themselves for more than a century..

When you wrote Blaser nuts......I kind of giggled...

In addition I mean that Blasers are ridicoulusly overpriced..

Now I take cover and wait for the Flak...

I agree with you but I also think the Rigby rifles are highly over priced. You are paying a lot for a name!

 

[Red Leg]

Totally respect your opinion and experience.

My solution to the take down concept was the H&H system (I think it’s called that). I had Joe Smithson build me a 375H&H that’s pretty handy.

Very nice. Both H&H and WR did a takedown version that utilized a quick stock removal system. It is superior, in my view, to the interrupted thread design that WR also utilized.

My WR utilizes the interrupted thread design. It works, but repeatability of groups upon reassembly at destination is not an exact science. By contrast, the R8 is monotonously dependable.

I would assume your Smithson would be equally so.

 

[colorado]

I'd rather hug my CZ 550 ...

 

[Pondoro]

My .500 Jeffery.. You take a ZKK602 action, turn down a .50 caliber machinegun barrel and pick a laminated stock. the you mount a diopter far back on the action. 3 in the magazine, weight 4.8kg.
It feeds well with Norma 540 grain brass bullets.. I modified the safety to a M70 and altered the bolt handle to better rapid cycling.. A plain but usable ele thumper..