Is Blaser Trying To Price Themselves Out Of The American Market???

[mdwest]

.....how you know that....something you want to tell us....?.....

 

[SETH RINGER]

THINK WE WILL SAVE A COUPLE BUCKS AND JUST STICK WITH OUR R93 PACKAGE.

 

[Red Leg]

I've worked in the US firearms industry for 20 years now and what is happening with prices is this,....all the luxury brands are trying to find the sweet spot of manageable production levels and max margin per item produced. they are using inflation and labor issues as an excuse. Their mistake is thinking that there is no ceiling (there always is) and if you are forced to bring prices down eventually you devalue every gun in the customers hands. Luxury brands like Blaser, Rigby, Dakota are all doing this. IMO, that is why true custom pieces for about the same money as these brands aren't going to be de-valued in the future because they will always be hard to get, and fewer craftsman able to product them.

My experience with custom firearms is just the opposite. Few things devalue quicker than a custom built rifle by an American craftsman. That is different than a bespoke English or German firearm like Westley Richards or Hartmann & Weiss, both of which seem to retain value far better. There are some exceptions such as when the provenance is unique.

To be sure, listings for some custom rifles can be quite high. So was my Al Lind. But listings and actual costs are typically very different things.

With respect to the R8 however, I am not sure anyone purchases one as an investment. For me, the unique attributes of the riffle simply exceed its purchase cost.

 

[UpNorthMI]

Does anyone know the price of the different models of the blaser r8 over the years?
Professional
Standard
Luxus

Here is my experience of past 2 year pricing and compared with current pricing.

I purchased 3 Blaser R8 rifles in the last couple of years:

Prices are for complete rifle with standard barrel, no accessories (scope mount etc.), all prices are before sales tax or VAT in UK:

April 2022 - Ultimate (thumb hole, adj cheek piece) - US$5,000 currently US$7,830 - 57% increase.
Sept 2022 - Professional Success - UK purchase - US$4,150 currently US$4,370 - 5% price increase.
Nov 2023 - Professional Success - LH (thumb hole) - US$5,150 Currently US$6,055 - 18% price increase.

Seems like the US market has seen significant price increases.

 

[SaintPanzer]

Having lived there for quite some time, I can tell you two things:

1. The inflation rate (and other economic issues) is (are) far worse in Germany than you are seeing in the United States right now.

2. Reports in a previous post that suppressors are not common on the continent are incorrect.

 

[CoElkHunter]

My experience with custom firearms is just the opposite. Few things devalue quicker than a custom built rifle by an American craftsman. That is different than a bespoke English or German firearm like Westley Richards or Hartmann & Weiss, both of which seem to retain value far better. There are some exceptions such as when the provenance is unique.

To be sure, listings for some custom rifles can be quite high. So was my Al Lind. But listings and actual costs are typically very different things.

With respect to the R8 however, I am not sure anyone purchases one as an investment. For me, the unique attributes of the riffle simply exceed its purchase cost.

I've often wondered why higher end American factory rifle brands like Montana, Dakota, A Square and others don't make it and yet even more costly European rifle brands are still around? My guess is those American companies didn't/don't have the International sales exposure and they priced themselves out of the market here. They couldn't compete here with the lower priced brands the average hunter was buying. My other guess is that European hunting is mostly for the "well heeled" and those hunters don't blink an eye at buying Blasers or other higher end rifles and/or their choices of brands is limited? So, I guess I'm surmising and asking questions at the same time.

 

[CoElkHunter]

No one ever complains when they sell their house for 2 to three times what they paid for it.

DB

True. But if they make monthly mortgage payments for thirty years before they sell their home, they've paid 2-3 times the value of their original purchase paying the interest on the mortgage?

 

[gbflyer]

Don’t have one. I’m sure they are great. There is a million of them that pop up on Gunbroker when I’m looking for something specific. I have zero interest in it and the parade of Blasers is quite frankly a might irritating. Who ever is selling them in the USA must be very well stocked.

 

[CoElkHunter]

Don’t have one. I’m sure they are great. There is a million of them that pop up on Gunbroker when I’m looking for something specific. I have zero interest in it and the parade of Blasers is quite frankly a might irritating. Who ever is selling them in the USA must be very well stocked.

I see the same thing on GB. After the first couple pages then it becomes ALL Blaser in mostly cartridges you weren't looking for in the first place. Very strange.

 

[TOBY458]

Don’t have one. I’m sure they are great. There is a million of them that pop up on Gunbroker when I’m looking for something specific. I have zero interest in it and the parade of Blasers is quite frankly a might irritating. Who ever is selling them in the USA must be very well stocked.

I've heard a couple people say that when they've enquired about some of the Blasers on GB, they are told they are not in stock. I believe Mad Dog Guns has the most advertisements of any of the Blaser dealers. But, their prices tend to be the highest of all of them. Cove Creek being the lowest. However Cove Creek doesn't seem to stock much other than the standard Professional rifles and barrels with no iron sights.

 

[albravo]

I just bought into the cult. I bought an R8 Ultimate for C$6500 which would be about US$4900. There aren't that many Canadian dealers so I searched them all and went with the best price. For a change, it seems a bit cheaper to buy here rather than buy in the US and import it.

Is it worth it? Depends how many C$6500 coins you have in your pocket. It doesn't shoot any better than my custom rifles that were probably about $5000 (and probably just a hair better than a $1200 Tikka T3x) but I have to say I'm really impressed with the engineering and versatility. I really like the rifle and that is worth something. I have .375H&H, 9.3x62 and .223 and I'm probably not half way down the rabbit hole.

I have only just done barrel break-in, not load development. The .223 and .375 were sub-moa with my break-in rounds, the 9.3 just a bit over. I'm looking forward to doing some load development.

 

[Tra3]

I just bought into the cult. I bought an R8 Ultimate for C$6500 which would be about US$4900. There aren't that many Canadian dealers so I searched them all and went with the best price. For a change, it seems a bit cheaper to buy here rather than buy in the US and import it.

Is it worth it? Depends how many C$6500 coins you have in your pocket. It doesn't shoot any better than my custom rifles that were probably about $5000 (and probably just a hair better than a $1200 Tikka T3x) but I have to say I'm really impressed with the engineering and versatility. I really like the rifle and that is worth something. I have .375H&H, 9.3x62 and .223 and I'm probably not half way down the rabbit hole.

I have only just done barrel break-in, not load development. The .223 and .375 were sub-moa with my break-in rounds, the 9.3 just a bit over. I'm looking forward to doing some load development.

Maybe 1/3 down the rabbit hole, depending on family needs, pet caliber needs, and a myriad of other factors we are prone to.

I’m not sure my R8’s shoot much better than my Kimbers or Winchester or Sako or Ruger or Tikka. For $1200 you can get really impressive accuracy out of many newly made rifles. It is all the other factors besides accuracy that are worth the extra money.

I definitely don’t buy rifles as an investment. An R8 is a Swiss Army knife of a rifle. You use it and very likely won’t break it. When I hike in the mountains in the dark, the scope comes off and goes in a padded sleeve in my backpack. With the rifle on my pack I’m not at all worried about falling or dropping my pack or smacking the scope.

 

[CoElkHunter]

I've heard a couple people say that when they've enquired about some of the Blasers on GB, they are told they are not in stock. I believe Mad Dog Guns has the most advertisements of any of the Blaser dealers. But, their prices tend to be the highest of all of them. Cove Creek being the lowest. However Cove Creek doesn't seem to stock much other than the standard Professional rifles and barrels with no iron sights.

Cove Creek has a R8 Lexus Grade 5 stock Lion/Buffalo in stock with choice of cartridge for $6500? Heck, they want $4K for some of Blaser’s synthetic stocks! Crazy.

 

[gearguywb]

I've heard a couple people say that when they've enquired about some of the Blasers on GB, they are told they are not in stock. I believe Mad Dog Guns has the most advertisements of any of the Blaser dealers. But, their prices tend to be the highest of all of them. Cove Creek being the lowest. However Cove Creek doesn't seem to stock much other than the standard Professional rifles and barrels with no iron sights.

When I was looking for a R8, Cove Creek had everything in stock, service was very good, and shipping was prompt.

Purchased a complete rifle in 300, 375 barrel with sights, and 2 30MM mounts

 

[Challer]

The secret takeaway is that if you get into the R8 cult, and find you want to sell components or just get out later, there’s plenty of willing cult members to buy your stuff. I’ve bought and sold lots of R8 kit until I settled into my current setup.

 

[uplander01]

I worked for Blaser for a bit,....they don't sell as many R8's as all you fellas think. There are gobbs of R8's and Rigby's for sale right now, and the same ones are for sale forever it seems to me.

Custom rifles like G&H, Buehler, Lon Paul, Duane Weibe, the list goes on don't seem to ever depreciate. Problem you are seeing now is guys are trying to sell them for 20% + more than they paid for them 10-15 years ago and they are guns that have been shot and used. My experience dabbling in that market is you can enjoy owning and using one and pretty much get back what you got into it.

 

[UpNorthMI]

When I was looking for a R8, Cove Creek had everything in stock, service was very good, and shipping was prompt.

Purchased a complete rifle in 300, 375 barrel with sights, and 2 30MM mounts

I had the same experience with Cove Creek, all in stock and barrels with sights on where I wanted them. They were great for service and getting things out the door and in the mail.

Sounds like we placed the same order for 300WM and .375 H&H ..... lol

 

[Altitude sickness]

Upnorth, when the Cove Creek says in the ad “choose caliber” so they have that many calibers in stock? Or will that order it?

What is the largest caliber an R8 comes in ?

 

[Red Leg]

Upnorth, when the Cove Creek says in the ad “choose caliber” so they have that many calibers in stock? Or will that order it?

What is the largest caliber an R8 comes in ?

Just like Europtic, they maintain a lot of R8 stock. I am pretty sure it is listed on their site.

In standard configuration, the largest is .375

In the Safari (Selous and Kilomboro) models they catalogue .416 RM, .458 WM, 458 Lott, and .500 Jeffrey (the .416 RM is the easiest to find of those).

This is the Blaser "configurator" from their site.

R8 Configurator

From caliber to stock – comfortably compile your own R8 bolt action rifle with the modular R8 system in the Blaser gun configurator.

www.blaser.de

 

[Rimbaud]

I have to believe that the ownership group for Blaser, and the other brands, is simply making a luxury goods gambit to see how high they can push prices without destroying demand. There's a belief in some quarters that luxury goods are largely immune from economic cycles because the people who buy luxury are insulated, to a very large degree, from the economic forces that impact everyone else. Check out some of the luxury stocks, like LVMH, which is buying loads of luxe brands and shoving them into a holding company structure.