Blaser R8 Field Evaluation

[Formidilosus]

This will be a long term field eval similar to-

MRC Eval

How’s Superlite

Browning X-Bolt 2



Blaser R8:






This one is in 6BR.


Assembled from the case, and broken back down into the case. Less than 1 minute to go from suitcase to functioning rifle- and less than one minute to go back to the suit case. Prior experience is that zero isn’t just close- it is absolutely spot on every single time.

Starting at the start:

The scope mount is a multi-piece affair. The top ring halves, the bottom rings halves, and the base. The bottom ring halves are held on by a relatively large screw. Taking the mount apart, the front ring base screw had some type of thread locker and was tight. The rear base however had no thread locker and was not very tight at all- closer to just snug.





Degreased everything and because it’s extremely important and metal on metal and easy to get to later, I used Loctite 380 on the base ring screws-





I also mounted the Revic 5-25x scope on it, as it will be a good fit and there is no point in beating up the owners Maven for now.





Sept 5th:

Made two loads up using 30gr Varget, virgin Norma brass, and Fed205 primers.


103gr ELD-X. First shot out of the rifle is #1 (the highest)-


105gr Berger Hybrid-





Sept. 13th


It’s not the biggest fan of 108gr ELD-M and this Varget load-



But, 107gr SMK and Varget do nice things-



With new, but sized brass to clean up the crushed necks, the 105gr Berger Hybrids are better-



Cont….

 

[Formidilosus]

Sept. 16th.


Conducted a return to zero/repeatability “test”. Video of all, but I have to get it edited and loaded.

First 5 rounds to confirm zero-



Next 5 rounds with the scope removed and reattached between each shot.



Next was 5 rounds of just the barrel being removed from the stock/reciever-



Then, 5 rounds again with just the scope being removed and reattached between each shot as I had a hunch where the wild shot came from-



The last 5 shots are just the suppressor being removed and reattached between each shot-




Results: This was done using the 107gr SMK load from the prior post, with the single 10 round group going .97 inches. All the shots from this event landed inside what is statistically probably the true cone. However, the 3 main ones out all come from the scope mount portion, and all three are from when righting the front base lever before the rear. The front lever does not have as much tension when tightening down as the rear- and I believe that is where the slight error is. I have not seen this with other Blasers I have used, so I will try to run it down.

Even with the outer shots, it is a 1.5 MOA 25 round group with the rifle and scope being taken completely apart throughout.



Additionally, I tried a load with 95gr SMK’s- this is what I would expect from a BR:



TBC….

 

[Formidilosus]

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[Snowwolfe]

Tag. In the process of acquiring R8 parts myself. So far have a Savana stock, left hand bolt, and mag bolt head. Plan is to acquire 300 Weatherby and 375 H&H barrels for a nice Alaska takedown outfit.

 

[khuber84]

Dammit it want an R8! This will be interesting to follow. The new Mauser M25 has my attention as well.

6br........gonna roll your own or shoot lapua ammo?

 

[Formidilosus]

Dammit it want an R8! This will be interesting to follow. The new Mauser M25 has my attention as well.

6br........gonna roll your own or shoot lapua ammo?

Reload.

 

[SloppyJ]

Ive spent way too much time looking at left handed models of these since class.

In for the writeup.

 

[Steve O]

Not a high volume shooter but have very few complaints with my R8s; looking forward to see what the experts say.

 

[PaulIV]

I wish I could find a 6br barrel for mine before you post the tiny groups

 

[JordanM]

Form who cut/chambered the BR barrel?

 

[Brontosaurus]

Form who cut/chambered the BR barrel?

Did some research and its a factory option

 

[JordanM]

Gotcha been eyeing them for over a year now and have the R8 ultimate. Never saw that in there haha.

 

[SloppyJ]

Gotcha been eyeing them for over a year now and have the R8 ultimate. Never saw that in there haha.

They're quite progressive on some of the chamberings and stick with classics for others. Its an interesting list to me.

 

[JohnJohnson]

I need this to go badly so I'm not too tempted.

 

[Lionheart]

In.

 

[MountainSide]

I've been using an R8 in one configuration or another for the past four years. Very interested to see where the testing goes. Thanks, Form!

 

[omicron1792]

@Formidilosus has talked highly of Blaser for a while. Will be nice to see his formal evaluation.

 

[RockAndSage]

@Formidilosus has talked highly of Blaser for a while. Will be nice to see his formal evaluation.

Definitely.