A relative just offered to lend me an R93 Blaser with four barrels, "To play with."

One barrel looks like a lead pipe and says .416 Remington.

My Ph in Zimbabwe, Myles McCallum, used a Blaser this summer in Tanzania where he was scouting for his next years hunts, and said he enjoyed the rifles trigger and quick reload.

Other than dry firing my freinds the other day I know nothing about the Blaser.

How do you get camming action on a straight pull bolt action, and is it a push feed or controlled round feed???

I will find out in a few days but just wanted to know how you fellows felt about it. (I see Slingster used a 9.3 x 62mm Blaser).

Andy

Andy
I have Blaser R-93 rifles and several barrels. I like them a lot. I have shot them a LOT.
Never had a single problem. My large bore [40 cal and up] rifles are doubles. I have 2 375 blaser bbls but no 416. I have shot a friends 416 bbl and if I did not have big bore doubles I WOULD have a 416 bbl. I will probably get a 400 H&H bbl, if I can get it in the standard contour for use in Alaska. In Africa I would prefer the "lead pipe bbl" [the safari model], in 416 and 375.

What other bbls will you be playing with?

WARNING, WARNING, WARNING. Quit NOW while you CAN. After you shoot/play with the Blaser R 93 for a while you will have to have one.

Go to http://www.blaserpro.com

It is push feed but I have never had any feeding problems with one. I would not hesitate to use one for Dangerous Game in close quarters.

A few friends and I have used Blaser's for some time now in Australia, New Zealand, Zimbabwe and Mongolia. Caliber's used are 375H&H, 9.3x62,300Weth, 30\06, 7x64BR,7X57,6.5x57 and 222.All with great acuracy and no feeding problems.

With the blaser's we have taken such game as wild Pigs, many Cape Buffalo,water Buffalo, Hippo, Lion,some Ibex, Plain's Game and Deer.
The only problem I have found is that the few stock screws do loosen some times.
And with such a bolt system, one must get use to it. But once use to it its a dam fast system.
These problems can happen to all rifles.

I will second all that N E 450 No2 has said about the R93.

I have one .375 standard contour barrel and four others as well, and if I didn't already have two other .416 caliber rifles, I'd have that barrel for my R93 too.

And I have used my R93 on all sorts of game, including two African lion at close quarters, and I would gladly do so again.

The Blaser R93 is THE MOST accurate, versatile, compact and reliable out-of-the-box rifle I have ever used, seen or heard tell of.

My only complaint about them is that, as with all things German, they cost TOO DAMNED MUCH! But, man, they are good.

I have many other rifles that I like as much, but none I like more.

Thanks for your quick and enthusiastic replies!

Barrels are 22-250, 7mm Remington mag, .300 win mag, and 416 remington.

To make it even worse, it has two Schmidt and Bender scopes.

And a really nice peice of wood on the stock, thoguh the forearms (two of them) are nothing special and do not appear to match the stock too well.

I was surprised a dedicated Mauser CRF PH like Myles would endorse it, so it got my interest up. Then I came home and a Blaser fell into my lap.

Will keep you posted, and thanks!

Andy

Andy, there will be two forearms because the .416 barrel has a heavier (safari) contour than the remainder of the barrels. One can use the forearm inletted for the heavy barrel for the thinner contours as well, but the gap will be clearly visible. Merely cosmetic, though.

The R93 is a push feed, but feeds very well due to the centerline magazine. The magazines work well, and are an integral part of the Blaser strategy offering owners unprecedented flexibility in terms of switching calibers, scopes and stocks. However, the magazines are made of a composite material, and although I have never experienced problems with them in my 10-11 years as a heavy R93 user, a lot of people don't like the idea of composite materials in a rifle.

The straight pull action of the rifle makes it extremely fast for follow-up shots. Coupled with that is the decocking facility (instead of a conventional safety), which allows the rifle to be carried in total safety with a round chambered. This, to me, is the single biggest advantage of the rifle. However, the fact that it is straight pull also means the rifle has no primary extraction, at least not to the extent a regular turn bolt design offers. This is not the rifle's strongest point. It is not a rifle to load with excessive loads for this reason, and ideally it should be kept clean on a daily basis.

For a travelling rifle, there are few designs better than the R93, as it takes down and reassembles in minutes. No screws or loose parts to be lost. If you have the choice, the Euro style, QD sadlle mounts (as opposed to the US style screw-on) are preferable, as they mount and dismount with no effort. The Blaser mount system may look puny, and is probably not the strongest in the World. I have never had problems with mine, though, and the system allows return to zero with amazing repeatability.

Add to all of the above, that the rifle is a good 3-4" shorter than a conventional rifle with the same barrel length (due to the lack of a receiver). That makes for a very handy package in the field, moving in and out of cars, blinds etc.

The R93 is a rifle which people either love or hate, there seems to be no middle ground. I hardly hunt with anything else these days, and have used them almost exclusively for 10 or more years. But you may also hear people who are very vocal about the down sides of the rifle's features, mostly people who have not used them, though, but who decided this design was not for them.

- mike

quote:

Originally posted by Andy:

Barrels are 22-250, 7mm Remington mag, .300 win mag, and 416 remington.

To make it even worse, it has two Schmidt and Bender scopes.

And a really nice peice of wood on the stock, thoguh the forearms (two of them) are nothing special and do not appear to match the stock too well.

Sounds like a good set of barrels to have, although if one were to quibble there's too much overlap between the 7mm RM and the 300 WM. I'd say keep the one that you prefer and get a 9.3x62 or .375 H&H instead and then you'd have a rifle for all occasions.

I'd like to echo the sentiments of the previous posters here in my high regard of the R93. Aside from the technical innovations already mentioned, the gun is just a pleasure to shoot. One common theme you’ll hear from Blaser users is their praise of the gun’s trigger.
More often than not it's my Blaser that I pull out for deer hunting here in Georgia but also it has worked wonderfully on a range of species in Africa on two trips there, including 2 cape buffalo.
One thing you'll want to be sure of when you use it as a .416 is that you add the kickstop to the configuration. . The kickstop, which is a cylinder you insert in the gun's stock, is filled with tungsten beads and reduces recoil by about 20%. It will give the gun an extra 21 ounces in weight, which is a difference maker in a big bore caliber. It's easy to install and remove as you won't need it when you shoot those lighter bullets.
Good luck and fine shooting.

I used a R93 for over 10 years now. The advantages are given in previous posts. My calibers are 300 WinMag, not often used, .416 RemMag for heavy plains game, .458 Lott for dozen of elephants and other game in a "single rifle safari", .500 Jeff for ele, but not very convincing.
If you have detailed questions, pls. email me.

Spring,

It looks like you have a lightweight barrel on your R93 with your handsome buffalo. What caliber and barrel profile is it? The 416 barrel I have is almost a straight tube with very modest taper from breech to muzzle.

Norbert,

Thank you for the offer of advice. I will e- mail you after I shoot it a bit.

Did the synthetic magazine follower work satisfatorily with your various SP bullet profiles?

I will probably be using a 370 grain North Fork FN in 416 and his soft point.

Andy

Andy,
My .375 barrel is simply the standard one as compared the safari model. It works like a charm on my gun. I did have the BP-Technology recoil reducer added to it and have been very pleased with it. It's the only thing I've found on the market that can reduce recoil without raising the sound level. I can shoot the gun all day and drive nails with it.

There are a couple of photos on the internet of R93s that blew up. Blaser says it is due to faulty reloads. The rifle owners say not. One fellow lost an eye over the deal.

However, R93s are definitely accurate and the action is quick. Reloading is slower than a Mauser or Winchester.

Look here:

http://www.deportiro.com/english_articles/al10_english_version.shtml

quote:

Originally posted by 500grains:
There are a couple of photos on the internet of R93s that blew up. Blaser says it is due to faulty reloads. The rifle owners say not. One fellow lost an eye over the deal.

However, R93s are definitely accurate and the action is quick. Reloading is slower than a Mauser or Winchester.

Look here:

http://www.deportiro.com/english_articles/al10_english_version.shtml

Correct, except:

1. It is not Blaser alone that says the ammunition was bad--meaning WAY overpressure--in such cases.

2. Reloading is just as fast as any Mauser or Winchester unless either of the latter two are scopeless and set up for stripper clips.

Actually, I find reloading a Blaser quite a bit slower than a Mauser or Winchester because on a Blaser the round must be firmly snapped into the plastic thingie. It takes me longer than on a Mauser or a Winchester.

When using the term "reloading", we must distinguish whether we are talking about reloading the chamber from the magazine, or whether we are talking about recharging the magazine.

As long as there are cartridges available in the magazine, the R93 is clearly faster to reload than a regular bolt action. It is a breeze to reload the R93 from the shoulder, as the movement is a lot simpler than that needed to reload a regular bolt action rifle. Anybody with experience of the Blaser, will see this for himself. Important or not? Depends on your hunting situations, I suppose.

Whether it is quicker to recharge the magazine on a regular bolt action rifle, in particular one with a staggered magazine like a Mauser or a M70, I really could not tell. I must admit I have never tried to measure the time it took - including fumbling out new cartridges from whatever location you store them in. Fortunately, for my hunting thus far, I have only ever experienced having to recharge the magazine once. I would say, that in the overwhelming percentage of hunting situations, 1 shot should in principle be all we need, and 3-4 shots should be ample in case we need a backup. In any event, it is not a particularly fast operation to recharge a magazine on whatever rifle. So whether it takes 60 or 70 seconds, is perhaps less important??

There has been one particular accident with the R93, which has been much discussed and publicized on this board. This was an accident in Germany, and had to do with handloaded (.300?) Wby cartridges. In this particular case, it is not Blaser who concluded there was a problem with the ammo. There was an official inquiry into the incident, and the weapon was examined by one of the official German institutions (was it Tüv or DEVA??). It was the conclusion of this official tester, which laid the blame on the ammo, not Blaser - although I'm sure they agreed.

- mike

The R93 in .416 Remington Magnum is a SUPERB combination. I used one in Tanzania (Selous) in 04 to take a lion, leopard, two Cape Buffalo and six other species. Much more accurate than it needs to be, superb trigger, extremely fast bolt-manipulation. Totally reliable, I didn't experience a single problem in 21 days of hunting.

Lacking an effective butt pad the synthetic stock just about draws blood as it comes from the factory. I had David Clevenger at Gunsmoke Gunsmithing in Wheatridge Colorado install a Simms Limbsaver recoil pad and reduce the total length of pull to 13 inches. It's very comfortable to shoot now. Also, the Kick Stop is a big help. I also had Dave shorten the barrel from 25 inches to 21 inches. The rifle is now only 37 inches long and weighs 9.1 lbs with the Kick Stop installed and a 2.5x Leupold scope mounted.

I couldn't have been more pleased with a rifle.

Tom

http://www.americanfirearmsacademy.com

Andy,

I used the 370gr. bullets from North Fork, both softs and solids, and they performed perfectly. I only recoverd two soft-points but they looked just like the expanded bullets on the North Fork website. I couldn't have asked for better performance.

Tom,

That sounds like a very nice set up for your R93. Do you have any photos of it that you could post? I'd love to see how it looks.

quote:

Originally posted by T_Russell:
Lacking an effective butt pad the synthetic stock just about draws blood as it comes from the factory.

This is indeed a ncessary modification. I have no idea why Blaser ships the synthetic stock with that sorry excuse for a recoil pad they use. Maybe because recoil pads are not as big "an item" in Europe as they are in the States??

Both my synthetic stocked R93s were modified to sport Pachmayr Decelerator pads before I took delivery of them. You cut the stock to the LOP (incl pad) you want, and epoxy in a couple of shaped hardwood dowels in the top and the bottom of the stock. Now you have something to mount the pad on.

In addition to that, I also filled the rear stock with expanding foam, to cut down on resonance. This, sadly, makes it a lot more difficult to use a recoil stop, so you have to think hard about whether this is a mod for you. I also filled the forearm of one stock completely and of another partially with epoxy - again to cut down on resonance. Oh, if Blaser would only have used a McMillan stock...

- mike

Andy:

quote:

Did the synthetic magazine follower work satisfactorily with your various SP bullet profiles?

With a slight modification for the bigger non-factory cartridges it works extremly reliable, because during reloading (rechambering) the cartridge is lifted. A feature you don´t find with Mausers and Winchesters.
A Pachmayr Triple Mag buttpad or the like is a must for all Blaser stocks. German customers don´t like the optics of big buttpads. They prefer the english style, minimum thickness of it.

quote:

Originally posted by 500grains:
There are a couple of photos on the internet of R93s that blew up. Blaser says it is due to faulty reloads. The rifle owners say not. One fellow lost an eye over the deal.

However, R93s are definitely accurate and the action is quick. Reloading is slower than a Mauser or Winchester.

Look here:

http://www.deportiro.com/english_articles/al10_english_version.shtml

500 grains- you brought up all the very important aspects I think blaser R-93 is a very ugly rifle..no hinged floorplate and no classic lines at all. Plastic magazine of the blaser is terrible.

I think Sauer 202 Take Down Hatari is much more appealing and a better choice

Cheers
/JOHAN

No mystery here I shoot alot of Blasers! I have as of late been shooting a K95 with factory pad in 300 WBY no kick stop. Recoil is not that bad at all! Due to the excellent design of the stock. I have shot most of the R93's with factory pad and with and without kick stop. Recoil is not horrible either but on the .416 a recoil pad is a good option

Aleko

MHO, I agree completely. The thin rubber slip-on isn't a pad and is sufficient only for the minor calibers. With a good recoil pad like the Simms Limbsaver (My favorite) or the Pachmyr Decelarator the rifle becomes ever so much more comfortable to shoot.

Mrlexm as soon as I figure out how to do it I will post pictures.

Aleko, you're right there's no mystery, the factory synthetic stock has no recoil pad period and plenty of hard edges. I am not recoil sensitive having shot all the big ones including a 16lb 700 Nitro. The R93 .416, recoil wise, is not in the same class as many of these, the problem is with hard edges on the end of it's sythetic stock. I am sure that the wood stock is much more comfortable, having a larger area at the base and something of a pad on it.

I cherish the rifle and it worked magnificantly for me in 04. They did a very nice job overall on the stock, but could have done a much better job when the got to the butt.
Tom Russell

I wonder if some of the accidents reported on 500 grains link were due to using the wrong ammunition?

Might be a problem w a multi-caliber rifle???

The rifle I have "to play with," has a pacmyr pad on a nice walnut stock.

Andy

Andy,
After you shoot it for a while let us know how she shoots, and how you like it.