I'm thinking about buying a Blaser in 300 Win Mag.

What are the differences between the R93 and R8?

Thanks!!

On the R8, the magazine and trigger come out as one piece. This makes unloading easier for hunts where you may be in and out of the truck/horse/ATV often. Also, the R8 has a heavier receiver so it can take bigger calibers above the R93's 416 Remington limit. Barrels are not interchangeable between the models.

Larger bolt head with a much more pronounced angle to the collet lockup system. Which looks very strong(can now handle the back thrust of a 500J ). Lockable mag with switch inside mag that can be flicked with finger to lock mag(making it impossible to drop a mag).

IMO, from what I have seen, after playing with a few. It will be one of the finest(if not the finest), safest, fastest rifles getting around in a newby. And as always, the German workmanship/fit n finish is outstanding! Better than my Sauer or Sako's.
Glad I sold my R93, giddyup R8 I'm acoming

The wood stocked R8s will also have some cast to them, instead of being strait like the R93. The larger barrel also sets lower in the reciever, for improved feeding with all calibers. The trigger is also improved, and the trigger flop after the shot has been engineered out. If you like sights, the plastic sights of the R93 have been replaced with metal ones on the R8. The pistol grip is also redesigned to fit a larger variety of shooters.

If starting down the Blaser road again today, I would definitely go with the R-8, but since I am pretty deep off into the R-93 and don't need "big thumper" calibers, I can't justify a R-8 at this time.

I thought the R8 was the 200mph hot rod Audi makes.

Rich

quote:

Originally posted by ron williams:
The trigger is also improved, and the trigger flop after the shot has been engineered out.

Ron, I have only handled one R8, so my sample is VERY low. However, on the one I handled the trigger had an atrocious creep, and there was no sign of less overtravel compared to the R93 - if that is what you refer to as "trigger flop after the shot"?

I doubt the creep was supposed to be there, and was probably due to a faulty unit or bad adjustment (not a whole bunch you can adjust on R93 triggers...). Even assuming this was the case, and trying to abstract from this disconcerting attribute, I would say the R8 trigger had about the same feel as that on an R93.

I personally think R93 triggers are pretty shootable, but they are not perfect triggers in any way - like a Jewell, say.

The manual cocking mechanism is supposedly changed on the R8, but other than different looks, I would say it felt about the same to operate as that on an R93. Likewise the operation of the bolt - about the same.

I doubt Blaser will continue manufacturing the R93 forever. So if one was starting with Blaser rifles afresh, it would probably be more "future oriented" to go the route of the R8. I would personally order mine without the removable trigger/magazine unit. But that is a personal decision, as I have never missed a removable magazine (being content with repeating the cartridges out of the magazine safely), and I would worry about loosing the trigger/mag assembly. (Yes, I know, it can be locked in place. But you can apparently also order the R8 with a non-removeable trigger).

- mike

The R8 Pro that I have with me right now has a great trigger, it is completely different than the R93. Very crisp. I never had a problem with the R93 triggers, but the changes in the R8 triggers are nice. They evidently are sending all the good R8 triggers to the US market.

r8 is supposed to be beefier