Okay, here's what I have been thinking....

I know some of you guys are not R93 fans but I have one and I can tell you that they are very cool. Every time you buy a barrel, you get a spring loaded magazine that goes with the cartridge that corresponds to the barrel. Of course, the ones for the 30-06, .270, and such are the same but you get a separate one for a .300 WSM, etc. In other words, Blaser's magazines are designed for specific cartridges much the same way that Mauser designed the magazine for the 8mm Mauser.

Anyway, I think it would be super cool if Blaser gave is a 50 caliber in their Safari gun. My first thought was a .500 Jeffery. It's short enough to work and they could give us a center feed magazine designed specifically for the Jeffery. However, then I got to thinking (I know, I have too much time on my hands!) that the .495 A-Square might be a better fit. They could team up with Hornady to make the ammo and brass. I think this would be a kick ass combo!

Dave

Blaser would have to consider the economies of scale. In order to tool up to build a .50, they'd have to be reasonably certain they'd sell a few thousand.

The fact that they don't even offer a .458 (as far as I know) should tell you what they think of the big bore niche market.

George

Dream on.

The Blaser will never, I think, be able to handle a true .50-cal cartridge, and the .500 Jeffery wil just about break that very flimsy action apart.

It really is made of semi-recycled Coke cans, you know...

POS in my opinion.

quote:

Originally posted by jvw375:
Dream on.

The Blaser will never, I think, be able to handle a true .50-cal cartridge, and the .500 Jeffery wil just about break that very flimsy action apart.

It really is made of semi-recycled Coke cans, you know...

POS in my opinion.

JVW:

I am scratching my head here. What is is about a 360 degree bolt lock up that you think is "flimsy"? Heck, they load the .375 H&H and the .416 Remington which are both much, much higher pressure cartridges than the .500 Jeffery.

Dave

Dave,

The expanding collet design is not "bolt lock up". 360 degress of steel no thicker than toe nail is not strength. The Mauser 03, and Sauer 202 change bolts are much better designs, but the R93 is not a bad rifle.

I had four of the R93s, someday I might own another one. They are not as strong as a Mauser 98 and compared to the strength of a MKV or M700 they are shit. I sold all of them via this forum and the www.blaserpro.com.
They just don't have the strength to handle that. There are a few reports on excessive pressure of overloaded handloads recoiling back with the bolt breaking the hold back and hitting a guy in the face.

I think they are safe with a 06 and 8x68s based cartridges, they are safe enough in H&H based rounds, and that's about where my comfort level ends.

I would own another one, but I wouldn't want it any rifle bigger than the 450 Marlin ballistic duplicate of the 45 Blaser. Maybe a quadfecta of semi-weights in 6.5x57, 8x57, 9.3x62, and 45 Blaser in the butt-ugly (but not to me) orange camo professional!

The .532" case head diameter is a limiting factor and as George said it's a mass produced system. Besides, all you Gun Porn Tweakers here would want something you could saw and hammer on in the name of "improvement"...

The Heym straight pull system would be much easier to scale...

quote:

Originally posted by Dave Bush:
Okay, here's what I have been thinking....

I know some of you guys are not R93 fans but I have one and I can tell you that they are very cool. Every time you buy a barrel, you get a spring loaded magazine that goes with the cartridge that corresponds to the barrel. Of course, the ones for the 30-06, .270, and such are the same but you get a separate one for a .300 WSM, etc. In other words, Blaser's magazines are designed for specific cartridges much the same way that Mauser designed the magazine for the 8mm Mauser.

Anyway, I think it would be super cool if Blaser gave is a 50 caliber in their Safari gun. My first thought was a .500 Jeffery. It's short enough to work and they could give us a center feed magazine designed specifically for the Jeffery. However, then I got to thinking (I know, I have too much time on my hands!) that the .495 A-Square might be a better fit. They could team up with Hornady to make the ammo and brass. I think this would be a kick ass combo!

Dave

Yeh, they should stop making weirdo ugly guns.
Few months back I was reading about limited ed. heavy bore rifle they were going to market as 'Selous'. A German-made rifle dedicated to Englishman killed by German sniper. How stupid is that?

Sorry, but I have to dispell the nonsense in a couple of the foregoing posts.

AR member Norbert has custom made .458 Lott and .500 Jeffery barrels and magazines for his R93s and they seem to work quite well.

Well enough that Norbert has killed quite a few elephant with them, in any case.

mlexma; Where were those customn 458 Lott and 500 Jeffrey barrles for the R 93 made? I have a couple of R 93's with several barrels and have been impressed with the accuracy and versatility of the system. Am always looking for new barrels.

Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by Paolo9,5x73:

Few months back I was reading about limited ed. heavy bore rifle they were going to market as 'Selous'. A German-made rifle dedicated to Englishman killed by German sniper. How stupid is that?

Now THAT is funny! Good one Paolo!

quote:

Originally posted by D99:

They are not as strong as a Mauser 98 and compared to the strength of a MKV or M700 they are shit.

They just don't have the strength to handle that. There are a few reports on excessive pressure of overloaded handloads recoiling back with the bolt breaking the hold back and hitting a guy in the face.

I think they are safe with a 06 and 8x68s based cartridges, they are safe enough in H&H based rounds, and that's about where my comfort level ends.

C'mon guy...heck, they chamber the Blaser in .300 Weatherby, .300 Remington Ultra Mag, 416 Remington, and .375 H&H. A .500 Jeffery or a .495 A-Square runs at a hell of a lot less pressure than that!

quote:

made .458 Lott and .500 Jeffery barrels and magazines for his R93s

The Lott has the same dimensions as the factory .375 HH and .416 Rem chamberings so I guess I'd be interested in seeing how he modified the bolt assy. to deal with the larger 500 Jeff case head and body diameter.

Photos please...

I was told by factory Blaser people that the reason there is not a R 93 in 458 Win or 458 Lott is that it does not feed 101% with all the factory loaded rounds.