How difficult or specialized a job is this? With the R93's radial, in-the-barrel lock up, it's got to be quite a bit different than one of the conventional re-barrel jobs, but is this something that just about any gunsmith should be able to do, or are the option more limited? Cost compared to a mauser, M70, or M700 re-barrel?

The beauty about the Blaser R93 is that Blaser offers Additional Barrels and Bolt faces for these actions. You have a pritty good selection direct from the factory. Its a very simple process to switch barrels.

But my question is: What if you want something other than the factory selection?

That is a good question-maybe one of our resident smiths will respond. I think the Blaser R93 barrel must have a pressed-on or screwed/locked-on barrel extension that contains the annular locking recess. I think it would be a bear to reproduce but don't know anything about machining techniques. Let's see-a .260, 7x57, 8x57, .358, and .35 Whelen would be nice on a R93. Plateau Hunter

The Blaser barrels are "one" piece i.e. the radial lock up section is part of the bbl. While the Blaser is not offered in "every" caliber, they have a bbl for every animal/"power" catagory a person needs. What do you want.
P.S. I have 3 complete Blaser rifles and 4 Barrels total. So far I have been very, very happy with the Blaser System.
Sorry JOHAN.
But they really handle and shoot good, real good.

I'll join in the chorus wanting custom barrels for the Blasers! Yup Blasers come in some pretty nifty calibers, and they come in heavy and light barrel configurations (different forearms/stocks), but if you want something different than what Blaser offers, you are out of luck.

Example: I have wanted a .222 (or even a .223 - shudder!) which I can use in my standard stock, but which does not taper after the barrel leaves the foreend. That will be the heaviest .222/.223 barrel I could use in that stock, presto I could be on the road with 1 stock only and both big game and varmint barrels at hand. On wooden stocks it is possible to change the foreend, but not on the synthetics.

Example: want a .223 or a 6mm BR? Indeed this is possible to get from Blaser, but only if you accept the rifling rates Blaser offers - plus you'll get it in a particular barrel length, contour and fluted, take it or leave it! Why not be able to get a 6mm BR in a 1:14 to allow the use of light bullets?. Blaser sells a faster twist for competion shooters, but maybe this is not what mere mortals would like to have?

Lothar Walther apparently makes some of the Blaser competition barrels, but why not have the option of using a first class blank (e.g. cut rifled, cryo, the works) for a .270 Win?? If doing that is exiting on a M1999, a M70 or a Mauser why should it not be fun to do on a Blaser??

The German web-site for Blaser customers (I forget the URL) is full of people wanting different calibers (I'd like a .257 Roberts). Occasionally, when Blaser thinks it is worth it, they do introduce a new cartridge (6.5-284, say). Other than that, you can ask at their "custom shop", and expect to pay zillions for a barrel reamed with a different reamer. This is Europe after all.

Nope, what is needed is competition. So semi-custom gunsmiths of the World, arise to the challenge, sound the horn of freedom, liberate Blaser shooters!

(Btw I really like my Blasers, so I guess I also fall into Johan's class of immature hunters )
- mike

[ 02-23-2003, 12:21: Message edited by: mho ]

mho One of my bbls is a standard contour 223. The last time I took it to the range it shot groups at 300 yards in the 2 to 2 1/2 inch range with 2 factory loads and one handload that I had left over from a prairie dog hunt about 6 or 7 years ago! It even shot the Winchester "white box" 55gr. FMJ into about 3 to 3 1/2". I shot these prone with the rifle resting on a pack. The 223 bbl shoots best with out using the sling, just resting the stock on the pack.

It is my understanding you can get anything you want from Blaser, provided you are willing to pay and to wait... True, U.I.T. / L.R.S. heavy, fluted bbls. are made by Lothar Walther.

N E 450 No2
Good news on the standard barrels in .223. (We don't even get those over here ) Blaser offers other calibers in the US, so maybe I could still get one of those?? Thanks for letting me know. In general, Blasers are very accurate for factory guns. I like them, but I sure wish a bit of US competition spirit could be added to the equation...

- mike

mho I can't figure Blaser out. I recently spoke to the US factory rep, and the two people he had with him form the Blaser factory. I spoke with them about avalibility of iron sight barrels, the 28GA bbl, the 45 Blaser bbl, and other European accessories. He said he could probably "smuggle" a 45 Blaser bbl to me but they [the US distributors] can't get any ammo. I do not understand why they do not offer some of that stuff over here, cause as anyone in the "gun" business knows, Americans like to tinker and experiment. They said they would work on it.
I have some friends that own a gun store and they report Blasers are selling well.

Is there any reason European members couldn't procure Blaser barrels in Europe for Americans and ship them? Or, take a vacation in Germany and stop by a Frankonia Jagd store and pick up what you need.

As for custom barrels, if you have money and time, somebody should be able to figure out how to produce them. I'd contact every custom barrel maker around and see if they would be willing to accomodate you. Try SSK Industries; JD Jones may be willing to tackle the job.

While you're at it, have a cantilever mount made for it instead of using the Blaser proprietary ($150) mount.

Personally, I wouldn't bother, but if that what turns your crank, go for it.

George

N E 450 No2

The Blaser is a glorified toy, and those who play with it are just immature hunters

The Blaser is a glorified toy, and those who play with it are just immature hunters

The Blaser is a glorified toy, and those who play with it are just immature hunters

Are you getting the point infidel

/ JOHAN

Having access to all the Blaser goodies that Europeans have would help, but that still isn't a complete solution. Wildcats would still be troublesome. Those that can be created with a simple rechambering might be doable, but with many you'd also be looking at an expensive rebore as well. That would make for a very expensive barrel. How much are R93 barrels in Europe? The Sigarms 2002 price list has them at $600, so they're not exactly cheap here. And, as far as I know, stainless steel isn't an option. Anyone know if there is any particular reason for this?

I'm also wondering whether patents are coming into play here. Presumably Blaser has the radial lockup patented, so maybe creating barrels that support it requires licensing fees: your neighborhood gunsmith may not legally be able to create an R93 barrel.

And finally: What is the reasoning behind your cathecism, Johan?

InfoSponge

Look at Waltherhogs forum and you will soon know. The topic is not that hard to find

/ JOHAN

JOHAN What has the Blaser rifle done to you. While it is certainly possible for any production rifle to have problems, I have had experience with 5 different Blaser "lower" units and with 8 different bbls. I have encountered no problems with any of them. Calibers range from the 223 to the 416 Mag. I cam relate many problems with other Magnum bolt actions. With the exception of Weatherby rifles [I have had 5 of them] no other bolt rifle has been reliable. This includes some "custom" rifles by well respected makers. I know a couple of other hunters that had functioning problems with major name custom rifles that cost several thousand dollars.
This is why I went to double rifles in the first place. I bought a Blaser because of a recommendation of my friend who is a gun store owner who uses one. The main attraction to me was that the Blaser would take apart and fit in the same case as my double rifle. Well I liked the Blaser rifle so much that I know have 3 "lower units" and 4 barrels. This is what I have discovered so far.
The bbls go on and off with no loss of zero.
The scope mount goes on and off with no loss of zero.
The rifle will feed, extract, eject. [I have not a single problem]
Brass life seems to be good.
They are accurate.
Trigger is very good
The rifle is light weight and handles very well.
If you shoot a lot and wear a bbl out it does not take a trip to the gunsmith, only about 3 minutes to change the bbl.
You can have more than one scope for a particular bbl, as the mounts will return to zero.
You can have a fancy wood stock rifle for fair weather, and a synthetic stock for bad weather/horse hunts for every calibre you own.
When having to travel light or meet regulations that limit you to two rifles the Blaser with extra bbls will allow you to travel with the ability to change calibers.
It makes a great spare rifle or a hunt saving machine. Example You take your 470 Nitro, and a 300mag Blaser to Africa. You stick in your 375 bbl or your 416 bbl and extra forearm just "in case". You are hunting buff and elephant on this trip. Well the "in case" happens, lightning strikes the tree your 470 is leaning against durring the lunch break. You just switch to your bigger bbl and continue the hunt.
So far I have not found anything inherently wrong or bad about the Blaser system. If I do I will let ya'll know.

Yeah isn't strange, what Blaser sells in Europe they don't sell in the US and vice-versa. I suppose there must be some meaning to the magic, and I expect it has to do with money (pretty sharp observation there, eh? ). Ah well, never mind...

I suspect the idea of private (and/or even illegal) import/export deals is not much of a starter. If we could get round BATF, US Customs, The State Department and who else seems to get inolved in firearms trade on your side, we'd still have to deal with about the same amount of officialdom on our side of the Atlantic. I doubt there is much future in that line of business. Why is the world so hell-bent on making life difficult for recreational shooters?

I love my Blasers, and shoot them a lot. I also have a friend who absolutely abhores them - too much plastic is one of his many complaints. Blasers seem to be a love-em-or-hate-em proposition. But they almost TOTALLY dominate the Central European market, about 60-80% of all new rifles sold in Switzerland are Blasers.

I primarily like the Blasers for the fact that I can carry a round in the chamber in total safety. From my first attempt at carrying a rifle, I have been afraid of what could happen when carrying a loaded gun with the safety on (or accidently off). The Balser cocking system takes care of most of that problem. I also like that they are short, shoot well, are easy to travel with (no large gun cases, all goes inside my dufflebag), switch barrel system is great, scopes return to zero etc. But hey, they also have disadvantages, I would probably not choose a Blaser for the worlds toughest hunt. Other than that I have gone pretty much anywhere with them.

- mike

Well it seems all has been said about Blasers and there's nothing to add. I own 2 R93 since 5-6 years, have hunted them hard and am 100% satisfied with their reliability, ease of transportation and "transformation" and, above all, out-of-the-box accuracy.

Infosponge, bbl. prices look about the same on both sides of the pond. Standard barrels go about 500 � and heavy, fluted UIT/LRS (made by Lothar Walther)about 1000 �. Supplements are asked for "magnum", Mag-Na-Port, fluting, special contour, etc. Blaser's policy in terms of pricing, shipment, distribution appears rather strict. They probably already sell well enough to bother
It would be interesting (and economical) to have other manufacturers offer custom components for Blasers but, judging from the unnecessary complicated and not so successful knock-offs (Acera, Heym, Mauser, etc.), I assume Blaser had its back well covered.

You must remember that Blaser are in this to make money and have to run the business as a business. That means that they have to concentrate on the mainstream which means that the one offs have to suffer.

Personaly I think that they strike a good balance. I have conversed direct with the factory and am able to order what amounts to a bespoke rifle which is made to order at factory cost.

If you do your homework with the factory you may be surprised at what they can do for you.

As for distributors, practicaly all the European firms have incompetants as distributors. Some are tied in due to the parent company, some are just slow but all don't know the product.

So they're not perfect but in a commercial sense I think they are very good. An e mail to there marketing department gets an answer in 24hours. At one time I was questioning whether to order - what swung the balance was the legwork that the factory had put in for me.

BTW mines a K95!

I, like many here, greatly appreciate the Blaser. I have fired a friends and he has hunted Africa with his repeatedly. It seems to me that a Blaser with .416 and .300 Win Mag barrels (both of the same contour and both fitted with open sights as a back-up) is just about an ideal gun for Africa.

JMHO,

JohnTheGreek

N E 450 No2

I didn't knew that you were a fan of IKEA and their consept

Another important thing about blaser's is that they are uggly and to much plastic for my taste

/ JOHAN

JOHAN IKEA??? Explain please

Ok, so Lothar Walther makes the UIT, LRS, and match barrels (semiweight too?), but can you buy them directly from Lothar Walther, or must you get them from Blaser? Obviously Lothar Walther knows how to make R93 barrels, and I would be very happy if I could get custom LRS-style barrels from them, but I can't tell from their web site whether they offer this service or not. Of course, the way to find out is to ask them (or their US rep), but I'm curious whether anyone here knows anything more than I do.

As far as I know, the UIT bbls. are subcontracted with Lothar Walther (blanks or finished ?) but only Blaser sells them.

Gentlemen,

I think you should listen to JOHAN, he knows what he is talking about.

I like the Blaser R93, especially when Walter is using it. I honestly cannot remember ever laughing as much as I did the day he was trying to shoot one of his namesakes - a walterhog!

Walter has always been telling us how fantastic this rifles is, as you can load it so fast - he said in a blur!

Well, we had a first row seat to his repeat shooting abilities with this fantastic invention of the German gunsmithing art!

We were driving along, when we saw a warthog standing not more than 100 yards in the bush.

Roy: "Walter! Jump out and shoot that warthog!"
Walter, in the process of loading his rifle, jumping out of the truck, looking for the shooting sticks and warthog, all at the same time!

Said: "Where is it?"
Roy: "It is right there looking at you! Hurry up before he runs off!"
Walter: "Is this one of your jokes again? I cannot see any warthog!"

Roy: "Can you see that deade mopane? He is about 5 yards to teh right of it. Go on! Shoot the bloody thing!"

Walter: "Which dead mopane? I can see one hundred dead mopane!"

I said: "Walter, if you don't shoot it I will!"

Walter fired a shot, mising teh warthog by about 5 yards!

Roy: "You missed him! You shot the bloody dead mopane tree! Why didn't you shoot the pig?"

The pig started trotting into teh bush, and Walter whacked him again. He hit him somewhere in the rear end.

Roy: "You wounded him, come on run, you need to finish him off"

Luckily, the pig ran about 50 yards and stopped.

Walter attempted another shot, and all we heard was a loud CLICK!

He yanked the bolt back, and proceeded to load another round. Another CLICK!

I dropped the camera, and fell down on the ground laughing.

Roy: "What the hell is going on? Don't you know how to operate your rifle?"

Walter: "BLOODY HELL! IT IS SAEED'S AMMUNITION!"

Finally, he managed to load a new round and kill the poor pig.

It transpired that once he did not manage to pull the bolt back far enough to load a new round. And on teh second occasion, he did not push the bolt forward enough to engage the mechanism to fire the round. The primer was hardly hit at all.

Sounds like operator error to me, which could happen with any bolt or lever gun, so why is the Blaser to blame for it?

Saeed, your story describes Walther's problem, which is not rifle induced (if he had had a slingshot that day, it would have been the same). And BTW, I wouldn't venture to take Johan as a reference. When it comes to rifles (and especially the R93, which he decided not to like), me think he's often talking out of his hat

PS
BTW, did you get my e-mail about the CD ? Lots of thanks.

Andre,

Yes sir I did, and the CD went out the next day.

N E 450 No2
The IKEA is a Swedish company that sells all kinds of housing stuff and furnitures. They are well known for delivering a hex key to use a assembly tool. They are for do it your own's, like a big Lego were some parts are missing

For your loved blaser you also use a hex key and that makes it IKEA

Mr.Andr� Mertens,
You old reserve frogg. If I'm talking out of my hat, then you are thinking with your rear end

I prefer rifles with some quality and If I want another caliber, I guess it's time for another rifle. I have never heard any sane man useing this kraut rifle.

/ JOHAN

Hi dear Blaser friends and other envy loaded ones without a Blaser.

In a way you are all right!

I am extremely happy with my Blaser. It is accurate and, as someone wrote is easy to assemble, change barrels, scopes and stocks. It is handy and somehow beatiful too.

..... and yes I had some problems with it. In middle of the fight you get sort of nervous and while looking where to make the next step in high grass fiddeling with the safety, holding the gun off your PH in front of you and to be ready suddenly when you reach an opening in the bush ...... you may make a mistake. Not one ..... several. Certainly not the gun to blame but the operator. Or anyone of you did not feel the heartbeat shaking the game behind your crosshair?

We all have stories ..... hitting and missing ones.

Me dear friend Saeed who pictured so colourful my fleeing pig, in at least one ocasion had a running boar all for himself. That warthog was badly hit and we tracked that poor thing for miles. Finally it reached an open field where that little piggy could be finished.

So, one is operators fault and the other just a miss. Or both. Thanks godness for that and therefore a second chance for all that game missed ...... till next year.

Walter

This time you're about right, Johan. I'll readily admit being steered by the rear end, well that of my rifle, of course. As the old gunmakers used to say : "it shoots from the front (= barrel) but the rear end (= stock) makes the hit...".
Sans rancune

for small calber ( small dia case base as 223 family ) that be not impossible to make an insert in strong steel and to fit a barrel threded in , dims of the Blazer barrel is bigger as a AR15 barrel extension

Blazer lug surface is a tapered surface ( ground after turning ? ) but nothing amazing to do .

I have start to one insert ( after to have design it ) just for fun but I have not find time to fit a barrel on ( 222 REM stainless barrel ) I dont see why that will doesnt t work even if for me the locking system seems strange but rifle is reliable but VERY costly for a molden stamped parts rifle but bussiness is bussiness and as GLock company the most important thing is to make money first

good shoting

DAN TEC

Caution : this type of trial must be done only by real skill machinist and with good tool and machine tool .