Those Versatile
Blaser Bolt Actions Ron Spomer
with Wowser!), but they’re Germans and so is the rifl e, so they get to call it anything they like. Blaser rifl es aren’t just fi ne fi rearms made in Germany.
F Here the author is shooting the R8 Jaeger.
They’re cultural markers refl ecting the philosophy of not only their makers but the land they hunt and the way they hunt it. Some 82 million Germans live in a country slightly smaller than Montana where they can employ a rifl e to hunt anything from a large grouse (Capercaille) to a tough Rus- sian boar. They like effi ciency, so a rifl e that breaks down quickly, interchanges barrels, stores easily, travels safely and is extremely versatile turns their cranks. As luck would have it, these same traits are becoming
more popular and more useful to American hunters, too. Add quick handling characteristics, mechanical precision, durability, and impressive accuracy to the mix, and you have the Blaser bolt-action rifl e. The fi rst thing you often hear about Blasers, specifi -
The cocking device in the fi re position. Operating this takes considerably more pressure than required to fl ick off the typical tang safety, but with practice it becomes pretty smooth. It makes for an extremely safe fi rearm.
cally the R93 and its newest upgrade, the R8, is they’re too danged expensive and too fragile. The fi rst may be true, but the second sure isn’t, in my experience. I’ve used them in dusty Africa, on muddy Montana prairie dog towns, freez- ing Kansas coyote plains, sweltering Texas brushlands, and gritty Idaho deserts without a glitch. Right now you can fi nd the new R8 Jaeger with fancy walnut stock selling for $3,761 (MSRP) and sometimes on sale for $200 less. The synthetic stock Professional model retails for $3,200 and perhaps $200 less on sale. While that’s a heck of a lot more than a Stevens or Marlin or basic Weatherby Vanguard in the $400 range, it’s not too far beyond the sticker price of many top end, over-the-counter varmint rifl es and right in the ball park for many blueprinted, semi-customs. It can be argued that a Blaser’s costs drop when you be-
gin adding additional barrels, even though they run around $1,000 each. Let’s say you get an R8 Professional for $3,000 in .223 Rem. Add a .22-250 Rem. barrel and you have two rifl es for $4,000. A 6.5-284 Norma barrel gives you three for $5,000 and so on. Still, you could buy a lot of less expensive rifl es with this money. But could you haul them around? Here is where a Blaser modular rifl e really begins to
The R8 Jaeger model in .300 Win. Mag. and the fi rst two groups shot with it. Note how the closed action really protects all working parts.
Page 22 July — September 2011
shine. One stock, one action, and all the barrels you’ll think you’ll need will weigh less and take up much less space than a gaggle of individual rifl es. So the next time you fl y out West to hunt prairie dogs and pronghorns and maybe an elk, and the airline says you can take along only two rifl es … take one Blaser and four barrels instead. You can fl y to some countries in Africa with four or fi ve barrels and they count as one rifl e. Take a four-barrel Blaser system to Canada and you’ll be charged $25 for one rifl e instead of $100 for four. And Air Canada will slap you with a $50 “service fee” (it’s really an
orget Blazing Saddles. Try Blaser rifl es. Actually, they pronounce it Blouzer (rhyming
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