As a follow-up to “What Makes a Great Rifle”, let’s look at some rifles that I think are pretty great. If you missed the original post, here it is. As discussed previously, proper weight, balance, ergonomics, and a robust ability to maintain point of aim, point of impact, are what I am looking for in a great rifle. If your requirements are different than mine, then you may be very happy with completely different rifles.
Currently, my most used rifle is the Blaser R8. Expensive and a bit heavy for western hunting, it meets all the other criteria and then some. If you are not familiar with the R8, it is a very adaptable rifle, able to change calibers, barrel lengths, barrel contour, and optics in just a few seconds with no fuss. One included allen wrench, and the gun can go from .308 with a 2.5-8 Leupold for hunting deer, to a .458 with a 1-6 Trijicon for dangerous game, to a 6.5C with a 5-25 Nightforce for long-range precision. This ability has nothing to do with why I prize the R8.
Because of the design, which does not use a traditional receiver, it can use normal barrel lengths (23-25″) and still have a short overall length. It has a straight pull bolt which is very fast, as well as a cocking piece that acts as a safety. The cocking piece allows you to carry the gun fully loaded but with no tension on the firing pin spring and no danger of an AD. When you want to shoot, you push the cocking piece forward, like pushing a safety off, and the gun is ready to fire. To decock the gun and make it safe, a slight forward and downward pressure on the cocking piece allows you to retract it. The cocking piece does take more pressure to activate than a typical safety, but I find it just as fast and easy to use. It is perhaps the safest rifle ever made. The video below shows how the bolt works. It is locked when on safe, which is also a feature I really appreciate.
We will leave out the bigger chamberings in this discussion and concentrate on the more universal hunting cartridges for the U.S. My basic configuration is a .308 with a 23″ barrel and a Leupold 2.5-8. It balances between the hands, though as I mentioned before, the R8 is not an ultralight by any means. All up in this configuration, it weighs somewhere close to 9 pounds loaded and slung.
The ergonomics of the R8 are outstanding. the pistol grip has just the right angle for me whether I am prone off a ruck, slung up prone, sitting, kneeling, or standing. The stock is very straight and high, so recoil is minimized nicely. The forearm is just the right thickness for me, and as mentioned above, the bolt speed and ease of use are better than anything else I have ever shot or seen. All of the metal is well protected from the environment and looks good.
What matters most though, is how it shoots. Blaser barrels are typically .5 moa from the factory. That is with match ammo, of course, so if you are using hunting ammo, that accuracy will vary depending on what you are using. Blaser doesn’t guarantee .5moa, but most of the barrels seem right in there, give or take. The hunting barrels are fairly thin at 17mm, but not as thin as other lighter guns on the market. As they heat up from shooting, the point of impact does not shift. This is not so important for hunting, as 1 or 2 shots are about all it ever takes, but it is critical for me for precision shooting, especially at longer ranges. The 17mm barrels are also no handicap for long-range precision.
The trigger on the R8 is among the best ever. It does not use a traditional sear engagement, but rather a desmodromic system. I know what that means (after years of looking it up and talking to Blaser folks), but I still don’t really know what that means. I’m not saying it’s aliens…but it’s aliens. Suffice it to say, the trigger is supposed to be more robust than a conventional spring and sear engagement. On top of that, the trigger pull quality is very consistent from R8 to R8 and is always excellent.
If you zero the gun off of a bipod or a ruck, as I often do, it will print to that same point of impact when shot standing or kneeling, even when slung up tight in whatever position you like. This to me is where many guns fail the test. I like to shoot with a shooting sling, but I also shoot a lot without one. Competitive rifle shooters will adjust their sights for each yard line, taking into account whether they are slung up or not. I do not want to do that, as the field may offer a shot off the ruck, or a kneeling shot that is better taken while slung up tight. In either case, I need the bullet to go to the same place. The R8 manages this handily.
If you are a traveling hunter, the ability of the R8 to disassemble into the stock, barrel, and scope is really nice. One allen wrench and 20 seconds are all it takes. Being in a small package better protects the gun in transit, both from accidental damage, as well as prying eyes. That same allen wrench will have your gun reassembled and ready to shoot in another 20 seconds, even in the dark. This would not be useful if the gun did not maintain its zero during all this. The R8 doesn’t just maintain its zero, it does so with no perceptible change. Many guns or scopes can be taken down and come back within 1 moa, which is usually just fine. The R8 comes back to zero EXACTLY. I have not been able to determine a point of impact change. There are plenty of videos online showing how the gun takes down if you want to see that.
There are many other benefits and features that the R8 can offer its prospective owner, but the ones above are the big ones for me and are what make the R8 one of today’s truly great rifles. It is not the rifle I reach for when backpack hunting, but for almost anything else, you would be hard-pressed to beat it.