Get back to talking about Blaser R8 it may appear pleonastic or repetitive, but the resonance of this rifle, so strange in its mechanics and so precise in its ballistic performance, cannot fail to demand due attention and the right consent towards a technical and commercial success of this kind. By now for many, not too many to tell the truth, the economic question is positioned a step behind the shooting performance and the opportunity to change the barrel and therefore the caliber: the media hype raised by the satisfaction of Blaser owners was the ramp. of launching a commercial event of such resonance and so from word to word and from result to result, the German brand has acquired a conspicuous slice of the market for long rifled guns within Europe.
The corresponding part of North America is missing, where the tradition of the sliding swivel movement does not give a step compared to the in-line one. It is not the first time that new installations have given new life to systems that have long been buried in oblivion due to their lack of predisposition to somewhat harsh treatments: straight pull we remember the beginnings of greater caliber with the Austrian ordinances designed and built in the Steyr and Brno arsenals with the Models 1886 and 1895 and then, over time with those mentioned, the Schmidt Rubin '89, '11 and '31 of the large one Society of Tire, as the mighty Army of the Helvetic Confederation kindly likes to be titled. In fact, when more and more advanced studies succeed in portraying the human soul, it will be discovered that that of the Swiss is streaked: ours as old Piedmontese will not be dissimilar.
Let's go back to the rifle in question: Horst Blaser turned out to be a genius, derogatory that underlies a boundless consideration, capable of skipping all the conventions for setting up a rifle and imposing something new, extremely rational on the market, of amazing functionality overcoming initial setbacks and the distrust of the market. Some design refinements have imposed the validity of the system that starts from technical details linked to completely different worlds from arquebusery and to solutions that seem elementary as they are simple. The important thing was to find someone who thought of them.
A few glances
We would not like to bore those who follow us with yet another description of the whole mechanical complex, but throwing your eye here and there noting some details allows you to appreciate the ingenuity of the project. Let's start this time with the barrel obviously obtained by roto-hammering, including the cartridge chamber to obtain the certainty of the coaxiality between the two elements, prodrome of shooting accuracy. Two pegs are obtained from the breech block, protruding from the lower part and internally threaded: they are inserted in special seats of the barrel with metal insert and two Allen screws tighten the assembly ensuring positioning.
The barrel is floating in the front part and it is easily changed by varying the caliber, obviously within certain parameters that the manufacturer takes care to indicate: a torque wrench is optimal to reach the most appropriate tightening value. From this system it follows that the closure takes place directly in the breech and how the system allows a perfect orthogonality of the bolt face with respect to the barrel axis, another important factor for accuracy. The shutter is made up of two distinct elements: the head, a massive cylinder with a retracted face, an ejection pawl and a block claw for extraction, recorded by an extremely robust and mechanically very low-stress wire spring. This assembly fits precisely and deeply into the breech.
The second element, in which the first is inserted, comprises a series of twelve elastic fins with a toothed apex set in expansion by the advancement of a cone placed inside and pushed by the handlebar closure. The teeth thus engage within a circular crown milled in the breech creating a solid whole while the handlebar plays on an undercut profile to maintain the position.
Other elements
A not too welcome element of the previous R93 was the fixed magazine: or rather the small cartridge pack could be taken, but only from the top and with the shutter opening. The study to remedy the problem led to the R8 model with what is already known: we would say obligatorily to the system of loader package and trigger group fused together.
We remember an amiable discussion with the engineer, Russian to be exact, who had been entrusted with the matter and ultimately with questions such as dropping everything in the snow or water, worse still in the sand, finding a footprint ... cumbersome in the hunter's pocket and anything else that can pass through the mind trying to find some hindrance, then everyone collapsed in compliance when trying the shot with the two different calibrations.
From old range shooters with .22 LR rifles and stecher hunters we say this shot is excellent. Not a word more because it is not needed. Let's not forget the safety offered by sled armament, thatmanual tension which made school and today is almost universally widespread: the movement of the shutter moves only the cartridge and not the battery which must be armed by advancing the slide button located on the breech tail. In this way, a light release weight can be maintained in complete safety: the armament is activated when you are ready to fire, remembering, if you do not shoot, to deactivate it before starting again. There is no other safe.
The optics
It seems a common objective to have optics and rifles under the same brand so Blaser already proposes three solutions: here we see the specific rifle scope that does not disdain many other destinations considering the magnification values between 1 and 7 and the objective lens of 28 mm.
Interesting values that determine not only the brightness but also the ease of acquisition of the visual field and aiming with an exit pupil of 10 - 4 mm (depending on the magnification), field of view between 40,8 and 6,0 m, distance interpupillary of 90 mm and light transmission of 90% or more (at night). Other values are the 180 cm of variation in elevation and drift, the fixed parallax adjusted to 100 m, the weight equal to 645 g and the length of only 319 cm. A balanced and effective complex further enhanced by the highly reliable specific Blaser attachment.
To conclude
Returning to the shotgun we can say that the genius of the project invests, and not in a secondary way, the production on numerically controlled machines with an exact repetition of the quotas and benefits returns on costs. So by eye we would say that the investment was prudent and over time also very fruitful: and it is good that this is the case because this is the best guarantee for the future of any company producing goods.