6.5x55 Blaser R8 with a GRS finally getting all the pieces in.

[FjallJager]

I bought a GRS Warg from another member and it arrived yesterday.

My 6.5x55 semi-weight barrel should arrive on Monday.

I bought two cases of 140 grain Norma Nosler partition to hunt with, and they are also supposed to be here next week.

Bought 4 weights of Norma match ammo in 50 round boxes and it is supposed to come in 12 days.

If I can figure out how to take my R8 out of the professional stock I will be in business. Got the fore end undone but the area behind the action I can't figure out if it is torx or allen. I all the metric and SAE allen keys I have tried don't fit. So I ordered torx t-keys and they are supposed to be here next week as well.

Was looking for a 6.5 CM barrel as I have hundreds of rounds of ammo, but there are not any semi-weights available.

 

[Hawk in WY]

A claw hammer is the tool you need. I kid you not.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=86Bd5GBqIjM - Google Search

You will also need metric Allen head wrenches.

Good luck.

 

[Graywolf.260]

If it were mine I’d probably stick with the 6.5x55, the 6.5 CM offers no advantages aside from the fact you have a few hundred rounds of ammo which you could probably easily trade especially if you’re in Scandinavia. N555 or RL26 powder can give you 30-50 m/s higher velocity with the 6.5x55.

Edit: lol you’re in the Rockies, never mind trading but everything else holds true. Lapua Swede brass is cheaper than CM.

 

[shoots100]

5mm Allen for the bolt under the stock butt cap and a Metric T25 Torx for the bolt in the receiver area.
If you going to try and sell the old stock, make sure you lightly heat up the butt cap to remove it and while the cap is still playable from the heat, smooth out the areas that might've gotten bent when prying it with the screwdriver or whatever flat edged instrument you used to remove it.
I used a large flathead screwdriver to loosen the receiver and then a wooden dowel to push the rear section out of the stock.
Have fun.

 

[Michael Travis]

If the shipping makes sense, EuroOptic has the 6.5 Creed barrel you are looking for.

Blaser R8 Fluted Match Barrel 6.5 Creedmoor A0814163

Blaser R8 Fluted Match Barrel 6.5 Creedmoor A0814163 | Only at EuroOptic.com!

www.eurooptic.com

I love my R8! I wish it wasn't quite so expensive to kit it out!

 

[fdkay]

I have my dad's f class rifle that he had built.
It is a trued remington in 6.5x55. We had to fix some issues with it, and I made a few upgrades such as a dbm, tactical bolt knob and side bolt release, but it is, at its' heart, the same rifle.
The 6.5×55 has a pretty significant taper, so make sure you trim your brass regularly. It is for that reason that I will rechamber it to 6.5x55AI. it will always be some form of 6.5 swede though.

 

[W54/XM-388]

If the shipping makes sense, EuroOptic has the 6.5 Creed barrel you are looking for.

Blaser R8 Fluted Match Barrel 6.5 Creedmoor A0814163

Blaser R8 Fluted Match Barrel 6.5 Creedmoor A0814163 | Only at EuroOptic.com!

www.eurooptic.com

I love my R8! I wish it wasn't quite so expensive to kit it out!

Yep, I'd love to get more parts and barrels for my R8 but they are so crazy expensive right now.
It makes the AXMC barrels look like bargains by comparison.

 

[DJL2]

The R8 would be tempting for me if I saw stock options I liked now that they have a variant that separates the trigger and magazine (iirc). I always thought the R93 was cool as hell too.

 

[jbell]

If the shipping makes sense, EuroOptic has the 6.5 Creed barrel you are looking for.

Blaser R8 Fluted Match Barrel 6.5 Creedmoor A0814163

Blaser R8 Fluted Match Barrel 6.5 Creedmoor A0814163 | Only at EuroOptic.com!

www.eurooptic.com

I love my R8! I wish it wasn't quite so expensive to kit it out!

How can Blaser justify so much for a barrel?

 

[Michael Travis]

I don’t know. I do know that my sporter weight .308 will do .25” with ammo it likes. It’s an amazing rifle. Just waaaay too much $.

 

[DJL2]

How can Blaser justify so much for a barrel?

It really stretches the value of modularity/convenience when you could buy, for example, a Seekins PH2 for less than the cost of a replacement barrel...

 

[W54/XM-388]

How can Blaser justify so much for a barrel?

Blaser is not a brand that caters to the poors.
It's a higher end German status symbol / hunting rifle, from a place where hunting is essentially for the rich people only.

You think that barrel is expensive?
Try taking a look at their high grade wood stocks that you can swap the rifle into, they cost more than a complete AXSR

Then you get all the parts, branded scope, shooting accessories etc, to upgrade it to the custom work of art you want and you could easily be pushing over $30k by the time you have the perfect rifle to show off your wealth at the gentlemen's hunting club.

 

[jbell]

Then you get all the parts, branded scope, shooting accessories etc, to upgrade it to the custom work of art you want and you could easily be pushing over $30k by the time you have the perfect rifle to show off your wealth at the gentlemen's hunting club.

Unfortunately that is the truth…

 

[Michael Travis]

All that said, I’m sorry for hijacking the thread!!!! I’m still super excited to see your final product FjallJager.

 

[FjallJager]

Here it is

 

[Michael Travis]

Here it is

That’s sexy!!!!!

 

[Just Macca]

Just for completeness if someone stumbles over this thread in a few years, here’s a video on the removal of the receiver from a R8 stock:



And here’s my R8 in 6XC with a Pulsar Trail slapped on just for fun…

 

[Michael Travis]

Here it is

I'd love to hear some updates as you work with the rifle.

 

[FjallJager]

I'd love to hear some updates as you work with the rifle.

M8, what are you looking for?

I am a handloader, but we are renting until we figure out where we are moving. So I just bought two cases of Norma 140 Grain partition. I doubt I will shoot more than 60 rounds getting it figured out and my come ups figured out.

I have heaps of 6.5 140 grain pills, but we are 5-8 months from being set up to load.

Have 7mm Blaser and 338 Blaser barrels as well.

I wish I had more tags than 2 this year. I have a pronghorn tag in Wyoming and a coues tag in New Mexico. If we move back to Wyoming I will probably eat the tag soup on the New Mexico tag.

This is my 8th or 9th Blaser R8. I have 3 stocks at home, and all the bolt faces. Just need another 2 bolt carriers and I'd have 3 complete rifles. Not the R8's intent, but it works.

Eventually I'll get everything set up with mid-magnification ranged higher quality scopes. A trio of the exact same scope for each barrel. I currently have 2 Jap Crimson Trace 3-18's and a Riton Chinese 5-25.

Goal would be 3x Kahles, Schmidt, Minox all the same with the same reticle.

 

[W54/XM-388]

Goal would be 3x Kahles, Schmidt, Minox all the same with the same reticle.

You could always go with some of the nice offerings from TT or March or ZCO
They all have a nice mid-range magnification option.

It's a shame the excellent Blaser scopes such as the 2.8–20x50 and the 1-7x28 don't offer any decent reticles.
I guess they don't want to sully their beautiful scopes by putting those tacky tactical reticles the serfs use or something like that.

 

[FjallJager]

You could always go with some of the nice offerings from TT or March or ZCO
They all have a nice mid-range magnification option.

It's a shame the excellent Blaser scopes such as the 2.8–20x50 and the 1-7x28 don't offer any decent reticles.
I guess they don't want to sully their beautiful scopes by putting those tacky tactical reticles the serfs use or something like that.

I have not heard anything positive about Blaser scopes. They claim Alpha but do not deliver. I had not seen a positive

Minox/Blaser dropped the ball on that one. Which is weird because they make the THLR.

 

[W54/XM-388]

I have not heard anything positive about Blaser scopes. They claim Alpha but do not deliver. I had not seen a positive

Minox/Blaser dropped the ball on that one. Which is weird because they make the THLR.

Ilya was very impressed with their 1-7 offering as being top notch.
But of course no decent reticle.

 

[Just Macca]

I have not heard anything positive about Blaser scopes. They claim Alpha but do not deliver. I had not seen a positive

Minox/Blaser dropped the ball on that one. Which is weird because they make the THLR.

Yeah, I believe you’re incorrect on that. Do you have anything to back up that assertion? Just so we’re giving a fair representation all round.

 

[DJL2]

You could always go with some of the nice offerings from TT or March or ZCO
They all have a nice mid-range magnification option.

It's a shame the excellent Blaser scopes such as the 2.8–20x50 and the 1-7x28 don't offer any decent reticles.
I guess they don't want to sully their beautiful scopes by putting those tacky tactical reticles the serfs use or something like that.

I like my March FX quite a bit. Really hard to beat the performance in that size and weight.

 

[Barelstroker]

Blaser are a really nice rifle but, if you're not shooting driven hunts they're a pointless expense.
They are primarily designed for driven hunts where the game is driven to your position & you have two or maybe 3 fast shots & that's it. They do a good job of providing the hunter with the maximum chance in those circumstances but they don't make a lot of sense otherwise, in MHO.
I've read some nightmare stories about getting dirt & mud blocked up in the locking rosette & not being able to open the action.
The R93's were designed with a deplorable & deadly locking system which caused serious injury to a dozen or so of their owners until the R8 replacement.
If you own an R93, always FLS & trim the brass. The action locks with pressure on the base of the case & is not intrinsically positional like the R8. This means that in the event of a long base to datum cartridge length, the rosette will try to lock outside of the expansion groove but with no indication to the operator that it is not locked in battery.

 

[Michael Travis]

Blaser are a really nice rifle but, if you're not shooting driven hunts they're a pointless expense.
They are primarily designed for driven hunts where the game is driven to your position & you have two or maybe 3 fast shots & that's it. They do a good job of providing the hunter with the maximum chance in those circumstances but they don't make a lot of sense otherwise, in MHO.
I've read some nightmare stories about getting dirt & mud blocked up in the locking rosette & not being able to open the action.
The R93's were designed with a deplorable & deadly locking system which caused serious injury to a dozen or so of their owners until the R8 replacement.
If you own an R93, always FLS & trim the brass. The action locks with pressure on the base of the case & is not intrinsically positional like the R8. This means that in the event of a long base to datum cartridge length, the rosette will try to lock outside of the expansion groove but with no indication to the operator that it is not locked in battery.

Oh, I don't know about that. I got my R8 for an absolute steal. They are not a typical rifle for people in my income bracket! It is a standard .308 Savannah model with a Zeiss 2-10 Conquest. With ammo that it likes (168gr GMM in particular) it will shoot .25" at 100 if I do my part. I can take the rifle completely apart, (including removing the scope) and put it back together and it returns to zero within .25". The weight is good, the trigger is tremendous, and has a solid feel to it. Admittedly, feel is a subjective standard.
It's absolutely the safest hunting rifle I own. You can't bump the safety off by accident. The gun absolutely can't go off until you "take it off safe" and engage the striker which can be done quickly and silently.
The biggest downfall to the rifle (IMHO) is the outrageous cost of EVERYTHING. Yes, I can convert it to anything from a .22lr to a .458 Lott. Unfortunately, barrels are between $1000 and $3000, new scope mounts are $400, and the list goes on. I absolutely love the R8 but it is prohibitively expensive for me fully kit it out.
Will it "do" anything that my Ruger American Predator won't do? No. It's a hard sell if you don't have enough money to make money an irrelevant consideration. But to call it pointless does it a great disservice. It's an engineering marvel and a HIGHLY capable rifle. If I could, I'd clear out most of my safe, outfit the R8 with a .22lr, a heavy barrel 6.5, a threaded .308 barrel, a .300 WinMag, and a .375H&H and call it good. Unfortunately, I drive a 4Runner, not a G-Wagon! lol

 

[Barelstroker]

A while back I was looking at a Blaser R8 as an option for a new rifle. Here in Australia, the base R8 runs around 7.5K with a scope mount. Most everything had to be pre-ordered with a minimum of 3 month wait for barrels with no reliable alternative at the time. I think Bix n Andy make a barrel extension which enables aftermarket barrels to be fitted.
For my purposes which is mostly culling pest species at night with spotlight, the low mag count & extreme expense just didn't seem to me to be the best choice. Considering I can purchase 8 or more Howa 1500's for the price of a base R8 which do everything the R8 can do with access to more aftermarket gear & proven reliability, I just couldn't warrant the R8.
Once you look past the straight pull action, there's really nothing that the R8 does or can do which substantiates the extra cost.
I have a Howa 1500 mounted in an MDT ACC with plenty of adjustment for the cramped environment I shoot in, a S/S target barrel which puts everything I've fed it so far into 1/2" or better, ten round MDT magazines & the Howa action make for flawless cycling which, in a darkened vehicle is the most important aspect of any rifle I use.
Our style of shooting is not a "one & done" deal & it's not uncommon for us to cull 20 or 30 pests in a night & sometime a lot more depending on the infestation of the property.
I've since put my fascination with the R8 aside & I'm glad I did. I don't think the straight pull would have made up for the host of shortcomings I would have had to endure.