Reading Holly's blog is always thought provoking (best comments section on the web - end of), but this time she's been provoking further attacks of the avarice that's afflicting this blog for a couple of posts!As ever I've been thinking about a time [soon to come] when finances improve and I'll be able to buy myself a rifle of my own. Up until now I've mostly been thinking Swedish. But nothing's set in stone.
The design is a modular marvel where every stock fits every action and every barrel.
This weekend I've been looking at the Blaser 93 in all its myriad incarnations, including this conversion to rimfire.
The design is a modular marvel where every stock fits every action and every barrel.Who says AR15 owners should have all the fun. And if I were to suddenly win the lottery how about their unique take on the double rifle?
Two side-by-side barrels and receivers. With each cycle of the bolt two cartridges are loaded simultaneously, like a classic side-by-side double rifle. But better. The magazine contains six cartridges and two in the barrels. Ideal for the really big pigs.
Two side-by-side barrels and receivers. With each cycle of the bolt two cartridges are loaded simultaneously, like a classic side-by-side double rifle. But better. The magazine contains six cartridges and two in the barrels. Ideal for the really big pigs.
Wow,that shotgun looks CRAZY.
ReplyDeleteMe, I haven't even picked up my rifle and I'm thinking, "Oh, now I need a .22 for practice at the range, and an air rifle for turkeys..."
Thanks for the link!
ha ha Wait 'till you see the next 'I want one' then you'll know what it is to want!
ReplyDeleteSBW
The Blaser is an awesome rifle, and to Holly's previous comments, the action makes the Krag feel like it was machined from concrete by sadistic monkeys in the pits of hell...
ReplyDeleteI've daydreamed about that double ever since I first saw it, although that's a lot of working parts! I think I'm partial to their "regular" double rifles instead.
Now this may be heresy to some, but I've never liked Blasers, and not just for the painfully obvious reason that I can never hope to afford one.
ReplyDeleteThey're just so...I don't know...Teutonically ugly.
I'm a fan of many things German (beer, optics, that peculiar avant-garde weirdness...) but guns (other than the Mauser, of course) have never been one of them.
I've just never warmed to German shotguns like I love Italian and British guns, and when it comes to European rifles if it doesn't have a CZ, Sako or Tikka rollstamp on the barrel it just doesn't do much for me.
And the name. Blaser. Like some unholy union between a laser gun and Han Solo's Star Wars blaster.
"Quick Chewie, throw me that Blaser and we'll blast our way off this Death Star!"
You think I'm kidding? Blaser was formed in 1977. What year did Star Wars came out? 1977. Coincidence?
Of course the argument can be made the Blaser is no more ugly than my Tikka, which is undeniably true.
I can only reply there's no accounting for taste... mine's as bad as the next guy's.
You're worse than anyone I know!
ReplyDeleteTeasing me with that mechanical marvel.
Blaser makes some very precise shooting machines. The German influences are very obvious. When I was at the SHOT Show I perused their wares, and I was really impressed by the fit and finish.
That R93 looks like a lot of fun. Expensive fun, but fun none the less.
What are the restrictions in the UK concerning modularity? Is the action the only "registered" part? Or does each component have to be registered?
Albert
Albert
ReplyDelete'What are the restrictions in the UK concerning modularity? Is the action the only "registered" part? Or does each component have to be registered?'
I think the action is the gun but i'm not 100% sure
SBW
Chad
ReplyDeletei hear you fella the name is irredeemably naff, like stone washed jeans and mullet hair cuts a lot of very poor taste originates in germany, but you know what their shit works,every time.
I'm really taken with the modular idea, it would cut my storage costs considerably, not enough to justify it but I'll give pretty much any kind of self delusion a go.
As for the other european firearm traditions you've mentioned, stay tuned for the next 'i want one' it looks a lot of fun.
SBW
Philip
ReplyDeleteThe double is called a Duo Hamed after the dude who commissioned the first one.
He'd been day dreaming about having something that was a cross between a rifle and a swiss watch, had rummage around down the back of the sofa and found a few bucks he'd lost while wearing baggy trousers and being too busy at his day job to knock one up in his shed, contacted Blaser.
His name?
Sheikh Hamed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, Minister for Economic Affairs of the Emirate Abu-Dhabi.
you know how it is mate, when you've got the time, you haven't t got the money, when you've got the money you haven't got the time. Could have happened to anyone.
SBW
Oddly enough- here we have a Brit lusting after a German rifle and Germans want Swedish and Swedes want American and Americans want English.
ReplyDeleteAw Heck- I'd love to have a Westley Richards or a Hollands.
The Blaser is a neat, neat rifle in a lot of respects.
This is entirely not heretical on my part:
ReplyDeleteBlaser straight pull rifles have shot bolts straight back into people's eyes. More than once and not due to operator errors.
The double rifles are constructed in such a way as it's not at all practical to properly regulate the barrels, which is the most important part of double rifle construction.
I could give you an extensive discourse on why this is so but I have my own blog for that sort of thing. Regulation of double rifles is more of a multi-hour conversation than a blog comment. Suffice to say IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BORESIGHTING BOTH BARRELS STATICALLY TO BOTH POINT AT THE SAME TARGET AT A GIVEN DISTANCE WHICH IS WHAT THE BLASER DESIGN FORCES THEM TO DO BECAUSE OF THE CONJOINED RECEIVER. It's a wee bit more complicated than that because of the various torquing of things that occurs during bullet barrel time.
Simple thing to remember, as this isn't the place for more extended discourse, the barrel you fired of a double rifle is pointed at distinctly different places between when you pull the trigger and when the bullet leaves the barrel, most especially so for large bore slower African cartridges.
Both statements above are true, factual, and they are welcome to sue me for it because the accidents and difficulties in regulation are both a matter of public record.
The injury accidents are a matter of public police and court records in a number of European and African countries and all occurred using normal factory boxed ammo.
You might keep that in mind or not. It's your money and you're welcome to believe who you like.
Fractured eye socket with accompanying blindness isn't high on my list of things to have and keep in mind I build elephant cartridge capable pistols.
If anybody's in the Denton, TX area on Sunday at the gun show I'd be glad to go into it with them in further detail. I'll be hanging around with a barrel maker pal named Mike Bellm who probably knows as much about gunsmithing as anybody I know on the planet. He's heir to P.O. Ackley's shop and rifling machines. I hope you don't have to google that name, but if need be, you should.
Blasers are overpriced and dangerous. You could do better. You live in the UK. If I can have a Westley Richards or two and a couple Hollands, by God, I think you'd be able to find one over there.
I shall now step off my soap box.
FWIW: Mike and I are hunting really big pigs Monday and Tuesday and I'll be shooting my .375H&H Mag Single Shot Encore pistol and I think he's got an Improved Roberts barrel along of a single shot nature for his purposes as of last conversation, though he might use a .300Bellm, he's on good terms with the cartridge designer and knows it pretty well... If you place the bullets you don't need a large magazine.
ARs and AUG are just going along for fun, as likely as not.
God Bless Texas
In case you want to study it further in depth, regarding doubles, this is probably a good place to start.
ReplyDeleteHe knows what he speaks although I have a few minor quibbles with his first edition that I shall assume were corrected in the second edition.
It's a GREAT coffee table and relaxation book even if you never attempt to build one, with pretty pictures too!
Happy Shooting,
Tom
---Still awake and fidgety/restless cos I'm packed but it's not time to drive anywhere or hunt yet so I figured I'd end my commenting here on a POSITIVE note.
Hodgeman
ReplyDeleteThe grass is always greener eh!
SBW
Tom
ReplyDeleteThanks for the warning!
and thanks for raising the technical level of my comments section, i'd love to hear more! The next 'I want one' also features a double rifle. Stay tuned and keep commenting
SBW
Tom,
ReplyDeleteLike I don't have enough to occupy my fertile imagination. I want to take an old side by side 410, and make it a 22 hornet or 22 magnum rimfire. Now I don't have the excuse that I really have no idea how to go about it; there's a book now!
Great just great...
Albert
No worries. As far as regulation: Holland and Holland have been building double rifles as long as about anybody and basically developed the market for them. In spite of all this experience they still go with starting with a known close starting point and play the shoot, de-solder, re-solder, shoot, repeat until happy game all these years later for a reason. That's why they cost so much but it's the only way to properly do the job.
ReplyDeleteDownside of building your own double rifle (re: book above) is that unless you are super famous as a gunsmith they basically have no value to anybody but yourself.
Glad to be of help. It'd be nice if Blasers never spit bolts in people's eyes, but the fact that they've done it more than once makes me distrust them. They are slick actions otherwise. Sorta of like my .30-40 Krag, though...it's a slick action and when it became a sporter I thought of Ackley Improving it but, with only one decent locking lug it's strong enough for exactly what it's built to be and I decided not to risk it.
If they didn't make Blasers in chamberings bigger than .303/.30-06/8mm Mauser I'd have less misgivings about them. Unfortunately they make them in things like .416 Rigby and .458WinMag too. Maybe those rifles were made with bad batches of steel and it isn't a design fault as some argue. A Magnum Mauser or Falling Block action won't spit a bolt in your eye even if it's made of bad steel and a Blaser will.
Hi Sten.
ReplyDeleteWhat are you worrying about ? There is only one rifle to own and that's a Remington 700 ! The most accurate rifle out of the box and not expensive.
Go for a model like the synthetic stocked stainless barrelled mountain rifle.
DON'T buy a .243 !!!! maybe a .25-06 or a .30-06.
Andy
DON'T buy a .243 !!!! maybe a .25-06 or a .30-06.I shall remember to laugh at that statement on the next Elk, Bear, Cape, or Ele hunt.
ReplyDeleteJesus! Sometimes, pal, it is a lot better to keep your mouth SHUT than yap about shit you know nothing about.
Mark Twain wrote a witty line regarding that concept.
May all your shots be in the bullseye and may you never be stupid enough to hunt a Cape or Ele with either a .25 or .30-06.
It's a big old world and this seems to be a DG/Double rifle thread. Might be useful for you to make a library trip before you hurt yourself.
Tom
ReplyDeleteWithout wishing to put words in the fox's mouth
What i thought his comment referred to was the fact the a good 90+% of gun shops in the UK will recommend the .243, the british Deer stalking organizations recommend them and the most police forces will prefer to issue a firearms certificate for a .243. A position he's disagreed with on his [excellent] blog.
As you'll notice from reading this blog I'm no expert on this - in fact I'm not even at the dizzy heights of rack amateur yet!
Keep the contention coming!!
SBW
Great to see we have one of the greatest American experts on big game hunting looking in at this blog.
ReplyDeleteForgive me if I picked up Stens thread incorectly but I thought from reading the blog Sten aspires to hunt Elk and a few Wild Boar as well as coming up to visit Scotland every so often and shoot Roe and Red deer.
How can a 30.06 loaded with a 220gn Barns solid not be good enough for a Buffalo ???
Was it not Col. Townsend Whelen, "Mister Rifleman" of his era, who prophesied, "As a matter of fact, it [the .30-06] probably never will be excelled as an all-around rifle for American game."
At the end of the day hitting power & shock effect is no substitite for poor shot placement.Therefore any calibre selection should ultimately be determined by the most suitable and most affordable rifle and calibre combination that can be carried comfortably, handled confidently, and fired accurately with a first up shot into the vital organ region.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMost people are not as accurate as they think they are, most especially when a large animal is charging them. The ivory trade hunters and a few select others, as well as many African game officers, get away with using marginal cartridges, same in America.
ReplyDeleteIf you're not one of the well practiced folks above, as powerful cartridge as you can handle (people make huge mistakes here too) gives you a lot of added insurance. Ele's head is enormous but it's brain is about the size of a football in there.
.243 is unlikely to make it to an ele brain at all. .303 and .30-06 will, if you make a very good shot, which you likely won't do on a charging animal. Similar things might be said about Capes and many other large beasties.
As I said, this seemed a DG thread, not a deer stalking thread. If I was in error on that point, oh well. Happens.