Blaser R8

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Handgun Red Dot Sights

Rifle Reflex Dot Sights

About the Blaser

Blaser Jagdwaffen GmbH was founded in 1957 by Horst Blaser in Isny im Allgäu, a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was then taken over in 1986 by the company’s master gunsmith, Gerhart Blenk. Since its beginning, the company has specialized in high-quality hunting rifles. In 1993, Blaser developed a straight-pull bolt-action hunting rifle, Blaser R93, with which they achieved great success in Europe. By 2016 – when the R93 model was discontinued and replaced by Blaser R8 – they had produced more than 200,000 R93 rifles. In 1997, they merged with Sigarms but remained autonomous in their rifle production, and in 1999 they began distribution of their rifles to the USA.

Blaser has revolutionized the way riflescopes are mounted on rifles by introducing a unique mounting system, called the Blaser Saddle. They were one of the first rifle manufacturing companies that introduced a barrel-mounting system. Most Blaser rifles are made with the same barrel mounting surface with four notches. Today, their rifle products include Blaser R8, combination guns, single-shot rifles, and shotguns. They have also started designing and producing binoculars in 2017, and telescopic and reflex sights in the year after that.

Blaser R8 Rifle Review

Blaser R8 is a straight-pull push-feed bolt-action rifle introduced in 2008. It is regarded as Blaser’s premier rifle, combining innovation, versatility, and safety, and is sold at a premium price which makes it one of the most expensive hunting rifles on the market. R8 is also a very fast rifle thanks to its straight-pull action which allows for much faster repeating and shooting than traditionally designed rifles. The rifle does not feature a traditional receiver design since the bolt locks directly into the barrel (with 14 locking lugs), making R8 a fully modular rifle. The user can easily interchange barrels and bolt heads to switch to shooting with a different caliber. Another special feature of Blaser R8 is the special magazine which together with the trigger and the trigger guard forms one detachable assembly. Therefore, when you remove the magazine, you also remove the trigger, which provides additional safety since it prevents accidentally firing a chambered cartridge when reloading the magazine. Maximal possible safety is also ensured by the presence of a cocking mechanism which causes the rifle to be unable to fire if it was not manually cocked by the user by activating the cocking switch. The rifle originally supported only centerfire calibers, but Blaser later introduced a .22 LR caliber conversion kit. R8 is a successor to the popular R93 model, on which it improved mainly by making its magazine removable and featuring a larger selection of calibers and barrels.

Blaser R8

Figure 1: Blaser R8. Source: https://www.blaser.de/en/products/firearms/bolt-action-rifle-r8/r8-models-with-wooden-stock/r8/

Blaser R8 is chambered for the following calibers:

.204 Ruger
.22 LR
.222 Rem.
.223 Rem.
.22-250 Rem.
6 XC
.243 Win.
.257 Wby. Mag.
6.5x47 Lapua
6.5mm Creedmoor
6.5 PRC
6.5-284 Norma
6.5x55 SE
6.5x57
6.5x65 RWS
.270 WSM
.270 Win.
.270 Wby. Mag.
6.5x68
7 mm Blaser Mag.
7 mm Rem. Mag.
7x64
7.5x55 Suisse
.308 Win.
.300 WSM
.30-06 Spr.
.300 Norma Mag.
.300 Blaser Mag.
.300 Win. Mag.
.300 Wby. Mag.
.300 RUM
8x57 JS
8x68 S
8.5x55 Blaser
8.5x63
.338 Win. Mag.
.338 Blaser Mag.
.338 Lapua Mag.
9.3x57
9.3x62
.375 Blaser Mag.
.375 H&H Mag.
10.3x60
10.3x68 Mag.
.416 Rem. Mag.
.458 Lott
.500 Jeffery

Caliber depends on the barrel and bolthead.

Blaser R8 is available in the following variants:

Professional Success Leather
Monza
Professional Success Black Edition
Professional Success Ruthenium
Carbon Success
Long Range
Luxus
Attaché
Baronesse
Ruthenium
Success Mono
Success
Success Black Edition
Silence
Safari Rifles
Compact
Intuition

Blaser R8 features a barrel-mounting system where the mounts are mounted directly on the barrel instead of on the receiver. All modern Blaser guns (repeating rifles, break-barrel rifles, combination rifles, express rifles ...) have the same four notches on the barrel. Thus the same mounts fit on all Blaser modern rifles. The only exception here are some red dot sight mounts that are made specifically for R8 or R93 -- these do not fit other Blaser rifles.

Blaser R8

Figure 2: Blaser R8 receiver

Which rifles have interchangeable mounts

Two-piece mounts

For two-piece mounts to be interchangeable the mounting surfaces of the rifles must match in every dimension except the B dimension which can vary. This is because the distance between the two pieces of the mount is not fixed. Blaser rifles have a special Saddle mount mounting surface, making their mounts interchangeable with most of their rifles. The following rifles have interchangeable mounts:

One-piece mounts

The necessary condition for rifles to have one-piece mounts interchangeable is that the mounting surfaces of these rifles match in every dimension. Again, most Blaser rifles feature a special Saddle mount mounting surface, making their mounts interchangeable with most of their rifles. These are the following:

Important to note: once a mount for a Blaser rifle is mounted, it cannot be used on other Blaser rifle barrels – these mounts are designed so that they can only be used with one barrel. This means that you can use multiple optical sights on one Blaser barrel, but you cannot use one optic on multiple Blaser barrels.

Our recommendations for mounts

Detachable repeatable mounts

We recommend this 100% repeatable, reliable, and high-quality Saddle mount from Blaser.

Picatinny rails

For those who want to use a Picatinny rail, we recommend the Innomount Blaser Picatinny rail which is both reliable and sturdy.

Help us build our riflescope mounts database

If you happen to own this or any other rifle, we would appreciate it if you could help us expand our database by sending us some photos of the rifle receiver (the bare mounting surface of the rifle without the mounts installed). For your help, our company offers a fair return in terms of practical rewards.

Please send us an email for more information. You can contact us here: [email protected]

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General description

Most reflex red dot sights are of the open type, meaning that the light-emitting diode (LED) and the interior of the objective lens are exposed to the elements. Only a few red dot sights in this category have these two parts sealed (Steiner MRS, Holosun 512, etc.)

The objective lens is curved so that the beam emitted by the LED can reflect the user's eye in front of the device regardless of its position. The coatings applied to the lens reflect only the colour of the emitted beam, all the other colours pass through the lens. The most common colour is, of course, red. Nevertheless, some companies have started manufacturing green and gold dot sight because many people have problems seeing the red colour.

Holosun Reflex HS407C-RD V2

Holosun Reflex HS407C-RD V2 reflex sight

Reflex dot sight is parallax free. The majority of them are small and compact (some reflex dot sights designed for AR-platforms are bigger and bulkier). There are all sorts of mounting footprints when it comes to this category. The most popular is Docter/Noblex footprint profile. More information about the footprints on the red dot sight is available here.

Handgun reflex sights

These red dot sights must be small and compact so that they fit on a handgun. Pistol users generally prefer bigger dot projections (6 MOA –7 MOA) as it allows for quick target acquisition. These sights can also be used on rifles, but most rifle users opt for smaller dot projections (2 MOA –3.5 MOA). Handgun reflex sight withstands powerful recoil. Some modern pistols are designed so that a particular red dot sight footprint matches the mounting surface of the pistol perfectly (they are optic-ready).

Rifle reflex sights

Even though some reflex sights can be used on handguns and rifles, rifle-oriented reflex sight is generally bigger. They are equipped with a large objective lens and often supplied with a Picatinny mount.

Dot size

The dot size in reflex sight is associated with the field of use. Dot sizes 1 MOA –4 MOA are great for rifles as they provide more accuracy at distances up to 75 m. Dot sizes 4 MOA–10 MOA are a perfect choice for pistols since they allow the shooter to acquire the target faster. They provide sufficient accuracy at a distance of up to 40 m.

What is a reflex sight good for?

All dot sights operate at around 1x magnification. For this reason, the user can look through with both eyes open which add to the comfort and simplicity of use. Even though the shooter is looking through the lens, he or she remains aware of the surroundings (the peripheral vision is not affected). Reflex sight boasts unlimited eye relief and unlimited eye box (the dot is always on target as long as you see it, regardless of the eye position, allowing for quick target acquisition. In comparison to tube dot sight, reflex dot sight generally provides a less obstructed field of view (the frame around the lens is thinner).

What is the difference between a reflex sight and a red dot?

Every reflex sight is a red dot (or a green dot, or a gold dot, depends on the colour of the emitted beam) – reflex sight is a subcategory of a red dot. Most people, however, think about tube sight when they hear the term 'red dot'.

The differences between reflex sights and tube sights

Tube sight has enclosed housings, reflex sight is typical of the open type (even though there are some exceptions).
The frame around the objective lens is thicker with tube sight.
The reflex sight is typically smaller and lighter (even though there are some exceptions, for example, Holosun 512 models).
Tube sight comes almost exclusively with a round-shaped lens whereas reflex sight mostly comes with a rectangular-shaped lens.
Tube sight is not used on pistols as they are too big.
Tube sight is more suitable for harsh weather conditions (with the reflex sight of the open type, water, dust, or other particles can get in between the diode and the lens).

At what distances are reflex sights still accurate?

That depends on the dot size. Reflex sight designed for rifle use (1 MOA –4 MOA dot size) provides considerable accuracy up to 75 m.

Reflex sight designed for pistol use (4 MOA –10 MOA dot size) is accurate at up to 40 m. The accuracy is increased if the dot is paired with a magnifier.

Blaser R8

Sub Categories

About the Blaser

Blaser R8 Rifle Review