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As a new Blaser owner and hunter I'll chime in on this one.

I first got the idea from using a mates R93 in New Zealand - had a 308 barrel and a supressed 222 barrel - shot a few goats with it and quite enjoyed the action and ergonomics.

A couple of years later, he took a thumbhole stocked R93 to Africa on a trip we did together and used it on a number of plains game animals.

I had thought about the idea for a while, then this year decided to sell a couple of my other factory rifles and give one a go.

I opted for the R8 professional success (thumbhole stock, synthetic).

With a 6.5 x 55 and 30 06 barrel it covers all of my medium game hunting. I have to report that it is obscenely accurate with anything I care to feed it.

I was out two weeks ago with the 3006 barrel and an aim point scope walking creek lines on my main Far north Queensland property in search of a pig or two. I shot a half decent boar on the run in thick grass - four shots in around 3 seconds - they are bloody quick to get rounds off with - in this case with shots through thick cover it was warranted and the result was good.

Later in the day, I walked in on a spring which has some heavy cover thinking there may be a pig laid up in the mud. As luck would have it a very solid scrub bull was observed in the thick stuff. With a 3006 and 150 Gr corelokt softs I was somewhat under done but with 5 quick shots to make sure plenty of damage was done in the boiler room, he was on the ground. This was all at 10-15m - no test of accuracy but certainly a test of the ability to shoot quickly and in a circumstance where I needed the rifle to be 100% reliable. It was. These can be either top loaded or loaded in the mag so a quick top up in the heat of the action is nice and fast.

Walking out of the spring a feral dog took off on my flank, at around 120m I put lead in the air and connected - a fair bit of luck given the dog was going flat out but it was certainly a good end to the day.

I have shot quite a few Chital deer, and other dogs and pigs with it aswell as a few bunnies. Suffice to say, I am pretty happy with it - it is very functional and ergonomic - Certainly my most practical repeating rifle. I have open sights on my barrels too which adds a nice bit of redundancy should something go wrong with an optic in the field. I obviously have other rifles which I love to carry in the field, but I am finding myself picking up the Blaser on a regular basis. Quite a few mates who have picked it up and had a shot are considering them also.

Cheers

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Hunt hard, shoot straight

"I speak of Africa and golden joys; the joy of wandering through lonely lands; the joy of hunting the mighty and terrible lords of the wilderness, the cunning, the wary and the grim"

Theodore Roosevelt, Khartoum, 1910