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I owned a Blaser S2. I tend to forget about that one but it was accurate beyond belief when assessing each individual barrel. The barrels shot diagonal to each other and it required the judicious whack of a 2 pound ball peen hammer to bend the brass yoke at the muzzles to get both barrels shooting on the same horizontal plane. The wedge adjuster between the barrels was very effective at drawing the individual barrel groups together but only on the horizontal plane once hammer surgery was performed for the vertical plane, for an incredibly accurate composite group at 100 yards. This thing was in .470NE. The Blaser saddle mount was excellent to quickly (and repeatably) mount and remove scopes for accuracy testing.

The tilting block was hell for strong and the incredible strength gave me the confidence to do a lot of load development experimenting - confidence I would not have had with a traditional hinged double. I was also new to the big nitro express calibers at the time so I was naiive as to what made a good double rifle. It was a costly first endeavor,

Negatives? Yup:

1. Ergonomics that would make a steel two by four more appealing.
2. Hood over the barrels necessary for the action lockup made loading slow.
3. Extractors only. Some would see this as a feature. Others would see this as a defect
4. The cocking device would uncock upon opening whether the cartidges were or were not discharged. Very safe but utterly slow and reqiures retraining one’s brain to remember to recock the rifle every time before shots could be taken.
5. The rubber strips running between the barrels was ungainly and absolutely a departure from the soldered in barrel ribs of a traditional double rifle.
6. The stock wood was very pretty but the rifle kicked the snot out of me.... Back to poor ergonomics.
7. Price - Although priced slightly and I mean very slightly cheaper than a new entry level Merkel safari caliber double, the price asked for the Blaser was incredibly expensive for what one got. The reason doubles are expensive is because of the craftmanship and the effort it takes to regulate properly. No such factory regulation is done on the Blaser because it is “partially” user adjustable with simple hand tools...... I say fully adjustable if one is willing to perform surgery with a ball peen hammer as I did.

Am I raining on the Blaser parade.... No. (As a previous poster commented, “if you don’t like it, simply don’t buy it and avoid the negative commentary”). But I am relating my personal findings so other members of the forum can benefit from my costly experiences. I note that the S2 is no longer made nor sold by Blaser - I suppose they figured out that the market wasn’t ready for an overly expensive and modern take on the classic double rifle with a concept that lacks all the artistry that makes a double rifle so special and costly. Nice try Blaser - possibly a sad attempt at capitalizing on the retail dollars possible to be had in the double rifle market - maybe they’d still be selling them if the S2 was priced at $3000 vs $9000.

Had I known all these things about it before I bought it, I would NOT have wasted my time, effort and considerable pile of hard earned money on it. I ended up utimately owning a Merkel and then a Heym double that did go overseas with me to hunt buffalo. The Blaser would have done the job, but it would have been a definite and significant handicap given how that hunt went. Buffalo ARE tough and in my case it took 7 shots before that big boy tipped over. The Blaser “no way no how” would have been capable of letting me shoot like that Heym did.

I no longer have a horse in this race other than my K95 single shot which I’m absolutely smitten with and will never part with it. It shares the tilting block design with S2 double and the decocker, but in a single shot, and non-dangerous game rifle I welcome the strength and the accuracy afforded by this design. I can’t say enough good about the K95 - I like it so much I am on a slow quest to acquire new barrels for it so I continue to invest in this particular platform and have absolutely zere regrets doing so - in fact I look forward to adding new calibers for it as finances allow. Currently it is in 7x57R and I have a 9.3x74R on order. I will at some point add a .257 Weatherby barrel (and/or a 7mm rem mag) and a .22 Hornet.

Edited by Postman (03/02/19 12:48 AM)

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