Silent but deadly

I have used a few variants of the Blaser straight-pull rifle over the years – I never owned one, but always enjoyed getting my hands on one. The first time I shot one was at Swarovski’s underground range; a ragged one-hole on a chamois target will always be etched in my memory. I have also hunted with a .270 Blaser up in some wild areas of Scotland, and was more than happy to grass a couple of cull stags. The function and performance of these rifles have always been without question – I have just never sealed the deal with a purchase.

Blaser’s straight-pull rifles offer several advantages over a conventional bolt-action. Most of you will be familiar with Blaser’s R93 and now their R8, so I won’t spend ages on the system itself – I’ll quickly cover the main gains as I see them. First, there is a length saving because the