Blaser R93 Tactical, R93 UIT Standard and R93K Bullpup Rifle

Blaser R93 Tactical,  Blaser R93 UIT Standard and Blaser R93K Bullpup Rifle

The Blaser R93 Tactical (also known as the R-93 LRS-2) has a number of unusual features: the receiver, stock, and forestock are made of an almost solid piece of composite material; the barrel is of chrome-moly steel,  cold-forged, and impregnated with deep penetrating nitrogen gas to retard rusting.  The barrels for most of the non-magnum calibers are 24.7 inches long; for the .300 Winchester Magnum and 6mm Norma Benchrest, the barrel is 25.6 inches; and for the .338 Lapua Magnum chambering, the barrel is 27 inches long.  The barrels are deeply-fluted to reduce weight and promote cooling.  The bolt handle does not  need to be rotated to be actuated; it is simply pulled straight back,  unlocking and locking automatically, with two chamber vents being provided if a case head failure occurs. 

Blaser R93 Tactical

Blaser R93 Tactical

The bipod normally provided with the Blaser R93 Tactical is a Harris lightweight-type, but  this may be removed and replaced with a normal fore-end or even a foregrip if desired. The sight mount is a MIL-STD-1913 rail; no iron sights are provided.  The buttplate is adjustable for height,  length and angle, the cheekpiece is adjustable for height and position upon the stock, and the bipod is adjustable for height and cant.  The trigger is match-quality, two-stage, and is adjustable for pull, takeup, overtravel, and three directions of position.  With the exception of the .338 Lapua Magnum version, any chambering available to the R93 Tactical can be fired from the same rifle simply by changing the barrel, bolt head, and magazine.  (Versions of the Blaser R93 Tactical which fire .338 Lapua Magnum are designed specifically for that round, and the operating parts are not  interchangeable with other Blaser R93 Tactical rifles.)  These caliber changes are can be accomplished  without changing the zero of whatever sights are mounted; the only changes the sniper might have to make are to account for the different calibers.

Blaser R93 UIT Sniper Rifle

 The ammunition feed for the R-93 Tactical positions the rounds directly in line with chamber, which increases reliability and means that the rifle does not  need a feed ramp.  The stock is made from one piece of molded synthetics; in addition to the bipod groove on the fore-end, the rear of the stock has a retractable monopod. The R-93 Tactical is based on two earlier designs: The R93 UIT Standard, a match rifle with a single-shot action, and the R93 CISM, a bolt-action match rifle.  Both of these weapons use a normal flash suppressor instead of a muzzle brake, have normal sight mounts instead of a MIL-STD-1913 rail, and use set triggers.  The bipod is usually metal instead of composite.

Blaser R93K BullpupSniper Rifle

The R93K Bullpup Sniper Rifle is a bullpup version of the R-93 Tactical above,  designed to provide a barrel that is actually longer than that used in the standard R-93 in a compact weapon.  The muzzle brake is somewhat more substantial than on the R-93,  and there is a carrying handle with a MIL-STD-1913 rail on top.  The furniture is all  polymer and not  subject to weather conditions.  The design has its drawbacks: the magazine capacity is greatly reduced and the bolt handle is in a very awkward position (directly beside the firer's shoulder), requiring all  but  the most flexible snipers to take the weapon off the shoulder to cycle the bolt.  Despite this it is used by many members of German Police SRT units and is popular with German hunters.

This Blaser R93 Tactical,  R93 UIT Standard and R93K Bullpup weapon generated a lot off interest when it was introduced in 1997, due to its quality; it was also designed using a host of suggestions from military and police snipers all  over Europe and North America.  (The design of the R-93 Tactical actually generated nine separate new patents.)