The .30 R Blaser (7.62×68mmR) is a
rimmed bottlenecked
centerfire
Two rounds of .357 Magnum, a centerfire cartridge; notice the circular primer in the center
A centerfire cartridge is a firearm metallic cartridge whose primer is located at the center of the base of its casing (i.e. "case head"). Unlike rimf ...
cartridge developed for hunting in 1991 by Gerhard Blenk, the then owner of
Blaser Jagdwaffen GmbH and
Dynamit Nobel which then owned
RWS ammunition.
Design
The cartridge is of a new design and was constructed to outperform popular hunting cartridges like the
.30-06 Springfield
The .30-06 Springfield cartridge (pronounced "thirty- aught-six" ), 7.62×63mm in metric notation, and called the .30 Gov't '06 by Winchester, was introduced to the United States Army in 1906 and later standardized; it remained in military use ...
and
7.92×57mm Mauser
The 7.92×57mm Mauser (designated as the 8mm Mauser or 8×57mm by the SAAMI and 8 × 57 IS by the C.I.P.) is a rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge. The 7.92×57mm Mauser cartridge was adopted by the German Empire in 1903–1905, and was the Ge ...
. When compared with the .30-06 Springfield the .30 R Blaser features an equal maximum chamber pressure of 405 MPa (58,740 psi) piezo pressure - which is fairly high for a rimmed rifle cartridge - but more cartridge case capacity, allowing the use of more
propellant. The .30 R Blaser performance does however not reach the power level of .30 caliber magnum cartridges like the
.300 Winchester Magnum
The .300 Winchester Magnum (also known as .300 Win Mag or .300 WM) (7.62×67mmB, 7.62x66BR) is a belted, bottlenecked magnum rifle cartridge that was introduced by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company in 1963. The .300 Winchester Magnum is a m ...
that feature more cartridge case capacity and higher maximum chamber pressure levels.
The cartridge was commercially introduced in 1992 by Blaser Jagdwaffen (Blaser hunting weapons) and RWS ammunition. As of 2009, RWS is its only manufacturer.
Cartridge dimensions
The .30 R Blaser has 4.94
ml (76
grains
A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...
H
2O) cartridge case capacity. The exterior shape of the case was designed to promote reliable case feeding and extraction in break action rifles.
![30 R Blaser](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/.30_R_Blaser.svg)
.30 R Blaser maximum C.I.P. cartridge dimensions. All sizes in millimeters (mm).
Americans would define the shoulder angle at alpha/2 ≈ 20.01 degrees. The common
rifling
In firearms, rifling is machining helical grooves into the internal (bore) surface of a gun's barrel for the purpose of exerting torque and thus imparting a spin to a projectile around its longitudinal axis during shooting to stabilize th ...
twist rate
In firearms, rifling is machining helical grooves into the internal (bore) surface of a gun's barrel for the purpose of exerting torque and thus imparting a spin to a projectile around its longitudinal axis during shooting to stabilize the p ...
for this cartridge is 305 mm (1 in 12 in), 4 grooves, Ø lands = 7.62 mm, Ø grooves = 7.82 mm, land width = 4.47 mm and the
primer type is large rifle or large rifle magnum depending on the load.
According to the official with
C.I.P. (Commission Internationale Permanente Pour L'Epreuve Des Armes A Feu Portative) guidelines the .30 R Blaser case can handle up to P
max piezo pressure. In C.I.P. regulated countries every rifle cartridge combo has to be
proofed at 125% of this maximum C.I.P. pressure to certify for sale to consumers.
This means that .30 R Blaser chambered arms in C.I.P. regulated countries are currently (2013) proof tested at PE piezo pressure.
Contemporary use
The versatility of the .30 R Blaser for hunting all kinds of American and European game and the availability of several factory loads
and the fact that it uses standard .30 caliber projectiles all attribute to the .30 R Blaser chambering popularity in break action hunting rifles. Loaded with short light bullets it can be used on small European game like
fox or medium game such as
roe deer and
chamois
The chamois (''Rupicapra rupicapra'') or Alpine chamois is a species of goat-antelope native to mountains in Europe, from west to east, including the Alps, the Dinarides, the Tatra and the Carpathian Mountains, the Balkan Mountains, the R ...
. Loaded with longer heavy bullets it can be used on medium and big European game like
wild boar,
fallow deer
''Dama'' is a genus of deer in the subfamily Cervinae, commonly referred to as fallow deer.
Name
The name fallow is derived from the deer's pale brown colour. The Latin word ''dāma'' or ''damma'', used for roe deer, gazelles, and antelopes ...
,
red deer,
moose and
brown bear
The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is kn ...
. The .30 R Blaser offers good penetrating ability due to a fast enough
twist rate
In firearms, rifling is machining helical grooves into the internal (bore) surface of a gun's barrel for the purpose of exerting torque and thus imparting a spin to a projectile around its longitudinal axis during shooting to stabilize the p ...
to enable it to fire relatively long, heavy bullets with a high
sectional density
Sectional density (often abbreviated SD) is the ratio of an object's mass to its cross sectional area with respect to a given axis. It conveys how well an object's mass is distributed (by its shape) to overcome resistance along that axis.
Sectio ...
. The (former) legal banning of (ex) military service cartridges in countries like
Belgium,
Italy and
France, makes that the .30 R Blaser can be used for
hunting in such jurisdictions.
See also
*
List of rifle cartridges
*
7.62 caliber
The 7.62 mm caliber is a nominal caliber used for a number of different cartridges. Historically, this class of cartridge was commonly known as .30 caliber, the imperial unit and customary unit equivalent, and was most commonly used for i ...
External links
Blaser Hunting Weapons website
References
{{reflist
* C.I.P. CD-ROM edition 2007
* C.I.P. decisions, texts and tables
free current C.I.P. CD-ROM version download (ZIP and RAR format)
30 R Blaser
Rimmed cartridges