Jakele J1 rifle.

[Murkan Mike]

Has anyone seen this rifle? It is a fairly new rifle, of straight pull design, developed by Mainhardt Zeh (who developed the Blazer R93 ) and German Gunmaker Andreas Jakele. It is supposedly the safest rifle ever made. That is very important here in Germany. The barrel blanks are made on a new Steyr hammer forging machine, and there are multiple patents applied for on this rifle.
From what Andreas Jakele has told me about the rifle, he can only produce about 1,000 a year, until he can get more employees trained.

Jakele J1

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jakele-j1.de

I have the first one in 30-06, and I love it.

 

[KYAggie]

Interesting rifle, kind of like a short barreled R93 or R8. I wish someone in the US would innovate rifles like this. Savage kind of tried, but it’s a heavy sucker and still a “Savage”. My R93 smokes the Savage in every way, especially handling; although the current cost is much higher for a used R93, if you could find one, or a new R8. I would imagine this rifle would do the same if it were available here.

 

[Murkan Mike]

The reason Jakele started building this rifle was because he was having trouble getting R93 rifles from Blaser, whose factory is 10 minutes down the road. Blaser noticed that more people wanted the R93 than the R8, so they decided to end R93 production. Jakele was buying R93s , and putting his scope mounts, stocks, bipods and stabilizers on them, and then one day, Blaser decided to end production, just as the patent ran out. So Jakele wanted to buy the machinery, and make them himself, but the reason Blaser stopped production, was because it was cutting into the R8s success, so it wasn't about to allow someone else to make them better. Besides, Michael Lüke, the owner of Blazer, has enough to do with his Sig Sauer contracts with the military.

So Andreas Jakele knew the original designer, who was working for Proffessor Fischer of the nylon wall plug fame, and they designed the Jakele J1 rifle incorporating many additional safety ideas, like the hammer cocking lever, which makes the rifle truly inert when your hand is off of it.

What they didn't count on, was the success of the rifle, and how many people around the world are wanting a rifle with the accuracy of a Blaser R93, but are disappointed in the R8. The J1 fits the bill. As Andreas Jakele says himself, "The R93 is the Mercedes of rifles, but my J1 is the Maybach of Mercedes rifles!"

Yes, I know him personally, and my son is his head gun Smith.

They produced about 700 rifles this first year, and all are hand made in a small shop. They have distributors all over Europe clambering for more rifles, and have promises of 7,000 rifles that hunters all over Europe want to buy. They just can't make them fast enough, and he doesn't want to compromise quality. He told me that it will be years before they even think about distributing to the U.S. and Canada. After Blasers fiasco with their distributor in AZ, they don't want to repeat the mistake Glaser made. The ex-Blaser head of distribution, quit Blazer and now works with Andreas Jakele.

Watch this rifle and in a few years, it will definitely steal the crown from Blaser.

 

[ohiofarmer]

@Murkan Mike , if you know the designer personally and your son works for him, have you handled the rifle? I’m curious as to how the grip feels as it appears the cocking lever does not travel completely rearward - hence your middle finger “sticking out“ with only the ring finger and pinky on the grip?

 

[KYAggie]

Thats very interesting history on the Blaser line; I did not know the R8 was not as liked much as the R93. I did know the distribution was a disaster in the US. I bought my R93 used in 2001, for the then princely sum of $2100. It was a two barrel set, 270 and 300 WM, with left and right bolt assemblies. I added a 223 barrel when they were still $400. Years later it seemed the only place to get R93 barrels and parts was that distributor in AZ and his prices were 2.5+ times what they had originally been. That killed me adding any more barrels to my collection, although I badly wanted a 9.3x62. All I know is that all my barrels are stupid accurate and the rifle carries like a fine shotgun and is a pleasure to have in hand all day when hunting. Leave it up to a large manufacturer to kill off a superior product when they introduce an inferior and much more expensive one.

Thanks for sharing all these details. Keep us up to date. We would love to see this rifle in the US!

 

[Murkan Mike]

@Murkan Mike , if you know the designer personally and your son works for him, have you handled the rifle? I’m curious as to how the grip feels as it appears the cocking lever does not travel completely rearward - hence your middle finger “sticking out“ with only the ring finger and pinky on the grip?

I have handled many, and have the first one made in 30-06. It is amazingly balanced, and after shooting mine for several months, an R 8 feels like a 2X4. My Jakele J1 is lighter than the Blazer K95 single shot rifle.

Many people have said that cocking the rifle is too strange, but after shooting mine, they agree it isn't an issue at all. It's like when you see an automatic transmission for the first time, you think "That won't work, I'll be stepping on the brake all the time with my clutch foot!", but after a few minutes it becomes second nature. Maybe I should reverse that analogy for the U.S. readers; It's like when you see a standard transmission for the first time......

I went on a wild boar drive hunt Sunday in the Palatinate Forest (Pfälzer Wald) and for the first time in months, didn't take my Jakele J1, but instead took my FN Browning BAR in .300 wm. with a red dot sight. That used to be my "thin and sleek, short and handy" rifle, for quick "snap" shots on running boar. It felt like a heavy wet wood log after standing there with it in my hands for several hours. Next week I'm taking the J1, and I think I can probably make follow-up shots almost as fast as with the BAR, since it is a straight pull. I'll see.

Andreas Jakele spent a long time working on that stock, getting it perfected. I was visiting my son one weekend, and we were at the shop with all of the other gunsmiths, and we kept trying out the prototype. Andreas would sand down some here, add Bondo in another location, and we would close our eyes, and he would put a variation in our hands and have us mount the rifle, then he would watch how our heads shifted as we looked down the scope to make corrections. The J1 is a very well thought out rifle. It points like no other rifle I've ever held, to include some hand made Ferlachers.

Oh, and your middle finger doesn't stick out, it is in a very natural position when holding the cocking lever. Like driving the automatic car, after a few minutes you don't even notice it.