I think they were smart to offer this only as a conversion kit for existing Blasers...I agree that this isn't particularly appealing as a stand-alone rifle. I'm a Blaser fan myself, although I much prefer the old R93...believe it or not, there are still some of us who simply don't like or want detachable magazines. The rimfire conversion for the R93 was a ridiculous joke; this one is slick by comparison.
Is the price shown above for the entire kit? I'm assuming you need the bolt head, magazine insert and barrel; If you can buy all those pieces of Blaser-made hardware for $1650Can that's astonishing! That would make this a must-have for any R8 owner.