baldie

I'm not going to apologise for a rant, because i've seen so many barrels not shooting to their optimum, because of bad advise. I,m sick to the back teeth of hearing it in the shop, from people who have just spent 5k on a rifle, and are quite willing to ruin a barrel, on the advise of some idiot on the internet. I have shot probably into the 100's of barrels, in personally, and observed it countless times on customers rifles. I was at Diggle last week, shooting in a Sig cross. My two pals were there, one shooting in a new sassen, one shooting in a new Bartlien, both fitted by myself. Usual methods were employed, the use of a chrono, and also a large target with many dots. Its quite simple. You walk the gun onto zero cleaning as you go. When you get to shooting the 5 x 3 shot groups, cleaning in-between......watch what magically happens.....how much more evidence do you need ? Or does it have to be mathematically written down, by some professor in the back of beyond, who has never pulled a trigger? The sassen barrel broke in faster than the Bartlien did, it was plainly evident over the chrono, and on the targets. Both guns were shooting lovely by the end of the morning, and both guys were happy they had given the barrels the best start in life, and were basically using their old loads from the previous barrels i'd made them. Neither barrel held any copper at the end of the process, and the goops/velocities got magically tighter as the process finished......it must be witchcraft....... barrels that are not shot and cleaned in their first rounds can only fill the pores with copper. The pores cannot be levelled off by subsequent shots. these barrels end up being " i can't get the copper out" of this, or " i cant stop these carbon rings" etc etc. These are the barrels that take forever to settle down [if at all ] exhibit knife edge nodes etc. A properly run in barrel, will allow you to get to a good load faster, than one that isn't broken it. If you want to speed the process up, as a couple of forward thinkers have already said, the application of a bore polish, improved the process rapidly. I use Losso on all my new barrels first, it certainly helps. All proofed barrels come back in a mess with copper. Again FROM WEEKLY EXPERIENCE....The proof copper is the very devil to remove. Those two rounds literally plasmerise the bore. I usually aim to remove 90% of it.The last bit will never move, and the gun has to be fired again to warm it up, then it will shift. Different barrel brands behave differently at this point. Sassen blanks take 15 minutes to get clean, Bartliens take all afternoon. This is simply down to different lapping, both are absolutely fine once that initial copper has gone. A properly run in barrel, will not hold copper for a very long time, until its near the end of its life. Cold bore shots are more consistent, and the barrel will not require 20 rounds to return it to zero I've proved all the above by actually doing it, on a weekly basis. You can either take that as evidence, or not, I don't have a degree, etc etc. I'm simply a gunsmith with over 25 years experience.

I cannot believe grown men who will have owned all sorts of machinery, cannot grasp barrel break in. I also cannot understand anyone who will willingly spend X amount of pounds on a new gun, be it a factory rifle, or a full blown custom, and not be prepared to spend a morning, running it in properly. Dont listen to the idle sods who say its a waste of time, because they are talking out of their arse. I will not guarantee any barrels accuracy, i've fitted, unless the customer follows my break in regime, which is.. 5 x single rounds cleaning inbetween 5 x 3 rds, cleaning in-between. 2 x 5rds cleaning in-between. Factory rifles will need more break in than a custom blank. Barrels always speed up during the first 200 rounds. Surely people are not that dense, as to not recognise the increasing speed is because the barrel is running in ? Are people so thick ? I had a customer who put 200 rounds down an barrel, straight off, with poor results. It took me a day to get it cleaned properly, then it shot amazingly. Barrels coming back from proof are lathered in copper, and literally glow orange. It takes an afternoon to remove it, and Bartlien blanks are the worst. Subsequent shots show less copper, then less copper.........c'mon, even an idiot can see what is happening. Microscopic pores in the bore, is what you are smoothing out, by shoot/clean. Fill them with initial copper without removal, and you will never get the best from it. If the barrel has reamer marks bad enough across the lands, then the reamer needs replacing.

Bolt slop is totally irrelevant. Dont fall into the trap of thinking "it has to be BAT quality" coz thats been one of the biggest "emperors new clothes" in the gun world for years. Straight true lugs that bear properly are all that is required. I proved it years ago with 2 bolts of different tolerances in one action. It made no difference. I had my own made for years, and also did all the R and D , testing etc for several years on them, trust me, you are wasting your time commercially.

Guess we will find out. I'm currently on with building one on a Howa mini action.

😄 30-06 is 308 bolt face. 300 PRC is magnum. There is a fair bit of difference. The PRC falls very close to 300 norma magnum delivery.

My Pleasure Del, nice to see it out in the wild.

I've chassis in from MDT, AI, MPA, Oryx, etc Andy, pop in for a cuppa, you are welcome to handle them all. Might give you an idea or two.

A customer of mine, destroyed a brand new barrel, using S and B in creedmoor. The cases split at the web, and gas cut the chamber. I have the remainder of the ammo [ no, I did not sell that stuff to him ] and its going to the proof house.

Had a look at an Impact the other day....its a revamped surgeon. One of the guys involved worked on them both I believe. Its a very nice action. Just ordered some more Terminus actions, one of which is The Zeus, and that has the switch barrel capability.

a 1-7.5" is unlikely to stabilise either the A-tip, the 108, and certainly not the 110 sierra. All these are finicky bullets, and can be a right paint to tune. I would not fit anything slower than a 1-7" twist if a customer requested use of these bullets. It will still shoot lighter bullets, though to be honest, a 6.5 PRC will be so overbored, the twist rate is likely to be the least of your problems.

I have one in stock at the moment. Forget building your own, or getting bits in from Brownells. They will not export upper receivers anymore.

I popped it on my 6XC Lee, and put 5 rounds through it. Its a 6.5 cal mod. The gun is a heavy rifle and shoots like a rimfire with my own brake onboard. The moderator is not useable without hearing protection, and the brake is doing nothing. The gun recoiled an awful lot more than with my own brake. I have an insert for the mod, for my AI rifles, so will certainly give it a go on the calibre it was meant for, i've paid for it after all. After 5 rounds the heat haze from it rendered the gun unusable, so it definately needs a heat shield of some sort, and a quality one. I would guess it would have to be custom made, as the mods sections are short. Wished i'd waited for the PRS 3 as the 2 isn't big enough to suppress anything much more than .223. A beautifully made piece of kit though.

I bought one to try it out before selling to customers. I won't be....... It does neither, as I suspected.

Fill your profile in, as per the forum rules please.