Carbon barrel load development

[Pdvdh]

For the 4 I have (3 in AR10's, 1 for BA's) and little weight savings there is, I'll just stick to ss only. I have a 32" ss (264wm) and a 30"cfw (300wm) of close to same profile (32" is fluted) and the 32" is only 14ozs more.

Yup. Gotta be needing a pure backpacking rifle for the hills and mountains of Alaska before I have much interest in CFW.

I own 6 of them. Two Bartleins that shot so poorly I pulled them off the actions and don't use them.

So I have a 66% success rate with my 6 CFWs.

 

[E4aker]

The barrel is just one part of the system to making an accurate rifle.

The barrel does seem to get the blame when a rifle doesn't shoot. Truth is, most of the time it isn't the barrel.

I chamber close to 200 barrels a year in my shop. 90% of those are carbon wrapped barrels. I might see 3-4 of those 200 that won't shoot 1/2moa or smaller with little to no load work.

How a rifle is put together, and optics/mounting system is just as important as the rifle components used

 

[BrentM]

The barrel is just one part of the system to making an accurate rifle.

The barrel does seem to get the blame when a rifle doesn't shoot. Truth is, most of the time it isn't the barrel.

I chamber close to 200 barrels a year in my shop. 90% of those are carbon wrapped barrels. I might see 3-4 of those 200 that won't shoot 1/2moa or smaller with little to no load work.

How a rifle is put together, and optics/mounting system is just as important as the rifle components used

I have 7 cf barrels and all shoot exceptionally well. I recall a local smith had 1 cf barrel that was bad, he always claimed all proof barrels were sh!t after that. No doubt there are lemons, but the benefits far outweight the cons with cf when it comes to hunters

 

[Pdvdh]

I have 7 cf barrels and all shoot exceptionally well. I recall a local smith had 1 cf barrel that was bad, he always claimed all proof barrels were sh!t after that. No doubt there are lemons, but the benefits far outweight the cons with cf when it comes to hunters

Agreed, if the barrel shoots. If it doesn't, where's the benefit.

 

[FireFlyFishing]

So I am trying my first carbon barrel. So far I'm not loving it. Been reloading for 30 years. All my stainless barrel rifles will do 1/2 to 3/4 Moa every time I shoot them. I have had a lot that wouldn't do that If they don't I send them on down the road. Load development for those rifles have been pretty standard stuff. Try different powders bullets and primers. Well. This carbon barrel is really getting under my skin The slightest powder weight change makes a drastic group shift. Won't shoot some bullets at all 2-3 inches When you hit on a good load it's not as consistent as I would like. Repeatable. It this common in a carbon barrel or do I have a no so great barrel. Appreciate any input

How many rounds down the pipe before you started development?

 

[Buffalobwana]

Dumb question. Have you taken it apart, inspected the stock for any possible interference? Removed any questionable material? removed the muzzle brake, reinstall to torque specs, remove inspect and reinstall scope bases and rings? Reassemble gun with proper spec torque?

I had a custom made 300 win mag recently give me fits. I ran 250 rounds trying to find a load that would just get 3/4" (not ideal, but it was a goal w this gun) I did all the above in one evening, and it started behaving.

Don't know what it was, I think it was something in the stock, but it could have been any of the above.

Good luck.

 

[Dirtdevil]

Yep. Out of the stock. Checked for clearance. Torqued to factory spec. And tried other torque setting also. Bedded it Called the manufacturer. First thing the guy said was take the break off. That helped some It has roughly 350 rounds on it all load development. ADG brass I think my next move is to send it back. The people there have been very helpful and suggested I send it in. Even the fact with premium factory it will keep the right around an inch the guy said It should do better. He said they would look at the barrel. Disassemble and check all parts if needed

 

[Buffalobwana]

Yep. Out of the stock. Checked for clearance. Torqued to factory spec. And tried other torque setting also. Bedded it Called the manufacturer. First thing the guy said was take the break off. That helped some It has roughly 350 rounds on it all load development. ADG brass I think my next move is to send it back. The people there have been very helpful and suggested I send it in. Even the fact with premium factory it will keep the right around an inch the guy said It should do better. He said they would look at the barrel. Disassemble and check all parts if needed

Got it.

I had a Seekins that I struggled with. I scoped it and was amazed at the chambering job. It was chambered so crooked, the lands on one side looked good, but as you went around, the "lands" were 3/8" up the barrel before the rifling started to be visible.

Even with such a horrible chamber, I did still manage 3/4" out of it.

Sent it back and they rechambered it, no questions.

 

[Varmint Hunter]

The barrel is just one part of the system to making an accurate rifle.

The barrel does seem to get the blame when a rifle doesn't shoot. Truth is, most of the time it isn't the barrel.

I chamber close to 200 barrels a year in my shop. 90% of those are carbon wrapped barrels. I might see 3-4 of those 200 that won't shoot 1/2moa or smaller with little to no load work.

How a rifle is put together, and optics/mounting system is just as important as the rifle components used

This ^^^^^^^^^^^ is an interesting point.

I can only add my own recent experience with a Bartlein Carbon barrel. I had a new 7PRC built with the new Bart/Carb bbl. I could not get the rifle to shoot consistently no matter what I did, including a scope swap-out. I eventually had my smith yank the barrel and return it to Bartlein for their review and, hopefully, an exchange. The owner of Bartlein called me up and said the barrel was carefully checked and found to be 100% within specs. They shipped the barrel back to my gunsmith who re-barreled it to the same action. I asked if rebedding the rifle might help, and he said the bedding was fine.

I got home with the rifle and put the same scope back on the rifle and it is now shooting very well. This week it shot a group into .2 moa @ 400yds. Previously, it was shooting groups between 1-1.5moa.

While I can't explain why any of this happened, the barrel which I was sure was bad, clearly was not.

 

[dirtytough]

I have multiple carbons. And now days I don't see a benefit to having a carbon on a hunting rifle. They do look cool though.

 

[Phil Rizzo]

This ^^^^^^^^^^^ is an interesting point.

I can only add my own recent experience with a Bartlein Carbon barrel. I had a new 7PRC built with the new Bart/Carb bbl. I could not get the rifle to shoot consistently no matter what I did, including a scope swap-out. I eventually had my smith yank the barrel and return it to Bartlein for their review and, hopefully, an exchange. The owner of Bartlein called me up and said the barrel was carefully checked and found to be 100% within specs. They shipped the barrel back to my gunsmith who re-barreled it to the same action. I asked if rebedding the rifle might help, and he said the bedding was fine.

I got home with the rifle and put the same scope back on the rifle and it is now shooting very well. This week it shot a group into .2 moa @ 400yds. Previously, it was shooting groups between 1-1.5moa.

While I can't explain why any of this happened, the barrel which I was sure was bad, clearly was not.

The last time I called Bartlein, I was told don't waste my time sending it back.
It would not be looked at, checked etc. That was maybe 3 months ago.
All are capable of a boo-boo, and If I have another bad one it's going to be manufactured by Krieger or Brux, Muller etc.
That conversation made sure of it.

I did have a bad Proof CFW, verified by them and replaced with the next production run.

 

[Pdvdh]

The last time I called Bartlein, I was told don't waste my time sending it back.
It would not be looked at, checked etc. That was maybe 3 months ago.
All are capable of a boo-boo, and If I have another bad one it's going to be manufactured by Krieger or Brux, Muller etc.
That conversation made sure of it.

They looked at one of my CFWs and told me it met their tolerances and specifications. So I had second custom gunsmith rechamber it a 2nd time. He measured one of the grooves about 0.0004" deeper than the rest while he had the barrel indicated in his lathe. Bartlein said that's not possible. Which I thought was a dumbfounding statement. Equivalent to "we walk on water".
Well it still patterned like a shotgun. Wouldn't shoot. Enough headache and heartache. I pulled the barrel. And eliminated Bartlein from any future barrels.

Bartlein's evidently got more work than they can keep pace with. Must feel they can lose customers, and still be overly busy. Got so big and busy, no time to bother with customer service.

 

[Phil Rizzo]

They looked at one of my CFWs and told me it met their tolerances and specifications. So I had second custom gunsmith rechamber it a 2nd time. He measured one of the grooves about 0.0004" deeper than the rest while he had the barrel indicated in his lathe. Bartlein said that's not possible. Which I thought was a dumbfounding statement. Equivalent to "we walk on water".
Well it still patterned like a shotgun. Wouldn't shoot. Enough headache and heartache. I pulled the barrel. And eliminated Bartlein from any future barrels.

Bartlein's evidently got more work than they can keep pace with. Must feel they can lose customers, and still be overly busy. Got so big and busy, no time to bother with customer service.

That's not the first one I know about that had a bore with irregularities.
I've watched the needle bounce before.

 

[Pdvdh]

Yep. Out of the stock. Checked for clearance. Torqued to factory spec. And tried other torque setting also. Bedded it Called the manufacturer. First thing the guy said was take the break off. That helped some It has roughly 350 rounds on it all load development. ADG brass I think my next move is to send it back. The people there have been very helpful and suggested I send it in. Even the fact with premium factory it will keep the right around an inch the guy said It should do better. He said they would look at the barrel. Disassemble and check all parts if needed

350 rounds in load development??? Yikes! You're the standard bearer of exceptional patience!

Send that sucker back to the manufacturer and let them check it out and shoot it. And be very thankful for their customer service.