Ok, it took 10 pages, but finally got to shoot this awesome rifle! I decided to just mainly do a pressure test work up to see what velocity I would find pressure at, as well as to form brass, break the barrel in and get comfortable with the rifle. I did a workup with 215 Bergers as well as 212 eld-x's, though I was far more thorough with the 215's.
I will start by saying, DO NOT try this in your rifle without working up, I figured I would hit pressure way lower than I did, a combination of Dallas's chamber specs, the awesome Bat action, the virgin brass and probably this barrel ended up letting me load much higher than I initially planned. Here is what I ended up getting -
215 Berger Hybrid
Retumbo
GM215M
Virgin ADG
3.675" OAL with 1.593" bullet (~ .025 off)
Virgin 20" Bartlien 1-8 twist carbon
78.0 - 2535
78.5 - 2586
79.0 - 2606
79.5 - 2625
80.0 - 2650
80.5 - 2655
81.0 - 2686
81.5 - 2693
82.0 - 2716
82.5 - 2738
83.0 - 2777
83.5 - 2787
84.0 - 2794
84.3 - 2819
84.6 - 2843
84.9 - 2843
85.2 - 2854
85.5 - 2871
85.8 - 2875
86.1 - 2884
86.4 - 2905
86.7 - 2915
87.0 - 2932
87.3 - 2941
87.6 - 2969
87.9 - 2946
88.2 - 2992
Never once did I get any change whatsoever in bolt lift, never any clickers, it was smooth as butter. I did get very, very faint ejector marks towards the end, you will see in the pics, and finally one that was a little bit more plain to see on the 88.2 load. However, none of the ejector marks had a swipe or smear. I do think a combination of the Bat action and virgin brass is hiding some pressure, so I plan on running one piece of brass in the upper range until I loose the primer pocket to try to get an idea where that threshold is.
On a separate note, this rifle is sweet to shoot. While there is significant recoil, it is a soft shove and very manageable. I probably won't be spotting shots, but it is still pleasant to shoot! And the action.....oh man, the action.....incredibly buttery smooth.
In order as they are pictured below, these are 87.6, 87.9, and 88.2 grains
