Criterion prefits

[GaCop]

Shot the new Criterion 308 bull barrel yesterday in gale force winds. the 155 gr A-Max is showing promise at .608" at 100 yards using RL-15. In 168 gr SMK loads, I tried Win 760, all loads tested were within 3/4" and slightly under giving velocities in the 2720 to 2730 fps range. Best load was 45.2 grains yielding SD/ES of 7/17, velocity of 2720 fps and five shot group of .740". With the heavy bull barrel, the rifle seems to ride the bags well in a Duramaxx stock. So far, I have not glass bedded the action. Total rounds down the barrel is at 40.

[airaddict]

My 243 is in the mail. Hopefully it will be here by thurs as i was told so i can get to the range on friday. I got a long weekend since im off thurs and friday for a fishing tourney saturday.

Brian

[goosebrown]

Mine is on order and he hoped it would go out this week. I am pretty bad at waiting. I have all the other stuff sitting here staring at me.

Got the call today. It should be here on Wednesday next. How am I going to sleep?

[airaddict]

Got my cbi from NSS this morning. Finish is great. Gave it a good cleaning before i mounted it and the bore is super smooth. Its on the rifle now and its ready to be zerod.

I actually had a barrel nut not headspace with the barrel. Luckly i had a couple of spares and the second one i tried worked. Not sure why. The one that didnt work is the old round groove and the one i switch to is the newer flat groove. I also have a spare stainless one just in case. I couldnt get the first nut screwed onto the barrel far enough to allow the bolt head to contact the headspace gage. First time this has happened to me but ive used it on two other barrels with no problems.

Anyone else had this happen?

Brian

[bowhunter42]

I Just ordered my barrel from Jim, Its a 26" lite varmit in 300 win, Im hoping to push some 197 vlds out of it, If it shoots as good as the factory barrel its replacing I will be a very Happy Camper. but after seeing some of the results that have been posted here I am now expecting GREAT results. cant wait till it gets here next week.

[northlander]

Brian,
The problem with the older style Barrel Nut is the fact that the Skirt area (front section without threads) on the older Barrel Nuts are not machined for the larger diameter barrels. If you measure the inside leading edge section, skirt, on the older barrel nut you will see that it is too small to clear the outer diameter of the CBI Barrel.

Your options are to have the old style barrel nut opened up to match the newer one or just use the newer square notch barrel nut.

Jim Briggs
NSS

[airaddict]

Luckly i had the fore thought to snag a few extra barrel nuts just incase. So its no biggie. Ill save the old round notch for another barrel or build cuz we all know u cant have just one savage! Ha

thanks for the great barrel Jim. Ill post pics of target tomorrow.

Brian

[airaddict]

All i can say is wow! This has well exceded me expectations. Im shooting 87gr vmax with a 37.1 gr dose of IMR 3031 in mew R-P brass. Bullets were seating to the books oal for the vmax. I cant remeber what it is right now. So i have not done a ladder test or played with seating depths. The 50 rds i shot this morning are the first 50 thru this barrel. I did not do a break in procedure. I just shot to zero and get velocitys. Avg velocitys for my load in this barrel were right at 3200 fps. My CBI is a lite varmint in 243win w 9 twist and 26" length. Heres the proof they are amazing!

http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/k599/airaddict/2012-03-30103633.jpg
sight in at 100yds

http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/k599/airaddict/2012-03-30103648.jpg
sight in at 100yds.

http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/k599/airaddict/2012-03-30112714.jpg
This is the first 400 yd 3 shot group i attempted.

http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/k599/airaddict/2012-03-30113440.jpg
this is a 5 shot group at 400 yds.

http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/k599/airaddict/2012-03-30114117.jpg
another 5 shot group at 400 yds.

http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/k599/airaddict/2012-03-30115129-1.jpg
A 3 shot group at 400yds. This was after a good rest to let the barrel cool and let my eyes rest.


http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/k599/airaddict/2012-03-30115247.jpg
this was the last 3 shot group at 400yds. Rapid fire.


As you can see in the pics. If i do my part the barrel will surely do its part. For no load developement, this shot really well! The 3 shot group thats less than am inch is the best group i have ever shot at that distance!! I was amazed but really took my time and focused and set the bags up really rock solid. I guess all my barrels might come from CBI now......!!!! Thanks.

Im gonna use it next weekend on a 400 yds match for bullseye shooting off your elbows only.

Brian

[mattri]

airaddict- That's some great shooting, well done!

[GaCop]

Tested 168 gr SMKs over Win 760 and the 155 gr A-Max over RL-15 in the Criterion bull barrel, 28". Best group at 100 yards was the 155 gr A-Max with 45.8 grains of RL-15. Velocity was 2835 fps and five rounds grouped into .199". The same load at 300 yards grouped .686".

Best 168 gr load was 47.8 grains of Win 760 giving me 2704 fps and five rounds into .298" at 100 yards. I couldn't do any more testing because it started raining heavily.

[lal357]

Have you tried varget with the 155 amax my shilen loves them over 46.0 gr seated at 2.218 ogive best is 10 shots at .233 ctc at 100 of course your mmv, so far my 6.5 creedmoor seems to be a shooter gonna install a rifle basix sav2 trigger in it today to get it down to 8-10 oz for open class

[GaCop]

I have Varget but the Hornady manual was showing a bit higher velocity with the RL-15 so I went with it. .686" is the tightest I've ever shot at 300 yards.

[mattri]

That's some awesome shooting for sure- good job!

[lal357]

Gacop misread your post thought that was 100yds .6 groups at 300 yds is sweet

[GaCop]

If I can figure out how to post pictures I'll display the groups. The same day I shot a .298" group at 100 yards with the 168 gr SMK over Win 760/48 grains.

[frank1947]

GaCop that .686 is awesome that is a cool .218 MOA, sub 1/4 moa is about as good as it gets.

[airaddict]

What scope are you using GaCop?

Brian

[GaCop]

What scope are you using GaCop?

Brian


Vortex Viper 6.5X20X44 side focus.

[airaddict]

Im seriouly considering one over my leupold 4-14x40 CDS for paralax issues. Did they come with flip up lens covers and if so, are the sturdy or flimsy?

Is it nice and clear at 300-400 and are the crosshairs thin enough to not cover the whole middle of the target? Thanks

brian

[goosebrown]

Got my beautiful new CBI 6mmbr 30" bull barrel into my 12 action this morning. It went as everyone said. Textbook.

I used the receiver wrench and a nut wrench. I didn't get the barrel vise and in retrospect, I should have bought it it would have been easier and I could use it on my FALs. Once the nut was loosened, and it was hard but not impossible, the barrel didn't want to unscrew from the action. I put the barrel in wooden jaws and then clamped that down and used the receiver wrench to turn the receiver off the barrel. Worked a charm. Once off, I cleaned out the threads in the action. I probably shouldn't have, but I greased the new threads VERY slightly and the new barrel went in perfectly.

Torqued the nut as hard as I could and then tapped it couple times. I did this twice and removed the nut once in between to make sure it was on tight and that I could get it off as well. I think it is fine.

I headspaced on a resized norma case and then tightened the nut. It closes with light resistance on the case and won't close on the no-go gauge. (I have the go on order, but it is out of stock).

I am very excited to get out and shoot it. Hopefully Friday.

I have to thank Jim at Northland shooters specifically and everyone here generally. I got all the info I needed with videos and all to do this and for someone like me that wants to do it themselves, it really made it possible and un stressful.

Thank you!

P.S. I have to add that if you are a lurker and thinking about swapping out a barrel, you owe it to yourself to call Jim. I know there are other great people out there and many are supporters of the forum here, but Jim made it so damned easy and his prices are great. I will be calling him for barrels in the future and have no reservation in sending money his way.