Black Hole Weaponry Barrels

[thermaler]

I recently completed a new build (I know--it's not a Savage rifle per sae--but it is still relevant here IMO) using a unique polygonal-rifled barrel by Black Hole Weaponry. Their barrels can be scary accurate and I thought folks here may want to consider this in their future builds (I have absolutely no connection with them other than being a satisfied customer).

What's this got to do with Savage rifles? I'll tell you. : )

They have in fact made limited runs of Savage barrels in the past--but this involved interruptions and retooling of their production machines, so they tended to be catch as catch can.

BHW has recently made a major investment in new barrel production machinery and facilities which should increase their capacity to produce unique barrels--they have always been open to custom-designed unique caliber barrels. I recently had a talk with them and was told that Savage barrels are in their future plans now that they can accommodate longer-barrel machining without re-tooling. Another very interesting future development is plans to machine brakes in-line during barrel production--in other words the muzzle device will be machined into the same piece of steel as the barrel.

Pictured below is an AR build I did using one of their 18" 264 lbc barrels with a 1:8 twist and matched bolt. Their "regular" profile is basically the equivalent of other guy's hbar type barrels. Because of tight funds I did not go with fluting--which they are specialists at--though it does add significantly to the weight and next time around I will opt for fluting.

Just food for thought (and an excuse to show off my latest build)... : )

[big honkin jeep]

Nice,
But isn't it supposed to be black?

[thermaler]

Nice,
But isn't it supposed to be black?

Desert tan IS the new black. : )

[fgw_in_fla]

Nice looking rig there, therm.

Good luck with it.

[thermaler]

Nice looking rig there, therm.

Good luck with it.

Thanks Frank--she was a little finicky on break-in, had to do some polishing on feed ramps and ejector pin, but she fires fine now. Unfortunately I'm away for the summer from my reloading gear--but I did get one .5 MOA group out of some 120 gr Nosler BT being driven by IMR 4895--so I expect to be able to get some stellar results once I really get serious with load developments. The 264 lbc BTW is just another flavor of 6.5 grendel--a fascinating cartridge with some tack-driving performance.

[josh_m]

Nice "evil tan rifle"
I built two this spring in 264lbc/grendel but have been to busy to even shoot them. I used BHW bull barrels for mine. Gotta 24" 1in9 twist and a 18" 1in8 twist. Looks like yours is the heavy profile. I'm taking them both out on Saturday to start breaking them in. These are my first BHW barreled guns I'm interested to see how they do. I may have a savage model 10 build in my future. I may need some advice after this weekend. Looks like your a few steps ahead of me on your reloading.

[thermaler]

I think you are in for a very pleasant surprise--if they shoot anything other BHW AR's I've shot you'll be left wondering what use there is for bolt-action rifles. : ) BTW--the 123 gr amax and sst cartdriges were developed by hornady in conjuction with Bill Alexander while the grendel was being developed--they definitely shoot far better out of this caliber than any other calibers I've shot hornady factory ammo out of--something to think about while breaking your barrels in and collecting brass for your reloads.

Here are my impressions thus far--and I'm far from an expert so take with the usual shaker of salt. If you look at the ballistics the sweet spot for the 264 lbc/6.5 grendel sems to be with high BC bullets in the 100 to 120 gr range--especially the 100's stay remarkably flat and hard hitting out to around 500 yds--the bigger ones I'd say run out of gas sooner but still fly remarkably well. Looking at your builds I'm guessing you're going to hunt with them--which is what I intend to do with mine. The grendel guys over on their forum like 100 gr ttsx's as a DRT round--I wouldn't know. I've always had good results with Nosler--so my first hand load was 120 gr ballistic tip which gave me 4 shots in one hole and a fifth flier outside but still .5 MOA driven by 28.5 gr of 4895 (this is a home brew involving a compressed warm load--so approach and use this formula at your own risk). I did some 120 gr pro hunters and ran into a feed problem which is a sometimes occurrence with grendel/264 lbc. --basically due to the geometry of the ramps, magazine and lugs I was getting some jammed rounds on the first cartridge to be stripped out of the magazine with the prohunters. Apparently the ogive design is just enough to cause enough friction in the feed cycle to slow the bolt down--which in turn fails to get the cartridge into proper battery. Hopefully you wont experience any of this, but if you do you may want to polish the feed ramps down (especially if they have been painted/anodized) to take sharp edges off. I also took the ejector pin out of the bolt (which you'll need to do anyway when you run the go no/go gauges) and ground a radius in the boltface end of it--I don't fully understand the mechanics but it reduces the likelihood of case rim getting stuck in front/side of it and thereby jamming the cartridge at an angle into the chamber.

The cartridge can be spooky accurate. I've shot some rounds--though not an entire group-- that went through the same hole; and I mean the same hole so closely it looked like only one bullet impacted and I was left searching around the target for a wild flier. : ) It also seems to have a peculiar habit of often putting 4 shots in one ragged hole with one flier outside the group--I haven't figured out the solution to that one yet but I've heard mention of special bore treatments that get rid of that.

[josh_m]

Thanks for all the insight Thermaler, that's good info. I'll have to get over to the grendel forum, it's been a while since I was over there. Did you use a particular method for your break in? I was planning on just running a patch thru em every 5 rounds or so. I'm gonna swing by the reload store after the range and I'll look for those 120gr noslers. I already picked up a lb of 8208 xbr, so I'll give that a go. Again thanks for the info. I'll keep you posted on my progress.
Josh

[thermaler]

Thanks for all the insight Thermaler, that's good info. I'll have to get over to the grendel forum, it's been a while since I was over there. Did you use a particular method for your break in? I was planning on just running a patch thru em every 5 rounds or so. I'm gonna swing by the reload store after the range and I'll look for those 120gr noslers. I already picked up a lb of 8208 xbr, so I'll give that a go. Again thanks for the info. I'll keep you posted on my progress.
Josh

By the way those are great looking builds! JP at BHW suggested running a patch through the bore for the first 20 to 25 shots as I recall (and my recollection isn't that great these days so you may want to call and ask) and then I think once every three shots after that to maybe 50 or so. These are just patches with a bit of cleaner--not full-blown cleaning. Another great resource is the BHW forum http://ar15armory.com/forums/forum/3...hole-weaponry/ which is linked at the BHW home page. Folks with great expertise (Greg and Ritch) hang out there and will be happy to help (they helped me solve my issues). There is a also a break-in sticky thread there. Lastly--if you dig a bit there's a guy who hangs on the grendel forum who wrote two books on hunting load development with the grendel--I haven't bought them yet but intend to soooner or later.

Nosler makes a new 120 (sorry--I originally posted 100 and spaced out) gr E-tip bullet for the .264 which I think has great potential and I'd like to try out. Although I generally don't get great results with my hornady loads--they seemed to have paid special attention to their .264 offerings and they have great BC/SD numbers associated with their bullets--I'm definitely going to work up some loads of these eventually. I think the reason the ttsx's are so popular on the grendel forum is because the 100 gr all-copper design remains effective to pretty long range for dropping game like deer and hogs while staying together and opening well at lower velocity. Of course--there are guys on the BHW forum who say they will never use monolithic bullet designs--but like most hunters everywhere I think they tend to swear by whatever consistently puts the meat in the freezer for them. BTW that xbr powder you got I hear is really good for these loads--I haven't been able to find it anywhere yet. H 335 is another powder that seems to pop up frequently with loads that have good accuracy and velocity.

When my 6.5 284 norma barrel on my savage 111 eventually flies south I will replace it with a BHW barrel.