so i got out and fired a 100 rounds this morning to fire form brass and to see if the 30" criterion was up to the shilen challenge...the first 2 rounds had me thinking i should have went with another shilen!!
i dont break barrels in any more(per-say)i shoot 1 and clean to see if the barrel is going to be a heavy fouler...i shot 1 round and it took 9 patches of Montana extreme 50 BMG to get the copper out(thought for sure i was going to be talking to criterion monday morning)second shot and the same thing...9 patches to remove the copper. at this point i was sure i going to be on the phone with criterion monday...next i shot a 3 shot group and cleaned and this time it only took 5 patches and the copper was gone. then i shot a 5 round group and 2 patches copper was gone...then i shot 40 rounds and cleaned...i ran 3 soaked patches of 50 BMG and let it sit for 5 minutes in between each patch and to my surprise no copper to speak of....this is the 3 after 40 rounds...



now for the groups...this barrel REALLY likes RL-17 and going fast....is Dean in the house LOL....



this barrel seems to like the 140g hornadys but they need to go fast to shoot well and are a little hard on my lapua brass...i think i may have lost a few pieces so ill play with them a little but its looking like the 142g SMKs are the better shooters....



keep in mind all this was shot with new lapua brass and will get better after i dial in the loads....im thinking i need to buy a nice front rest and use this rifle as my F-class rifle...i bet this barrel will shoot in the .2s consistently off a front rest...one thing i can say for sure is that a 30" barrel IS NOT as forgiving as a 28" or 26" barrel....all of this leaves me thinking i wish id of try a criterion sooner...or did i just happen to get a shooter?? either way i will be buying another one next time i need a barrel!!!