Thanks. The HV Bartlein is a pretty thick bitch. Honestly was not my first choice, but it was my only choice in an 8 twist with a finish length of 28" that I could find in almost 2 years. My other rifles are a 6 Creed with a 27" BRUX and my 7-300 Win Mag with a 28" Bartlein (and my 1st choice) have the Rem Varmint contours. Rifle weight on all 3 is right at or between 15-16# ready to go. With that said, it's actually pretty well balanced since most of the weight is in the shank area or first 5-6". I was afraid it'd be super barrel heavy, but it balances on the bags quite nice.
I was able to run 2 ladders today at 300 yards with IMR4895/H4895 in .2g increments at 2.5" COAL and the 80g ELDM. I started pretty low since I've read where the starline 5.56 brass is thicker with less internal volume and going off quickload. I went from 21.5-23.3 with IMR4895 and velocity topped out at 2750fps with a lower node between 22.9-23.3 at 2730 fps and a 2" group. No pressure signs at all there, so I think I'll slowly go up until I hit 2900-2950fps or pressure signs, and see what happens there. H4895 I went from 22.2-24 and velocity topped out at 2835fps. I hit a nice lower node at 22.8-23.2 with a 1.2" group, but a dismal 2700fps. Again no pressure signs at all so will also be slowly going up in charge until I hit 2900-2950fps, or pressure signs and see what happens. I still have Benchmark and IMR8208XBR to try with the 80s, and I also have all 4 powders loaded with the 75s as well.
Either I have the slowest 28" Bartlein 223 in the world, or the slowest lots of powder, but either way I would've thought my velocities would be quite a bit higher than that so far with the 4895 powders...Pretty disappointing actually. Temp was 45-50 degrees, 5 mph winds, and the mirage was absolutely terrible. Not sure I can get much more powder in to get my desired velocities as I'm already crunching/compressed at 23.5-24 with the 4895s...
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