I still have to get some photos... but with this now in hand and having had a day to spend fondling -- er -- evaluating it in the most scientific and professional ways possible... some impressions. And probably have a window to shoot it this weekend, but not to any kind of potential. So that will have to wait for mud season to end.
First, it was a long process but totally worth it! For those who do not know, it's a M700 .300 Winchester Magnum action/bolt face. Bought the action from, I think,
@powdahound76 here on SH a year or so ago for... whatever project cropped up. I chose .300 Win Mag because it would work with this action and because I have another superbly-accurate .300 Win Mag in my Mk 13. They are good to compares side-by-side. And I know I have great ammo loaded as well. So as this was as much to really get a feel for a structured barrel as anything, this is the reason I chose a cartridge that is really not going to see the full-potential of a structured barrel compared to some of the big ELR calibers.
The chassis is a KRG Whiskey 3 (
@Massoud) and is my second chassis from them. My first being a very early Bravo. And I got to play with a prototype TRG stock from them in about 2012... so have a long history of loving everything the KRG folks put out. Big fan of the mag release button for some reason ;-) Anyway, there was some concern about the barrel channel being large enough for the OD of the structured barrel. No worries, it fits with plenty of room to clear!
Final assembly was supposed to be done by Vestals. But by the time the barrel was done, they were backed up something like 9 months and my 'slot' was gone. Which ended up being a good thing because
@John Baker and the folks at TACOM up with John MIlls at Buffalo Creek Precision in Bellingham, Wa.
https://www.buffalocreekprecision.com/ John Mills is another ELR builder who is making a name for himself and this is his first structured barrel project and won't be his last for sure. He was an absolute pleasure to work with on this project. In fact, we ended up having several very indepth conversations about gain twist, chambers, harmonics and a wide array of gun topics. He is so sold on the structured barrel idea that I think he is ordering one for himself at this point. He was reasonably priced, great at communications, did the work in a timely manner and was overall everything one could want in a builder. I am already looking for our 'next' project to work on.
Rifle is done in a gain twist. I will share the
@Frank Green Bartelin barrel "Button" cut off the end of the barrel when I post some pictures. Worth the wait! The reamer used for the chamber was a .339 NK. John Mills suggested it and I have no issue with his recommendation though may have to do some neck turning. It chambered my 'fireforming' rounds fine.
We installed a recoil lug on the barrel at John Mills suggestion. And it has a brake that will hold a suppressor fitted to it. With suppressor, I may need guy wires to support it. It will look like Anzio Annie.
An older Sphur mount and one of my Signature USO 3.2-22 (or something like) that EREK Mil scopes for optics.
The fit and finish on the barrel is gorgeous! It has several small 'steps' along its length. I am not sure if those were put in at TACOM, but assume they were. The cooling 'dimples' add surface area over the chamber and are beautifully done. I have not figured out the purpose of the holes into the 'structured' drilling holes. Either for air circulation or perhaps to prevent the air inside from acting like a hammer or a spring when the gun is fired. I could see a desire to let air flow through the drillings, not sit static inside. That's a question for John Baker, I guess!
As I have not fired it yet, but I will quote John Mills from his range trip where it shot extremely well with nothing more than fireforming ammo I sent him: "I will say the recoil was very interesting and I was able to see impacts at 100yds which was really pretty amazing." He also mentioned that the think is a "Lookie-Lou" magnet at the range. Lots of "What is that." Here is one of his targets. Again, keep in mind that this was fireforming ammo only. With 'leftover' lead soft nose hunting bullets and some Sierra's left over from another project... This ammo was thrown into the cases for function testing, not match quality. Overall, no issues with the 'test' group!
Only other thing we are running into is some feeding from the mags and I need to order a mag lip adjusting tool. 4th round was diving until a slight lip modification was made. After that, the mags fed fine.
So when the weather gets to not suck.... I'll take this and the Mk 13 out for a side-by-side comparison. And I expect that the structured barrel is going to be really great to shoot. And with proper handloading is going to shoot absolute holes in holes.
Overall, a worthy and fun journey and one that has not stopped by any means. Already working on getting a structured .300 NM barrel done for "Boomer" the MRAD. And possibly another ELR project that is cooking away on my back burner. Both should have some serious ELR potential to them.
Thanks to everyone, especially the folks at TACOM who showed up here to explain their product... and I hope are gaining some serious converts to a cool technology!
Cheers,
Sirhr
www.snipershide.com
3” group at 1,270 yards on a 24” plate in the wind is quite something, around 0.2 MOA! Also very little vertical in that group. [Yes it is only a 3 shot group, and it would be more interesting/convincing to see a few 5 shot groups.]
