Bartlein New Barrel Material 400MODBB

Still!! 4k is great reviews in a BR. Basically a 2 for 1, or thereabouts. Even though the blank is a bit less than 2x, you’re still saving $250-ish in ‘smith fees.
I still have 3 blanks on the shelf for my personal use. However, next spring I will be ordering a couple modbb blanks.

@Frank Green , I’ve heard conflicting reports on weather a standard reamer from, say, Manson will chamber the new material effectively or not. Is there a different “process”, per say, in chambering? I spin my own barrels, and have for 20yrs. So, use to the typical “feel” while Chambering. Just need to know if I need to purchase another type of reamer before dialing in a modbb blank. I’d hate to get 3/4 way thru a chamber and bad things happen to the reamer. Ya know.
No issues with the reamer as long as it's a good tool.

Yes the material does cut a little different but we are running the same speeds and feeds with no issues. Same with threading etc...run your same speeds and feeds.

We just JGS and Manson reamers.

Later, Frank
 
@Frank Green

Thanks! Great info, it casued me to order one...lol. A 400MOD BB in 6.5 from Bugholes is arriving later today for next build. Thinking 6.5 GAP 4S or 6.5 PRC.. Anyway, have run your SS 5R barrels for years in .308 and a 6.5CM and they are the bees knees. Shot the heck out of the 6.5CM, burned the throat out chasing speed...(oops lesson learned). Had it set back and shazaam...back to a .25 MOA rifle when on the rare occasion I drive it right. Outstanding barrels, happy customer.
 
Anyone tried a 22 Creed or similar?

Seems like 400MODBB could save a good amount of coin over 3-4k rounds.
I did the 22 creed with the BB material. I was running 95SMK at 3130ish. I could get them faster without any signs of pressure. Not saying that pressure wasn’t there. The load was 39.2 of H4350. When I hit around 300 rounds the throat started to grow. It would grow only 2-3 thou every 100ish rounds. You could feel the throat area getting heat checked pretty good around the 450 round count. At about 670ish rounds it started blowing up bullets. I cleaned it very good. Also, I only put around 100 rounds on it between cleaning. I brought it to work to look at it with the bore scope and to show Tracy and Frank what is going on. I cast a lap to lap the throat alittle. I gave the throat area about 15 strokes and then pushed it out. Cleaned the barrel and remeasured the growth. It had grown 120 thou. The lapping removed most of the fire cracking in the throat. The barrel had 761 rounds on it. Awesome round but not for prs style shooting. If I try it again I’m going to use H4831SC. Maybe I’ll get better barrel life with that powder. But, it only maybe 100-200 more. Who know. Barrel burning calibers are going to kill barrels. There is no way around that. I really don’t see someone getting around 3k rounds out of it. That is a small hole with a good amount of powder (heat) going down it. I hope this helps you.
 
I put one on order for a 7mm Sherman Short project, a 20” 8.5 twist #13 Remington Varmint CF in 400MODBB. I’m hopeful the steel will let me get a few more rounds out of it than I would otherwise. I’m not really expecting to save money, just some time and inventory carried. With unpredictable lead times, if this one works out, I’ll just order a small number to keep on-hand. It’s be nice to order 3 backups instead of 4 if the extra round count works out.
 
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I did the 22 creed with the BB material. I really don’t see someone getting around 3k rounds out of it.
Oh yea no doubt, by "save money over 3-4k rounds" meant buying 2-3 barrels vs 4-5, etc

Thanks for the feedback.
My interests in 22 CM are hunting / varminting so keeping it cool to preserve life wouldn't be an issue.

I appreciate the detailed response.
 
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Time to replace my 6BRA barrel.... with another 6BRA barrel. Excited to see how many bullets I can get down it before it's toast!
 

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We've had about 5 different guys burn them out already. 6BRA and 6 Dasher type guns. One guy is on 4k+ rounds and it's still shooting last word we had. Most of the guys seem to be around 3000 - 3500 rounds or so but haven't officially considered them done. One guy pulled his at 3300+ rounds and put a fresh stick on for the PRS Series Finale just to be on the safe side but the old barrel was still shooting.

Another shooter and Spec. Forces soldier is taking his rifle to the finale. It's a gas gun in 6x47 Lapua and he is running his 105-109gr loads at 3100fps + and the barrel has 2k rounds on it. He said he normally pulled his barrels at 800-1200 rounds because they where toast. Also is currently testing a 300 Norma and that is at 2k rounds also.
How many rounds did you get out of that 300 Norma barrel?

Would love to hear others’ experiences too
 
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Where can I get one of these in a Desert Tech SRS profile?
It doesn't look like any of the standard Bartlein contours have a long enough shank, which according to this is 1.25 diameter x 4.5-ish long.
I ordered a 400modbb from Short Action Customs for my Desert Tech. I'm sure they can hook you up too. They're excellent to deal with.
 
It shoots like a Bartlein usually does. As for longevity I don't know yet. It costs about what a chamber job does to get the upgrade, so unless you are going to get double the lifetime it isn't economical probably.
im sure the math is here somewhere else too

but assuming 50% gain which has been reported

regular barrels
$2100
3 x $700 for blank and chamber
2000 round life. 200 rounds for speed up and load development
6000 total rounds
5400 usable rounds

mod400BB
$2100
2 x $1050 for blank and chamber
3000 round barrel life. 200 rounds for speed up/load development
6000 total rounds
5600 usable rounds

the break even is somewhere between 40% and 50% if you're talking bartlein/kreiger/etc blanks and chambers.

if you talk proof prefits then it's not even close (unless you consider the pain of load development and break in as a factor)
 
im sure the math is here somewhere else too

but assuming 50% gain which has been reported

regular barrels
$2100
3 x $700 for blank and chamber
2000 round life. 200 rounds for speed up and load development
6000 total rounds
5400 usable rounds

mod400BB
$2100
2 x $1050 for blank and chamber
3000 round barrel life. 200 rounds for speed up/load development
6000 total rounds
5600 usable rounds

the break even is somewhere between 40% and 50% if you're talking bartlein/kreiger/etc blanks and chambers.

if you talk proof prefits then it's not even close (unless you consider the pain of load development and break in as a factor)
wow, and here I am shooting $500 Xcaliber prefits.
 
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I was in the process of getting a 28 Nosler built with a Bartlein Carbon Wrapped Barrel. I held off a little while...glad I did with this news! When will these barrels be available in #13 Remington contour (What the gunsmith quoted in the bid)?
 
I was in the process of getting a 28 Nosler built with a Bartlein Carbon Wrapped Barrel. I held off a little while...glad I did with this news! When will these barrels be available in #13 Remington contour (What the gunsmith quoted in the bid)?
Available? You just have to order one. You’ll get it next year. Alternately you can buy one from a stocking vendor like bugholes.
 
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I ordered a 400modbb from Short Action Customs for my Desert Tech. I'm sure they can hook you up too. They're excellent to deal with.

DT barrels might take a bit longer unless you get lucky and squeeze into a run. I ordered a 26” DT contour 400MOD (7 SAUM) from SAC in Jan 21 received it Apr 22. Fuckin thing is perfect.

Once I finish up load dev on my hunting build I’ll start testing on it. Shooting 184 hybrids, H1000 and ADG brass.
 
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I was in the process of getting a 28 Nosler built with a Bartlein Carbon Wrapped Barrel. I held off a little while...glad I did with this news! When will these barrels be available in #13 Remington contour (What the gunsmith quoted in the bid)?
Available? You just have to order one. You’ll get it next year. Alternately you can buy one from a stocking vendor like bugholes.
I’m w Supersubes, Bugholes was great. At the time I called, they didn’t have the contour I wanted but they were able to tell me what they expected to arrive in the next few weeks and suggested I put it on my wish list on their site. Got an email when I came in and I bought it…actually got two Bartlein barrels from them.

I did order a .264 MTU w left hand gain twist in the new MOD400 steel and expected it to take a year. Well, it came in right about 7 months which was a pleasant surprise.

Put one on order w Bartlein…and it may take a year…then look to bugholes, Altus, and similar outfits who stock component parts, incl barrels, regularly to use now.

Or at least those are my thoughts.
 
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im sure the math is here somewhere else too

but assuming 50% gain which has been reported

regular barrels
$2100
3 x $700 for blank and chamber
2000 round life. 200 rounds for speed up and load development
6000 total rounds
5400 usable rounds

mod400BB
$2100
2 x $1050 for blank and chamber
3000 round barrel life. 200 rounds for speed up/load development
6000 total rounds
5600 usable rounds

the break even is somewhere between 40% and 50% if you're talking bartlein/kreiger/etc blanks and chambers.

if you talk proof prefits then it's not even close (unless you consider the pain of load development and break in as a factor)
Checking back in on the barrel life increase, @Frank Green indicated earlier in this thread that a 6.5CM pressure test barrel put up a 100% increase over standard 416 (3500 rounds vs 1700-1900 max).

Are folks seeing 50% increase, or are people seeing more? ~$750 for a blank plus chamber/thread versus $950 for the same in BB would be worth it even at 50%, and if you're talking carbon forget about it, it's a no-brainer unless you're not ever expecting to use the full barrel life.
 
I have no doubt additional chromium will resist heat and abrasion better than not.

Has anyone compared data between manufacturers and/or rifling configurations?

One of the longest lasting barrels I've ever seen has been a Schneider 3-groove. Could have been an outlier but I remember the land/groove ratio being very heavy to the land side.

Maybe FrankG can shed more knowledge on the specifics of certain land/groove ratios.

Ern
 
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How many are using 400MODBB in their gas guns? Craddock offers the Bartlein 400MODBBwith their AR barrels, just curious if there is a marked improvement with how the barrel handles heat from steady semi auto fire, some barrels begin to open up and lose accuracy the more the barrel heats up.

I'll post this in the semi auto forum as well.
 
Checking back in on the barrel life increase, @Frank Green indicated earlier in this thread that a 6.5CM pressure test barrel put up a 100% increase over standard 416 (3500 rounds vs 1700-1900 max).

Are folks seeing 50% increase, or are people seeing more? ~$750 for a blank plus chamber/thread versus $950 for the same in BB would be worth it even at 50%, and if you're talking carbon forget about it, it's a no-brainer unless you're not ever expecting to use the full barrel life.
I too would like to know about increased barrel life reports. Thanks!
 
So I have a Mod400 barrel for my 6BRA. Running 31gr of varget and 107's at 2930fps. I am ~1200rds into this barrel and so far my throat has grown ~10thou. This barrel should go at least 4K if not more with no problems. Going to be getting a borescope in the next few weeks and can update with photos when that arrives.
 
I've gone through 5 of them so far. I have nothing bad to say about them. They shoot just as good, clean up quicker, and last longer. I've pulled my last 6 GT off at 4300 rounds and it never gave up the ghost. I've got a carbon wrapped one as well that is a hammer. All of my comp guns use them and they are super consistent as you would expect any Bartlein to be.

I think they really make sense if you're the guy doing some fancy fluting or coatings and using some of the more barrel burning rounds.

So far, I'm a fan!
 
How many are using 400MODBB in their gas guns? Craddock offers the Bartlein 400MODBBwith their AR barrels, just curious if there is a marked improvement with how the barrel handles heat from steady semi auto fire, some barrels begin to open up and lose accuracy the more the barrel heats up.

I'll post this in the semi auto forum as well.
I have 6mm creedmoor barrels from wilson blanks, proof, bartlien, and bartlien MODBB. The MODBB is tougher steel just based on watching the gas port with a bore scope. The proof is wearing way faster at the gas port than any barrel. The wilson breaks in the fastest but then plateaus and the proof looses material noticeable every time I look in there. The location of the port on the proof was perfect center bottom of groove so no ridge to hit. The MODBB the worse location for wear, literally rifling is chopped in half on the MODBB so hit a ridge. I only ever shoot max 5 shots at a time with each barrel. All shoot under half inch groups with factory 108 at my elevation. Only the 7.5 twist barrels do well below 1200 ft. These are long range coyote rifles that I do practice with when calling has been slow.
 
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22" Cadex in the rear is standard Bartlein 1/8 6.5 CM.

KRG/Tikka is an 18" Mod400b. Both brand new. I'll report back over time. Definitely curious how either compares.
 

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