Lmt mws loads

flyfisherman246

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Minuteman
May 26, 2017
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I have a bartlein .260 barrel spun up for my mws and it shoots tiny little groups every single time. I just picked up a factory .308 16" chrome lined after reading about so many good results.

My question is, what loads are you guys shooting and what kind of groups are you getting out of them? Are they consistent? I have found loads that will put 4 rounds into 3/4" and the 5th one will be 1.5" away. There just doesn't seam to be any constancy with this thing. And I have no problem shooting tiny little groups with a big block gas gun, so this is not shooter error.

Also I looked down the bore with a scope and the rifling looks absolutely horrible. The throat area looks very smooth though and it's not at all fowling. The rest of the bore is terrible deep radial machining marks.

Any advise on what to try or what to expect out of this barrel?
 
I have a 16" but it is the stainless barrel and mine is crazy accurate. But I have not had the chance to work up loads for it yet. It loves FGMM and Magtech 168's.

Who did the Bartlein for you? I have another lower I was going to do a 6.5 CM build on that one.
 
Its not you, its not the gun, its the chrome lining. The durability and reliability is increased, while the accuracy is decreased to a battle acceptable standard. Nature of beast with the inconsistency of the chrome lining.

The group you described is pretty good imo for a chrome lined barrel.

Buy an 18" stainless, or any of the 5R cuts and party on with sub moa.

Good luck.
 
With my 16 inch CL 7.62, here is 168 SMK over 43.2 grains of varget. It’s an okay group. Got the infamous 5th round flyer. That’s probably me but who knows.
Good enough to shoot pigs with! :)
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So I found with a 155 eldm and 45.5 grains varget in a lc case I can pretty consistently get 1 moa or slightly less. I'm happy enough with that for a cl barrel. This is with a suppressor. When I take the can off and shoot with the a2 flash hider it came with, it opens up to about 1.75-2" at 100 yards. This isn't acceptable for what I'm looking to do with this rifle.

Are other people seeing suppressed vs unsuppressed making this big of a difference in their mws?
 
I run one with the 18" SS. Recently my groups opened up to 2.00-2.5 inches with nothing changed. However I have ALWAYS gotten first and fifth shot out of the mag to be 1.5 inches away. Not sure why, but I assume the magazine feeding of the first round to last being different. Usually the middle three rounds are touching. Cold bore/warm bore makes no difference. Getting frustrated.
 
I've been through about 6 or 7 factory barrels both ss and cl .308 and I just can't get any consistancy out of them. I keep ready about guys with their lmt shooting .5 moa all day every day and I keep hoping to get a good one. They just aren't consitent like you said, first round fliers and all kinds of stuff. Maybe get a lucky 5 shot .75" group, then the next group opens up to 2". You spin up a bartlein blank for a mws extension and it shoots like a bolt gun. Every single time. Nothing weird. Tells me it's a barrel issue with the lmt's.
 
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I've been through about 6 or 7 factory barrels both ss and cl .308 and I just can't get any consistancy out of them. I keep ready about guys with their lmt shooting .5 moa all day every day and I keep hoping to get a good one. They just aren't consitent like you said, first round fliers and all kinds of stuff. Maybe get a lucky 5 shot .75" group, then the next group opens up to 2". You spin up a bartlein blank for a mws extension and it shoots like a bolt gun. Every single time. Nothing weird. Tells me it's a barrel issue with the lmt's.

Don't feel alone. I've never had great accuracy from any LMT barrels so far either. Even the SS ones. Had Nefarious convert a few others and I've been happy.