Bat M / Bartlein / 284 Shehane - Update Range Report

[bsumoba]

First of all, I want to thank Spartan Rifles (Marc) for the chambering and for Masterclass (Alex) who did my bedding, rifle stock finishing for an awesome build. I can't wait to shoot it!

Second, I see a lot of interest in the 284 Shehane so I wanted to share some data I took today. My reamer is a .188 freebore and 317 neck (no neck turn). Doing my CBTO measurements, I am getting a CBTO with a Sinclair 7mm comparator of 2.313" and a estimated OAL of 3.210" Based on my additional measurements, this looks like it just puts the bearing surface of the boattail above the donut region, and just barely if I do an estimated .020" jump.

I'm going to fireform with 54gr H4831SC with a 0.010" jump. Im still debating on fireforming with Cream of Wheat, but I am also considering on buying a cheap barrel to chamber up and do the fireforming for me. any ideas of where to get a cheapr 7mm barrel??? Or, I can just run it as is, shoot fireforms in my normal barrel and develop of "fireforming" load that shoots accurately.

Gun is right around 20 pounds as is. 30" Bartlein 5R barrel 1.25" taper to 1.00", Jewell BR trigger, BAT Model M action with 338 LP ejection port (RBRE), BAT Trigger Guard, PR&T Lowboy in Black Laminate cut down 2" from the tip with a satin finish, NF 2015 Competition 15-55x with NF Ultralite Rings.

Now, for some gun porn...

 

[ShootDots]

Re: PR&T stock, BAT M, Bartlein and the 284 Shehane

Beautiful rifle!! You can shoot a match with it and do well whilst fireforming.. Try getting some Berger 180 VLD's and set them into the lands about 15K in front of 55.0grs of H4831SC and Fed 210GM primers.. I gave my friend this load and he shot, on a brand new barrel, at 600 yards. I believe his score was 593-??X count.. Not bad for a fireforming load..

 

[bsumoba]

Re: PR&T stock, BAT M, Bartlein and the 284 Shehane

Beautiful rifle!! You can shoot a match with it and do well whilst fireforming.. Try getting some Berger 180 VLD's and set them into the lands about 15K in front of 55.0grs of H4831SC and Fed 210GM primers.. I gave my friend this load and he shot, on a brand new barrel, at 600 yards. I believe his score was 593-??X count.. Not bad for a fireforming load..

I think my freebore might be too short for VLDs...unless I throat it a little bit more out. Unithroater from bullets.com...??? lol

 

[ShootDots]

Re: PR&T stock, BAT M, Bartlein and the 284 Shehane

Your freebore IS a bit short for REPEATED uses>>>>doughnut may form and your bearing surface will be down below the neck / shoulder junction... However, that will not be the case with NEW UNfired brass. Just load and go..

 

[AusFclass]

Re: PR&T stock, BAT M, Bartlein and the 284 Shehane

I'm 6'2" and also had to cut 3" off the forend so I could adjust my front rest while looking through the scope. It also reduced forend flex considerably.

Long forend is a good sales pitch but in reality I think it's too long to be an advantage

 

[Erik Cortina]

Re: PR&T stock, BAT M, Bartlein and the 284 Shehane

I'm 6'2" and also had to cut 3" off the forend so I could adjust my front rest while looking through the scope. It also reduced forend flex considerably.

Long forend is a good sales pitch but in reality I think it's too long to be an advantage

No need to cut forend. Simply remove bolt stop from rest and install a bump stop on the bottom of the stock.

 

[Phil]

Re: PR&T stock, BAT M, Bartlein and the 284 Shehane

Very nice,

Marc builds all my rifles too........

Are you local to his shop??

Phil.

 

[6mmcldasher]

Re: PR&T stock, BAT M, Bartlein and the 284 Shehane

x2 Sweet rig, you'll love the Bartlein , they break-in fast and stay clean.
I ffed my first 200 brass with 9g of tight group and cow - to get started load dev , the rest where done with vlds over 54.5 4831 and shoot in comp. they shot very well.
I see a lot of guy's pushing the throats out to .230 to get more case volume.

Darrell

 

[Mark Walker in TX]

Re: PR&T stock, BAT M, Bartlein and the 284 Shehane

Beautiful rifle. No worries on the .188 FB, its fine for either VLDs or Hybrids. All my 7mm reamers are .188s…

You can find a FF load that will be pretty accurate. I shoot many our midrange club matches FF brass. Never at 1k, though.

 

[Steve Blair]

Re: PR&T stock, BAT M, Bartlein and the 284 Shehane

I'm 6'2" and also had to cut 3" off the forend so I could adjust my front rest while looking through the scope. It also reduced forend flex considerably.

Long forend is a good sales pitch but in reality I think it's too long to be an advantage

[br]
Unless you have a Manners F-Class carbon fiber stock. It's stiff and an inch longer than the Low Boy. It is an advantage and also relatively light. I have a 55 oz. BAT action, 34" straight barrel, 12-42 NXS and make weight with a few oz. to spare. It would be much more difficult to shoot 230 Hybrids at my present velocity with a shorter stock. My front rest and rear bag are 35" apart when firing.

 

[rangertim]

Re: PR&T stock, BAT M, Bartlein and the 284 Shehane

Breathless " A piece of Art work, Men with such Gifts and Skills

 

[AusFclass]

Re: PR&T stock, BAT M, Bartlein and the 284 Shehane

How do you adjust your front rest while looking through the scope?

I'm 6'2" and also had to cut 3" off the forend so I could adjust my front rest while looking through the scope. It also reduced forend flex considerably.

Long forend is a good sales pitch but in reality I think it's too long to be an advantage

[br]
Unless you have a Manners F-Class carbon fiber stock. It's stiff and an inch longer than the Low Boy. It is an advantage and also relatively light. I have a 55 oz. BAT action, 34" straight barrel, 12-42 NXS and make weight with a few oz. to spare. It would be much more difficult to shoot 230 Hybrids at my present velocity with a shorter stock. My front rest and rear bag are 35" apart when firing.

 

[Steve Blair]

Re: PR&T stock, BAT M, Bartlein and the 284 Shehane

How do you adjust your front rest while looking through the scope?

[br]
Here's a picture of me exercising in the back yard. The answer should be obvious. [br]
Seriously, I just know my Farley well. Roughly point the rifle, look through the scope and set the elevation. It would be easier if it could be reached while sighting but the stock would need to be pygmy sized with a Farley. I can't even do that with my 6BR Shehane ST1000 and that stock is fairly short. My point was about forend stiffness, not exceeding Muhammad Ali's reach.

 

[6mmcldasher]

Re: PR&T stock, BAT M, Bartlein and the 284 Shehane

Breathless " A piece of Art work, Men with such Gifts and Skills

and cash, lol . it is perdy isn't it.
when are we going to get a range report

 

[bsumoba]

Re: PR&T stock, BAT M, Bartlein and the 284 Shehane

going to try to take it out this weekend if the wife lets me. otherwise, next weekend ill be firing her up and when the barrel looks ready, start some prelim load testing.

 

[bsumoba]

Took the rifle out to the 100 yard line and got the scope sighted in less than 5 rounds. No cleaning done at all during this range session. IMO, a barrel cleaning break in process is a little overrated and this range session shows that! Prior to going to the range, I did do a good cleaning of the barrel with patches and a nylon brush to get any gunk out.

Here is my load:
Bullet is 180gr Berger Hybrid tipped with Whidden Pointing Die
Brass is 6.5x284 Lapua - expanded with 7mm mandrel, then resized with Whidden 284 Shehane bushing dies
Powder is H4831SC - 54gr
Loaded 10 thou from the lands.

Gun started to shoot sub 1/2" groups right off the bat and then proceeded to shoot better and better. By round 10-12, groups started to tighten up to the teens and this was with fireform loads! 54gr H4831SC was enough to blow out the cases to the desired case dimension for the Shehane. Stopped at round 20 as it started to shoot sub- 1/4" groups consistently. Going to stretch its legs out to 300 yards for some load development and ladder testing.

One thing I do want to note is that with the BAT action, there seems to be binding if I slowly eject the spent brass. A more deliberate ejection was needed for it to eject nicely. Not an issue, but I just didn't want my brass flinging 3 feet to the floor.

 

[Jefferson]

Re: PR&T stock, BAT M, Bartlein and the 284 Shehane

I'm 6'2" and also had to cut 3" off the forend so I could adjust my front rest while looking through the scope. It also reduced forend flex considerably.

Long forend is a good sales pitch but in reality I think it's too long to be an advantage

No need to cut forend. Simply remove bolt stop from rest and install a bump stop on the bottom of the stock.

thanks Eric nice advice, some days my mind must be mush as I did not think of this Jefferson

 

[savageshooter86]

Post update next range session. Looking good

 

[bsumoba]

stretched its legs out and found out that for my fireforming, 55gr of H4831SC to be the right ticket, so I settled on this for my fireforming. shots were 3/8" or better for 5-shot groups. velocity was about 2795fps. ES was about 29 fps...not sure what ES i should be expecting with fireformed loads.

however, that being said, I was having issues with inconsistent seating due to the donut thingy in my brass. I decided to order a unithroater and extended my FB to .220" . im still going to load 10 thou out so ill see if my fireform load still works well with 55gr. I was getting 3/8" MOA out to 300 yards with the original FB.

for my regular load and fireformed brass, my initial tests dictate that I look around 56.5-57gr of H4831 and 180gr hybrids. This gave me about 2885-2905 fps in my 30" barrel and good 4-shot groupings. Im going to work this powder range and then play with seating depth, trying jammed 0.010, touch, .010, 0.15 and .020 jump and see if I can tighten the groups up. once i get this, ill head out to 550 and see how it shoots at distance.

 

[Steve Blair]

for my regular load and fireformed brass, my initial tests dictate that I look around 56.5-57gr of H4831 and 180gr hybrids. This gave me about 2885-2905 fps in my 30" barrel and good 4-shot groupings. Im going to work this powder range and then play with seating depth, trying jammed 0.010, touch, .010, 0.15 and .020 jump and see if I can tighten the groups up. once i get this, ill head out to 550 and see how it shoots at distance.

[br]
Most lots of H4831 SC perform best in the 56.8-57.5 range. My loads have averaged 57.2, with that being the charge node center in two barrels. Best seating depths have been .015-.020" from touching, but that is barrel-dependent. 57.2 provides ~2940 fps in my 32" barrels, both Brux and Krieger, except for one Krieger that ran ~2965 fps. Just a fast barrel, I guess. [br]
When you run your seating depth tests, test in .003" increments or you are likely to miss the best settings.