I got two final article barrels today. One in 6.5 and the other in 308. Both shot very well. The 6.5 looks to be a very accurate barrel. They mistakenly sent me 6.5 in conventional rifling with 6 lands. I was using cheap S&B 156 grain soft point ammo (won't make that mistake again) and it functioned very well. I did have some odd case failures and I'll try again with good quality ammo next time.

I pulled apart my latest LRB build and installed the heavy 6.5 barrel onto it and set the headspace. This rifle has no NM modifications at all with the exception of the heavy barrel. The gas system isn't even shimmed. The spring guide is a GI spring guide, the piston is a standard piston. The stock is a Gi fiberglass stock that has not been reinforced in any way. I used my high Bassett and my SWFA scope with a Bradley cheek rest.



I only had 15 rounds to do a function check. All rounds functioned without any issue. Accuracy was superb for being un-bedded. After dialing in the scope, I shot a 3-shot group which measured 0.613" followed up by a 5-shot group which measured 1.3" at 100 yards.



While I was policing brass, I noticed three cases had split along the body. After a quick internet search, I found that others have had this issue with S&B 6.5 ammo, so I'm chalking it up to a bad lot of brass. I'll be loading more ammo in the 130 and 140 grain range and testing this barrel more in the future. I might throw it in my spare JAE and do some more testing in it.





The second barrel is a 308 ICR barrel. I removed the Satern Liberty 5R barrel from my vintage sniper rifle and installed the LW 308 ICR. I still need to re-bed the rifle since the barrel is changed, but it is still shooting very well. I took this picture after I removed the test scope and the cheek rest.





I consider it a win when both rifles are shooting right around 1 MOA on day one.

Both barrels should begin production immediately.

Tony.

Very cool! I've had problems with S&B rifle ammo in the past myself. We had a round of 6.5 Swede blow a primer out and lock up the bolt on my son's M96/38. We won't be buying any more.

Tony,

Very nice build!

That 6.5 barrel looks like it's going to be the ticket, so let's get one on order. PM me the costs and I'll get funds headed your way...

Wes