Thanks Al! Originally I ordered a 31″ and Bartlein ships an extra inch on the blanks for threading and crowning, however my smith has been so impressed with the quality of the Bartlein product, that he barely had to take any length off for either. He explained that somehow he managed to magically grow the barrel to 32″ when he measured it. I didn't care either way, so hey, extra inch.

Also, Southeastern Washington has basically no trees. It's mostly canyon hunting, so I wanted a bean field rifle.

I've used the Berger's on game myself, and the only difference with the Hunting vs the Target line is jacket thickness. The hunting jackets are the old Berger target stuff, and they had to increase the jacket thickness because some of the target guys with fast twists and sharp riflings were spinning the jackets off. The Hybrids also have less bearing surface so it's easier on pressures. There's an article they posted of an elk kill with, iirc, 210 Hybrid Target bullets in 30 cal. One shot kill. I love Bergers.

To be honest Dog Down, so am I. The tripod was having a hiccup and so we weren't able to set the chrony up at the range last time. Apparently it's missing a screw and the diffusers don't work so well when they're pointed at the dirt.

It'll be interesting to see what velocities I'm getting with the fireform rounds as opposed to the eventual full power Ackley loads after workup and group testing. I CAN tell you that the last loads we worked up for my dad's Tikka 695 in 6.5-06 with Berger 140 VLDs were tested to 3084, but pressure signs forced us to back down to 2950 area. He's running a 31″ Douglas. Hunting load worked up, and what I used to harvest my buck last season, was 2900 from a 185gr Berger Juggernaut Tactical from a .30-06 with a 29″ sporter contour. (We did manage 2998 with an extra grain, but the recoil wasn't worth it, so we stuck to 2900 as acceptable)

We like long barrels. Except when we have to get creative to fit them in the safe  :-

Alright Dog Down!, you wanted velocities. My brass fireforming load is 52gr of H4350 under a Hornady 139gr Interlock BT, which spits at a pretty consistent 2870 fps. This is basically a standard .280 Remington load to blow the shoulders out on the case.

For my actual finish loads I'm using Berger 180gr Hybrid Target bullets. I've tested a few powders so far with the same OAL of 3.340″ since that's as far out as I can seat until Jason puts the LA bottom metals out. I'm hoping to at least be able to seat closer to the lands which is ~3.485. Since I need to take the rifle back in to have the new metal installed, I'm asking my smith to cut the throat a little deeper too. We'll see what he thinks when I get parts.

So far, IMR 7977 just isn't dense enough to give me the speed I want before filling the case, so it caps out at 2800 and 2798 with 59.3 grains.

Accurate MagPro seems to have the tightest consistency, maxing out anywhere from 3002 with 61.2gr, to 2987 at 61.8gr. We were having light issues with the Chrono at this point, so I will need to retest a bit for a more accurate data set with this powder.

Reloder 26 seems to show the most promise, but again will need more testing (I recently acquired a Magnetospeed and am anxious to play with it, but it's cold outside). It managed a respectable 3034 and 3050 fps with a load of 60.4 grains.

I plan on working up more loads with different powders when there's more light available after work. Whomever suggested returning to Standard Time in the fall and winter needs to re-evaluate some life choices.