BuckyBadger

I had to admit I really didn't know exactly what hammer forging a barrel was. I've seen button rifling done and actually got to watch my rem700 barrel being cut rifled at Mike Rock's shop. Its a slow and actually pretty boring process (cut rifling) but interesting to see how it's done. Now back to hammer forged. I had to look around the internet for a description of the "gist of it" and ran across this article/page http://www.border-barrels.com/articles/bmart.htm It goes through the basic method of how any barrel is made, including hammer forging. What it seems to boil down to is the interior barrel finish that each process leaves behind. Cut and button rifled barrels have machining marks and irregularities left behind from the process. Therefore hand lapping, fire lapping, or barrel break in is required/needed to maximize accuracy. However if the hammer forged barrels are as smooth as indicated (by the article and Benelli's comments), there may be little gained through a "break in" procedure for them. But this also means that no harm will be done by doing the "old school" break in procedure too, so just do it...if you only gain 1/4inch on your groups you still gained a 1/4 inch! As for ammo your on your on your there. I would guess you could get away with the higher pressure ammo in the R1. The barrel could handle it, but I question how long the gas system would last or if jams and misfeads would be more prevelant. My personal opinion on "High Energy" or "Heavy Magnum" ammo is that they kick like a SOB in any rifle and I have yet to see a rifle that shoots any of these hot loads as good as normal loads or even acceptably in terms of accuracy. Thus I don't think they are worth it, merely a marketing gimic (have you seen the upcharge on those things!!!). Plus I have a 300WM R1, what the heck in North America would I need a high energy load to hunt? small hybrid cars? Elk wearing body armor? Anyway if you put hot loads in the R1 and you have to have the bolt and bolt carrier surgically removed from your shoulder, your lawyer is going to have a tough time getting you any compensation LOL!!! Sounds funny but I heard this happened in Washington state. I used to shoot at a range outside Tacoma. I went shooting on Sunday and apparently on Saturday a guy had accidentally hand loaded a 300weatherby mag, hot, with a fast burning handgun powder. The bolt from his bolt action blew back into his shoulder and he left on a stretcher! didn't see it, but it probably happened in some form. Badger

Well season is over and I bagged a medicore 9-pointer. Ahh well there will always be next year for getting that monster. However a note on the Federal Fusion ammo. I sighted in with the 165gr loads and it grouped ~2 - 1.5inches for 5 shots. Not bad, but like a fine wine I'm sure the barrel will get better with age! But I'm not so sure I will use the Fusion ammo again. I took my deer at 187yds (range finder) and my first shot scewered him through the lungs just missing the heart. He took off at a trot and after he got to about 250yds I put two more in him. He kept going fo abit and dropped. Once I got up to him I saw that all three rounds could be covered by a 6inch circle. OK the rifle did exactly as it should have...good placment for on the move shots (but nothing impresive). However, my complaint lies with the terminal balistcs of the Fusion bullet. All three rounds passed right through. entry and exit wounds were about the same size, with two broken ribs on the exit side. based on the fact that after taking three solid hits in the vitals this deer still made it 150yd +/- a few yds I'm not all that impressed. It would seem that the fusion bullet isn't expanding quick enough? Or its still moving too fast to expand? I'm just basing this on the fact that a white tail deer is a realitively frail animal (compared to moose/elk/bear/boar...) and a bullet that is marketed as specifically "engineered" for deer hunting should expand a bit faster in soft tissue. I'm comparing this to bullets, that i've used in past hunts, such as barnes XLC, sierra gameking, winchester balistic silvertip and yes even a hornady AMAX! and every one of these bullets dropped the animals almost immediately. the farthest I've ever had something move after being hit was ~10-15yds. (and yeah that AMAX turned the doe's guts into soupy mess! very cool result!) So long story short I'll use the rest of the Fusion ammo I've got to finish/continue breaking in my barrel. But next time I go deer hunting I'll use something , above, that I know and trust. And when I go up to Michigan in the spring for one of those 400lb boars I'll stick with a tough bullet like the barnes XLC.

Thanks Glenn I note on your cold barrel idea: Till now I've always hunted with a bolt action. And as no suprise, that round you chamber when you get in your stand is essentially the same as all the rest. The exception is that you make it nice and hush hush by sliding the bolt foward nice and slow. Now the debate continues with AR and M14 buffs that a round loaded from the magazine is loaded slightly differently then one droped in the camber and the bolt closed. And again the loading is different from a round that is loaded from a recoil cycle (firing the gun) versus on where you merely let the bolt go (just release the bolt catch) So now if I believe all of this (which I do tend to lean towards this train of thought) While I zero for hunting, each round should be cold barrel and hand dropped into the chamber and bolt released. Therefore simulating what will occur with that first shot I take at that 16 pointer wandering around our property... Any thoughts or comments on that?

Garren Yes, I have started to break the barrel in (and that was what the 40rounds of Fusion were for) However, every barrel is different. My Savage 308 with a factory barrel took 150-200 rounds before it really setteled down. On the opposite spectrum my Rem700 308 with a Mikle Rock Barrel w/ 1:11.25 twist was dead to nuts in one box of ammo (20 rounds). So I honestly can't say if the barrel is broken in yet. But what I am looking for here is those with experience with the 300WM R1. Given the large number of factory ammunitions available I am looking for what generally works for the R1. Example: 308win 168gr HPBT MatchKing in the Federal Gold Medal. I have yet to meet a bolt action 308 or AR-10 that will not at least shoot "well" with this ammo. This is not to say each one will have a load it does best with I'm just saying that you can be fairly sure you will get decent results with the 168 HPBT's Now for 300WM in the R1? what I'm looking for is are the 150gr bullets doing well? are the 180gr bullets too heavy for the 1:11 twist? Right now I am leaning towards the Hornady 165gr interlock as I remember a post somehwere about it doing well and have yet to be impressed with the accuracy of the Fusion ammo (but I wasn't trying too hard with the Fusion as I knew I was just going to have to start cleaning after I pulled the trigger) So does anybody have real world results with factory loads, loaded with a hunting bullet???

Hey folks Just picked up a new R1 in 300WM w/ ComfortTech I am usually a 308 Bolt-Action and 5.56 AR guy so 300WM is a new cartridge for me and thus no stockpiles of assorted ammo to try through the R1. I want to use the R1 for deer season in a few weeks but obviously don't have a long time to try different ammo to find what groups the best. I picked up 2 boxes of the new Fusion ammo from federal (150gr / 3200fps) to try er out. I think the R1 has about the same or less recoil than my 308's but the muzzle rise and muzzle flash still lets you know its a magnum cartridge Anyway...seeing as my time is short, till season, and I know some of you out there have found some factory hunting loads that the R1's in 300WM group well with. I was hoping for some suggestions from everybody.