270 win BAR

S

stagpanther

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This is a sweet 1988 BAR win 270 that someone wanted me to do some work on, although the wood showed some damage and there was some rust pitting on the receiver it touched up nicely. I gather this was made by FN Herstal and "assembled" (mated to the stock?) in Portugal. From what I could tell the bore and rifling are in pretty good shape. Unfortunately, Browning intended these to be cleaned from the muzzle so there is wear in the muzzle crown, I see a few nicks here and there and I hope it doesn't tip the bullet on exit.

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The rotating bolt with in-line multiple lugs reminds a lot of Weatherby's MK 5 bolts (or vice versa, I guess).
 

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Tested headspace this morning and the bolt fully closed on a no-go gage. I don't have a field gage on hand and not having handled an early-model BAR before I don't know if they are long in headspacing from the factory--the owner tells me there are only a couple hundred cartridges fired and I believe him judging from the relative sharpness of the rifling.
 
I envy the owner when it is back in his hands. Nice rifle to sharpen up to a higher level.
270 Win. Fine chambering for a terrific gun.
 
It has a wonderful old Pentax 2.5 x 10 scope on it, though who ever mounted the see-through rings neglected to actually measure if bell would clear the irons.:)
 
It does have a fair amount of "sludgified" old oil crud in it but so far it's coming out without too much of a fight. I have to get the go-ahead from the owner to do a disassemble since Browning is touchy about that, but I see no other way to get the crud out from the piston, bolt and trigger group.
 
Having once owned a BAR and having worked on dozens of them, they can be challenging to disassemble, but they are very easy to clean due to the design and excellent machining. They are typically about as accurate as most bolt action rifles. As far as the excessive headspace, better hope it isn't having problems with that, the barrel extension is actually machined as part of the barrel so there is no easy way to correct a headspace issue in them. It is over 30 years old, but Browning might accept doing the work as warranty work.
 
Scorch--did you ever encounter what seemed like "longish" headspace working on the BAR's? I looked at the diagram and it doesn't look all that bad to disassemble--but Browning warns they will disinherit you forever if you do a "home job." I talked to the owner today if he ever noticed anything unusual with his brass, he said no, but I seriously doubt he ever looked--or would even know what to look for. I think I'll leave the disassembly alone for now since he wants a tune-up for an upcoming hunt--I don't want to be the reason it takes months to track down new parts if needed.
 
I used to disassemble my 270 BAR every season, to clean the gas system. Wasn’t too tough or too complicated. I shot handloads with IMR4064 and Nosler SBBT and later with BTs. It would shoot to an inch at 100 yards.
 
did you ever encounter what seemed like "longish" headspace working on the BAR's?
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I'll be honest with you, I never checked one for headspace other than the ones I rebuilt or rebarreled. We're in the process of rebarreling one right now. But if it concerns you, check to see how much headspace it has. Go/No-Go is for rebarreling, and many rifles work fine without issues until you get out to about .015" of headspace. If it closes tight on a no-go I wouldn't worry about it.
 
A 30-06, 270 and 25-06 Go gauge should be about 2.049" and the Field gauge comes in about 2.058".If you have a few pieces of shim stock I use a hole punch and knock out a few pieces of 0.002 shim stock and just a dab of grease holds them on the back of your No-Go gauge. See how far you get. You get above 2.058" you may start to be concerned a little.

Ron
 
A 30-06, 270 and 25-06 Go gauge should be about 2.049" and the Field gauge comes in about 2.058".If you have a few pieces of shim stock I use a hole punch and knock out a few pieces of 0.002 shim stock and just a dab of grease holds them on the back of your No-Go gauge. See how far you get. You get above 2.058" you may start to be concerned a little.
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That's a great idea--I thought about using the "scotch tape method" but it seems the bolt closes pretty hard under a lot of force. I'll take her out for a test fire and check the brass. Thanks for the advice guys.
I used to disassemble my 270 BAR every season, to clean the gas system. Wasn’t too tough or too complicated
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Problem with this older model is you cannot get to the trigger group and bolt without doing a disassemble as far as I can tell. My guess is that residual lubrication pools up in those areas.
I shot handloads with IMR4064 and Nosler SBBT and later with BTs. It would shoot to an inch at 100 yards.
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The owner is going on a thick woods moose hunt, he likes to use federal's 130 gr fusion; I tried steering him to 150 gr partitions but he's taken quite a few moose using the fusions whereas I've never even drawn a permit--so far be it for me to tell him what he should use.
 
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I had one of those once back in the mid 90’s in 300 WinMag. I shot one box through it and then traded it to a guy for a nice Yamaha 650+$200.00 cash on his part. I fixed the minor issue with the motor that he thought was a big problem, then sold the bike for double what I paid for it. The guy that bought the bike decided to ride it home during a heavy wet spring snow, he made it about five blocks then dumped it and messed it all up, even though I offered to haul it in my van for him. Plus his girlfriend paid for it on a credit card and a month later he ran out on her with the bike in his name.
 
I test fired it yesterday and the results were less than stellar--in fact the POI's were randomly spraying all over a 3 ft x 4 ft square box @100 yds. I returned home and examined the scope and mounting system--everything checked out though the Pentax Lightseeker XL--which has superb glass--also uses a double spring mirror retention system that I've never heard of before called "reli-align." Tracking wasn't even close to the 1/4 MOA system so I pulled the scope and replaced it with one of my spares. Also loaded up some of my own cartridges in heavier 150 gr bullets that I know shoot very well out of my 2 270 win rifles to see if that makes any difference.
 
This has been a tough one for me to figure out--I simply couldn't get the customer's 130 gr federal fusions to group worth a darn--meaning I couldn't recommend he hunt with the rifle. I did mention the possibility that I personally just couldn't shoot it well. I recommended he try federal premium ammunition loaded with 150 gr nosler partitions--just on a whim that maybe the bigger bullet might shoot better. He couldn't find any, and instead bought a box of 150 gr interlock bullets from a GS since he knew I was a reloader. I decided to give them a try just out of curiosity. I used H4350 as powder.

Difference between night and day--groups hovered just a bit above MOA--but most importantly tracked well and predictably--I was relieved about that because I was beginning to think something was fundamentally wrong with the barrel. Why such a difference I have no idea--I have no experience shooting a 270 win cartridge through a gas gun, nor can I tell what the twist of the barrel is (maybe 1 : 10).

I'm not sure if the interlock is as tough as something like a partition if the customer uses it for something like a shoulder shot.
 
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Interlocks are old school. Not a bad bullet, but an old school, cup and core with a small "locking ring" on the inside to hold the core. I used them 30+ years ago, worked OK for the most part. I always got good accuracy out of them, they'll probably work good for him. And the plus side is the rifle likes them.
 
I looked them up and decided they were one step below the bonded bullets, so I'm going to try the GMX instead, which has the advantage of being less prone to bore fouling (theoretically).
 
stagpanther said:
I'm not sure if the interlock is as tough as something like a partition if the customer uses it for something like a shoulder shot
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Looks like that ammunition is loaded to 2800 fps, should be about like hitting any big game animal with a 180 grain bullet out of a .30-06. The .277 bullet has an SD of .279 and the .308 bullet has an SD of .271 and they are pretty close in BC as well. I wouldn't hesitate to use that bullet on shoulder shots, it should work pretty well.
 
I had to make a decision that probably didn't make the customer happy, but it ws an honest one to the best of my knowledge. He has a moose hunt coming up and even though I have no connection whatsoever to whether or not he succeeds with his shot, I have doubts that his setup is u to the task even at short range, so I returned it to him after a week of working pretty hard on it.

First, his Pentax light seeker II clearly does not track at all accurately, so I advised him to see if he can get warranty work done to get it fixed or replaced. The glass is spectacularly clear--so I told him it was worth saving if at all possible.

I developed a pretty good load that can shoot a couple of shots within an inch or so of POA--but the grooves are so rough that copper and lead accumulates very quickly and accuracy goes over a cliff very quickly as well. I'm sure he's not going to go through the rigors of a thorough cleaning after a few shots. It is, however, a spectacular semi-auto--I don't know of anything in the modern GI world that operates as well and reliably with 270 win so I told him it would be worth saving if at all possible. He only has so many weeks before the hunt, so he needs to either get the gear fixed ASAP or get himself an alternative set-up and practice to get familiar with it. Replacing a barrel on this gun is beyond my ability.
 
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