light weight BAR

[jimmyp50]

Who shoots the synthetic-blue light weight BAR in .308?  I am thinking of getting one for a brush gun, follow up shots all that.  I needed two shots yesterday at a deer we jumped, I missed the first shot with my 24 inch Weatherby .270 with 3 x 9 on it, my bud was carrying his Thomson encore .270, he missed and a nice 8 point lived another day.  My older buddy has a belgian browning 30-06 and he has killed a truck load of deer with it.  He shot two one day while they were running.  The older browning BAR is pretty and shoots good but they are tough to find.  What do you think of the aluminum receiver on the new ones? Jimmyp

[Squeeze]

Jimmy,
 
I just purchased a 308 BAR Stalker, with the aluminum receiver.  I was concerned about
wear on the receiver, since I do like to shoot my rifles often, for practice, load development,
and in hunting situations.  After talking to several local gunsmiths about aluminum  
receiver longevity, I am convinced that, with proper care, I won't wear this receiver
out.  
 
I purchased the gun for the same reason.  I wanted a "brush" gun.  I have shot at
least 15 whitetail bucks hauling butt through the forests of Northern Wisconsin,
and although I love my bolt guns, nothing beats a semi-auto for spooked bucks.
We hunt on the fringe of farm country, and the big woods, and the shots can  
come on walking deer, or on running deer.  So, I have set this 308 BAR up with
a Bushnell 3200 in 2x7x32, and look under mounts, to use the "iron" sights for
the close in/running shots.   I have yet to down a buck with this new gun, but
I have no doubt it will do nicely.  The 308 is a soft shooting round in this gun,
with allows for keeping it swinging on track.  And I am happy to report, that this
particular gun is shooting 1 MOA with just plain 150 gr Hornady SPBT bullets.
Nothing fancy.  I had some of these bullets for scope sightin work for several  
other 30 cal guns, so I loaded up some nominal loads, for scope zero on this
new BAR, and it quickly showed more than good enough hunting accuracy.
In the off season, I will put together some loads for this gun, using premium  
bullets, which will probably be Barnes bullets, but for this year, it will be some
pretty vanilla 150 gr. loads, using nothing special Hornady bullets.
 
I have heard several hearsay reports on jamming in the LW BAR rifles, but I  
have not witnessed any actual jams, and my gun has cycled flawlessly, albeit  
over maybe 30 rounds.  With that said, my experience shows for the most part,
if a gun is going to fail to cycle, due to manufacturing issues, it will do so almost
from the first group fired.  After the initial breakin, then maintenance, or  
part failure, is most often the cause.  Not poorly matched part tolerances.
About the only concern I had with this gun, is when I dry cycled it, with live
ammo, right out of the box, I had scratches on the bullets.  After close inspection,
the cause was a wire edge left from throat machining, which has been removed, by  
just the action of shooting the first few rounds through the gun.  I was prepared
to have the local gunsmith polish it out, but like I said, the wire edge worked  
off the throat before I could get it to the smith.  
 
So far I am happy with my first BAR.  I have owned, or still own, several  
Remington 7400/760 rifles, so I have experience with "brush" guns, and
also have much experience with semi-auto rifles, shotguns, and pistols.
So far, I like what I see in the Lightweight BAR.
 
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[animal]

Jimmy.
 I've had the lightweight with the walnut stock for a few years with alot of reloads fired out to 300 yards. It is fine with zero problems. I keep it very clean.

[Danny Boy]

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How do you compare the BAR Stalker with your 7400/7600?

I am looking actively at the BAR ShortTrac in .308.  They don'y have the ShortTrac in stock in Canada as yet. I think the BAR is a great brushgun.

Danny Boy

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Danny Boy,

In my experince, this BAR was much easier to find ammo that was accurate/consistent,
than the 7400s/742s I have had experience with.  Using the last 7400, in .270 Win,
as an example, I had to go through about 5 different load combinations, to finally
get a 130 gr load that consistently shot 1 MOA.  Also, the Remington was a little
fussier about how the forearm screw was tightened.  If I got it too tight, the groups
opened up some.  I disassembled the BAR several times to clean it and have not
had the groups open up, and I have taken little care to tighten up the forearm
scew to a specific torque.  Actually the Browning came out of the box, shooting
some plain jane 150 gr, Hornady SPBT bullets over some average velocity loads,
into 1 MOA groups.  I load several other .30 cal guns with Barnes, and Nosler,
bullets, so I will work up some premium loads, for the BAR, over winter, but for
this season, I will be shooting these plain jane loads, since they group so pretty.
I never had problems with the 7400/742 Remingtons jamming, as some have, but
I once spent some time in Arctic conditions, in the military, so I know how to keep
a rifle functioning in cold weather.  And I am very fussy about cleanliness, and
proper lubrication.  From my short experience, with the BAR, given what I see
in the operating mechanism, I believe I will not have any problems with the BAR,
either.  As for a "brush" gun, every time I pull this new BAR LW Stalker off the
rack, my love affair deepens :grin:

I still have a 760 Remington, in .30-06 Sprg, that belonged to my father, that I
will never sell, and only occasionally hunt, but I believe going forward, any new
"brush" guns will be a BAR.  I have not warmed up to the "Short-Trac" look,
but maybe I just need to shoot one, and that could change.  I am not much for
pretty, except if the gun can shoot pretty groups :lol:  With all of this said,
if some one wanted a good "Brush" gun, and wanted a semi-auto, and was
on a tight budget, I would not hesitate to suggest a Remington 7400.  I would
caution them, if they planned on doing a lot of shooting, then maybe saving
longer for the BAR, would be a better value.  In my expereince, the Remington
7400/742 will eventually fall off accuracy wise, but in most people's useage,
it will last a life time.  I probably shoot my rifles 2 to 4 times more often than
"most people".  Having a range on my property, and always tinkering with loads,
runs the total of rounds fired up on most of my rifles.  If one shoots 20 to 40
rounds a year, for scope zero checks/practice, and hunting, a properly maintained
7400 would be good for at least 25 years before I would expect to see the groups
open up some.  And even then, it would still be plenty fine for shooting Minute
of Deer.  I am kind of spoiled, since I have several AR-15's, that shoot well
under 1 MOA, and now I have a BAR, that looks like it will be at least a 1 MOA
semi auto, with a variety of load combinations.  

I do like semi autos for brush guns.  Not having to break a fluid swing,
to cycle an action, has factored heavily for more than one fast moving whitetail,
to end up hanging at my hunting camp.  This soft shooting .308 Win. BAR
swings SOOOO sweet!

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