Shooting Times & Country Magazine
Need to know
Manufacturer
Model
Type
Overall length
Barrel length
Calibre
Finish
Weight
Magazine
Stock
Trigger
Safety
Sights
Importer
Price
Barrett
Fieldcraft
Bolt action
40.5in
21in
6.5 Creedmoor
Stainless steel
5lb
Four-shot blind magazine
Ultra lightweight Sporter
Timney, single-stage
adjustable
Side-lever
None, drilled and tapped for
specific Talley mounts
Edgar Brothers,
tel 01625 613177
£2,800
the bolt has a 60° bolt lift and boy, is it smooth. it feels like a benchrest grade match rifle’s action. it is so smooth and free and then locks perfectly — the best bolt-action design i have tested for many years.
none of this would mean anything without a decent barrel and thankfully Barrett makes its own. the Fieldcraft has a superlightweight barrel that tapers from
1in at the action to a scant 0.505in at the muzzle, a recessed crown to avoid damage to the rifling and ½in unf thread for a sound moderator.
the test rifle was chambered for the 6.5 Creedmoor, which is popular at present mainly due to the superior ballistics but also the good factory ammunition available. the rifling is a 1-in-8in twist rate, so good for bullets up to 160-gr, and the sixgroove rifling has a good clean cut and tool mark-free surface. it is button rifled and stress relieved twice for maximum accuracy.
the Barrett feeds off a blind magazine system. there is no visible floorplate so rounds are loaded through the action top — both simple and weight saving. it holds four rounds and i had no issues during the tests. the timney trigger also performed superbly. it is a very good trigger, an adjustable single-stage unit that has a wide serrated trigger-blade and crisp, light trigger-pull of 2.25lb. there is a two-position side safety — forward is fire and back is safe.
now for the best part — the stock. it is sublime, made from hand-laid carbon fibre to combine strength with incredible lightness. it has a semiraised comb and cheekpiece and a grey speckled finish. Perfect.
Bedding of the action and barrel are incredibly important for a rifle to shoot accurately and consistently, especially on a light-profiled barrel that acts like a buggy whip. Barrett sensibly has bedded the action via aluminium pillars and full-length bedded the barrel with synthetic bedding compound. this means the action and barrel are in unison and thus each shot is consistent; it also allows more accurate additional shots, despite heating up, which is often a problem on skinny barrels.
i had a couple of hornady factory loads, though both were 129-gr. i decided to buy a set of Creedmoor dies so i could reload the empty cases and try a few more bullet styles and weights.
the factory hornady american Whitetail uses a 129-gr interlock bullet listed at 2,820fps but from this 21in barrel achieved 2,722fps for 2,123ft/lb energy. accuracy at 100 yards was 1.35in — this is an average of five three-shot groups and the important factor is how many shots before that group opens up. i had two tight shots and the third off each time.
next up were 129-gr SST bullets from hornady’s Superformance range, which achieved an increased velocity of 2,781fps and 2,216ft/lb and 1in-1.25in groups.
One-shot kills
it is vitally important with this type of lightweight rifle to allow the barrel to cool between tests, otherwise you will not get a true reflection of its accuracy.
this rifle is designed for precise, oneshot kills and Barrett has delivered as, straight from the gun case, the shot that counts was dead on target every time.
the lighter 120-gr nosler Ballistic tips shot 2,832fps and 2,137ft/lb with 43.0 grains of Vit n150 powder, achieving 1in groups. Switching to norma URP powder shrunk the group to 0.95in with the same powder weight.
a duplicate reload for the 129-gr SST if you ran out would be 44 grains of RL17 powder for 2,850fps and 2,327ft/lb and 1in groupings.
the 140-gr bullets were the heaviest i tested and the Sierra gameking with a load of 45.0 grains of Swiss
RS62 powder generated 2,760fps and 2,369ft/lb energy and 0.85in groups.
“The stock is sublime, made from hand-laid carbon fibre for strength and lightness”
Shooting times & Country magazine • 41