Post by GLSHOOTER on Jul 3, 2015 15:03:06 GMT -8
I was wandering around the net about two months ago as I tend to do and received a PM from a fellow asking about the 25X6.8 and the 25X45 Black Hole chamberings. Over a week or two he and I conversed and as things developed I learned he had a manufacturing company, BartZ Manufacturing, and was an engineer with some ideas. Over the past couple of years he had done some design work on AR15 upper, bolt carrier, bolts and FF tubes.
Bartt felt that the AR needed to step up a bit, like we all do, and become a true MSR. The feeling was he wanted to do a bit less of the Tacticool stuff and build hunting rifles that would perform in the field. He and I talked about his projects and what I thought was needed and not for quality parts in the market place today.
He feels that the uppers and parts should be a bit better in tolerances so had tightened them up to the National Match level for less slop and a better fit across the board. I had a 25X45 barrel on the way from BHW and felt that trying something new that wasn't my basic black might spice up my life. I ordered up a complete upper without the bolt as I had one in-house and selected the green camo.
After watching the package make its way from Michigan to its new Arizona stomping ground the BBT showed up yesterday. I opened the box and just kind of sat there taking it all in.
The first thing that grabbed my attention was how clean the upper was and that the dust cover was a bit thicker than the standard set ups I run. The cover is polymer and is nicely fitted up so there is no rod sticking out of the end of the cover and the clips associated with it. Sanitary comes to mind.Also another added detail I found while looking at the ejection port was that I noticed a subtle size anomaly in that area. . I had forgotten but Bartt had just casually mentioned the port is cut for the 450Bushmaster. That one is on my build list in the future so I know where that upper will come from.
I pulled the charge handle and found it to be nicely designed. The over-sized latch was not too big nor was it too small. Fit to the upper was solid with no play and things didn't rub when you pulled it back. It has some nice laser engraving with the manufacturers name and symbol.
The BCG eliminated the FA cuts and he went to the FailZero coating that's so slick I had a fly land on it and complain about hurting his butt when he slid off. The BCG is a SA profile and it has the key properly staked with no burrs detectable. Machining is top notch with no chatter marks or unfinished tooling areas. A gorgeous piece of gear it is.
The FF tubes are 3 pieces so you can time your holes for bipods etc. The knurling is nicely done and not overly aggressive but is plenty to hang on to. It mounted right up to the upper without difficulty.
In line with the hunting emphasis Bartt chose to add camo coatings to the mix. They are doing a hydrographic application to the upper and tubes. Not overly intricate but certainly in the usable realm. I don’t have a lot of exposure to the process or usage of them but I can see where this one will blend in nicely if I take this one varmint hunting. Arizona is such a blend of colors that tan, brown, gray and green all will work. About the only colors we don’t have are Smurf Blue and those would work very well at night.
I took the parts and made a few pictures to show off the BartZ parts. I had an 18” tube in the box that I mounted up as a test fit before it gets shipped off to Ritch for the final 204 barrel. This one happened to be a 25X6.8 and is the same profile as the future barrel. I put the upper on the lower I’m using on my SOCOM but will be building another with the new designed BTE trigger.
The parts as they came from the box before they had too many grimy finger prints.
The upper assembled so you can see how nice the package looks.
Barreled up for a quick preview of the final product.
I'm pretty excited about getting this one back and going to the range. The dies should be here from CH4D soon and I will be in tall cotton. Range report to follow as things progress.
Greg
Bartt felt that the AR needed to step up a bit, like we all do, and become a true MSR. The feeling was he wanted to do a bit less of the Tacticool stuff and build hunting rifles that would perform in the field. He and I talked about his projects and what I thought was needed and not for quality parts in the market place today.
He feels that the uppers and parts should be a bit better in tolerances so had tightened them up to the National Match level for less slop and a better fit across the board. I had a 25X45 barrel on the way from BHW and felt that trying something new that wasn't my basic black might spice up my life. I ordered up a complete upper without the bolt as I had one in-house and selected the green camo.
After watching the package make its way from Michigan to its new Arizona stomping ground the BBT showed up yesterday. I opened the box and just kind of sat there taking it all in.
The first thing that grabbed my attention was how clean the upper was and that the dust cover was a bit thicker than the standard set ups I run. The cover is polymer and is nicely fitted up so there is no rod sticking out of the end of the cover and the clips associated with it. Sanitary comes to mind.Also another added detail I found while looking at the ejection port was that I noticed a subtle size anomaly in that area. . I had forgotten but Bartt had just casually mentioned the port is cut for the 450Bushmaster. That one is on my build list in the future so I know where that upper will come from.
I pulled the charge handle and found it to be nicely designed. The over-sized latch was not too big nor was it too small. Fit to the upper was solid with no play and things didn't rub when you pulled it back. It has some nice laser engraving with the manufacturers name and symbol.
The BCG eliminated the FA cuts and he went to the FailZero coating that's so slick I had a fly land on it and complain about hurting his butt when he slid off. The BCG is a SA profile and it has the key properly staked with no burrs detectable. Machining is top notch with no chatter marks or unfinished tooling areas. A gorgeous piece of gear it is.
The FF tubes are 3 pieces so you can time your holes for bipods etc. The knurling is nicely done and not overly aggressive but is plenty to hang on to. It mounted right up to the upper without difficulty.
In line with the hunting emphasis Bartt chose to add camo coatings to the mix. They are doing a hydrographic application to the upper and tubes. Not overly intricate but certainly in the usable realm. I don’t have a lot of exposure to the process or usage of them but I can see where this one will blend in nicely if I take this one varmint hunting. Arizona is such a blend of colors that tan, brown, gray and green all will work. About the only colors we don’t have are Smurf Blue and those would work very well at night.
I took the parts and made a few pictures to show off the BartZ parts. I had an 18” tube in the box that I mounted up as a test fit before it gets shipped off to Ritch for the final 204 barrel. This one happened to be a 25X6.8 and is the same profile as the future barrel. I put the upper on the lower I’m using on my SOCOM but will be building another with the new designed BTE trigger.
The parts as they came from the box before they had too many grimy finger prints.
The upper assembled so you can see how nice the package looks.
Barreled up for a quick preview of the final product.
I'm pretty excited about getting this one back and going to the range. The dies should be here from CH4D soon and I will be in tall cotton. Range report to follow as things progress.
Greg
