By Mr. Black
When it comes to rifles, I’m like one of those sultans with 100 wives and 200 concubines. I’ve always wondered how they serviced them all. I don’t know whether those characters had a favorite lady friend but, for the past several years, one of my go-to rifles has been the Barrett Fieldcraft. When I’m headed out the door and something simply needs to get killed, I usually find myself reaching for it. The others probably get jealous and bitchy when I close the vault door.
The Fieldcraft was born in 2017 after Barrett Manufacturing acquired the assets of the failing Forbes Rifle, LLC. Forbes had been the second attempt to build the late Melvin Forbes’ custom lightweight rifles at scale. Chris Barrett, who grew up surrounded by the business of making guns that worked, set his mind to work on improving and mass-producing Forbes’ brainchild. Chris is a hunter and knew exactly what he wanted—a precision-built lightweight rifle that would function reliably in any conditions. He’d seen prairie dust turn expensive rifles into walking sticks and engineered the Fieldcraft to be tight in critical areas and loose enough to function in others.
Barrett Fieldcraft Features
I’ve owned three of them, but the one that I’ll never let go of is an early production model chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor with an 18-inch threaded barrel. At 5.25 pounds, the rifle is honestly too light for serious shooting—that is until you add an optic, mounts, a suppressor and a sling. Ready to hunt with a full magazine, mine tips the scales at a very useful 8.3 pounds. If you think that’s “too heavy,” you might want to get your testosterone levels tested.
There’s no cellulite on this little spinner. The action is scaled perfectly to Dave Emary’s masterpiece of a cartridge without an extra unnecessary ounce. The barrel is slim but flares out at the muzzle to create a proper thread shoulder. Like Forbes’ custom guns, Barrett full-length bedded these rifles one-at-a-time into rigid stocks made by AG Composites. I honestly don’t know of another production rifle that’s actually bedded properly, which is why getting them to shoot is like playing roulette.
The Fieldcraft uses a blind magazine with a box long enough to seat the bullets where you want them. The factory twist rates were ahead of their time in many of the chamberings and can stabilize just about any bullet out there. Mine came with a Timney trigger that breaks south of three pounds.
Mine has worn four different scopes and at least that many suppressors over its life but I’ve settled on a Nightforce SHV 3-10x42mm in Talley rings and a SilencerCo Omega 300 with a Bravo front cap to cut the length. The sling has always been a Murray A-1.
Fieldcraft in the Field
My Fieldcraft has spent many miles with its suppressed muzzle on the floorboard of a pickup across a half-dozen states. I’ve used it on countless whitetails and hogs, a long shot on a Colorado antelope and a lot of steel targets. My son gravitated to it when he was eight, and it’s been his primary hunting rifle ever since. Three years later, the gut pile he’s created using this little rifle is probably taller than mine.
In 2020, just a few years after its introduction, Barrett Manufacturing’s military contracts for the M107 and MRAD gobbled-up all of their production capacity and the Fieldcraft was discontinued. Prices for the cherished used guns shot through the roof. Schoby tried to buy mine, but I’m not letting go.
I’m glad that Barrett has been busy building rifles that turn our enemies into martyrs, but I do miss being able to recommend the Fieldcraft to fellow hunters. I keep hearing rumors that the Fieldcraft is on its way back. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Until then, mine will keep stacking meat until I need to replace the barrel and, no, you can’t buy it from me.
Cost: Good luck, for now.
Pros: Light, handy and highly functional.
Cons: Currently only available used.
