Buyer Beware

27 January 2013, 21:21

nateDon'tgo

Buyer Beware

If you are considering buying a Lothar Walther barrel for competitivc rifle work,you might benefit by looking into what a fellow(smonkinJ) is reporting being told by his good friend the C.E.O if that firm in Ga. (see the cast bullet section of this site). It might be better to get your barrel from the parent Co.in Germany...Nate

27 January 2013, 23:42

Peter

Well, I waded through one of the threads by smokinj and would rather not go through that again! I am not sure what conclusion I should draw other than the CEO is supposed to have said that he will not cater to some crowd or other. Can't say I blame him! All you need is some bozo on a web site bad mouthing his company and pretty soon everyone jumps on the band wagon. I have a Lothar Walther barrel on my Ruger 10/22 and it shoots well. Not as well as my Volquartsen barrel but much better than the factory barrel. I did NOT jump on a website and bad mouth them. Too many other things to go wrong: chambering, fitting etc.
For high power shooting, there are many other barrel manufacturers that are proven competition winners.
Just my 2 cents, Peter.

16 February 2013, 21:32

FAST996

My Brother just recently ordered a Volquartsen deluxe from Varmit Extreme and was told that Lothar made the Volquartsen barrel.

17 February 2013, 00:36

Peter

Well, mine is the ultra light carbon wrapped barrel. I don't think that walther makes that kind of barrel. if they do that that contradicts what has been said. Mine is super accurate. Not BR50 standard, but close to it!
Peter.

18 February 2013, 04:22

butchlambert

Lothar Walther would be OK if they ran Woody Woodall off.

20 February 2013, 00:07

SlamFire

You mean this post?
http://forums.accuratereloadin...431047481#5431047481

quote:
Rich,

About Lothar barrels. The CEO of that company in Atlanta, GA is a personal friend of mine. I asked him about not seeing LW barrels in the many different big matches. Let's see how to explain this and get it across to you right. He won't cater to the match crowd. That is sort of like he won't sell them a barrel for that purpose. Now you and I both know that you could order a barrel and he wouldn't know where it was going to be used. I asked him the reason. He said they are anal, finicky, and whole of other things and he just did not want the hassle if they think they found something wrong with the barrel. LW is one of the oldest and leading barrel manufacturers in the world and there's no reason why they wouldn't shoot as well as the other top brands.

So what, who cares, there are lots of good barrel makers out there. If Lothar Walther would rather sell to volume buyers, then that is a business decision of theirs.

21 February 2013, 19:28

swampshooter

I have a Lothar Walther barrel on my AR. It shoots so good I think I will try one when I re-barrel my next bolt rifle. That won't be long, my barrels don't last very long. PS. There is a reason they won't shoot with the top barrel makers. They are not hand lapped barrels, but then I don't shoot benchrest and they shoot plenty good enough for my varmint rifles. (sub 1/2 moa) I'm getting excellant accuracy from a Wilson bbl. in 243 also sub 1/2 moa. Both are head and shoulders above a factory bbl.

25 March 2013, 06:04

wasbeeman

FWIW, Douglas does not make a "bench rest" barrel but you see a lot of them on BR rifles. According to Douglas, if you know how to make a barrel, it doesn't need to be lapped.

28 April 2013, 23:44

butchlambert

Lapping has nothing to do with accuracy.

29 April 2013, 09:47

SR4759

Lapping makes the bore more uniform from end to end and it makes all the surface texture finish lines run parallel to the bore axis.

29 May 2013, 07:26

butchlambert

quote:
Originally posted by SR4759:
Lapping makes the bore more uniform from end to end and it makes all the surface texture finish lines run parallel to the bore axis.

Lapping has nothing to do with accuracy.

29 May 2013, 11:30

Idaho Sharpshooter

butch,

if that be true, why then, do nearly all of the BR shooters lap their barrels in a fairly standard routine?

You know, that fire one and clean for the first twenty rounds, then three to five for the rest of the fifty rounds they are fire forming then trimming prior to matches... I had a number of shooters tell me the same thing one year at the Super Shoot.

Jim Feren and Dean Miller told me the same thing at several Coors Schuetzenfest Nationals I competed in in both Golden and Raton.

29 May 2013, 19:02

DUKE NUKEM

I have several Lothar Walther barrels on various rifles. Ask me for pics of ragged hole groups @100 yards shot by a half blind guy.

29 May 2013, 19:26

DUKE NUKEM

quote:
Originally posted by butchlambert:
Lothar Walther would be OK if they ran Woody Woodall off.

We thought he was a pretty nice fella.

29 May 2013, 19:28

butchlambert

quote:
Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
butch,

if that be true, why then, do nearly all of the BR shooters lap their barrels in a fairly standard routine?

You know, that fire one and clean for the first twenty rounds, then three to five for the rest of the fifty rounds they are fire forming then trimming prior to matches... I had a number of shooters tell me the same thing one year at the Super Shoot.

Jim Feren and Dean Miller told me the same thing at several Coors Schuetzenfest Nationals I competed in in both Golden and Raton.

I guess "most" shooters have not done the shoot one and clean in several years. The barrel has its top potential from the first shot. Why wear it out shooting and cleaning after ea. shot and so on? When I started cleaning the fuzz in the throat from chambering my barrels quit coppering and fouling. I have never seen a BR competitor lap his barrel, clean and JB, yeah. Bill Hull ran the Shilen barrel shop for about 20yrs. He said the primary reason they were lapped in the shop was to remove the copper based lube used in rifling.