Thoughts on Lothar Walther?

[Savage 22-243 AI]

Hopefully I am misreading what you've written or I'm not understanding how you wrote this.

On average, when comparing barrels of the same length, contour and bore size, they will weigh very nearly the same (within a couple of ounces). Change any one of the variables and you will discern a difference in weight. The only weight difference I've noted is when someone tries to compare Carbon Fiber barrels to the same contour and length of steel. Dan Lilja used to have a chart or conversion formulas to figure this out before ordering a barrel.

.....No mine are heavier.
LW barrels are Stainless 50, I was told from a barrel Smith. He won't chamber anymore for me due to time involved because of hardness. He had to slow lathe down and change to a different type cutting fluid to get the finish he was after on chamber before polishing.
My 26" LW barrel tapered to .620 was 1.3lbs heavier than a factory Savage 26" SS barrel with a .920 taper. The 26" LW bull straight taper barrel was 2 lbs + heavier than my 30" Brux straight taper........it made my custom F-Class style rifle so barrel heavy I added 2 lbs to the stock to help balance when bench shooting.
The best barrel I have ever had was a Green Mountain .224 cal. 24" blank with .920 taper. It was button rifled and was cleaner cut than my custom barrels when viewed with a Hawkeye borescope. Better rifling and lands than Brux machined rifling or any of the 50 plus rifle barrels I have viewed.

 

[Buck Fever]

I'm unfamiliar with any steel alloys that are more than 1-2% lighter or heavier than any others. There really isn't much variation in the density of steels between mild, high alloy, stainless and probably most super alloys. I'm not sure what you saw with the weight of that barrel but I doubt it is what you think you saw.

The Green Mountain blanks I have seen look pretty good and the price is low but that price makes it hard to believe it will compare to the $400 blanks used by lots of top shelf gunsmiths. I would definitely use them in guns where groups around 1" are acceptable and budget is a consideration.

 

[shortgrass]

.....No mine are heavier.
LW barrels are Stainless 50, I was told from a barrel Smith. He won't chamber anymore for me due to time involved because of hardness. He had to slow lathe down and change to a different type cutting fluid to get the finish he was after on chamber before polishing.
My 26" LW barrel tapered to .620 was 1.3lbs heavier than a factory Savage 26" SS barrel with a .920 taper. The 26" LW bull straight taper barrel was 2 lbs + heavier than my 30" Brux straight taper........it made my custom F-Class style rifle so barrel heavy I added 2 lbs to the stock to help balance when bench shooting.
The best barrel I have ever had was a Green Mountain .224 cal. 24" blank with .920 taper. It was button rifled and was cleaner cut than my custom barrels when viewed with a Hawkeye borescope. Better rifling and lands than Brux machined rifling or any of the 50 plus rifle barrels I have viewed.

It's gettin' really deep now!

 

[johnnyk]

I have a 28", LW pre-fit, stainless in 6.5-284 Norma on my Savage 112. Been shooting it since June 2016 with no problems. Accuracy with every bullet I've tried, less 139gn Lapua's OTM Scenar, has been stellar and sub 1/2 MOA to 1k. Not sure why they didn't group well but it's a non issue for me and there's so many more that this barrel shoots in to "itty bitty" groups.
I ordered the barrel Mar 23rd and Woody emailed me Apr 5th and told me it shipped on the 4th. I emailed after I received it to get LW's break-in procedures and was told this;

"In a situation where Lothar Walther does all the work on the barrel, there is no break in. This is because we Lapp the bore after the chamber is put in. This way, the bullet has the same surface from the case mouth to the crown. During the first 20-50 shots, the surface generated by the bullet sliding on the bore will be generated."

I cleaned it before the first firing and started load development. It was a totally different barrel so none of the loads I had formerly developed shot exactly the same. Nothing terrible, just not the gilt edge accuracy I had found with the Savage OEM barrel, which was an extremely accurate barrel. One can only hope to get a barrel like that once in a lifetime, especially in a factory rifle.

The LW was a tad (20-40fps) slower than the OEM with the same charge weight but did speed up and has surpassed the Savage barrel speeds now. It is a 28" barrel versus the 26" Savage.

It is very easy to clean with little to no fouling. It does develop a carbon ring but I thinks that is the nature of the cartridge (6.5-284Norma) and not the barrel or steel. I did read up on the stainless steel LW uses and they claim it's different that what the U.S. uses. Harder, more abrasive resistant and difficult to machine. I don't know and frankly don't care. I wouldn't care if it was made out of PVC, as long as it still put bullets on top of each other!

I have other pre-fits in Pac-Nor, Shilen and one semi-custom, blue-printed Rem700 w/30" Lilja. All of these, along with the LW, clean up easy and shoot great with their respective tailored hand loads. I would easily recommend any of these after market barrels to others thinking of going this route.

 

[Huntz]

Dakota uses them.I have never had a bad shooting Dakota 76.

 

[atblis]

It's their stainless steel that's supposedly problematic. They also sell regular chrome moly barrels.

Personally, I wouldn't use them. I think they make good barrels, but their customer service is terrible IMO. Try asking them a question and see if you even get a response. I'll use their blanks and buy barrels built on their blanks. I just wouldn't use their custom shop.

 

[Buck Fever]

I am hoping to place my order tomorrow.

I think their CS just needs to be prodded a little.

I had questions that I wanted answers to and also I wanted to see if other people's experiences matched their answers.

They seem to be able to cut a prefit for my action which was not on their list and it's not short chambered or needing the shoulder turned, it should drop in and headspace. They offer a nice looking recessed target crown with 3/4-24 threads and they can make a big heavy profile at 32" length.

I want that length so I can get as much velocity as possible. I could have it set back once or twice if I can find someone to do that. I should ask them if setting back a barrel is a service they could do.

They said corona virus has not effected their production schedules so I'm ready to go. I would have ordered it today except I wanted to double check the dimension of my reciever face to bolt face and I asked for a "detail quote" so I'll know that they are going to build what I think they are and vice versa.

Instead of waiting for email replies, give them a call to get the ball rolling.

Hopefully the production time will be short. The website says 5 days but I don't believe that. I'll be happy if they can beat 6 weeks.

 

[Savage 12BVSS]

I think you will like it, their barrels are known for their accuracy. I never had a problem with CS in fact a gentleman spent almost forty minutes on the phone making sure I ordered and got exactly what I wanted. Good Shooting

 

[josip89]

I have their super match barrel in 300 WM.
My experience is superb ,accuray is 1/4 Moa speed are insane,and I put around 1500 round with no loss off anything.
My next barrel would be same only in gain twist.
I am from EU so for me is easier to buy LW.
I think if I live in USA I would buy Yours barrels.

 

[Buck Fever]

Well, I waited for LW to get back to me and we wound up playing a bit of phone tag. I finally paid for my barrel today.

Also my chassis is in the mail.

If I'm lucky with the delivery times and their "5 day" lead time, I might be screwing it together in early May.

Now I have to get started forming brass, cutting foam for my case and getting ready.

 

[Buck Fever]

My chassis is about 50 miles away, due to be delivered tomorrow (hopefully).

I have been looking to see if any other Xylo long action chassis have made it to the wild but I have seen none.

I just wish I had my barrel right now.

 

[Savage 12BVSS]

If you are ordered up by monday the 13th I'd say you are doing well to be putting it together by mid may. I've waited much longer for match barrels in less crazier times. Good Luck with your build and hope its a shooter On an unrelated sidenote........I'm going on a month waiting for a rethreading, chambering and crowning of a match barrel blank and simple action face true on a savage. In different times with another worker he did the same basic deal less the rethreading while I waited, about 6 hours

 

[Buck Fever]

Yeah, I have waited months for Savage prefits which seem like the easiest possible thing to make. Chamber depth isn't critical and no shoulder. The reason why I'm optimistic is LW does it all with CNC and their website says it's a 5 day lead time. If that goes to 3 weeks plus shipping, I'll hit mid may but they are still missing the lead time by a factor of 3.

Oh, I got my Area419 Sidewinder brake. It is very nice and I will need to remove it to fit my 32" barrel in my 49" case (with my stock partially disassembled) and the hardened steel tapered adapter will prevent wear and protect the threads and crown. I'm getting another adapter so I can use it on another rifle too.

 

[Buck Fever]

My Xylo is here and it is fantastic. It oozes quality. I'm going to compare it to my MPA.

The MPA has a "Lug Lock" which uses a little barrel and an inclined plane to press the recoil lug backward in to the (Remington 700) inlet. That is if you have a thicker than standard recoil lug. It won't tighten on a 0.1875" lug. The Xylo has a beefy wedge to do the same thing. I don't know if it works on thick lugs but it locks like a vault on my Xylo's standard lug.

The MPA has an "Arca" rail under the forearm but the bottom is kind of radiused so my Skye Pod will barely clamp on and I do not trust it to remain clamped if it is handled and used normally. Rough use would RIP it off in a second. The Xylo has an Area419 Arcalock type rail. The first thing I installed was an Area419 Arcalock barrier stop wedge. It fit the rail perfectly and the Arcalock feature should keep it from moving on the rail. Next I put on my Skye Pod and it's Arca clamp also fit perfectly (unfortunately it does not have the lock feature). I could hang my full weight off of that bipod and it wouldn't do a thing. Much, much, much better Arca on the Xylo.

The MPA has a butt with an adjustable comb and LOP, nothing wrong with it. The Xylo has tool-less adjustment that seem just as solid as the MPA.

The grip on the MPA is vertical and nice but it limits the placement of your thumb. The Xylo has a really nice wood grip. At first feel, it's not quite right for me, the fleshy part of my palm between my thumb and index finger has some pressure on it. Luckily it is an interchangeable wood piece and I can relieve that part of the grip with files and sandpaper. It's going to take a while to really feel the grip and get it shaped perfectly but I will get there.

The Xylo chassis is heavier than my MPA but with a 338 RUM, I won't be too concerned unless it gets over 20 lbs.

The Xylo is 7075 aluminum to the MPA's 6061 and the Xylo is hard anodized to the MPA's Cerakote. A win for the Xylo on both counts.

I haven't handled lots of chassis but the Xylo is absolutley the nicest I have handled.

I have been waiting a long time since I pre-ordered it but the upside is that it was an absolute bargain.

This thing is going to be really nice.