.204 lothar walter barrel ??

[paddy 09]

Hi guys , changing my factory Remmy VLS barrel to a lothar walter aftermarket barrel . Factory barrel wont shoot 40gr .The lothar walter, is a bull ,fluted ,stainless ,26" 1-12 twist barrel .They are made in Germany and would like to know if anyone has heard of them before ?

[stevecrea]

I have heard of them, and you can get more information on their website at lothar-walther.de. Note that it is "walther", with a th.

I do not know much, but I do have a favorable impression of them. However, they are obviously not as well known or as prevalent as many of the others. That does not mean that they are not at least as good, or even better, but I have no evidence.

One question I would have for you is, have you have considered a little faster twist, such as 1 in 11, if you wish to shoot the 40s? It seems that many of the posters on this forum have noted that their 204s do not seem to care for heavier bullets. Many have noted that their rifles will shoot the 39 grain Sierra Blitzking well, but not the different 40 grainers. It has been my impression that the standard 1 in 12 twist may be on the outer edge of necessary stabilization.

[stevecrea]

To continue on the above, I have often wondered if a bullet that is marginally stabilized might show good accuracy at 100 yards, but as velocity decreases and the rate of spin decreases, might it become unstable at longer ranges? Any "yaw" or "wobbling" has a huge impact on accuracy, velocity, and other ballistics. A wobbling bullet will shed velocity much faster than a better stabilized one.

With its laser trajectory, the 204 could be a fairly long range cartridge with the right setup.

The .223 Remington standard rate of twist has been 1 in 12, but there has been much written and discussed by those who like to shoot the heavier bullets, and have thus gone to much faster twist rates.

Perhaps others with more knowledge will chime in on your question.

[paddy 09]

I have been given the choice of a brand new lothar walther of any twist or used barrel with a 1-12 twist .The used one belongs to my gun smith and is used on a demmo bench rifle .The best thing about the used one is it only has fired 150 ish rounds and he is willing to let me shoot it on the range before i buy .He tell my it groups 1 inch and less(5 shots) at 300 yards .Due to the fact its used, it going at a few euro less than a new one .This is all done with 40gr aswell .Not sure ,now that you said that a faster twist may be needed for long range shooting ,even if it groups well at shorter ranges . Maybe i shoud get him to shoot it at 500+ yards and see how the 40grs work .

[stevecrea]

If it will shoot that well at 300 yards, I would consider that to be very good. For good measure, try it at 400 and 500 if you can.

[paddy 09]

If it will shoot that well at 300 yards, I would consider that to be very good. For good measure, try it at 400 and 500 if you can.

Dont know much about target shooting but my gunsmith is very good at his job .Seen a friend of mine shoot 1" groups at 600 yards with a .308 my smith build . He went on to come 2nd in the european championships last year with the same .308 .Ill ask my smith to shoot the .204 a bit further out and see how the 40gr group .Thanks for the advice ,bud

[trevort]

they are a top quality euro barrel at least the equivalent of the top American makes but just cos its a match grade barrel doesnt mean you'll get a better result. The 1 in 12 is marginal for the 40gn so it may work or it may not. I waited 14 months for a 1 in 10 twist barrel to get here from the states and it was worth the wait

[paddy 09]

they are a top quality euro barrel at least the equivalent of the top American makes but just cos its a match grade barrel doesnt mean you'll get a better result. The 1 in 12 is marginal for the 40gn so it may work or it may not. I waited 14 months for a 1 in 10 twist barrel to get here from the states and it was worth the wait

Was that a bunny .How far out was it shoot at ?What make is your custom barrel ?Looks like your happy with your set up now .

[jo191145]

paddy

As Trevort says. LW is a top quality Euro barrel. Their Stainless version is somewhat of a proprietery molecular grade. Simply put its harder than most American stainless barrels. Thats good for the shooter as they should last a little longer than most. Some U.S. gunsmiths have a heck of a time chambering them though. Seeing as your smith is familar he probably knows the tricks.
I agree 12 twist is minimal for the 40's. Especially in factory tubes where the twist may actually be 12.5 or something.

That being said if your Smiths tube is launching 40's at 1" or under at 300yds I"d call that very acceptable

[paddy 09]

paddy

As Trevort says. LW is a top quality Euro barrel. Their Stainless version is somewhat of a proprietery molecular grade. Simply put its harder than most American stainless barrels. Thats good for the shooter as they should last a little longer than most. Some U.S. gunsmiths have a heck of a time chambering them though. Seeing as your smith is familar he probably knows the tricks.
I agree 12 twist is minimal for the 40's. Especially in factory tubes where the twist may actually be 12.5 or something.

That being said if your Smiths tube is launching 40's at 1" or under at 300yds I"d call that very acceptable

Yea ,he did say something about the steel been harder than most other barrel makers .Also, that a lot of smiths dont like them for that reason but he uses certain oil and certain speed for his reamers to cut the chambers .I" at 300 yards is probably better than i can shoot but it would be nice to see it before i buy the barrel .Thanks for the replays ,lads .

[trevort]

Paddy, not sure how far out he was, there were a lot of bunnies pasted that day. i'm guessing around 100m as i'm too lazy to walk further. Mine has a Kreiger barrel, shoot the 40s and 39s equally well to the same poi with the same powder charge. Since the sbk is now nearly double the price of the vmax here I'm pretty lucky

[paddy 09]

Update ! Really windy today(25mph gusts and heavy rain ) when i went to the range and zeroed the lothar walther .Only shoot 2 groups at 100 yards with hand loads and factory loads of 40gr hornady .Hand loads were about half inch C-C and factory loads were about a quarter inch more . Not bad in thoes conditions i guess.Weather is ment to be calm this weekend so will be back out to try her at 300 yards .Since handloading is banned over here, i would like to know as to how much of a differnce in accuracy i should see between factory and handloads in general ?I noticed the heads on the hot load 40s, were seated way more into the lands !Is there a reamer that could be used to seat the factory hornady closer to the lands?Has anyone tried this before ?I will post my 300 yards results the weekend .

[paddy 09]

Got back out today on the range with my smiths custom .204 .3-5 mph an hour cross winds ,but on bad compaired to the first attempt.First i shoot the factory 40s at 150 yards with groups of about half inch .Then i went to 320 yards ,but was dissapointed with groups of 2-3" .I then put the 39gr factory in and shoot some groups .Believe it or not guys ,all were 1" and less 5 shoot groups at 320 yards.First of all ,ye were bang on the money that the 40s, might group at 150ish but for sure did do not shoot at 300 yards . Took the 39s back to 150 yards and shot really small groups .No bigger that the base of the .204 round .Theses groups today, were not so called INTERNET brags ! Real size, at real distances with a middle of the road hunting scope and factory ammo .Them lothar walther barrels sure shoot very well , so a deal was done today to fit it to my VLS and blueprint the action .Thanks for all your help and advice ,lads