Shooting the new LW barrel

[Browningguy]

I just changed out the barrel ( and I did it with no help) which is a pretty big accomplishment for someone with no mechanical skill at all. It is a 28" Lothar Walther, 8 twist, varmint contour, these are supposed to be taper lapped at the facotry. At the same time I added a 20 MOA base, the scope is a Weaver Grand Slam 6.5-20 which has been on it since new. The down side was I forgot to replace the 20 moa inserts in the ZEE rings so I was at +40 moa and could not get on the bullseye at 100. Luckily I noticed this bore sighting before I shot it so I wound up aiming at the letters on the bottom of the target and hitting at the top of the target. I've already gone back to the 0 moa inserts and bore sighted so one less thing to worry about next trip.





I am very pleased with it so far. This morning I did a barrel break in ran some factory Federal 85 gr. SGK loads though it and some handloads I just threw together that used to shoot decently in my old barrel. I did go down 1 1/2 gr. of powder just to be safe. Over the next couple of weeks I'll work up some loads to see if I can get it shooting better.

The 85 SGK load is superb, I liked it in my factory barrel also since it would shoot around .8" pretty consistantly. in the LW the very first group was this one at 100 yards off the wobbly benches at ASC in Houston:



For a weak Berger 68 gr. FB load this one shows promise, I'll keep working on it to find what it really likes.



The barrel cleaned up really easy, I ran 2 wet patches to get out powder fouling, then one to get out copper, and the barrel was clean.

[jdg]

Nice looking stick! Looks to be a shooter.

[Tackdriver]

Who'd you order the barrel through? And what caliber?

[Browningguy]

I ordered the barrel direct from Lothar Walther, it's chambered in standard .243 Winchester.

http://www.lothar-walther.de/339.php

[SEshooter]

I put this same barrel (.243, 1-8, 28") on my rifle a couple of weeks ago. During the break in, the first 3 rounds made a single bug hole. Everything went south after that though. Found out the action had shifted in the stock and the whole right side of the barrel was against the barrel channel. Finished the break in with what rounds I had with me, (everything was still shooting 3/4" or less) took the rifle home and bedded the action. I hope to start my load development again this week end. I plan to try some 107gr. SMK’s and 105 Amax’s this time.

[Browningguy]

Let me know how those shoot, I just finished up loading some 80 gr. Speers to try, but I want to work on a long range load with the 107 SMK's. I have a box or two of the 80's from when I used to go deer culling with a 6x45 so figure I might as well shoot them up.

[GaCop]

My Lothar Walther barrel is 6mm BR. Fantastic shooter and I liked the fast shipping. My barrel never really "coppered up" from day one.

[SEshooter]

Browningguy,
I finally got back out to the range after a few months to confirm some loads for my LW .243 barrel. (Holidays and pressing family buisness has kept me away from the range for too long)

You asked about the Sierra 107 Match Kings and here is three, 3 shot groups with my best load so far. The 107 Match Kings seem to be the bullet for my barrel but I plan to try a different powder with the 105 Amax and see if I can get them to shoot as well. Group A was the first group shot for the day and shot from a cold clean barrel. I waited about 3 min between groups and the shifting in point of impact was from adjusting my scope. This grouping has held for several load development trips to the range so far and seems to be the one for my rifle. Next I plan to move to 5 shot groups and chronograph this load. So far no load I have tried has gone over 1/2" after bedding the action. And that includes some 65 grain Vmax loads developed for another .243 I have. (Pac Nor w/1 in 12, not LW) To say the least, I'm very pleased with this barrel. :D