Lothar-Walther barrels?

Improving and repairing firearms. Rifle bedding, barrel work, stock replacement and other ways to improve your firearms.

Lothar-Walther barrels?

Post by mickb » 29 May 2019, 7:33 pm

General opinion on these folks? Looking to get an accurate semi-custom rifle done, not bench rest level or ultra long range mind you, just a decent chance of an accurate platform The gunsmith recommends these. I have heard of them of course but never used them. Any opinions of them alongside Swan, TSE, sprinter, krieger etc?
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Re: Lothar-Walther barrels?

Post by marksman » 29 May 2019, 9:31 pm

from what I have heard they are very good quality, even for bench rest
apparently harder steels so you need a smith who has used them before because they are different to machine
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Re: Lothar-Walther barrels?

Post by mickb » 20 Jun 2019, 10:48 am

Cheers mate! forgot where I left this
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Re: Lothar-Walther barrels?

Post by tophet1 » 20 Jun 2019, 11:06 am

Fantastic barrels. Had three. Two pre-chambered for Mauser 98 and a custom .257 barrel that was screwed and chambered by my gunsmith. Had a TSE barrel once that didnt like my hand loads but worked for the next guy when shortened. No idea where this 'special steel' comes from. I beleive it maybe an internet myth.
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Re: Lothar-Walther barrels?

Post by bigrich » 20 Jun 2019, 11:49 am

Lothar walther, german steel and engineering. Heard very good things about these. I’ve got two swan barrels and a madco. They perform extremely well, but there are a lot of variables. The wait times for rebarrels around Brisbane is quite a while. When I spoke to one of the other smiths mentioned, I was told 20 week turnaround. I’m actually going to drive for a couple of hours to a Smith in a regional area to get a quick turnaround when I get going on my next project
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Re: Lothar-Walther barrels?

Post by Bill » 20 Jun 2019, 2:12 pm

Bout 12 years ago my cousin asked me to help with load development and sighting in a 9.3x62 FN that had been rebarreled with a Lothar barrel.

Now the gunsmith who did the work knows his s**t and I have owned 2 of his guns since and they are accurate as anything sold new from a shop.

Profile was a lightish sportier but not crazy mountain rifle thin, anyway barrel was s**t, 2 to 3inches at 50m, an absolute dog, the barrel shouldn't have left the factory, it had a bores cope stuck down it and and it passed every inspection.

Gun was sold cheaply with a disclaimer that it was average in accuracy

Turned me off Lothar barrels completely.
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Re: Lothar-Walther barrels?

Post by straightshooter » 21 Jun 2019, 7:53 am

Bill wrote:Bout 12 years ago my cousin asked me to help with load development and sighting in a 9.3x62 FN that had been rebarreled with a Lothar barrel.
Now the gunsmith who did the work knows his s**t and I have owned 2 of his guns since and they are accurate as anything sold new from a shop.
Profile was a lightish sportier but not crazy mountain rifle thin, anyway barrel was s**t, 2 to 3inches at 50m, an absolute dog, the barrel shouldn't have left the factory, it had a bores cope stuck down it and and it passed every inspection.
Gun was sold cheaply with a disclaimer that it was average in accuracy
Turned me off Lothar barrels completely.


What a wonderfully logical post, reminds me of the xxxx commercial where a couple of blokes have a ute tray full of beer and they add a box of "lemonade for the ladies" and thereupon the wheels fell off the ute.
I am sure you eliminated the following before condemning the barrel.
Bad scope
Bad mount
Bad bullets
Bad bedding
Shooter flinching
Botched chambering job*

* Whether your gunsmith "knows his s**t" or he only "knows s**t" doesn't mean he couldn't possibly botch the chambering job. If that were the case then if he were unscrupulous, the easiest dodges are to blame the barrel or where fine accuracy is concerned again blame the shooter for not properly "running in."

Many chambering defects are compensated for by discovering a particular load recipe that seems to work acceptably.
Some chambering defects can be readily seen through a borescope others can't and can only be guessed at.
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Re: Lothar-Walther barrels?

Post by SCJ429 » 21 Jun 2019, 8:39 am

Bill wrote:Bout 12 years ago my cousin asked me to help with load development and sighting in a 9.3x62 FN that had been rebarreled with a Lothar barrel.

Now the gunsmith who did the work knows his s**t and I have owned 2 of his guns since and they are accurate as anything sold new from a shop.

Profile was a lightish sportier but not crazy mountain rifle thin, anyway barrel was s**t, 2 to 3inches at 50m, an absolute dog, the barrel shouldn't have left the factory, it had a bores cope stuck down it and and it passed every inspection.

Gun was sold cheaply with a disclaimer that it was average in accuracy

Turned me off Lothar barrels completely.


I have been there Bill, but with a different barrel manufacture. It drove me mad, three different pills, changed scopes, rebedded the action into a different stock, swapped pic rails. I spoke to the barrel maker and he stood by his product and sent me a new barrel. It cost me heaps in wasted powder and projectiles and chambering casts and it cost him a barrel, no one wins but I appreciate him doing what he could to resolve the problem.
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Re: Lothar-Walther barrels?

Post by Bill » 21 Jun 2019, 9:11 am

it was a Pre chambered barrel straight shooter, Ive owned close to 80 bolt actions in 25 years, been reloading since 96. Mounts and scope were swapped to remove all possibilities.

It was a dog, every now and again that happen. Some times s**ts gets thru their QC
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Re: Lothar-Walther barrels?

Post by mickb » 21 Jun 2019, 9:28 am

So you agree every now and then it happens, for every maker I guess that means, but it put you off a whole brand completely forever?
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Re: Lothar-Walther barrels?

Post by Bill » 21 Jun 2019, 10:12 am

thats my right mickb, I dont drink VB either lol

too many quality local barrel makers out there and my experience with local Barrel makers has been positive and i have no trouble getting rebarreling work done locally and quickly.

3 of the 4 rifle I bought this year were rifles with factory barrels and all shoot great. Hard to justify the cost of rebarreling these days when a new rifle costs about the same or less
When a guy is digging his own grave, you don’t fight him for the shovel.

Success leaves clues, Fools follow failure !

20 Hornet, 218 Bee, 222 Rem, 256 WM, 6mm ARC, 6.5 Grendel, 6.5x55 Scan, 270 Win, 357 Mag, 358 Win, 9.3x62, 500 A Square
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Re: Lothar-Walther barrels?

Post by Hunter257 » 21 Jun 2019, 10:39 am

Bill wrote:thats my right mickb, I dont drink VB either lol


hardly a great comparison
that's like saying "I don't gargle with s**t"
nobody likes VB :evil:
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Re: Lothar-Walther barrels?

Post by mickb » 21 Jun 2019, 5:07 pm

Bill wrote:thats my right mickb, I dont drink VB either lol

too many quality local barrel makers out there and my experience with local Barrel makers has been positive and i have no trouble getting rebarreling work done locally and quickly.

3 of the 4 rifle I bought this year were rifles with factory barrels and all shoot great. Hard to justify the cost of rebarreling these days when a new rifle costs about the same or less


I'd have run out of car, fridge, TV and computer brands if I worked like that :lol: But to each his own.
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Re: Lothar-Walther barrels?

Post by Bill » 21 Jun 2019, 6:28 pm

I bought a toyota once, biggest regret of my life ...... :lol:
When a guy is digging his own grave, you don’t fight him for the shovel.

Success leaves clues, Fools follow failure !

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Re: Lothar-Walther barrels?

Post by SCJ429 » 22 Aug 2019, 10:00 pm

I hear good things about IBI barrels being sold by a Brisbane gunshop with a big online presence. For $390 you get your nice new barrel and another $300 for chambering and threading your rifle will shoot like never before..
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Re: Lothar-Walther barrels?

Post by bigrich » 23 Aug 2019, 4:45 am

SCJ429 wrote:I hear good things about IBI barrels being sold by a Brisbane gunshop with a big online presence. For $390 you get your nice new barrel and another $300 for chambering and threading your rifle will shoot like never before..


I had considered this option for a 243 rebarrel, but they don’t do 1-10 twist. I think it’s 1-8 which would compromise shooting lighter projectiles for me. I have heard of good performance from these barrels though :thumbsup:
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Re: Lothar-Walther barrels?

Post by Member-Deleted » 23 Aug 2019, 11:10 am

Hey come on Bill ''Toyota a big regret'' why didn't you want to keep one car forever without fixing it :thumbsup: :D :lol:
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Re: Lothar-Walther barrels?

Post by SCJ429 » 23 Aug 2019, 10:06 pm

I think a 1:8 would shoot 60 grain pills OK out of a 243, they would be going very fast. I used some 62 grain pills out of my 243 and if I pushed them over 4,000 fps they tore themselves apart. That's OK, 3,950 fps is fast enough. They were grouping at 0.4 at that speed.
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Re: Lothar-Walther barrels?

Post by cracker » 24 Aug 2019, 12:58 am

i know they wouldnt send me one has a private buyer...
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Re: Lothar-Walther barrels?

Post by SCJ429 » 24 Aug 2019, 10:09 am

Are you taking about the barrels sold by a popular QLD gunshop with a big online presence? If so, you can order them online. If you have a lathe and reamer you can chamber it yourself. If not just take it to you gunsmith and let him know what reamer you want to use.
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