Lithgow la102 Pics

[AusTac]

For those of you who are intrested enjoy

Very Impressed so far gave it a thorough clean and checked/fitted all the accessories

Now i just have to wait for a decent day!

[Mongrel]

Looks good, look forward to seeing how it performs

[Gwion]

Nice. Any chance to see the bolt lugs close up?

[AusTac]

The bolt is an absoloute beast of a thing

[Gwion]

Certainly looks solid!

Was interested to see it because there was some speculation as to how it would be designed.

What's the bolt throw like? Short/long, smooth/rough, high/low???

[AusTac]

Its got the lugs and then is pretty much solid steel with a few tracks/grooves for the working parts

The bolt throw is a bit heavy to lift, but i'm used a cock on close so thats just me, apart from that its smooth as, and just has this satisfying clunk

Real nice trigger too from factory, things built like a tank

[Gwion]

Looking forward to full review after shooting a few!

[catman]

Hey Aus Tac ,we have the same in 22WMR,when weather clears shall post some photographs.
so far around 180 pills through and am happy,coupla jams but I will elaborate
with photographs on rifle directly. cheers catman and the girl.

[Pythonkeeper]

Sweet looking rifles AusTac, I'll have possession of my two Lithgows next week in .243 and .22LR, PTA's arrived in the mail Friday arvo, I'm excited to say the least, can't wait.

[AusTac]

I'll be sure to post some thoughts shortly after putting a few through, weathers crap in Melbourne at the moment so not this weekend probably

Nice catman, would be a handy caliber for the little critters

You'll love the lithy's python keeper, the .22 shoots like a dream, and i'd be expecting the same out of the .243 and my .308

I found rws high velocity the best in my .22 and you may want a cz mag if yours jams up

[Pythonkeeper]

Cheers for the ammo heads up, I've already purchased a 10 shot cz mag for it, hopefully I don't have any of the feeding issues some of you guys have had, got the lucky 13 10 shot for the .243 also, will post up some snaps shots when I have it all in my possession.

Like I said in my previous post, I got my PTA's in the post on Friday but I didn't get my licence which was apparently sent out a few days earlier.....life is cruel.....should get it sometime this week though so all good, rifles and all the bolt on bits have been paid for so all I have to do is front up with the right paperwork and I'm good to go.

Was thinking of getting a Lithy .223 next to complete the set but after having a play with a Steyr Pro Hunter in store the other day I can't decide, Steyr is pretty sexy....

[AusTac]

Just make sure you confirm with the shop they have a .243 in stock new in box ready to sell you, alot of the .243's go to the US and stock can be an issue, i bought 1 of 2 308's this morning, the other being the stock/shelf gun. Another shop i had a layby with said i wouldn't see a .308 before next year..

You'll be sweet with the cz mag and lithgow should have sorted out the mag issie by now

Steyr make a nice rifle for sure

[Pythonkeeper]

Nah all good on that front mate, I ordered and paid for both rifles (neither was in stock) a couple of weeks back and they were in stock ready to be collected at my convenience within 2 days after placing the order, I was supplied with serial numbers etc via email as soon as they arrived so I don't think they'll sell them to anyone else in the meantime.
I saw they (big shop in Qld that I don't think we can mention) had a couple of .243 in the rack the other day while I was there and I asked which was mine and they said none, mine was in an unopened box out the back.

[AusTac]

Yeah sweet, happy days then, some shops would sell their left arm if they think it'll get them a sale

[Pythonkeeper]

Yeah I'd be pretty pi$$ed if they sold them but I'm pretty sure that won't happen considering they've been paid for in full and I have receipts with serial numbers stating that the rifles are aside and ready to be collected.

[pete1]

Man so looks good been thinking of trading in my Howa and buying one for a while.

[Pythonkeeper]

Picked my two Lithy's up this afternoon, beautiful rifles, will post some pics up when I get a minute. Picked up an A110 all weather while I was there too, really impressed with it.

[AusTac]

Sweet, what did you put in top? I think you'll be very happy with them, also intresed to here about the adler..sort of coming around to one very very slowly

[Pythonkeeper]

Zeiss 3-9x42 on the .22, Zeiss 4-12x42 on the .243, both base model Terra's with plex reticle, nice clear and simple scopes for hunting.
I was surprised by how smooth the Adler is to cycle after reading all the stories/reviews about them being stiff and clunky, might be different cycling rounds through it but it feels fine at the moment and no sore knuckles thus far, not saying it's a slick action, precision machine, just nicer than expected and from all accounts it should get better with a bit of use. I like the riffle sights on it too, easy to find when bought up to the shoulder quickly.

[AusTac]

Set out early this morning with my lithy .308 to try and grab a little 100m section i know of in the bush, the aim was to get some time behind the rifle and confirm my zero from the previous session.

The rifle has some heft about it, weighing in at 3.5kg bare, mine weighs about 4.5kg with all the gear, next is the cock on open action, coming from a 303 lee enfield this takes a little getting used to, not to bad during rapid fire as i work it like i hate it, but if i'm single top loading it needs a little snap to get that bolt up, which is just me, 99% of you will all own cock on open actions.

Another little issue i've been having, which is again, just not being familar with the rifle is during some slow " precision" fire the bolt has a tiny bit of extra travel ( 1cmish ) after it ejects the round, being the good person i am, i pick up all my range produce, which has often through my own fault seen me work the bolt back and catch the ejecting round then going forwards andlocking it down without a round being stripped from the mag, sorted that now however with getting used to full bolt strokes.

The trigger is crisp from factory, with a clean break, you know exactly whats going to happen, for me it's perfect and i'm not going to mess with it. I would of however liked a rounded trigger, the one on the rifle is pretty square.

For those wondering about packaging, it comes in a long box that we're all probably used to, with a lithgow arms cotton rifle slip bag and obviously some intructions, intrestingly, i didn't receive a extra spacer in the box like i did with my la101 not that i think i need it, but its nice to tinker once and place it on the shelf.

Over all i'm extreamly happy with the rifle/setup its built tough, and i don't have to be so precious as i do with wood, and being in the same country, i hope it's not going to be a hastle to get parts should the need ever arise.

Now i'll include some range photos that i'm not that proud of, but i'll keep it real for you guys. The conditions at the time were a little sketchy, but it needed to be done this weekend. There was some light drizzle with about a 30km cross wind, i tried to take shots inbetween the big gusts. As you'll see i shot prone on a bipod, with a rear bag which was set ontop of my chest rig.

I had a packet of federal premium with the 168gn sierra matchking and a pack of ppu 150gn soft nose lets just say i regret cheaping out at the gunshop the day before, some are groups on top of groups, when i ran out of the t spots, scope fine adjustments were made continuously throughout the shoot. The ppu was pretty erratic, and after buying 5 boxes i'll most likely run the federal

[wade06]

Thanks AusTac, nice gun and groups given the conditions. How do you like the safety?
I was looking at the synthetic 243 LA102.
Decided to get a cheap O/U shotgun first then see what happens.

Keep us informed with groups and any issues you have.

[Gwion]

What ammo are you using, Aus?

[AusTac]

Not crazy about the safety to be honest, would rather the traditional position on the right hand side, but i only use it between shots or if i have to adjust something with one in the tube


These were shot with a box of federal premium with the 168gn sierra's which rifle likes, but at $55 it's up there.. also shot a box of ppu 150gn, and the results say the rest, won't be getting them again for the 308

[Gwion]

Conditions as they were, it would be hard to do a real ammo test but some of those groups show promise!

[Gwion]

So, how is the safety set up? Any chance of a close up pic to show us at some stage?

[Pythonkeeper]

Some of those groups are getting there mate, I'm sure they'd come up plenty tighter on a still day. I didn't get the extra spacer in my 102 box either, did in the 101 though. I wasn't too sure on the safety at first either but after playing with the gun a bit and getting familiar with everything I don't mind it so much.

I got out to a property that I hunt on and sighted my two in and to say I'm impressed is an understatement. The 22 is allot of fun and very accurate, I had it shooting tight groups at 50 in no time and it wasn't real fussy with what I put through it, cci velocitor and mini mag, Winchester power max all shot really well. RWS sub hp went good for quite stuff, tried Remington cbee22 and they went pretty good but through out a few fliers, the wind was pretty shocking too so that may have had an effect. Took it out for a walk that night and bagged 5 foxes, 2 hares and a pussy, missed a couple of foxes and a hare on the first few attempts due to being too eager beaver as well as getting the hang of where to shift my headlamp when bringing rifle to shoulder worked it out in the end though....good fun..
The 243 is a dream to shoot, had it where I wanted it within 5 shots at 50 just to make sure I was on paper, moved out to 100 and after a few quick adjustments had it shooting pretty good with Remington 100 gr but had the odd flier, switched to federal 100's and they held beautifully even in the strong cross wind, made a few adjustments to the scope and got some really nice groups. Then I put some Norma through it and I'm guessing they're a bit of a hotter round as they shot high but still grouped well, they also shot an inch left, whether it was the right to left cross wind effected them or not I'm not 100% sure but after adjusting the scope accordingly I had them shooting where I was aiming, the federal was definitely the pick for me though and I think I'll stick with it for a while.
After sighting in I put a couple of empty fully loaded man cans on a log out at 200 and didn't have a problem putting holes in them, had a few total misses as well.....really enjoyed using both these rifles, was also happy with my performance after not shooting for 20 years, I was a good shot back then but didn't know if I still had it, I reckon shooting and hunting with the bow has helped keep my eye in.
I put a few rounds through the Adler and it's just plain old fun, had a few jams/ejection failures early up using target round but not a single problem with buck shot.

[AusTac]

Here you go mate, it flicks across 90 to 45 degrees wish with your thumb, rifle is on safe in the pic

[AusTac]

Some of those groups are getting there mate, I'm sure they'd come up plenty tighter on a still day. I didn't get the extra spacer in my 102 box either, did in the 101 though. I wasn't too sure on the safety at first either but after playing with the gun a bit and getting familiar with everything I don't mind it so much.

I got out to a property that I hunt on and sighted my two in and to say I'm impressed is an understatement. The 22 is allot of fun and very accurate, I had it shooting tight groups at 50 in no time and it wasn't real fussy with what I put through it, cci velocitor and mini mag, Winchester power max all shot really well. RWS sub hp went good for quite stuff, tried Remington cbee22 and they went pretty good but through out a few fliers, the wind was pretty shocking too so that may have had an effect. Took it out for a walk that night and bagged 5 foxes, 2 hares and a pussy, missed a couple of foxes and a hare on the first few attempts due to being too eager beaver as well as getting the hang of where to shift my headlamp when bringing rifle to shoulder worked it out in the end though....good fun..
The 243 is a dream to shoot, had it where I wanted it within 5 shots at 50 just to make sure I was on paper, moved out to 100 and after a few quick adjustments had it shooting pretty good with Remington 100 gr but had the odd flier, switched to federal 100's and they held beautifully even in the strong cross wind, made a few adjustments to the scope and got some really nice groups. Then I put some Norma through it and I'm guessing they're a bit of a hotter round as they shot high but still grouped well, they also shot an inch left, whether it was the right to left cross wind effected them or not I'm not 100% sure but after adjusting the scope accordingly I had them shooting where I was aiming, the federal was definitely the pick for me though and I think I'll stick with it for a while.
After sighting in I put a couple of empty fully loaded man cans on a log out at 200 and didn't have a problem putting holes in them, had a few total misses as well.....really enjoyed using both these rifles, was also happy with my performance after not shooting for 20 years, I was a good shot back then but didn't know if I still had it, I reckon shooting and hunting with the bow has helped keep my eye in.
I put a few rounds through the Adler and it's just plain old fun, had a few jams/ejection failures early up using target round but not a single problem with buck shot.

Sounds like someone had fun! Hoping to blood my .308 tomorrow on a deer, and yeah the wind and my s**ty shooting i haven't found a spot to push it out yet, hopfully when the weather dies down i might hit the range and really stretch her legs

[Pythonkeeper]

Yep I had a blast (pun intended), I love shooting foxes and cats, I was just saying to a mate the day before I left that the property looks very "catty" but appart from finding a skull I've never seen one out there, low and behold I got one the next night and saw another big black b@sturd that I had in my sights twice but he moved before I could get on the trigger, he hid in some grass 10 metres away at one stage then he took the bolt and didn't look back, would have been a good time to have Adler in hand....can't wait to get out again in a few weeks, the 223 should be fitted out by then too ready for a sight in...

The wind is a right pain when sighting in but it definitely helps with real world hunting situations if out doing a bit of target practice when it's a blowie.........good luck with blooding the 308 on a deer, would be an awesome way to open up the account.

[dpskipper]

Great pics! I'll be picking one of these up when I can get the time/funds. Really happy to have an Aussie made gun.