Lothar walther 457 barrel
- Thread starter Copenhagencowboy
- Start date
I ordered two right from Germany as a dealer and I am going to do some testing when I get them. I’m keeping one and selling one. Hope to have more info in a couple weeks.
Unfortunately, no one on a forum can tell you how any aftermarket barrel will perform.
A Lothar Walther barrel should be somewhat better than the average factory CZ barrel when shooting appropriate ammo. That means good ammo suitable for that barrel.
It's unreasonable to expect that any aftermarket barrel would make inexpensive or high velocity ammos perform much differently than they would in a factory CZ barrel.
Friend of mine got one to compare to his MTR barrel and it was pretty close so he put the MTR barrel back on. This was before we started playing with headspace. The reality is headspace plays a critical role and that has to be addressed with aftermarket barrels and even factory fitted barrels with larger than desirable headspace for the ammo you’re running. CZ actions are NOT BluePrinted to Spec and have variance from one to the next. Rimfire is a rabbit hole. In reality the only way to know for sure is to run the same barrel in the same action with the same headspacing running the same lot of ammo at the same temp, humidity and pressure.
It doesn’t have to get that intense but you can really take this rabbit hole as deep as you want.
Bolt and Barrel Shims can be easily acquired from Trigger Shims.
It doesn’t have to get that intense but you can really take this rabbit hole as deep as you want.
Bolt and Barrel Shims can be easily acquired from Trigger Shims.
Oh right on, keep me posted! Be interested in buying the second
The bolt for my 457 has a shim and that setup shoots lights out with pretty well any sk stuff. I also have spare barrel shims from my Lilja setup so I can use those to play around
Not yet, should probably join that forum. Only got into rimfire last year
Noted gunsmith Bill Calfee, who built a lot of very accurate BR rifles, says that as long as it's safe, headspace isn't especially critical to performance. Calfee and the majority of gunbuilders set it to the CIP and SAAMI recommended 0.043". There's no accumulated evidence to support the contention that any other HS produces enhanced accuracy performance.
It's a good point to note that CZ actions are not all dimensionally identical. This is why Lilja provides headspace shims. Headspace can be set as required.
While rimfire is indeed a rabbit hole, it remains impossible to correctly assess the performance of two barrels simply by using the same lot of ammo -- even in identical conditions. There's nothing to say that each barrel will respond the same way to the same ammo. In other words, two barrels may shoot the same ammo differently. This is why one lot can be excellent in one rifle but not as good in another.
Will do!
I've not met or heard of anyone claiming an improvement over the factory MTR barrel with an aftermarket unit. I would assume these would be better that the standard profile non match chamber barrel, especially when it comes to adjusting the balance forward for PRS use.
If the factory CZ MTR barrel was as good as barrels get, that would be a surprising disappoinment. There are a lot of custom barrels that are much better than the mass produced factory barrels such as those found on CZ rifles. Of course, an aftermarket barrel doesn't always mean a significant improvement. It's important to appreciate that not all aftermarket barrels are equal. Some are much better than others.
There are volumes of posts of reports about the improvement with aftermarket barrels over the factory barrel. In fact, when accurizing CZ and other factory rifles, replacing the original factory barrel with a custom barrel is typically among the first steps. For example, even those shooting factory rifles such as Anschutz, which come with barrels with deserved reputations for better accuracy than CZ, will often re-barrel the rifle with an even better barrel.
If you can find more info on this I'd be interested. The only info I find is "I feel like its better" sort of reviews
Without doing the legwork for you, there's an alternative. Look at it this way, through a series of postulations.
First, consider that CZ factory .22LR barrels, with or without the "CZ match chamber" found on models such as the MTR, should never be thought of as being especially accurate. Perhaps only newer shooters impressed with its improvement over something like a stock 10/22 or an old Cooey or other inexpensive North American factory rifle can be forgiven for thinking so.
Second, there are other factory rifles -- Anschutz, for example -- that are typically more accurate than the average CZ, with or without the CZ match chamber. Barrels are the key to accuracy potential and these rifles have better barrels than CZ factory tubes. Some shooters, in an effort to improve their Anschutz's accuracy, may replace the original Anschutz barrel with a custom barrel. They wouldn't consider putting a CZ factory barrel on an Anschutz. They use top quality barrels such as Shilen, Muller, Lilja, Bartlein, or Benchmark, to name a few.
When it comes to .22LR accuracy performance, CZ factory barrels are definitely not "as good as it gets". There are many factory barrels that are better -- for example, Anschutz and Walther. And these barrels may get changed for even better ones.
But this doesn't mean that any aftermarket barrel will be better than a CZ barrel. Unfortunately, some of the more recently available in North America aftermarket barrels such as IBI and Lothar Walther (not the same as Walther firearms) haven't been used in significant numbers by the most serious of .22LR shooters, such as those in RFBR. As a result it's not clear how they compare to those mentioned above.
There is only one CZ rifle in the "1/4 inch club" of the 50 yard 1/2" challenge here on this CGN Rimfire forum. This "club" requires five consecutive five-shot groups at 50 yards to be .25" or better. That one CZ doesn't have a factory barrel. It was replaced by a Lilja.
Hi there. Installed one last night, put 200 rounds through tonight.
SK LR Match
Eley Force
Eley Semi Auto Outlaw
CenterX
Tenex
Didn't mic the groups, but Eley Semi Auto Outlaw grouped well (surprising to me, just had some on hand)
SK LR Match, CentreX, and Tenex shot really well too. I didn't mic groups, but many were 10 shot 1/3"ish.
Will do more testing with measurements and report back.
SK LR Match
Eley Force
Eley Semi Auto Outlaw
CenterX
Tenex
Didn't mic the groups, but Eley Semi Auto Outlaw grouped well (surprising to me, just had some on hand)
SK LR Match, CentreX, and Tenex shot really well too. I didn't mic groups, but many were 10 shot 1/3"ish.
Will do more testing with measurements and report back.
Right on! Look forward to hearing some more results!
