Lothar Barrel Work Great!!

[philmurphy]

Dear 6.5G, ETC, et. al.,

I received my custom barrel from LW along with 2 bolts. I placed new Hornady 6.5G cartridges on a bolt with extractor and ejector in place, and inserted it into the chamber. The bolt fully rotated with slight resistance. I then place an old Hornady 6.5G cartridge on the bolt and performed the test. The resistance was tighter. But, the bolt fully rotated. I also performed the test with old 264LBC and again the resistance was tighter. But, the bolt rotated fully.

I believe that LW has worked out the issues with Hornady ammo. The chamber has a .295 neck and the Hornady ammo neck is .290 with a .001 burr at the mouth of the neck(thus the neck is .292.)The 264LBC has a .290 neck with no burr.

I believe the problem with Hornady ammo was/is twofold. The neck to shoulder radius is not tight enough and the headspace of the brass was too long. The solution is also twofold. Hornady shortened the headspace on the brass and LW slightly opened the neck to shoulder radius of the chamber.

Phil

[philmurphy]

Further testing confirms that LW barrel and bolt will close on a PTG go-gauge. Closing requires overcoming about the same resistance as the old Hornady/LBC ammo. Bolt will not close on the PTG no-go gauge. Based on my tests, I think that Hornady has effectively reduce the headspace of their current ammo by .0025 versus their old ammo.

The new ammo should chamber very easily in a chamber that accepts the old Hornady ammo. How this affects case life is out of my area of knowledge. I believe that Hornady is now tending to make 6.5G cases along the European spec, with the exception that neck to shoulder radius remains too wide. I've been told that to sharpen it would require an extra die and process. I assume that means more production cost.

I have not heard a thing about SAAMI progress. I think that they are hung up on the tm business.

Phil

[VASCAR2]

Thanks for the information on your LW barrel. I'm curious if you reload. My son in law bought a LW 6.5 last year and he says he's having problems loading the 120 Nosler BT hunting bullet. Apparently this bullet does not want to feed in his barrel. I'm not sure if his upper has the M-4 style barrel extension and appropriate feed ramp but he has successfully loaded the Hornady 129 grain SST and other bullets. I know the ogive is different from the different .264 bullets but I was also curious if this change in the chamber might not be the problem with his rifle being ammo sensitive. My S-n-L has successfully loaded other ammo for his 6.5 plus several other calibers so I wondered if the problem is indeed the chamber? My S-n-L has used Lapua brass plus fire formed 7.62X39 brass and from what he says his rifle is very accurate. I'm about 400 miles away and have only got to shoot his LW 6.5 once and if IIRC it has a SS 22" barrel. After shooting his 6.5 G I got the bug and have since bought my own rifle but have not had any feeding problems with my 16" 6.5 Grendel.

[philmurphy]

Thanks for the information on your LW barrel. I'm curious if you reload. My son in law bought a LW 6.5 last year and he says he's having problems loading the 120 Nosler BT hunting bullet. Apparently this bullet does not want to feed in his barrel. I'm not sure if his upper has the M-4 style barrel extension and appropriate feed ramp but he has successfully loaded the Hornady 129 grain SST and other bullets. I know the ogive is different from the different .264 bullets but I was also curious if this change in the chamber might not be the problem with his rifle being ammo sensitive. My S-n-L has successfully loaded other ammo for his 6.5 plus several other calibers so I wondered if the problem is indeed the chamber? My S-n-L has used Lapua brass plus fire formed 7.62X39 brass and from what he says his rifle is very accurate. I'm about 400 miles away and have only got to shoot his LW 6.5 once and if IIRC it has a SS 22" barrel. After shooting his 6.5 G I got the bug and have since bought my own rifle but have not had any feeding problems with my 16" 6.5 Grendel.

Vas,

Sorry to hear about your son's reloading problems. That is one of the reasons that I do not reload. I expect ammo manufacturers to make high quality ammo, that a precision rifle can be built around. The idea presents the maximum opportunity for folks to shoot factory loaded ammo with a maximum precision.

Phil

[stibuzz]

I just bought a .264 lbc barrel from Black Hole Weaponry and am waiting for it to ship out to me. Do you think that will have similar neck dimensions as the LW? My upper for the rifle build doesn't have the M4 feed ramps either so I am now wondering if it will have similar feed issues as Vascar2's son-in-law.

[ss355]

I just bought a .264 lbc barrel from Black Hole Weaponry ...
Do you think that will have similar neck dimensions as the LW? My upper for the rifle build doesn't have the M4 feed ramps ...

FWIW, my Mega upper doesn't have M4 feed ramps nor does the Les Baer .264 barrel attached to it, and it has eaten every one of the four different factory loads I've tried so far: AA 123 Scenar, BH 123 Sierra MK, BH 123 Amax, Hornady 123 Amax. Have not tried the Nosler 120.

[stibuzz]

FWIW, my Mega upper doesn't have M4 feed ramps nor does the Les Baer .264 barrel attached to it, and it has eaten every one of the four different factory loads I've tried so far: AA 123 Scenar, BH 123 Sierra MK, BH 123 Amax, Hornady 123 Amax. Have not tried the Nosler 120.

I have the mega upper as well so that is great to hear. I already bought some ammo for it and plan on reloading, but I am going to test out the hornady 123 a-max, AA 123 lapua scenar, and the wolf 120 mpt.

Does your barrel have a 1x9 twist?

[VASCAR2]

I thought my Son in Law could have seated the 120 grain Nosler Bullets deeper and they would probably have fed. I don't know if he tried different depths or figured he'd just give up on trying to make them work in his rifle since he already had bullets his rifle would shoot? I know I had to seat 95 grain V-Max deeper to keep them from getting stuck in the chamber. I've loaded some of the 120 Nosler BT but haven't shot very many yet but so far I've had no functioning problems in my rifle.