First day out with M14 built with Lothar Walther heavy barrel

[tonyben]

I did a 20-round break in today and fired two 5-shot groups at 100 yards with some 175 grain FGMM. I was going to stop after the first sub-MOA group (0.810"/0.773 MOA) but I just had to try again and produced a sub 1/2 MOA (0.522"/0.498 MOA) group!

I had no failures at all. I used a Bassett low mount and my Leupold MK4 ER/T 4.5-14x50 scope. I am impressed!

I'll call that a very successful first range day! Round count=30.

Tony.

 

[Bamban]

Good job, Tony. Nice groups for a gas gun.

 

[D-4297]

Good start . Looks like it will get better . Some of those old "Gas Guns" can shoot pretty tight . Played with a old XM-21 a long time ago , so I know what they're capable of .

 

[tonyben]

After reviewing my records, this is officially the smallest group I've ever shot with an M14-type rifle that I've personally built. My previous record was 0.574 MOA at 200 yards with my M25 in the same chassis with the same scope with a Criterion 5R SS barrel.

I have only shot one group smaller with someone else's LRB M25/JAE-100 with a heavy Kreiger barrel. That group was 0.433" at 100 yards.

Hat's off to Lothar-Walther! Now I need to do some serious hand-loading to see what she really likes. I haven't even optimized the tuning on the JAE chassis.

Tony.

 

[ebb]

nice

 

[Capt. Oblivious]

We use allot of LW barrels over here and they shoot just as good as the big names.

Nice looking rifle you have there!

 

[tonyben]

Where is “over here?”

Tony.

 

[dsbw]

Where do you get your Lothar’s from in the US?

 

[tonyben]

Where do you get your Lothar’s from in the US?

They only recently started selling M14 barrels in the US.
https://www.lothar-walther.com/drop-in-gun-barrels/rifle-barrels/m1a-rifle-barrels/

They sent me this barrel as a demo barrel to test and post my results. I sold a barreled action to build a new rifle around this barrel. It's a rear-lugged LRB and will eventually be a double-lugged bedded into a McMillan.

Tony.

 

[Capt. Oblivious]

Where is “over here?”

Tony.

South Africa

 

[D.Stone]

I know a guy that knows how to build some pretty accurate M1As.

I don't even think this one has a lug. But it's got a lot of work done to it.

 

[tonyben]

Old-school Marine Corps DMR. Nice looking rifle!