[TNFrank]

LWD G30 Drop In barrel, First Impressions.(Update)

Got the LWD drop in barrel for my G30 today. Did a little measuring before I installed it. Barrel dia. was the same as Glock, Barrel width at the chamber area, same as Glock, chamber size, same as Glock. Only difference was the lock up area was a few thousands longer so you'll get better lock up.
Ran 10 rounds of Federal FMJ though it, hit point of aim at 7 yards, glad I didn't touch my sights when the factory barrel was hitting about an inch left at that range. Had a couple fliers, totally my fault. This is only the second set of 10 rounds that I've put through the gun, still getting use to it. All in all I think LWD barrels are a great "bang for the buck", now I can shoot all the 230gr Cast I want without worry about messing anything up.

 

[dwcfastrice]

Looks great. ON the list for purchase is a replacement .40 barrel for my G23. Love the 40/9 barrel and would love the option to shoot reloads/cast.

D

 

[TNFrank]

I wish LWD would get on the ball and make up a 400 Corbon conversion barrel for the G30. They have them for the G21 but I don't think the longer barrel would work in my G30.
http://www.lonewolfdist.com/Detail.aspx?PROD=1476&CAT=241

 

[TNFrank]

Ok, quick update. I load my Lee 230gr Truncated Cone bullets at 1.210" OAL, tried to chamber one today in the LWD barrel and sure enough, same problem everyone else runs into, not enough lead in the rifling to allow the bullet to chamber. Bullet hits the rifling and won't fully chamber, locks the gun up tight. Had to press the front of the slide against my work bench to get the round out of the chamber.
I've adjusted my seating die to load to an OAL of 1.160"(that's a full .050" shorter, WOW.) and they'll chamber fine. Of course I've no idea what that's going to do to my pressure. I'm just glad that I'm way under spec. with my load, 5.8grs of Unique, max is 6.6grs so even that much shorter pressure should still be ok but man, .050" off of my OAL and I've got 600 rounds loaded up that I'll have to reseat all the bullets in. Guess I've got my work cut out for me today.
I'm thinking that if I'd run a SWC and seat them so the neck of the case is flush with the bullet so that just the taper part of the nose is sticking out(a pic would be worth a million words right now but hopefully ya'll understand what I'm saying) then they'd probably chamber ok as well but with a Truncated Cone I've got to seat them to where the cone part of the bullet starts in order to get them to chamber. I did have them so just a bit of the .452" part of the bullet was sticking out of the case but that's gone bye bye with the LWD barrel.
Oh well, easy fix, just a heads up for anyone who gets one of these barrels and handloads, you'll need to load to a shorter OAL to get your loads to work properly.

 

[TNFrank]

Howdy LWD. Nope, the chamber is just fine. I compared it to my factory Glock barrel and it's the same I.D. and depth so there's no problem there. It's just the way the rifling comes back so close to the chamber that stops the round from headspacing fully. Like I said, a tweak to the OAL and the "problem" goes away or also like I said, a different style of bullet like a SWC would make it a non-issue too.
I'll probably send off and get a Lee 200gr SWC mold when funds allow. That'll take care of things and I can save a bit of lead per load too.
Glad to see you're on the forum, done business with ya' for quite a few years off and on and will continue to do so in the future. Talk to ya' later.

 

[TNFrank]

Actually did some more checking and I can get them to chamber at 1.180" which is still shorter then "normal" but better then 1.160". Either way think I'll get a 200gr SWC mold to use from here on out.

 

[TNFrank]

Update to the update. I have a box of Hornady 230gr TAP +P that I use for home defense. It's a Truncated Cone HP round. I tried to chamber one and it was a "no go", it ran into the rifling and would stick in the chamber, soooooo I just gave up, got out the Dremel with the little round felt discs and some rouge and took a few thousands off of the rifling just ahead of the chamber to open the throat of the barrel. Solved the problem, don't know why LWD can't open up the throat on their barrels a bit more from the factory, seems like it'd be simple enough fix and would solve 99% of the "issues" that folks have with these barrels.
They really are great barrels but just need a bit more throat so they'll chamber rounds better.

 

[jimmyalbrecht]

Update to the update. I have a box of Hornady 230gr TAP +P that I use for home defense. It's a Truncated Cone HP round. I tried to chamber one and it was a "no go", it ran into the rifling and would stick in the chamber, soooooo I just gave up, got out the Dremel with the little round felt discs and some rouge and took a few thousands off of the rifling just ahead of the chamber to open the throat of the barrel. Solved the problem, don't know why LWD can't open up the throat on their barrels a bit more from the factory, seems like it'd be simple enough fix and would solve 99% of the "issues" that folks have with these barrels.
They really are great barrels but just need a bit more throat so they'll chamber rounds better.

They need to hire you haha!

 

[TNFrank]

They need to hire you haha!

Someone needs too, that way I'd have a job after being unemployed for 2.5 years and all those years of Machinist experience wouldn't go to waste,LOL.
I've always been good at tweaking stuff to make it work, either guns or cars/trucks.

 

[TNFrank]

Hate to bring up an old thread but I figure it'd be better then starting a new one. Anyway, as an update to my last update, I just still wasn't feeling 100% good about my LWD G30 barrel so I got out the Dremel again and opened it up a bit more just a head of the chamber. Now it'll allow my TC home cast .452" bullets loaded to 1.210" OAL to actually chamber properly without tying up. I think I now feel a bit happier with this barrel. Still need to run a few rounds through it to see how it's going to shoot now and I've got 500 rounds of shortened handloads that I'll need to shoot up so I can reload them to "normal" length. Anyway, just thought I'd pass this on to let folks know that you CAN fix these barrels so they'll actually work properly with lead bullets without having to send it in to be tweaked by LWD.

 

[Blades]

Does tweaking it affect the warranty?

 

[TNFrank]

Does tweaking it affect the warranty?

Probably but IMHO what good is the warranty if I can't shoot my handloads out of it? I just wish LWD would do a proper job of throating their barrels so I wouldn't have to.