New lone wolf G20-.40 barrel, no bueno

[tortuga]

So I sat down to chamber-check a big batch of rounds that I have been using in my CZ pistols, and after 300 without issue I ran the first one into the new Lone Wolf .40 S&W conversion for the Glock 20 it was no go. Could not seat with thumb pressure and need to pry out. Well, crap, I thought, maybe it is too long. Verified that the Load is a 200g TC hard lead at 1.125, works pretty well in every other .40 I have tried.

After a few more I started checking them backwards to see how far up the bulge was, and they slipped in fine. That seemed odd as I assumed they were binding up at the base. Closer inspection showed that one of the lands has a big ol' tool mark that is shaving lead off the bullet right up to the case, highlighted with the red arrow: best pic I could get with my iPhone.

I marked the case, rotated it and did it again just to verify. Case shown here - these two grooves are the only sign of contact on the bullet.

I picked this barrel up from a retail store so I could inspect it, as I had read a lot of stories similar to this one on line. Guess I didn't inspect it well enough. Needless to say this is going back. Very dissapointed, going with KKM next time if I can find one.

[ParaGunner]

KKM should fix it and they could throat your chamber so you can load a longer oal. 1.12oal with a 200grn bullet is seating the bullet pretty deep. What kind of load are you running if you don't mind me asking?

Edited May 1, 2013 by ParaGunner

[dover0020]

KKM should fix it and they could throat your chamber so you can load a longer oal. 1.12oal with a 200grn bullet is seating the bullet pretty deep. What kind of load are you running if you don't mind me asking?

I would be difficult to load much longer in a Glock because of the magazines.

[Steven420]

Not in a G20..

[Steve RA]

I doubt if KKM would be jumping through hoops to fix a Lone Wolf barrel.

[ParaGunner]

Oops ,forgot it was a lone wolf.LW should fix it and see if they'll throat the chamber to take longer ammo. If your shooting a G20 then you should be able to load longer oal being a large frame glock.

Edited May 1, 2013 by ParaGunner

[Atlgentlegiant]

I agree with ParaGunner. Right now you are better off getting LW to fix the barrel rather than trying to find (or wait for backorder) on a KKM barrel. Call LW and when they correct the problem include a dummy round (you should be able to load to 1.170 or so) and I am sure LW will ream the barrel out to fit the ammo.

[tortuga]

Thanks for the replies. I might go the longer throat route, but would like to avoid it as I have several .40 cal pistols and would prefer to have all similar ammo work in everything with the same chamber. I have neck-sized ammo for different .223 rifles and have loaded "rifle/TC" only pistol rounds but also realize how easy it is to make a mistake.

I guess this post might have been premature as I had not approached LWD first but I was a little frustrated. IMHO this thing should not have gone past QC.

[diablodawg]

I had the same problem with my G24 barrel- send it to them with a couple dummy rounds and they will ream to fit- works great now.

[uod]

Is this common for LW barrels? I was thinking about getting one to replace my factory barrel, but I seem to keep hearing about issues with LW. Would KKM or some other barrel be a better choice?

[msp1jpp]

I had a similar situation and LW fixed it promptly.