[Dlid]

I bought into the generally positive reviews of Lone Wolf Barrels for Glocks, but my experience with two recent purchases of their barrels makes we wish that I had ordered from KKM or another manufacturer. As my Pappy used to say, "If it seems too good to be true, it probably ain't."

Barrel number one - LWD standard length .45 ACP for G21. The barrel has a chamber that is ~ .003" tighter than Glock Gen 4 barrel and the case head is fully supported (nothing exposed forward of the extractor groove). High end .45 Super loads cause no excessive expansion and there are no "smileys." BUT, the chamber appears to be too short. Reloads that are within SAAMI specs and chamber in a check gauge, Glock OEM barrel and two Springfield barrels will not chamber in the Lone Wolf .45 ACP barrel. I know that I can send it in and have it reamed by Lone Wolf, but after initial purchase ($115 to have blind marked), shipping, and $30 reaming charge and more shipping, I would have been much better off to have went with KKM (or other manufacturer) in the first place.

Barrel number two - LWD 5.2" threaded 10mm for G20. The barrel has a chamber that is ~.003" tighter than Glock manufacture, but leaves 0.097" of case forward of the extractor groove exposed and unsupported. This is exactly the amount of unsupported case in the Glock Gen 4 OEM barrel. When fired with high end 10mm loads, both the Glock OEM and the LWD barrels generate lots of smileys and even bulges. I emailed Lone Wolf and their reply was, "Customer Ticket Solved - The measurements that you have are all we can offer in terms of cartridge support." So, why buy a LWD barrel when the specs (at least as far as case support goes) are no better than OEM? Note that on their website LWD touts their barrels as offering more cartridge support than OEM. (As another point of interest, I have a Glock OEM Gen 3 .40 S&W barrel and it leaves only 0.040" of unsupported case forward of the extractor groove.)

Bottom line, I have spent around $245 on LWD barrels and will probably have to spend another $375 to get barrels (from another manufacturer) that will do what I need. Your mileage may vary, some seem quite happy with their LWD barrels, I am not.

 

[Uncle Don]

I'm lucky - have a G34 LW bbl that has worked well for years with handloads as well as factory. I have a 40-9 conversion bbl for the G31 as well as a G31 so I can shoot lead. All work as expected.

However, when it came to buying a bbl for my G41, I found that the KKM was only about $17 more shipped. Therefore, I went that direction and based on your post, am glad I did. It works flawlessly with my lead 45 loads. Additionally, based on like posts, I'll probably not press my luck with any more LW bbls. Thanks for posting and I'm sorry it's not working out for you. They will fix it, but charge to do it.

 

[janice6]

Son has two, I have two, no problems.

 

[harold63]

Case support is why I've shyed away from Glock 10mm pistols. There are a few posts, here, that talk about LW and OEM 10mm barrels having about the same support. I'll pass and stick with .357 Sig conversion. My LW barrel is great in my G35 and the threaded G41 barrel I received not too long ago works perfect. I'm now looking at a LW G21 barrel for .45 Super.

 

[Bruce M]

In other words you are going to get reamed to get the barrel reamed?


Sorry. I would have hated myself for the rest of the day if I hadn't.

 

[Mr.Black]

Your post is a bit wordy OP.

I have 5 LWD barrels and they all have performed flawlessly out of the box with zero tweaking.

I'll also say that I don't really care about more chamber support or tighter tolerances, I just want a gun that runs like a sewing machine and will gobble up tons of lead.

I will add, any problems I ever had with LWD barrels and not going into battery were not the barrels fault. It was me running my COALs too long.

 

[IowaLefty]

I have 4 KKM barrels for 4 different Glocks without a single issue. My buddy runs nothing but LW and owns like 10 of them and never had any issues either.

 

[ghost1958]

I have 2 Lone Wolf barrels. A 40-9 conversion for my g23. This one has been perfect.

The second is a g32 barrel, 357 Sig. for the same g23. This one didn't feed cleanly. It gouged the neck and the angle of the cases. I contacted Lone Wolf. I sent them a couple of pictures and a description of the issue. A couple of emails later they agreed it needed to be repaired. I shipped it off. 2 weeks later it was back in my hands. Works great now. I'm very happy with their products and their service!

 

[Dlid]

In other words you are going to get reamed to get the barrel reamed?


Sorry. I would have hated myself for the rest of the day if I hadn't.

LOL - Yes reamed then reamed!

 

[Dlid]

I am glad that many of you have had good luck with Lone Wolf barrels. I have not. In the case of my 10mm barrel, since the poor cartridge support is within their specs, it is not considered defective. It also cannot be returned because it has been fired. How else would I have determined that it generated smiley's like crazy, just like the OEM Glock barrel?

 

[Bapple]

I have gone with Bar Sto barrels for my aftermarket needs. Yes, you will pay more for them, no doubt. IMO, you get what you pay for and my longslide 10mm barrel and longslide .40 barrel have been flawless and both have much better chamber support than the OEM barrels. YMMV

 

[SJ 40]

I am glad that many of you have had good luck with Lone Wolf barrels. I have not. In the case of my 10mm barrel, since the poor cartridge support is within their specs, it is not considered defective. It also cannot be returned because it has been fired. How else would I have determined that it generated smiley's like crazy, just like the OEM Glock barrel?

Old thread,bit long 26 pages but known problem. SJ 40

http://www.glocktalk.com/threads/psa-lone-wolf-barrels.1414663/

 

[Justin1911]

Lone wolf states on their site under the description of each barrel that their barrels have tighter chamber tolerances than oem. Should be no surprise. They generally perform well, but Ive had one 17 barrel that hates 147s. With 5 inch groups at 20 yards, switch over to 115 it's 2 inches.

 

[kimberguy2004]

I had a G17 Alpha Wolf(Lone Wolf) barrel that shot three inches higher than the OEM barrel at 15 yards using the same ammo. Not acceptable to me. Sent it back to LW. They sent it back to me saying they recrowned it and test fired a mag through it. Before I got it back, I had a KKM barrel in the gun and the LW barrel went away on flea bay. I don't have the patience to monk around with equipment that doesn't work right. I realize Glock isn't a Bullseye pistol, but any of them should shoot a 2" group with any barrel at 15 yards.

 

[Dlid]

Lone wolf states on their site under the description of each barrel that their barrels have tighter chamber tolerances than oem. Should be no surprise. They generally perform well, but Ive had one 17 barrel that hates 147s. With 5 inch groups at 20 yards, switch over to 115 it's 2 inches.

I don't have a problem with their chambers being tighter in diameter than OEM - that is probably a good thing. I do have issues with their chambers being too short which causes some bullets to engage the rifling too early and prevent the round from chambering. These are not super heavy/long bullets and they chamber fine in check gauges and in other manufacturer's barrels.

 

[Timothy Courtney]

if you reload, just seat the bullet deeper. should be more accurate than the oem bbl which has a lot jump to the lands.

 

[Justin1911]

How do you accurately measure the length of a chamber ?

 

[Timothy Courtney]

i just seat the bullet long, drop it into the chamber with the barrel removed, and see where the case base is in relationship to the barrel shroud. then back to the press and seat a few thousands deeper and remeasure until you are even with the shroud. the cartridge oal is your base measurement. then adjust your die for the oal you want. must be done with each style of bullet however.

 

[screwedby]

Grumpy old man advice: Read less, shoot more.

screwedbygoogle
original username modified by google

 

[MNBud]

This was exactly why I returned a Lone Wolf barrel, I bought one to be able to shoot lead from my Glock 34 but I wasn't willing to change my oal for one barrel. The length I was using has worked in 6 other 9M.M. guns.

I don't have a problem with their chambers being tighter in diameter than OEM - that is probably a good thing. I do have issues with their chambers being too short which causes some bullets to engage the rifling too early and prevent the round from chambering. These are not super heavy/long bullets and they chamber fine in check gauges and in other manufacturer's barrels.