Inch pattern L1A1 barrels

[S-A-M3]

I need a new barrel for my Lithgow L1A1, I believe someone[company] in the US has new replacement chromed Lithgow barrels, does anyone know who this is?
Stuart.

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Brian Dick]

I'll see if I can find out today for you since I'm working on a few SLR's and have to scrounge some replacement parts too.

[Brian Dick]

I talked to Rav at Dealer's Warehouse in California today and he told me that the supply of original Lithgow L1A1 chrome barrels has dried up long ago. It makes sense since they were imported in the late 1980's if memory serves. Surplus military barrels have been banned from import to the USA since 2005. There was someone making new non-chrome replacements with original gas blocks but he has since disappeared too unless someone else here can elaborate. You might try posting on FAL Files too that you're on the hunt.

[S-A-M3]

Thanks for looking Brian.
regards Stuart.

[enbloc8]

Original inch barrels dried up long ago. They still pop up once in a while, but bring big bucks.

There were two runs of US-made inch barrels that I'm aware of, SAF Lithgow (the late Pat Jones' operation) and a joint venture that contracted a run of barrels from DEZ Arms. I only have personal experience with DEZ barrels, but they are superb. RDO Specialties may still have some DEZ barrels with gas blocks in stock.

[David TS]

My straight pull L1A1 was put together by LuxDefTec (Luxembourg Defence Techniques), and as part of the work necessary to get them into the UK they had a batch of new match grade barrels made by Lothar Walther, and they made a great job of them. They may be worth a try.

Lothar Walther

[Bruce_in_Oz]

The L1A1 barrel is not terribly difficult to make up from a blank.

Yes, a bit, well, a lot, more fiddly than your basic bolt-action sporter, but not totally horrendous.

Back in "The Good Old Days", serious (and slightly sneaky) Australian shooters would get a quality blank, like a Schultz and Larsen or Mc Millan, and get it profiled and threaded to suit. Gas blocks were usually fitted AFTER the barrel had been wound into the receiver and the chamber "final-cut". ( This saved a lot of messing around and changing locking shoulders). The keyway for the flash hider retaining washer was also milled after final fitting, ditto the gas port. "Pre-loved" Omark rifle barrels, especially the "Black Mountain" variety were popular as well, especially with the "less well-heeled". I know of two L1A1s that were built in .243 Win: These needed a MUCH smaller gas port in the barrel due to the much higher bore pressure at the port. You could go nuts and build one in 260 Rem or 7mm-08 if you wanted.

Another benefit of such custom re-barreling was that you could leave the rear of the barrel (the part under the handguard) fairly "beefy" and still JUST get the furniture on. This definitely improved the shooting and certainly moved the balance a bit further forward.

The absence of bore and chamber chroming was of no real account, as most of these rifles were only ever fired at nice targets in fine weather, and with the best ammo the shooter could afford to buy or assemble. (We are not talking about "official" military shooting here.

With such a barrel, with the fit of the receiver components "tweaked", and Hythe" sights fitted, these rifles were seriously accurate on the range, or in the field. Add one of the original Hensholdt scopes or similarly mounted commercial glass and they were real screamers.

[S-A-M3]

Hi Bruce,
You have just described what my Plan B is going to be!!!
Stuart.

[enbloc8]

The L1A1 barrel is not terribly difficult to make up from a blank.

Yes, a bit, well, a lot, more fiddly than your basic bolt-action sporter, but not totally horrendous.

Back in "The Good Old Days", serious (and slightly sneaky) Australian shooters would get a quality blank, like a Schultz and Larsen or Mc Millan, and get it profiled and threaded to suit. Gas blocks were usually fitted AFTER the barrel had been wound into the receiver and the chamber "final-cut". ( This saved a lot of messing around and changing locking shoulders). The keyway for the flash hider retaining washer was also milled after final fitting, ditto the gas port. "Pre-loved" Omark rifle barrels, especially the "Black Mountain" variety were popular as well, especially with the "less well-heeled". I know of two L1A1s that were built in .243 Win: These needed a MUCH smaller gas port in the barrel due to the much higher bore pressure at the port. You could go nuts and build one in 260 Rem or 7mm-08 if you wanted.

Another benefit of such custom re-barreling was that you could leave the rear of the barrel (the part under the handguard) fairly "beefy" and still JUST get the furniture on. This definitely improved the shooting and certainly moved the balance a bit further forward.

The absence of bore and chamber chroming was of no real account, as most of these rifles were only ever fired at nice targets in fine weather, and with the best ammo the shooter could afford to buy or assemble. (We are not talking about "official" military shooting here.

With such a barrel, with the fit of the receiver components "tweaked", and Hythe" sights fitted, these rifles were seriously accurate on the range, or in the field. Add one of the original Hensholdt scopes or similarly mounted commercial glass and they were real screamers.

Nice!! What kind of scope mounts were available for match L1A1s? I imagine we're not talking SUIT mounts....

[AK-103 Dude]

I am looking in to building my own L1A1. I have seen a few us made barrels at apex gun parts as well as a few other places. My question is this. Would the apex inch cut barrel that has metric threads work on an inch receiver from coonan? I want to use a us barrel as a 922r compliance part. Any thoughts would be appreciated.