AIR RIFLE REVIEW: UNIVERSAL MAGIC

Created on 29th May 2009

DAVE FROGGETT discovers an alloy-stock air rifle at a rather attractive price

CARL WALTHER Sportwaffen GmbH has long been associated with high-end air rifles. Many of us that are a bit too long in the tooth started the pneumatic journey with a Walther LGR - one of the finest air rifles ever made and the rifle that started the pneumatic revolution in 10m shooting.

Walther has recently joined forces with another target shooting giant, Hammerli, and the collective brains of both companies have come up with the Walther LG30 Universal match air rifle.

The rifle is aimed mainly at club shooters and juniors and sets out to offer top-end style at a reasonable price. To achieve this, Walther has taken some of the Hammerli features and combined them with its own 300-bar system to produce a new rifle.

Stock

Instead of opting for the simple wooden stock on a current action Walther has produced a new aluminium ambidextrous stock and action, which uses some current parts.

The bottom of the action and barrel shroud are made from an aluminium extrusion and given a natural satin finish. The barrel shroud is not round as in most rifles. It has an integral dovetail on the top and a ‘finned' bottom that gives rigidity while allowing removal of the cylinder. This gives the LG30 a distinctive look.

The top of the action and rear of the stock are a separate section in a contrasting black anodised finish. Silver lettering completes the stylish appearance of the gun.

The ambidextrous, plastic pistol-grip can be rotated to fit the individual by loosening a bolt, which is accessed from underneath the grip. The cheekpiece (also plastic) can be moved up, down, left and right and even skewed - if you like that sort of thing. The adjustments are independent and easy to get at. The cheekpiece itself has a very definite edge, which helps with cheek placement and pressure.

The stock is adjustable for length via one 4mm hex key and the curved rubber butt-plate can be moved vertically and rotated. I'm not exactly a small guy and I got the stock to fit fairly well thanks to the ample 5cm of length adjustment.

The adjustable plastic forend runs in an 11mm T-slot guide in the forend; a sling swivel holder can be attached for three-position shooting. Also eight 35g weights (not supplied) can be added to the forend to alter the balance. The all-up weight of the rifle is only 7.5lb, which makes it light enough for just about anyone.

Loading

Loading is accomplished by pulling back a plastic side lever, which cocks the action and at the same time withdraws a ‘probe-type' loading arrangement common to Walther and Hammerli rifles. A pellet is dropped onto the groove and pushed forward into the barrel. Walther says that this produces more consistent loading and less pellet damage.

I guess it's a trade-off really. For me, I like to be able to check I've loaded it just by looking at the breech - others will prefer the more mechanical loading system.

Ambidextrous

For left-handers the change over is relatively easy. The cheek piece can be switched over and the loading lever can be repositioned on the left-hand side, allowing the LG30 to be used as a full-blown left-hand rifle. The pistol grip is easily pivoted into a comfortable position using the normal adjustments.

Trigger

The trigger blade is cylindrical. A rubber washer is provided that can be positioned on the blade to improve trigger-finger placement.

The blade can be moved fore and aft in the guard and pivoted to the side. The mechanism can be adjusted for first-stage length, second-stage weight, trigger stop and sear engagement. For the bold, it can also be set up for single-stage operation.

The factory setting is quite crisp and breaks at about 120g. If you are familiar with the make, it feels much like the Hammerli trigger.

Sights

The foresight is the 18mm Walther tunnel that will accept plastic or metal inserts. Any of the standard Walther-fit stuff - such as sight raising blocks - can be used on the LG30. The foresight mounts on the barrel shroud via a dovetail section that runs the whole length of the barrel. This gives maximum flexibility of sight radius.

The rearsight is a bit of a departure and one area where Walther has saved money. The sight supplied with the rifle is not Walther but Gamo - like the one supplied with numerous other makes of airgun.

The Gamo sights are fairly well made and quite robust. However, two things about them send me insane. One is the adjustments go the wrong way! My software is programmed for right and up is anticlockwise, so when my auto-pilot is left to its own devices the sights end up being turned in the wrong direction. The other is that standard screw-in rearsight accessories, like iris, filters etc, don't quite fit. Probably the 9.5x1mm thread is not popular in Spain.

Those two niggles aside, the Gamo rearsight does the job and if you're going to use it as is, it will give good service. The LG30 has a sight radius of around 840mm and so no compromises there in comparison with current mainstream rifles.

Charging

The LG30 is charged in the usual way for 10m guns by removing the cylinder and it connecting to a diver's bottle. The rifle is basically a 300-bar system but Walther recognises that 232-bar bottles are the norm in many cases and so supply two adapters - one for 200-bar bottles and another for 300-bar. This allows any charging system to be used. With the steel cylinder charged to 200-bar you can get around 250 shots; a 300-bar charge will give you a whopping 500 shots to go before you have to visit the bottle again. The fill level is easily checked via the cylinder end gauge but as with all detachable cylinders, please don't use this for filling - use a gauge on the main bottle. The cylinder gauges don't react to the pressure changes quickly enough and if the cylinder ever came off the adapter due to damage...well, it doesn't bear thinking about.

Interestingly, if you find the LG30 a bit heavy (and at 7.5lb I doubt it), you can reduce the weight by using an aluminium cylinder, which can be bought separately. This reduces weight by about 400g. This is more likely to be used to influence the balance of the gun.

Shooting

The rifle was fired from a machine rest at 10m with a variety of pellets and the best results are shown in the table (above).

The LG30 stock was very easy to set up and shoot. Loosening the butt-plate and dropping it to the maximum used one 4mm hex key provided with the rifle. The same key loosens the adjustment for the stock length. These sorted, out comes the key again and the cheekpiece is moved to height and adjusted laterally - job done.

When shooting the action feels fast and there is little vibration or muzzle flip after the shot, despite the lack of an absorber. This is quite surprising considering the gun is very light in its standard form and has less mass to dampen these effects. I can only assume that the regulator set-up is quite efficient and economical with the air. This fact is born out by the number of shots you get per charge, as well as the consistency - a spread of about 12fps was the norm for 10-shot strings. The velocity was around 550fps with H&N Finale match, which is sensible for a rifle without an absorber - it uses less air per shot and further reduces the ‘rocket effect' from extra air released at the muzzle.

The cocking effort is very low and this could result in an overzealous operator bending the slim plastic lever. People who tried it couldn't believe it was cocked and tended to give it another pull "just to be sure" - I think this will eventually break it. If it were to be used at a club then initial supervision would need to take this into account.

Conclusions

Overall the Walther LG30 is a good effort from the combination of Walther and Hammerli technology. People who want the aluminium-stock look and features without the hefty price tag will go for it. Although it may be aimed at cadets and juniors, adults wanting a light rifle won't be disappointed as it can be made long enough, and clubs may want to consider it for all-round use. It's unsuitable for 3P sporter class air rifle due to the adjustable stock, but it has the ability to be used for position shooting in the higher category.

Advertisements suggest that discounts are available for quantity - a nice touch, considering the target market.

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