Lone Wolf 9mm range report

[kwest10]

got my g23 9mm lone wolf barrel after 2 months of backorder finally!
tested with WWB and AE 115. I know they claim a 1% FTE, FTF with WWB but tried it anyway with an uncleaned glock and got about every 1-2 per mag would FTE or the empty would stovepipe. Even tried the 9mm out of the 40 mags and you could stick 13 9mm rounds into the 40 mags. It was just as reliable as the 9mm mag.
the jamming is a bit more than I expected and frankly NOT good if I wanted to shoot a match with this thing. Could it be the recoil spring needs the 9mm one? I thought the G19/23 recoil springs were the same? Or does it just need to be "broken in"?
the accuracy on the barrel is GREAT though. Slow firing at 7 yards I could hit all within an area of the size of a golf ball almost.
One thing that is not good about it now too is that it seems to eject the shells STRAIGHT back and I don't know how many times hot brass hit my forehead, top of head, glasses (one swished right between my glasses and eyes) and down my shirt. I'm thinking changing the extractor to 9mm will fix that?
Anyway, will try again with a glean Glock and different ammo. Overall not a bad choice for a benjamin.

[Gryff]

I had heard that you need to change out your extractor if you are changing out the caliber. The extractors for G19 vs. G23 are not the same, if I heard correctly.

[Pugster]

I have the LWD conversion for my G23, this is what I changed:

- Only used G19/G17 mags
- Switched out for 9mm Extractor
- Switched out for 9mm Ejector
- Switched out for 9mm Spring Loaded Bearing

I have ran 500 rounds through my G23 with no issues at all.

[Gryff]

JR at Lone Wolf was having problems registering with CalGuns, so I am posting this on his behalf.

---------------

About 1% of our conversion barrels are affected by the poor performance
of Winchester White Box (WWB) 115 grain ammunition. This rare failure is
too low a percentage to make an issue, however it is one we are well
aware of. The fix to resolve this issue is quite simple.

1 Clean and lube your slide and barrel.

2 Shoot 1 mag to 1 box of good quality +P or +P+ ammunition through
the barrel.

3 Go back to the WWB 115 gr ammunition. If it runs... great! If you
experience more failures you will have a couple choices to make.

Fix A Reduce the recoil spring weight to 11 to 13 lbs. Cost is
about $25 for stainless steel guide rod and reduced power spring.

Fix B Shoot 124 gr or a better quality 115 gr ammunition
exclusively. WWB 115 gr ammunition is no longer a valid option.


What causes this problem? Several issues come into play.

1 The 40 slide and (40 conversion) barrel is thicker than any
standard 9mm slide and barrel. This extra thickness equates to more
weight. The combined extra weight taps the energy of the "weak" WWB
ammunition to its complete demise. It simply lacks in power and fails to
reliably eject the spent round.

2 Every once in awhile a Failure To Feed/Failure To Eject (FTF/FTE)
is caused by a fit issue. We resolve fit issues by pumping +P or +P+
ammunition through the gun. This hot ammunition provides extra pressure
and the pressure will positively align any and all components. Once they
are all aligned there is no longer a fit issue. The FTF/FTE is usually
resolved.

FYI: WWB 115 gr ammunition is the weakest sub standard ammunition you
can purchase. This ammo is also known to produce failures in all
standard Glock 9mm pistols.

- JR

[kwest10]

already saw that on LW sight prior to purchase. I just wanted to test the worst case performance of the barrel...bad ammo and dirty gun. I'll follow the instructions and follow up. Overall tho...LW customer service and quality of product was/is excellent. I was harassing JR on a weekly basis for the barrel and he always got back to me on the ETA of the barrels.

[Greg-Dawg]

I got the same results with WWB and Remington UMCs. I'll have to try a different brand now.

I got the one for my G35:


Personally, I wouldn't recommend it. There's a reason why Glocks like stock.

I'm selling mine, if anyone is interested.

[trinydex]

would these problems be found in a g17 running an extended lone wolf barrel?

[Wcoldnav]

would these problems be found in a g17 running an extended lone wolf barrel?

it shouldn't..... they are talking about conversion barrels to shoot 9mm in their .40 glocks. For a straight barrel swap the same issues should not be an issue.

[railroader]

I have a lone wolf barrel in my g17 and it works perfectly. My buddy runs the conversion barrel in his glock 35 and it runs great. He hasn't changed anything but the barrel. Mark

[DIG]

Not sure if the info helps or not but I have a Federal 9mm conversion barrel in my G23. Didn't change out the extractor, etc... I use G17/19 mags when using 9mm ammo and haven't had any F2F or F2E in about ~600rds. Had ~300+ rounds on the gun before I threw on the conversion though.
Can't say I've shot any WWB through it.

If I had to guess, it might be the tolerances on the aftermarket barrel.

-

[Mr. Joshua]

Or....or....you could've bought a Storm Lake conversion barrel, a 9mm ejector and have no problems.

[trinydex]

would an extended barrel (g35) in a g17 need a different spring?

[ponderosa]

...FYI: WWB 115 gr ammunition is the weakest sub standard ammunition you
can purchase. This ammo is also known to produce failures in all
standard Glock 9mm pistols.- JR

ummm, never had an issue w/ WWB in my 'standard' G17. never...

[Lapietra]

I have storm lake conversion barrels in .40 and 9mm for my G32 and have had no problems at all. I use G19 mags, but also have loaded up .40 and .357 sig mags with 9mm and the gun worked flawlessly. I have a LWD 9mm conversion barrel on order as I wanted a 9mm barrel in black oxide. I will test the two different 9mm conversion barrels head to head (storm lake vs. LWD) and report back once I receive the LWD barrel.

Thanks to JR for responding with fixes to 115gr issue.

BTW I have only fired 115 gr WWB ammo out of the Storm Lake 9mm conversion barrel and MI Wall Corp 180gr factory reloads out of the .40 conversion barrel. Again without issue. No other modifications to my G32 were done. e.g. replaced the extractor or guide rod spring.

[nick]

I bought a LoneWolf conversion barrel for my G35. Had all the same issues with WWB 115gr, UMC 115gr, Fiocchi 124gr, a few self-defense rounds (some of which are +P, and are far from being "substandard ammo"). Same thing all the time, it was either failure of feed, or stovepiping.

I found a solution though - buying a Glock 34 solved the problem.

And by the way, I haven't had any issues with WWB 115gr in ANY of my 9mm Glocks (34, 17, 26). For that matter, I haven't had them jam on any ammo I've tried.