Walther Dominator.

[zooma]

Good to hear from you bob, yes shooting 25 yards inside benchrest, mixture of .22LR and airgun. Club championship last year won with airrifle for the first time FTP 900 . Another club member shooting really well using 500hft. Do you fancy having a go ?, Regards mark.

It would be nice to have a shoot with you sometime over 25 yards Mark and find out "how to do it" properly

[simona]

The factory LG400 FT doesn't have a recoil compensator, converted 10m versions often retain the compensator/stabiliser. The 400 has a lighter, smaller, hammer and valve than the LG300 Dominator. Both rifles use the same regulator and have the same excellent trigger parts.

The very earliest Dominators came with a smooth-sided regulator and had a conical firing valve seat. Most of these very early guns will have been updated over the last 20 odd years. These earliest Dominators also have a different-shaped action under the stock line. The main action screw has no flat surface behind it - the rifle was supplied with a weird hollow square section between the main block and forward A-clamp which formed a unified action which sat in the alutec or wooden chassis. Most people ditched this square section tube and floated the barrel. These early guns also had shorter barrels than the later guns. The later rifles came with carbon barrel sleeves. The letters 'LG' on the block of these early LG300 Dominators are more upright than on the later rifles. At some point the cocking lever changed from a pin to a larger paddle. Given a choice I'd go for a later rifle as that action shape is easier to fix in the stock/chassis using a single main screw. Mine's a very early one from 2001.

At very high milage the cocking lug on the hammer can wear through the black anodising of the action causing great mischief. Mine has had a steel insert placed into the alloy block to act as a bearing surface. The pellet probe thing subtly bends over thousands of rounds but it doesn't seem to cause any grief.

The dovetails of the 300 and 400 having differing profiles.

I've had my Dominator since about 2006 or 2007, it's been brilliant. I've got an LG400 Expert 10m rifle and that's lovely too. Nice tools.

[zooma]

You contribution is really informative Simon, with lots of interesting detail gained from your own experience and observation.

You have given me some helpful "pointers" to look out for when looking at buying an LG300 Dominator.

Many thanks!

Bob.

[XDRIVER]

It would be nice to have a shoot with you sometime over 25 yards Mark and find out "how to do it" properly

Will try and sought something out at the club, a Wednesday night may be best as it's airgun only night.

[zooma]

I have a mint condition Walther ProTouch that I no longer use, so I thought that I would fit a scope and take it to the club and shoot it until I find a Dominator (or possibly an LG400 FT).

The rifle looks superb with the scope fitted on high mounts, and mounting the Sidewinder scope was easy enough........and as long as I did't want to shoot it, I have a perfect combo that looks good and feels nice too.

The problem is that the cocking lever fouls the scope so I cannot use it.

If there is a simple fix that will not spoil the rifle in any way (or if I can find a slimmer scope that will clear the cocking lever) then I would still like to try it, but I will not do anything that will mark or spoil the ProTouch as it is perfect and it would be a shame to spoil it just to shoot it with a scope fitted as a short term measure.

There must be a simple fix as several Walther match rifles have been converted for FT or HFT use. When I get to see a Dominator I am sure the answer will be obvious, but I am guessing that the cocking lever has a different shape to clear a scope?

[simona]

A lot of FT shooters fit the scope on an elevated rail which allows the cocking lever some room. I have an AJP rail on mine which has the end of one of the fixing screws ground down to give clearance. I shot an HFT event once and had to grind a piece off the underside of one of the mounts lower saddle.

There's always a way.

[zooma]

Hi Simon,

When I have a little more time I will take a look at it, but I am hoping to see a Dominator tomorrow and I will take a good look at the cocking lever shape as it could be a little more suited for FT use than the LG300XT type that is straight and stands vertically under the scope position when the breach is opened.

As you suggest - "there is always a way"!

Bob.

[zooma]

I was able to see and shoot a Dominator last night and I can now see why the cocking lever on my Walther ProTouch match rifle fouled the scope whereas the Dominator cocking lever clears it so easily.

The cocking lever is a different shape altogether and has been designed for use with a scope.

With that in mind, I think I will sell my mint Walther ProTouch match rifle (rather than try to modify it) and use the cash to buy a good Dominator - or maybe an LG400FT.

[Discocom]

Hi Bob

LG400 FT has the same cocking lever as the 10m LG400's.

My understanding is that if you wanted to convert your Lg400 to 16J, all you would need is an LG300 16J regulator and a spacer ring.

(see https://airgunaccuracy.wordpress.com...for-the-lg400/)

[BillH45]

I have a short cocking lever 5-6cm long on my LG400 which doesn't foul the scope. It's also fitted so it is pushed down instead of pulled up to open the breech, so it's a double-win. This is easy to arrange on Wathers, at least on LG400s and I suspect also on the Dominator based on it. Probably not so practical to do that with the original long lever though.

This short lever is definitely a Walther part but I can't find it in their catalogue at the moment. The guy that sold the rifle to me had sourced it himself and said it was originally for their target sprint rifles, but it fits the 400 no problem. Here's a site that does a 3d-printed version though.