Walther LG30

[Pheyden]

Is this a Walther or Hammerli product. Anyone shot it?

[atomicbrh]

We purchased a Walther LG30 in I think 2009 and have extensive experience with it. This means shooting it a lot and taking it apart many times to try to repair it. It has a Walther cylinder but the trigger and other parts are cheaply manufactured. My suggestion is to stay away from the LG30. Our LG30 is just collecting dust and not worth the time or money to repair. Look for a higher grade used air rifle for just a tiny bit more money. The least of your worries should be that your rifle is going to stop functioning at a match. If you shoot a more common air rifle there will always be someone at the match that can repair it and get you up and running in no time.

[JSBmatch]

It didn't take Walther long to drop the AR30 and bring out the AR20, which seems to be popular with club shooters. The AR30 is/was a re badged Hammerlie made in Switzerland, but after the two companies amalgamated, the Hammerlie name was dropped, although I believe there is still a Hammerlie pistol available, but could be wrong. I loved the Hammerlie AR50 Pro air rifle, it was way ahead of Walther for Alu stock design and adjustment and the recoil absorber was the best.

[Ulrich Eichstädt]

The name Hammerlie wasn't dropped, it didn't exist. The company's name (150 years in 2013) is Hämmerli or Haemmerli in international writing.

Just to put a few things right:
Haemmerli brand, machinery and some (few) employees were transferred into the Walther/Umarex corporation group in 2006 und moved to Ulm.

The last airgun made by Haemmerli in Switzerland was indeed the AR30, but the following Walther LG30 was quite more than a renamed rifle: It had the Walther 300-bar-system instead of the 200 bar before, a Walther trigger, a new cocking lever (because the old one broke often) and some more features.

So the "historical" order was: Hämmerli AR50, Hämmerli AR30, Walther LG30, Hämmerli AR20

But the Haemmerli AR20 is a similar looking, but internally new design made in the Walther/Umarex works in Arnsberg/Germany - it has another system housing, a new trigger design, again the 300-bar system and a new rear stock.
Check it for yourself, the actual AR20 PRO is very popular among european shooters, and it, that's true, can't be compared with the old Hämmerli AR30. But for different reasons...

And there are some more Haemmerli guns within the Walther-program, for example the Field Target Air Rifle AR20 FT, the Air Pistol Haemmerli AP20 and the .22 pistol Haemmerli X-Esse in some variations:
http://www.carl-walther.de/cw.php?lang= ... =haemmerli


(because my profile is not visible on first view:
Press & PR Umarex/Walther in Germany - but unless otherwise mentioned these postings reflect my private opinion)

[JSBmatch]

Thanks Ulrich
For putting the history correctly, its good to know for future reference.

JSB

[Ulrich Eichstädt]

I learned that myself the hard way: I've reviewed the AR50, AR30, LG30 and AR20 when I was working as editor for VISIER gun magazine (before I joined the Umarex/Walther-team) and had some trouble to find the differences. Just because my own prejudices said: Oh, nothing new apart from the markings...
What a mistake.

[JSBmatch]

Ulrich

I liked shooting the AR50 Pro, it was just as good as the others if not better, but it was a head ache to service/repair compared to Walther. I used to read Visier after translating.

JSB

[atomicbrh]

When trying to obtain repairs on our LG30 from Umarex in early 2013 I had an interesting conversation with Homer at Champion's Choice in LaVergne, TN. Homer told me that the AR20 he sells has upgraded sights that are better than what the AR20 is normally packaged with. Better sights might be worth the small increase in price. Due to this post I have many inquiries about selling our non-functioning LG30. I will reply when and if I can get in touch with the Air Rifle repair center that is trying to repair it again.

[Alexander]

Just to put a few things right:
Haemmerli brand, machinery and some (few) employees were transferred into the Walther/Umarex corporation group in 2006 und moved to Ulm.

Not the spare parts, unfortunately. :-(

(One of our club pistols, a reliable and stalwart Hämmerli International (pre-208) finally blew off its extractor into the Great Unknown. It still ejects the cases fine most of the time, but to find a short extractor plus spring plus pin appears, ugghh, to be a significant challenge)

Alexander