I just ordered a pre-fit barrel from Lothar Walther for a Sako S491. As a general proposition, are pre-fits barrels generally machined accurately as far as threads and headspace and such? Or is a guy better off having the barrel chambered by his 'smith.


TIA

Are you planning on installing the barrel yourself? If so, and you have the proper gauges, you'll have the answer.

I was going to have a local gunsmith screw on the barrel. He has a vise that works on the small Sakos. I have a reamer and gages. Just not sure I want Lothar Walther to cut the chamber and thread the breech without having my action in hand to fit the barrel. They tell me they do not fit actions to barrels; they just chamber and thread. Just concerned where this might be heading. Maybe I should just have a gunsmith chamber it.

How about having them chamber short about .020" and let LGS do the rest?

With Keleby actions the threads are all the same and start in same place.
You can fully chamber and mark your caliber and it will headspace correctly and the caliber will be in the correct spot.

I would have your gunsmith do the whole job.

Hal

Thanks for the advise guys. I think I'll just ship it to Shaen.

No experience with Sako or Lothar bbls, but just yesterday I fitted a Brownells El Cheapo Mauser short chambered bbl. It has been my preference for 40 yrs to breech a large ring 98 just as Mauser intended....the abutment very firmly seated on the inner "C" ring, and the shoulder just kissing the action sufficiently to prevent osmosis from drawing water into the threads. I am also of the opinion that a double seat may enhance accuracy. Others will differ.
The otherwise perfect barrel, came about .625" shank length...95% of large rings will have a .630 depth shoulder to C ring. So I had to shave around .007" off the shoulder to get a good double seat. No big deal, if I had assembled it as it came, it likely would have worked just fine. The finishing of the chamber to final headspace was quick and easy. This is no criticism of Brownells in any way, by having a short shank, they have just made life simpler for the buyer. Just reporting what I have found.
There is a persistent rumor that Lothar Barrels are made of a steel that is hard on reamers, if you take it to a gunsmith, he may balk a little. I personally doubt LW would sell a short chambered bbl that would be difficult to machine.

How much advice did you get?

Certainly not enough to draw any reasonable conclusions.
My limited experience with prefits has been great and i have my own machine shop and frequently chamber barrels.
I have no idea how the sako prefits work but if they make them they're typically good fits. I did a 338 Norma prefit as i didn't have that reamer and it was 6 months to get it. My barrel headspaced as well as i could have done it myself