What is the purpose of the catch lever on Steyr LP10

trinity · Post by **trinity** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 2:13 pm

My Steyr LP10's catch lever (part #61) is no longer resetting (retracting) after a shot. Prior to this I didn't even know it moved.

Does anyone know what the purpose of the catch lever is? Is it important? It seems somewhat tied to the recoil absorber.

It's been suggested to me that perhaps the spring under the catch lever is worn or broken. I checked it out, it is not broken, but it appears to be one of the weaker springs (my LP10 is probably 2002/2003 vintage). So while I can look to get the spring replaced, but I would like to know how important the catch lever's operation is to the functionality of the pistol.

-trinity

Brian M · Post by **Brian M** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 2:36 pm

Take a look at the repair video on Replacing it to see what it does. As near as I remember, it holds the anti-recoil assembly when cocked, and releases it when the shot breaks. So if it's non-operational, you're losing the anti-recoil system:

http://youtu.be/pAxHWq0FIH4

All of the videos:
http://www.steyr-sportwaffen.at/movies/index.html

SMBeyer · Post by **SMBeyer** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 9:31 pm

Trinity,
Check out all those videos a better knowledge of your pistol can never be a bad thing. You might be having the same problem that I had with mine. Your stabilizer might not be moving. After watching the videos I decided to take the grip off of mine and see how far my stabilizer was moving like they show in the video and mine wasn't moving at all. In the video about the stabilizer they stress many times how the split in the plastic ring needs to be between the springs in the stabilizer, they must say this at least 5 times, and mine had the split directly above the spring and the stabilizer wasn't moving. So I took the stabilizer out and spun the plastic ring so the split was between two of the screws and reinstalled it and then you could tell a big difference in muzzle jump. I checked it again a couple months later and it was back to being over the spring and was not working again. It must have been such a slow change that I never noticed that the stabilizer wasn't working. I called Pilkington and they said that the lp-10's had two different rings one that was cut at an angle and one that was cut straight. Mine was angled and I think the angle was causing the ring to spin and then not allow the stabilizer to work so they sent me a straight cut one, $3-$4. Since changing it has probably been shot 5000-6000 times and no problems anymore.

!!!CAUTION!!! If you do take the stabilizer out and apart be very careful with the springs they are tiny! And very difficult to find laying on a carpeted floor (wonder how I know this?).
Hope this helps, Scott

Rover · Post by **Rover** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 10:49 pm

Walk around in your bare feet; you'll quickly find small, sharp lost things.

The above posts make me wonder how effective the LP 10 anti-recoil device is, never having personally tried one.

antispar · Post by **antispar** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 7:47 am

Difference between working and dysfunctional stabiliser on LP10 can be noticed. When shot was released from LP10 with dysfunctional stabiliser in a flawless manner there is no difference at all, but if you did something wrong with triggering or gripping the muzzle jump is much more noticeable then when the stabiliser is operational. However, it is still nothing to induce a big difference, and that is why the malfunction is not easily spotted (especially if you shoot well). I would say that LP10 even without stabiliser “jumps” less then Morini, I guess because it is more front heavy.

trinity · Post by **trinity** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 11:11 am

Interesting about the stabilizer. I just watched the video, yes, mine does not come out far enough when I release the catch lever. I will try adjusting the spring inside the stabilizer tonight. Hopefully that will solve the problem, because the issue now occurs every shot, rather than about 50% of the shots when the problem first appeared.

Will let you guys know how it goes, thanks!

-trinity

SMBeyer · Post by **SMBeyer** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 8:44 pm

Rover,
I think the lp-10 stabilizer is effective and you can definately tell a difference if you shoot without it. So effective yes, necessary or even helpful??? I shot a few shots last night without it and they were tens but only a few and that is definately not a fair test. Scott

trinity · Post by **trinity** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 8:53 pm

New problem: in attempting to adjust the stabilizer, the screw is frozen inside the spring, that is, I cannot unscrew it to make the stabilizer come out further. I just cannot put enough force holding the spring in place to torque out the screw.

Any suggestions? I've tried Release All... didn't help.

-trinity

SMBeyer · Post by **SMBeyer** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 9:01 pm

Trinity,
From what I remember that screw is very hard to turn with the spring pressing against it. I think I took the stabilizer out and held it between my fingers and then turned it but it wasn't easy. Scott

trinity · Post by **trinity** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 9:06 pm

I must clarify, the trouble is I cannot unscrew the screw inside the stabilizer spring. I have taken the stabilizer out. Removed small rubber ring. But the screw inside the spring, which controls how far the stabilizer comes back on a shot, seems quite frozen to the spring.

SMBeyer · Post by **SMBeyer** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 9:32 pm

If you are still having problems I would call Pilkington and ask them both Buck and Scott have been very helpful the couple times I was having a problem.

Scott

Richard H · Post by **Richard H** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 9:34 pm

Compress the spring when turning.

trinity · Post by **trinity** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 11:43 pm

Never mind, my husband came up with a great solution. Put the spring in a vice, then put something against the end of the spring coil (that tiny little nub), thus stopping the spring from rotating.

I was able to adjust the stabilizer to the correct position. This however, has not made any difference to my catch lever problem, maybe it's made it worse. So I guess it is my catch lever spring that's worn out.

With so much hassle being caused by the catch lever and stabilizer combination. Can anyone think of a reason why I cannot shoot (at least until I get the replacement parts in) without the stabilizer? I mean, it is not critical to the functionality of the gun, right?

Oh of course, this is assuming the catch lever will not jump up with no recoil stabilizer in place at all. I have not tried this combination.

-trinity

Richard H · Post by **Richard H** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 4:25 am

Too bad you can't make it to Camp Perry this weekend for the US Trials, I think Scott is going to be there and could have fixed you up.

antispar · Post by **antispar** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 7:34 am

Don’t worry about the stabiliser, it just makes shooting more smooth but it doesn’t make it any more precise. It’s certainly not critical for the gun functioning.

Rover · Post by **Rover** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 9:09 am

antispar wrote:Difference between working and dysfunctional stabiliser on LP10 can be noticed. When shot was released from LP10 with dysfunctional stabiliser in a flawless manner there is no difference at all, but if you did something wrong with triggering or gripping the muzzle jump is much more noticeable then when the stabiliser is operational. However, it is still nothing to induce a big difference, and that is why the malfunction is not easily spotted (especially if you shoot well). I would say that LP10 even without stabiliser “jumps” less then Morini, I guess because it is more front heavy.

That has been my experience with muzzle brakes as well. I guess it is educational to see your mistakes instead of hiding them.

seamaster · Post by **seamaster** » Sat Jun 02, 2012 9:22 pm

This is how the catch lever works: when cocking lever is cocked, the catch lever "catches" the tungsten absorber, absorber spring is compressed.

When shot is fired, some air blows back under the catch lever, pop the tiny 2mm steel ball up under the catch lever, tiny steel ball bumps into catch lever from below, release the catch lever, which then release the absorber spring, tungsten absorber counters pistol recoil.

How did I find out this tiny 2mm steel ball and its function? When my catch lever spring broke, I tried to find out the intricacy of this catch lever. I saw this tiny hole with a tiny ball (2mm) underneath the catch lever. I covered the hole with my finger and fired the pistol.

The steel ball popped up, caused a small sting on my finger. So my hunch was correct. The air does push the ball up, that is enough to over come the catch lever spring.

I have tried to replace catch lever spring with some other springs. Could not understand why most of my home springs would not work. I came to understand now that my pen springs were too strong.

That tiny steel ball while able to sting my finger, is not strong enough to over come those strong springs I installed. The Steyr steel spring (#68) is actually a quite soft spring. My home OEM pen springs are too strong.

Another caveat about this tiny steel ball, "do not shoot the pistol with catch lever taken off ", who knows where this barely visible steel ball would end up!!!!!

I now have great respect for the intricate engineering that was put into this LP10. What was that Steyr motto? "Excellence is ......."