Squeaky Steyr LP10 Bolt?

[Gwhite]

One of our collegiate team's Steyr LP10's has developed a "squeaky" bolt. When you open & close it, you can feel something rubbing, like the bolt is sliding over an unlubricated O-ring, only it occurs with the bolt far enough back that it isn't the green one around the gas port.

The pistol shoots OK, but it feels very odd. Of course, the student who shoots it only mentioned it 15 minutes before they were packing up for an away match. As a result, I haven't had much of a chance to examine it.

I've studied the exploded diagram, and I'm wondering if the #7 O-ring under the cocking lever pivot area needs a touch of grease. Does that make sense? I'm not sure why they have an O-ring there in the first place.

Thanks!

[kevinweiho]

Did you check if the stabilizer is properly adjusted?

Here's the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEe2LS9 ... C9BC79F685

As with all visible o-rings, I always give them a dab of grease, ( I use FWB special grease) and also lightly lube the exterior of the bolt (part nº 59) since it slides within the casing. O-ring nº 7 is there to seal the released air from the valve.

[kevinweiho]

I've studied the exploded diagram, and I'm wondering if the #7 O-ring under the cocking lever pivot area needs a touch of grease. Does that make sense? I'm not sure why they have an O-ring there in the first place.

My bad, I reelooked the exploded diagram and it makes perfect sense putting the o-ring under the cocking lever pivot to prevent galling, and yes, you should lube it.

[Gwhite]

A drop of air tool oil underneath the lever & it's all happy again.

However, I watched a couple of the Steyr videos, and now that i know how to check the stabilizers, I have some work to do...

[ojh]

This is going a bit OT, but after a bitter experience I just have to make this warning.

During the stabilizer adjustment procedure, be extremely careful when pulling out the cylindrical weight . Don't let the split plastic collar pop open without control, or the radial springs under it may fly out and be lost. They warn about this in the video, but not nearly clear enough.

It might be a good idea to put the pistol in a transparent plastic bag during this critical disassembly step, and also during reassembly.

[John Marchant]

From experience, I have found it is best to order some spare springs before removing the compensator, as the three springs definitely make a bid for freedom with great ease and seem to project themselves very fast and then proceed to bounce of every available surface in the work area.
Getting the springs back in is also great fun and probably needs a second pair of hands to complete the exercise successfully.
I found that by putting the compensator in a clear bucket and then covering the top with a cloth helps to retain the errant springs when trying to get all three back in place under the plastic ring.
Plenty of patience is a must have commodity.

[Silvershooter]

During the stabilizer adjustment procedure, be extremely careful when pulling out the cylindrical weight . Don't let the split plastic collar pop open without control, or the radial springs under it may fly out and be lost. They warn about this in the video, but not nearly clear enough.

The trick is to slide an O ring along the stabiliser as you withdraw it (carefully) until the O ring holds the plastic drag ring in place (trapping the tiny springs).
When reinserting the stabiliser carefully slide the O ring back until the pistol body holds the drag ring .

(Thanks to Harry Preston, UK Steyr agent, for this tip)

[Rover]

I much prefer walking around in my bare feet and whimpering to find small parts.

[Gwhite]

I have an old speaker magnet I can play "minesweeper" with, scanning over the floor. My first apartment after college had deep shag carpeting. I lost a part, and found it quickly with the magnet, but I also discovered where a previous occupant had done all their sewing. I extracted about 20 rusty straight pins from one corner or the bedroom. Fortunately it wasn't an area I tended to walk over barefoot...

Putting the magnet in a plastic bag helps keep it clean. Once you collected your part (usually along with a lot of small iron/steel particles), you can turn the bag inside out.

It's a good idea to demagnetize anything you pick up this way. You don't want the wayward part collecting metal dust or sticking to other parts.

Of course, it's not very effective on modern aluminum & plastic bits. I once launched the plastic grip spacer from a Benelli MP90 across my basement, and it took about 2 hours to find, despite it being fairly large & red.