TargetTalk

I am the proud owner of a Steyr LP10 that I purchased brand-new in August of 2002. With the exception of some Postal Matches and Jon Powell's NRA Ten Meter Pistol League, I am not what most would consider to be a 'competitive shooter'. I just throughly enjoy shooting this incredibly precise target pistol, and I have been pleased - and more times than not humbled - with the progress I've made since starting to shoot via ISSF rules.

With this being said, I'm just curious what type of 'mileage' some of you other owners of this fine pistol have accumulated since you've owned yours. I've shot approximately 6000 rounds (I know this will be very low compared to some of you) through mine in the almost 2 1/2 years I've owned it.

How many shots have you fired through yours?

Since GrantLee brought this up, I would also like to know how much maintenance does the LP10 need, because I will be buying one at the end of this year (still saving up for it...)

My questions are :

- No. of rounds before first major part/component failures, which part/component would that be?

- How many of you service/clean your pistol after shooting say, 1,000 rounds? I read on Don Nygord's site that we have to make sure we CLEAN our pistols regularly... so how many rounds before you LP10 owners strip your pistol and give it a through cleaning?

- Do you release all the air after shooting at the range even if they are not completely used up?

- How many of you actually service your own LP10? Or do you usually leave it to a gunsmith in your area? What IF there are no respectable gunsmiths near you? Do you send it back to Steyr? Or to the regular respected gunsmiths by post?

Sorry if I am asking too much questions again... just want to find out more... club's using FWB P30s, I am hoping to get a LP10 by the end of the year so I want to know as much as I can about it.

Thanks and sorry for bothering you guys so much.

Clifford

Clifford - First of all, I don't think anyone feels bothered about your questions - after all, we are here to gain some knowledge regardless of what level we may be at with the sport.

I bought my pistol from Don Nygord and asked him specific questions about cleaning the LP10. The only thing he told me I could do was send an occaisional cleaning pellet (I've been using 'Beeman' brand because that is what I have) through the barrel, and wipe it every now and then with a silicone cloth. So that is all I've ever done with mine.

Regarding the cylinders, I've never released the pressure out of mine, even when they are partially full, but I do unscrew them from the pistol if I'm not going to shoot for more than a couple days.

Zero parts breakage to date with mine. I have a good feeling that my heirs, and my heirs heirs will be enjoying this pistol for a long, long time .....

I purchased my LP10 approximately two months ago, so its still new. I have shot over 1000 rounds through it with no problems so far. I have been on vacation for the last few weeks, but I was told to unscrew the air cylinder if you do not plan to use the Air Pistol for more than three weeks. You should look under the archives and some of the recent talks on the LP10. There is a lot of information on it. I have noticed the price has gone up. For cleaning, Don has a good article on it. For APs just an occassional drop after 1000 rounds, with a wipe down of the body of the pistol with a lightly oiled rag after each use.

My new LP-10 "has came" to me with November'03.
And I write its simple journal (date, number of shots, pellets, result).

[1] TOTAL: 6500 rounds/13 Months (+ approx. 700 dry fire rounds).
[2] Problems with my arms I resolve myself (or with coach's assistance).
[3] After 13 Months: I had two broken screws (front sight screw, second stage pressure screw). As I suppose: after oxidize (to blacken details some use phosphorus acid for example or smth. like that) they haven't been well washed and they have sticked to pistol. Turning them, I have broken them with my bad screwdriver. Now I have new. Work fine.
[4] After shooting I don't release rest of air, as I shoot AP 2-3 times a week and it's hard to pump them with my handpump. Also I don't unscrew cylinder... but... I know that I should do it... it would be better to keep valves without unnecessary pressure. Right now I'll go and do it :-)
[5] Cleaning. I clean pistol with paper napkin. Then I grease O-rings with acid free lubricant. With a earstick I clean Bolt inside (there are always some lead on inner-O-ring). I do that procedure every 500 shots. Also, when I load pellet, I try to don't touch O-ring, which is greased with oil. Barrel cleaning, I think, is unnecessary... there's no so high inner-pressure during shot as in .22 lr, for example... no rests of powder, which oxidizes barrel... (TOZ-49(36) owners know what I'm talking about).

Thank you so much for the wealth of information and thanks to GrantLee for allowing me to "hijack" your thread and suddenly my questions are being answered... I will go through all the threads on this boards with relation to the LP10. I just want to know more before investing into one. We all know the LP10 shoots like a dream, the bigger concern for me is the maintenance of the pistol.

Thanks once again.

I have had my LP10 since it came out and I have not had any problems with it. I have put too many rounds to count through it. I used to keep track but not any more.

Pilkington will service it for you if you need it and he told me I should replace the seals every year or so.

One of the best methods to clean the barrel is to take some heavy fishing line and heat the end so it creates a small ball at the end. Then using some TSI put it on a patch and pull it through. I was told this works better than cleaning pellets. I do both but not on a very regular schedule and it still shoots very tight groups.

I do know that cleaning does improve the accuracy. I tested it a few years ago and it was a noticable change in the size of the group.

I am about halfway through my third sleeve of pellets (~13000) on my used LP-10.

I clean the bore every tin or so with felt and Beeman cleaner. Stuff does come out of the bore. Whether it is lead or just dirt I cannot say. I lube the O-rings with HiVac o-ring grease. And I occasionally lube the other moving parts.

The only problem I've had is that the bolt started scritching when being closed. A little lube fixed that... sliding metal parts like lubricants.

I do not drain the cylinders or remove them after each use or anything like that. I shoot 4 or more times a week.

Larry

"No. of rounds before first major part/component failures, which part/component would that be?"

So far there have been no failures - not even an o-ring. Touch wood! Have had the pistol since 21st July 2003.

- How many of you service/clean your pistol after shooting say, 1,000 rounds? I read on Don Nygord's site that we have to make sure we CLEAN our pistols regularly... so how many rounds before you LP10 owners strip your pistol and give it a through cleaning?

I clean the bore after 1000 shots but don't think accuracy would suffer even if I did not. Unless you are shooting in a dusty environment, there is no need to strip and clean the pistol regularly. Mr. Nygord was primarily refering to powder burners in his article.

- Do you release all the air after shooting at the range even if they are not completely used up?

No. Dry compressed air in the cylinder will actually retard the effects of oxidation.

- How many of you actually service your own LP10? Or do you usually leave it to a gunsmith in your area? What IF there are no respectable gunsmiths near you? Do you send it back to Steyr? Or to the regular respected gunsmiths by post?

Hasn't needed any major servicing to date. Would either do it myself if I get the correct 'how to' information, give it to the national squad armourer or send it to Steyr, depending on the circumstances and complexity of the problem. I maintain a regular check on it's performance via a chrono.

I have impregnated a Pentax lens cleaning cloth with silicon oil and wipe the pistol over every time I touch it. I do take care not to use silicon oil where there is metal to metal contact.

I do not unscrew the cylinder after each session. I believe that partally unscrewing the cylinder and screwing it back on would reduce the life of the relevant o-rings.

I lubricate the o-rings with a tiny amount of FWB Special Grease. However, I do clean them before lubing them again. Acid free silicon oil or Molykote 33 should also work.

You will find the LP10P to be a very reliable pistol.

Rustam

I guess I'm like most of the others on here. I suspect I've shot in the order or 40-50 000 pellets through mine and I've never had a fault <touches wood>. I shoot felt pellets through every 1 or 2 000 rounds and wipe the gun after every outing. One thing to note is the felt pellets won't remove the crud inside the rifling. I have only had mine cleaned more thoroughly once - by my coach, but it is suprising how much lead actually builds up. I too never remove the cylinders or drain them down.

Rob.