How to Shoot Yourself in the Foot with an Anschutz LP@

[Gwhite]

I bought a used LP@ last summer, which is basically a Steyr LP10 with a few bells & whistles added by Anschutz. It was working fine, and I've put several hundred pellets through it. Velocity is good, and I've now got it fitted with a nice Nill Griffe grip and a better trigger shoe. I adjusted the 1st & 2nd stage trigger pull weights to match my Morini 162EI, but haven't played with any of the other trigger adjustments.

I was looking forward to shooting it for the first time in a local match this morning. I dry fired a bit, got 3 sighters down range, and then "click". It acted for all the world like it was dry firing, but the lever was all the way down. I re-cocked it numerous times without success, and finally had to pack it up & go home.

I got it home & took the grip off, and all the internals seemed to be working properly. While considering the possibility of a broken firing valve, I noticed the cylinder was slightly loose! I could also see a tiny gap between the back of the cylinder & the front of the regulator. I turned the cylinder another ~ 1/8th of a turn before it bottomed out, and all was well.

Apparently when I screwed the cylinder on, I managed to bump the valve open momentarily, which tightened up the threads enough that I thought it was all the way on. It also allowed enough gas into the area between the cylinder & regulator to get 3 perfectly good sighter shots. This cylinder apparently has very little margin between when the valve opens and when it is butted up against the regulator, so the gap is quite small.

One aggravating factor with the LP@ is that is has a weight system that extends below the cylinder, which makes it a bit more difficult to get a good grip on the cylinder for screwing & unscrewing it. You pretty much have to do it all with your finger tips.

In any event, lesson learned, and I thought I would pass this along in case it helps somebody else in the future.

[kevinweiho]

One aggravating factor with the LP@ is that is has a weight system that extends below the cylinder, which makes it a bit more difficult to get a good grip on the cylinder for screwing & unscrewing it. You pretty much have to do it all with your finger tips.

If that’s the problem that caused the malfunction, you´ll need to remove the rod weight system and replace it with a Steyr LP2 sliding weight on the barrel.

[Gwhite]

Now that I know what to watch out for, it shouldn't be an issue. It's actually easy to tighten the cylinder by reaching around the barrel, because the weight rod is further from the cylinder.

I've been shooting PCP's for about 20 years, and I've never managed to screw the cylinder on JUST enough to pressurize the regulator but not enough to actually hold the cylinder valve open. I also want to compare this one with my other cylinders. I thought the valve usually opens with much more of a gap between the cylinder and the face of the regulator. I don't know if it's this one cylinder or if I have to be extra careful with others.

[targetceasefire]

I am new to shooting 10m air - I was surprised with an awesome birthday gift - a Steyr Evo 10e. When shooting for the first time I was afraid to torque the cylinder on too much, so I thought I had it on tight enough when I hit resistance. I got the same malfunction as you did, several good shots and then nothing. Closer inspection revealed the gap between the regulator and tank - I tightened it all the way on and no problems after that. I have found that if not tightened all the way down, the tank can work it’s way back and induce the same malfunction. This certainly isn’t a flaw with the pistol, it’s operator error on my part. My daughter shoots a Morini 200e and induced the same malfunction once after a cylinder swap by not fully seating the cylinder. I have found in any precision sport, job or hobby, details certainly matter!

[Rover]

Shouldn't "Shooting Yourself in the Foot" be moved to "Coaching Corner"?

BTW My SAM10 has the same kind of set-up with the weight bar beneath the cylinder. I frequently hold the grip with my legs and tighten the cylinder using the fingertips of both hands.

[Rwilson]

careful holding between your legs.....may not be your foot that gets shot!