Pardini K12

[yana]

Anyone owns a Pardini K12? How do you like it? Whats weight/balance like?
How does the Pardini K12 compare to the Steyr LP10 and Morini 162? I owned a Morini, never owned a steyr but felt one. Didnt like the grip but could hold it still well. Unfortunately can feel the Pardini. It isnt in stock in my country. Hence my post.

[PirateJohn]

I have used a Steyr and currently own a Pardini. I like the Pardini overall. Its absorber is very good for helping with follow-through. I also like that the tanks hold 250 bars instead of 200 so I can have super long training sessions without needing to refill.

The biggest downside is that the trigger needs *constant* greasing because it frequently gets sticky.

[thirdwheel]

I'm in the lucky position of having a K12, LP10e and Morini Titaium to shoot and train with. I'm not a collector but a competitor and have the K12 as my main tool, I bought the Titanium when I had a cocking lever glitch with the k12 and needed a back up fast due to a competition. Pardini sorted the problem fast and at no cost to me and years later all is good. The Lp10e ended up with me as one of our club members needed it sold fast and I did them a favour and bought it. I have given the Titanium and Steyr a good run for their money and do use them regularly and refine them to what I want. My main pistol is still the k12, here is what personally I think and is only what I think after some years of use.
The Steyr is well balanced the sights are good and the back sight has one plus over the other two as you can vary the depth of the rear sight slot without resulting to black electrical tape, the recoil absorber works well but you can "feel" it working as it is spring powered, the trigger is the weak point for me as with small hands I've had to make my own trigger blade to get it to the place I want it and now the reach is ok, the trigger cannot be "tuned" to my own personal preference of a light second stage and you know what it feels sloppy in it's action a bit creepy with a final sloppy feel. This is no big problem as it is solved by a solid follow through. What I do like is the adjustment of the pistol frame to the grip as you can get it to point using simple screw adjustment but you do need to be carful when taking the grip off and refitting it to make sure it is seated the same as it was when you took it off and that you have not trapped any wires. The big plus for the Steyr is the backup if anything goes wrong with it as we have factory support for them in the UK and that is a big positive. I've shot the non electronic a lot too and the trigger feels as if there is a lot going on in there and is "clunky" but works ok but the adjustment is rather weak and rather more difficult as you are dealing with little cross head screws in soft pot metal and not Allen screws in hard alloy.
The Morini feels the most front heavy the sights are ok but the rear does not go wide as I would like when using a front blade that is the width of the black, I know people recon you can take it apart and adjust it and I've done this and don't bother and it makes no difference at all due to the way the mechanism is made as the limiting factor is one of the springs for windage and it's counter bore. The trigger is better than the Steyr as it can be taken to nearer to what I use but just not quite, I can feel the movement of the micro switch and again it does not matter with a solid follow through. Trigger reach is fine as it will come back far enough for my little paws, The grip needed work to get it to point but that I enjoy as I'm fitting it to my hand at the same time, Rink are now taking short fingers into account for there grips so if you order wisely the amount of turn you have to dial out will be reduced now.
Pardini has the longest sight radius and has for me the best neutral balance but that is very personal, the sights are good and the rear sight will go wide enough for me and my fat front sight but you do need that black sticky tape if you want to reduce the rear sight depth and for me it produces the least light flair. The grip needed work to get it to point but going to Rink for my grips helped a lot, yes it has the most air in the tank and at times that has allowed me to just keep in the zone and train not think of air levels. This game is of two parts aiming and releasing the trigger, most can aim well after some years but pulling that trigger is the brick wall that holds so many back. The trigger can be tuned to how I like it weight wise and the sear is so easy to see and adjust to perfection and bump safety, all the parts are visible in the trigger so it is intuitive when setting it up. It needs tuning for temperature changes winter to summer if you take it to the limit like I do. The trigger components are light so you get no mechanical feed back just a audible click. The recoil absorber is superb and is air fired but don't use cheap dirty pellets or felt cleaning pellets.
As always Yana you need to have one in your hand and try one to see if it does it for you - you have a PM

[yana]

Tnx for your large reply. Very helpfull

[AmSam]

Hi, hope you don’t mind me hijacking the thread. New K12 owner here, lovely pistol. So much great info here already.
I wondered if anyone had any info on upkeep and maintenance for the K12? The manual is sparse to say the least although it does at least say not to use felt pellets.
Do I need to be doing any general maintenance above having the gun serviced regularly? I am using silicone on the cylinder seals as recommended on the Pardini US YouTube, but as I am quite new to all of this I would value any input and knowledge. Hopefully this might also be useful for the OP…or anyone else who buys one.
Thanks!

[thirdwheel]

That is all you need to do but just don't do it very often or use more than can be held on a pin and that may even be way too much you do not want the oil inside the pistol. Mine is over 10 years old and I use it to train most days so will have put thousands and thousands of pellets through it and many times that just clicking (dry fire) in that time all I've been forced to do is change the O ring in the cylinders that seal around the quill on the gun. Just one add - the tiniest bit of moly grease on the threads on the cylinder screw on the gun and the fill adapter once a year, for this don't use a silicone based grease as that will promote galling between the metals- use automotive moly grease.

[pbrejsa]

If you don't have to, don't use the max pressure of 250 bar. You will extend the service life and increase the reliability of the sealing o-rings on the cylinders. Even with the short Kid cylinder, more than 80 shots can be handled. With longer cylinders, there are even more shots.

[AmSam]

Fantastic advice, good to know, especially as Pardini recommends silicone grease - many thanks. So I don’t need to worry about using barrel pull through cloths?

[Gwhite]

Pure silicone grease is no good for metal to metal lubrication. Synthetic grease with PTFE in it is what our host recommends, and it is WAY cleaner than anything with moly in it. A 1/2 ounce tube of SuperLube will last a lifetime:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005R2NIIC/

[brent375hh]

I will second that pure silicone grease is a worthless grease for metal to metal.
The Superlube with ptfe is worlds better, especially on cylinder threads.

[AmSam]

Thanks, Superlube ordered!

[10mAP]

I have a K12, but it's my first match pistol and as I shoot at home and just go to competitions I didn't have access to others to compare
it against. Part of the reason I bought it was that it was reputed to have an excellent mechanical trigger and it does indeed have a very nice
feel to it. I've not experienced any of the sticky trigger mentioned by one of the earlier posters. My thoughts based on my own experience after shooting with it are:

Nice feel to the trigger.
Good range of trigger adjustments
Good balance
The price (in the UK) is somewhat cheaper than the alternatives.

However, the gun is pretty much the same gun it was a decade ago whereas some others have added more features. For example:
The rear site only opens to 5mm width. I'd prefer it if went to another 1 or 2mm to be able to try a slightly larger opening. I still use the standard front site (4.5mm) that came with it which looks slightly less than the width of the target to my eyes. I know I could hack the rear site if needed, but I can live with it. The depth of the rear site can't be altered, but some other pistols can. The same applies to being able to change the angle of the grip and also rotate the rear site, etc. Feinwerkbau, Walther and maybe Steyr seem to have the biggest range of adjustments if that's
important to you.

I got a medium grip based on the Pardini docs, but it's always felt a bit small and the shape never filled my hand properly so always felt a bit loose. I recently got a medium Rink grip and it's miles better. The Rink grip also feels a little on the small side and maybe I should have got a large, but I'll keep it for now. I know I can always add material to the grip too if needed.

I've had no real issues with it, but the cocking level is not so smooth when pushing it forward with the gun pointing on an upward slope. I know this isn't normal practice so not a major issue, but I'm just making the point that if it's well lubricated it's still a bit stiff pushing forward. The bolt seems to rub a little on the left hand side so it could be related to that. Under normal use it would be pointing downwards when cocking so not really an issue with gravity helping it.

It would be nice if there was a few more vids on youtube particularly on stripping down the gun if one needs to do some maintenance, etc. One of the few Pardini videos on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DpPdrVPRhA
recommends silicone grease for the cylinder seal. Is the recommendation to use this on the cylinder and moly type grease on the threads?

James.

[yana]

Thanks for yr input.
I wondered how the Pardini grips compared to the Steyrs etc. My Morinis were ok, whereas Ive felt a Steyr LP10 which felt like holding a pencil to me. Much too thin. I usually use gripsize M. Sometimes S.

[Gwhite]

One of the few Pardini videos on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DpPdrVPRhA
recommends silicone grease for the cylinder seal. Is the recommendation to use this on the cylinder and moly type grease on the threads?

James.

The SuperLube grease is good for both seals and cylinder threads. Moly grease is black, and makes a mess. When you unscrew a cylinder and the residual air pressure vents, it tends to blow a fine spray of the grease off the threads. At least with SuperLube (which is clear), you can't see it...