steyr lp50 settings

[chenglo1]

I just got my first air pistol yesterday from pilkingtons and chrono'd it today. It was shoooting the included vogel 0.53 g pellets at 440 - 450 fps. I thought this to be unusual so i called pilks and was told they should be more like 500 fps. i had to turn the hammer spring about 3 full revolutions b4 i could get 490 to 505 fps. Does this sound like my new LP50 is operating w/in normal limits??? at what velocity do you people like to shoot this at??? i can't make it go any higher or else the cartridge jams after each shot.

cheng

[Guest]

Are you sure the chrono is operating correctly and accurate?

[Cheng]

Guest,

I believe my Beta Chrony is working correctly because I compared to my p70 which shoots around 900 fps w/ CPH's.

thanks.

[cdf]

Sounds about right , my understanding is that you cant get an LP50 to do much over 500 . 480-500 should be ok. If velocity is adjusted too high it will not function reliably in semi auto . Once dialed in they are extremley reliable . Do not go anywhere near the sear adjustment screw . ( your manual ingicates which screw not to touch ) . In over 15,000 rounds mine has never had a stopage .

Most importantly , enjoy your new LP50 .

Chris

[Cheng]

Chris,

I'd better check the manual again for the sear adj screw. IS this the same as the velocity screw??? I hope not because i had to turn that one in order to get to 500 fps. could you tell me in parts diagram which is the sear screw so i can avoid it? thanks.

cheng

[Steve Swartz]

With All Due Respect

You purchased an ultra-high quality precision piece of equipment from a factory full of engineers, scientists, and artisans. They have carefully manufactured and adjusted this instrument for peak performance, and have probably bench tested it with optimal or near optimal pellets (which Scott graciously provided you some of) tuned for your instrument.

Why exactly are you cranking around on the adjustable precision tuning bits again?

My humble opinion- put everything back as closely as possible to where it was. If there is a problem, then make adjustments (better yet, have a skilled gunsmith make adjustments) only as required to correct a recognized problem.

No offense intended- just some humbly, if not tongue-in-cheekly, offered opinion . . . sorry about "butting in" but this is, after all, "Ye Olde Publik Square"

Steve Swartz

[Fred]

Guest,

I believe my Beta Chrony is working correctly because I compared to my p70 which shoots around 900 fps w/ CPH's.

thanks.

Excuse me for butting in as well, but I am wondering what kind of P70 shoots heavy pellets at 900 fps? Certainly not an unmodified standard (target) one. I wouldn't have thought that even a factory Field Target version would do that. The relevance is that the P70 information makes me wonder about the accuracy of your chronograph.

In any case, if Scott told you to adjust the velocity (hammer tension) screw, and you did it as he suggested, not turning any other screws (such as the sear screw - which is not in the same area), then you have done nothing wrong. It is not that unusual in my experience for airguns to come from the factory with their velocity at either extreme.

HTH,
FredB

[Steve Swartz]

Sorry I was maybe trying to be too funny in the last post instead of making myself clear:

Why on earth do you want a precision target pistol to shoot 500 fps in the first place?

Higher velocity is not generally recognized as a driver of improved accuracy.

Maybe (as usual) I misunderstand the problem.

Higher velocity will make your gun 1) shoot less accurately, 2) consume propellant faster, 3) reduce reliability, 4) wear out faster, and 5) piss off customs agents at various socialist/totalitarian border crossings where 500 fps is considered The Magical Threshold of Death.

Again, my apologies. It was not really my intent to just be a wise*ss about it.

Steve

[Fred Mannis]

I just got my first air pistol yesterday from pilkingtons and chrono'd it today. It was shoooting the included vogel 0.53 g pellets at 440 - 450 fps. I thought this to be unusual so i called pilks and was told they should be more like 500 fps. i had to turn the hammer spring about 3 full revolutions b4 i could get 490 to 505 fps. Does this sound like my new LP50 is operating w/in normal limits??? at what velocity do you people like to shoot this at??? i can't make it go any higher or else the cartridge jams after each shot.

My LP50 came from Pilks shooting about 460 f/s with Vogel 0.53g pellets, as measured on my chronograph. I wasn't getting as clean a shot hole in the target as I wanted, so I switched to the Vogel 0.5 g pellet and velocity went to 480. Got a cleaner hole without any of the drawbacks of messing with the factory set velocity. My IZH46 has the same velocity with the 0.5g pellet.

[David Levene]

Why on earth do you want a precision target pistol to shoot 500 fps in the first place?

This thread reminded me that it is a while since I checked the velocity on my LP5. It's at 549-552 fps, exactly where it should be.

It's capable of shooting 10s all day long on the 10m AP target (I wish I was). It is however set up for the ISSF event to which it is best suited, the 5 target event.

550 fps is a compromise between putting as much "umph" as possible into pellet while still keeping the minimal recoil of the LP5.

[Cheng]

Thank you all so much for your input. Somehow before i ordered my Lp-50 I thought i read somewhere in this forum a couple of months ago that this pistol was best at 500 fps. Hence, when i chrono's it and it was 440 to 450 i immediately called pilkington and spoke to their air pistol expert (i forgot his name) and was told that the 0.53 vogels should be coming out at about 500 fps. I then confirmed that it was okay for me to adjust w/ the velocity screw to get it up to 500 fps. When it took me 3 full revolutions to get there PLUS i had the semi-auto jamming, i called back to confirm it was okay to leave it at 500 fps. Oh, i had to back it down about 15 minutes to get the LP-50 to work in semi-auto mode again and still get 495 to 505 fps in a 10 shot string. The gentleman at pilkington verified that my adjustments should have no negative effects to this pistol. However, i have only fired about 40 shots from a 200 bar fill and i am already at 125 bar. Would i really be able to get 80 shots like pilington told me??? we shall see. OH! and yes, my p70 is highjly modified and has no difficulty shooting CPH's at 900 fps. 5 minutes of change on the hammer spring, changes the velocity by about 10 to 15 fps. That was why i was so concerned when i had to turn 3 full revolutions on my steyr. I do agree that air pistols and rifles, when we get to this caliber, should not need any manipulations from their owners. However, many of us would argue that most of the alterations done have provided positive results. We can not just assume that the factory guys are perfect. We are all human. I am glad they build such fine pieces that allow us to make our adjustments. i am a firm believer in you get what you pay for. Again thank you all and i look forward to reading more.

Cheng

[Cheng]

Thank you all so much for your input. Somehow before i ordered my Lp-50 I thought i read somewhere in this forum a couple of months ago that this pistol was best at 500 fps. Hence, when i chrono's it and it was 440 to 450 i immediately called pilkington and spoke to their air pistol expert (i forgot his name) and was told that the 0.53 vogels should be coming out at about 500 fps. I then confirmed that it was okay for me to adjust w/ the velocity screw to get it up to 500 fps. When it took me 3 full revolutions to get there PLUS i had the semi-auto jamming, i called back to confirm it was okay to leave it at 500 fps. Oh, i had to back it down about 15 minutes to get the LP-50 to work in semi-auto mode again and still get 495 to 505 fps in a 10 shot string. The gentleman at pilkington verified that my adjustments should have no negative effects to this pistol. However, i have only fired about 40 shots from a 200 bar fill and i am already at 125 bar. Would i really be able to get 80 shots like pilington told me??? we shall see. OH! and yes, my p70 is highjly modified and has no difficulty shooting CPH's at 900 fps. 5 minutes of change on the hammer spring, changes the velocity by about 10 to 15 fps. That was why i was so concerned when i had to turn 3 full revolutions on my steyr. I do agree that air pistols and rifles, when we get to this caliber, should not need any manipulations from their owners. However, many of us would argue that most of the alterations done have provided positive results. We can not just assume that the factory guys are perfect. We are all human. I am glad they build such fine pieces that allow us to make our adjustments. i am a firm believer in you get what you pay for. Again thank you all and i look forward to reading more.

Cheng

[Fred]

Cheng,

I have used my LP5 with both CO2 and CA, and my LP1 with both CO2 and CA, so I have some experience to make a comparison. From the same size cylinder and the same initial fill weight(CO2) or pressure(CA), you will not get nearly as many shots from the 5 shot gun as from the single shot. That is simply because the propellant has to cycle the action and compress the hammer spring after each shot in the 5 shot model.

As a result I decided to run my LP5 at a lower velocity than my LP1 - in the 475 fps range as opposed to the 500 fps range. I would suggest you might want to do the same, instead of keeping your velocity at 500 fps, which is basically an arbitrary figure anyway. Each individual gun in theory has its own optimal velocity for a particular lot of pellets, but the only way to determine this velocity is through extensive testing. It's simply not worth the time and effort to do this, IMO, and at best accuracy gains are minimal. Just use the velocity that gives you enough shots per cylinder so as not to be inconvenient, and is fast enough so your pellets punch clean holes. Such a velocity will be much less than 500 fps.

HTH,
FredB

[Cheng]

Fred,
you are so correct! I was just shooting in the basement and got jams when firing in semi mode at 1 shot per second! i had to back out the velocity screw a full revolution. This brought the velocity down to avg of 482 fps w/ extreme spread of 475 and 492 with 110 shots from 200 bar to 100 bar. I tested the gun thoroughly i believe. After that series, i was at 100 bar and i rapid fired 3 sets of 15 rounds to make sure the Lp50 would not jam. It did not. I then refilled and fired 4 sets of 5 as fast as possible. It again did not jam! Wife came home...had to put it away but i am confident in my gun now. The jamming obviously was due to my turning the velocity screw in too far i believe. Good night all.

Cheng

[tseuG]

Chris,

I'd better check the manual again for the sear adj screw. IS this the same as the velocity screw???
cheng

No, it is not!
When your Steyr has ate through say 10.000, 20.000 pellets or more, it can start to "double" caused by wear at the sear. Even at a moderate 480 f/s setting.
Then you can carefulle adjust that red paint-locked screw (sear engagement) slightly COUNTER-clockwise. Untill the sear grips reliably again.

The most common cause for "jams" (gun not cocking after shot) is the pellet-velocite-screw (striker spring tension) adjusted to far inward.

And take care not to adjust the triggerstop (overtravel) to close. Some overtavel is essential to reliable functioning of the LP5/LP50.

The LP50 consumes propellant air faster than its older brother, the LP5, due to the compressed air driven absorber-feature of the LP50.