TargetTalk

Background:
I picked up a Steyr LP2 Compact for my wife. I find it is very fun to shoot. Just a little recoil and muzzle flip, but it doesn't effect accuracy. I'm comparing it to my Anschutz LP-@ in that department. I think I like the feel of the trigger a bit better than my LP-@, but the rear sights aren't adjustable for width of aperture or depth and I find that lacking. The weight is laughable. It's hardly there.

Question:
Anyway...it's loud. I don't know if this is a product of the different compensator or not. I suppose it could be the shorter barrel allowing pressure to escape before it's had a chance to expand more fully inside the barrel. It's just loud. I don't usually wear earplugs when shooting and this thing actually hurt my ears a little. Has anyone used a different compensator on an LP2 or Compact and found it quieter?

Thanks for any input.

David

I'm guessing the pistol is releasing too much air for the shorter barrel and needs to have the spring tension on the hammer reduced to shorten the time the valve is kicked open. Might reduce velocity slightly, but a Chrony would be a big help in adjusting it just right. Shouldn't be too difficult to find a fast-enough setting which is also tolerably quiet. Anything over about 480fps is plenty fast for 10m AP.

Gerard wrote:I'm guessing the pistol is releasing too much air for the shorter barrel and needs to have the spring tension on the hammer reduced to shorten the time the valve is kicked open. Might reduce velocity slightly, but a Chrony would be a big help in adjusting it just right. Shouldn't be too difficult to find a fast-enough setting which is also tolerably quiet. Anything over about 480fps is plenty fast for 10m AP.

I reduced the velocity on my daughters LP2 compact to try and quieten it down, it helped a bit but it's still louder than most.

Thanks for the responses. I thought about adjusting the velocity, but I don't have a chrony here. I might explore that option when I get back to the States this summer. I tried setting the compensator / front sight a little further out on the barrel. The instructions didn't mention that the set screw wasn't set into a recess, so I got to sight it back in. And it made no difference on the noise. I didn't expect it to, but figured it was worth a shot.

Thanks again!

David

Well yeah, the power plant (regulator setting, valve design, spring length and strength, transfer port size) are probably identical between the compact and the regular sized pistols, so it's unlikely you can get similarly efficient use of air pressure/volume with a shorter barrel without going into some of those other variables and modifying them to match barrel length. If noise is really important and you don't mind monkeying with the internals, I'd suggest clipping a turn off the hammer spring for starters to reduce the intensity of the hammer strike on the valve stem. That would release considerably less air. Probably a good idea to order a replacement hammer spring and have that on hand before you did this, just in case it's barking up the wrong tree.

Any pressure-diverting compensator is going to push the sound sideways and perhaps a bit backwards towards the shooter or those standing around the shooter, similarly with compensators in firearms. You might try making some sort of temporary redirection device, perhaps from a small cardboard tube, and affixing that with tape just behind the compensator. It'd need some trimming and fuss to keep the sight post visible, but such an experiment may direct sufficient pressure forward again (after stripping away turbulence from the pellet path, and long after the pellet has gone from the muzzle) that the impact on your ears is alleviated. Directing sound pressure forward (essentially a 'bloop tube' such as air rifle shooters sometimes use) could be a solution worth pursuing. A very lightweight version could be made from plastic or aluminum tubing once a cardboard prototype proves successful. Wouldn't have to be very long, just long enough to get the front edge ahead of the foremost compensator vent.