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Steyr lp50 loses air suddenly when cylinder approaches fill point
Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 11:25 am
by lognom
Hi,
I've been enjoying my Steyr lp50. However, the last two times I fired the pistol,the air remaining in the cylinder suddenly rushed out. This happened not when the cylinder was full, but when it was approaching the fill point, where the green meets red on the gauge. Should I screw the cylinder in tighter? Will it damage the cylinder or the pistol if I screw the cylinder in hard (with my hand and not a tool).
Thanks,
Lloyd
Re: Steyr lp50 loses air suddenly when cylinder approaches fill point
Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 11:49 am
by David Levene
The cylinder should always be done up hand tight when shooting or it will create a vibration.
The sudden emptying (at least on an LP5) is when the pressure drops too much to cycle the action properly. The easy way to stop it happening is not to let the cylinder pressure drop that low.
Re: Steyr lp50 loses air suddenly when cylinder approaches fill point
Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 2:52 pm
by lognom
David,
Thank you for your reply. That's really helpful.
Lloyd
Re: Steyr lp50 loses air suddenly when cylinder approaches fill point
Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 10:13 am
by spektr
My FWB P44 will do this when the cylinder is not screwed completely into place. Some may say
that you do not need to fully seat the cylinder into the gun with the misguided goal of reducing wear.
This is incorrect. The thread fit on the typical cylinder to gun interface is a not a close running fit, it is by design
a loose fit to aid in assembly of the joint. The only place where the cylinder will be fully supported radially is when
the mating surfaces are in actual contact. Lacking contact, the radial play is what allows a low pressure can to leak. The internal pressure of the can
drops to a point where the axial loads in the threads can be overcome by radial displacements jacking across the thread faces, and the leak occurs.
Its probably a bad idea over the life of the gun to allow the threads to be loaded this way as I can see a wear mechanism being created. installing the cylinder with the contact faces actually touching resolves all this wear inducing movement. Lastly one should remember there is a big difference between cylinder to gun contact, and tightening it with any appreciable torque value which is also a less than stellar idea.
Re: Steyr lp50 loses air suddenly when cylinder approaches fill point
Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 11:08 am
by lognom
Spektr,
Thanks. I probably didn't seat the cylinder sufficiently. What David said makes sense too.
Lloyd