TargetTalk

Has anyone tried the Lovena 21 air pistol? Our 4-H club is looking for a moderately priced ambidextrious grip air pistol to intoduce jr's to 10 meter with. We have been using Daisy 717 and 747's which are fine but for the smaller youths Co2 power may work better with less fatigue.

If the gun is as good as the 747 we would like to give them a try.

Thoughts ideas or real world experience??

Thanks !

I owned a Lovena 21 in the past (sold it to a collector friend). It somewhat reminds me of a Crosman MKI/MKII (which is a positive thing) or a low cost single shot version of the Drulov semi-auto pistol (which is what I believe it is). I took mine apart and it is a marvel on how to do a lot with very little parts. The trigger is a simple but quite nice. In fact I found it better than a stock Daisy trigger. The rear sight is also very simple but seemed to work adequately. I never put mine in a vice so I cannot comment on absolute accuracy. The pistol held CO2 forever and shot well. I purchased mine second-hand and it arrived with a hairline crack in the left plastic side of the pistol. The importer (Top Gun Airguns) took care of me even though I was not the original owner (Thanks Boris!). Since the CO2 cartridge is in the grip, it dictates the grip shape a bit and gives it a slight hump in back. Filing the plastic grip/frame to make it smaller is not an option due to the design. Try one and make sure you and your kids like the grip before buying a bunch. Not cocking it great (compared to the Daisy 7X7) but the Daisy is probably a little better built and will probably withstand more abuse.

Charles

I don't have any real expereince with the Lovena, but USA Shooting has a special offer to junior clubs on this pistol
http://www.pilkguns.com/t7jr.htm

it has the advantages of being able to upgrade the grip to a true right or left handed match grip as your shooters get bigger, and you can use the much more economical bulk fill for CO2.

Contact Martin Edmundson at USA Shooting for club details

Thanks Charles! Our goal is pretty simple, an affordable AP that is gas powered (easier on the little ones) and has accuracy of 1/2" CTC or better, with adjustable sights. Your reference to the Crosman makes me smile, I have a 1740 that will shoot 1/4" CTC from a supported position but the rear sight is dismal and the trigger leaves a lot to be desired. I even mounted a rear sight on it that I picked up from a gun show for $15 off a TC contender I believe and it is workable but few students would be willing to go that route.

The parents fall into two categories: one group thinks anything over $50 for a "bb gun" is outragious, and the others think anything less than a LP10 for their little darling would be an insult. I have taken to using a 717 at the club shoots to show how good an affordable AP can work. Last meeting it outshot a fellow using a 46M, not that I am that good nor the gun but the score of 346 was better than his 323 (we are both duffers in the world of 10 meter shooting ;~).

Last week I cleaned up the sear on the 717 to get rid of about 1/2 of the creep and it is much better, as good as the 747 in my opinion but again it required some work, and to the unintiated the last springs and safety detent ball would be a given not to mention going overboard on the sear, there is only so much one can do with pot metal!

I found an article byu a fellow in Arizona, Rada Plesinger, that cleared up most of my questions, and I think I will order one for evaluation and to have on hand for the youth and their parents to try for themselves.

Thanks to the moderator for the link to the USA site on the Jr. Tau. Personally I like the Tau 7 and think it is a very good way to go for club shooting up to a regional level, the guns shoot much better than I do to be sure. At $450 I doubt we will have many takers however. Those that can afford that will most likely opt for a PCP set up at 3x the price.

Hope to be able to take a team to the Jr. Nationals in a year or two. Time will tell. Great sport for Alasaka winters!

Charles wrote:I owned a Lovena 21 in the past (sold it to a collector friend). It somewhat reminds me of a Crosman MKI/MKII (which is a positive thing) or a low cost single shot version of the Drulov semi-auto pistol (which is what I believe it is). I took mine apart and it is a marvel on how to do a lot with very little parts. The trigger is a simple but quite nice. In fact I found it better than a stock Daisy trigger. The rear sight is also very simple but seemed to work adequately. I never put mine in a vice so I cannot comment on absolute accuracy. The pistol held CO2 forever and shot well. I purchased mine second-hand and it arrived with a hairline crack in the left plastic side of the pistol. The importer (Top Gun Airguns) took care of me even though I was not the original owner (Thanks Boris!). Since the CO2 cartridge is in the grip, it dictates the grip shape a bit and gives it a slight hump in back. Filing the plastic grip/frame to make it smaller is not an option due to the design. Try one and make sure you and your kids like the grip before buying a bunch. Not cocking it great (compared to the Daisy 7X7) but the Daisy is probably a little better built and will probably withstand more abuse.

Charles

Kelly,
take a look at the program USAS offers on the Tau Jrs.
http://www.usashooting.com/News/NewsView.cfm?id=217

I think the price is $375 and you can buy them on time.

Kelly:
My wife tried a Lovena. The rear sight came off and would not stay in place.
There does not seem to be any windage adjustment and I remember it as having a moulded in plastic front sight. It has the feel and appearance of a toy gun. All that said it was reasonably accurate. Is it as good as the 747?
No; it is not close even to the 717. Save your money and put it towards the Tau.
Randolph

Kelly:
I forgot to mention that the first Co2 I loaded leaked out overnight.
Randolph

Thanks for the info omegaman. From the photos it appears to have both windage and elevation screws on the rear sight.

omegaman wrote:Kelly:
My wife tried a Lovena. The rear sight came off and would not stay in place.
There does not seem to be any windage adjustment and I remember it as having a moulded in plastic front sight. It has the feel and appearance of a toy gun. All that said it was reasonably accurate. Is it as good as the 747?
No; it is not close even to the 717. Save your money and put it towards the Tau.
Randolph

Curiosity won out and I picked up a Lovena LOV-21. I can say it outperforms its appearance by a wide margin. It does shoot 5 shots into less than .2" if I do my part and feed it pellets it likes (still testing in that area) from a rested position. The trigger is quite good with only a very slight amount of creep right out of the box. For our range the rear sight needs to have the gap widened a bit at least with my arms, shorter reach would solve that problem no doubt (more light on the range would help too!). I have gotten a bit over 80 shots from a 12 gram powerlet. The bore and crown are beautiful. The rest of the gun looks like what you would expect at such a low price. The gun is easier to load than most and gas is a plus for the smaller statured students. My first 40 round "match" yielded a 316x400, with a fair amount of windage dispersion. I believe this dispersion will go away with some filing of the notch width on the rear sight (my old eyes need a wider gap). I believe scores will run with the 747 Daisy or perhaps exceed it slightly. The owners manual is written in German. The gun does hold gas for many days for me, no leakage problems so far. It is no IZH-46 or Tau-7 but seems to be good value for the $. The sight does adjust for windage thru a push me pull you type of screw system. Not the best but again workable. velcoity is in the 420-430 fps range. The gun will get a lot of use by my 4-H group and that is a test worth mention ;~)

Thanks to all who responded.