Air Pistol, Initial Thoughts

Well, I have had my Steyr LP10 for a couple of weeks now. To put is simply, this Airpistol is simply amazing to use. There is no doubt that many cheaper guns may be technically accurate enough when placed in a vice-grip to for shooting competition 10M pistol, but that is not all that makes the shot.

Before purchasing my LP10 I used a Weihrauch HW 40 PCA air pistol which is a very accurate gun for NZ$350.00. The HW40 is a single-stroke pnuematic with a very low recoil. The biggest problems here are that your fingers are rubbed raw from continuously cocking the pistol for a shot, and the ambidextrous grip does not support a stable shot so well as a molded grip. The HW40 also had trouble keeping the rear sight accurately aligned ( I guess from the shock of pumping. ) My thinking is that there are many small things like this that make the difference between the average, and the excellent Air Pistol.

The LP10 when fired has absolutely no recoil. This has a more important factor that accurate pellet firing. Generally the pellet is well on its way to the target when recoil takes effect. The biggest factor for me from Zero Recoil is that the correct sight picture is maintained during and after the shot. This seems to improve the minds training into keeping steadier, better groups.

The next major difference I noticed is the length of the pistol. The Steyr is 30% longer than my HW40. This can add more forearm fatigue initially, but I noticed that it had the added benefit of stabilizing the shot. With the shorter barrel the lighter weight allowed the front sight to dip and waver more as you shoot longer, but the length and weight of the longer barrel helps to hold the pistol in position.

Having the molded grip certainly helps keep a steady hand and positive alignment on the target. Overall I have noticed that my shots with the HW40 were along the following:
10% (10 shots)
70% (9 shots)
20% random bad flingoffs into the 6-8 shot range.

with the Steyr LP10 my shots have taken the following trend
40% (10 Shots)
50% ( 9 Shots)
10% random bad flingoffs.

I would attribute a lot of this to the overall ability to realign the gun into the correct position each shot because of the grip, sights and barrel quality. It doesn't seem like a lot, but its the simplest features that sometimes make the biggest difference.

Lastly on the initial thoughts of the LP10. You can see the engineering quality. There are no frills to hide bad work, just a lot of beauty in the quality work. I expect this to be the last Air Pistol I'd ever need to become a champion competitor.