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Walther LP-53 @ 500fps

Posted: Mon Oct 16, 2017 9:42 pm
by thoro
After a hiatus of some years I decided to take up airgunning again earlier this year at informal target shooting/plinking/pest control level. I had only shot my guns occasional over the last years and some of need were in need of a service.
One of my favourites was my Walther LP-53. I have got other more powerful pistols but this was the one I enjoyed shooting the most. Power was probably decent for a stock Walther (410-415fps with Hobbies) but I always felt that it could do with a bit more power. I tried some different springs in the past but never got beyond stock power.
I even ordered Protek's tuning kit after having read an article in Airgun World where a potential 455fps was mentioned. Fitted the kit and while smoothness was improved it actually decreased the velocity with 10fps or so.
I then stumbled upon this thread and saw Clarky's last post:

http://www.classicapa.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=346" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Contacted Clarky who turned out to be a very friendly gentleman with a wealth of knowledge and experience, and he offered to tune my Walther with the aim to achieve a true 450fps (and increased accuracy). Sent it off to Clarky with a TR Robb piston head kit and the Cometa 50 spring from Protek's tuning kit. I was told the spring guide would be his own design. About a week or so later (and after many emails where he described the work he carried out in detail) he returned the LP-53.
It still looked like a stock LP-53 but when trying it on paper targets I realised something was different....
The notorious twang from the original twin spring design was reduced by approx. 50% and it was clearly a gun that was far easier to get accurate groups with (even with my out-of-practise shaky hands and poor eyesight).
Then ran some awful Gamo ProMagnum pellets through the Chrony M1 and got an average of 480fps!
This gun had better velocity with the Gamo pellets than my slightly ailing BSA 240 Magnum and could run rings around the Magnum in terms of shootability.
The one thing Clarky kept stressing was to use Falcon or Finale pellets so I ordered two tins of Falcons. Ran them through the M1 again and got an average of 504.3fps!
Equally impressive was the little difference between the lowest and highest (498.8 vs 505.7 fps).

Clarky also sent a longer spring guide, which would not work with the steel top hat, but which makes it even smoother at the expense of 10fps or so with the Falcons. Actually the preferred application although it would not quite hit 500fps.

This Walther is an absolute treat to shoot and is now my main pistol for targets, bean cans, small pest etc.
Smooth cocking and although there is still recoil it is far less than with the original springs.

I know there are many purists and collectors out there that would never tamper with this legend, but for anyone who like me just wants an original looking gun that will outshoot many of the "magnum" pistols, I can wholeheartedly recommend Clarky and his tunings.

Cheers

Tom

Ps. Sent off my poorly Magnum to Clarky too as I was impressed with his friendly, open and honest communication. Hope it will kick less like a mule when I get it back...

Re: Walther LP-53 @ 500fps

Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2017 9:29 pm
by thoro
I decided to fit the original spring again to see what results I would get in the chrony with the Falcons; 10 shots gave an average of 444fps so still rather respectable.
The twang and recoil however, were a different story. I'd say Clarky's spring guide and the Cometa 50 spring essentially got rid of all twang and recoil was reduced by 50% or so. And still over 500fps - this thing rocks!

Re: Walther LP-53 @ 500fps

Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2017 6:43 pm
by 45flint
I agree a great pistol, increased performance is pretty impressive. Not really that much in need of speed but smoothness has quite an interest.

Re: Walther LP-53 @ 500fps

Posted: Sun Nov 05, 2017 6:59 pm
by clarky
Flint, you may be interested in the need of speed if i tell you mine massively improved regarding its hold sensitivity when velocity went from 410 fps to 510 fps

Re: Walther LP-53 @ 500fps

Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2019 4:33 pm
by clarky
Just to up-date this one. I am now running a Tony Leach parachute seal of 23mm which we designed together for the LP53.
Tony will be producing this for sale shortly ..
My 53 now shooting in 520 fps territory with virtually no recoil...Consistency is sub 5fps shot to shot ....
Tony also advised me to try reducing the transfer port diameter to 3mm which added 15 fps and aided the shot cycle further ...
Next job is to add a a micro reflex sight...i will probably go with 20mm weaver rail and a high end Burris 3 or Leupold..

Re: Walther LP-53 @ 500fps

Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2020 2:46 am
by donmal1
Hi, All-

New to the forum and late to this thread but I just pulled my LP53 out again and started nosing around for advice on smoothing out the recoil and quieting the springs down a bit. Not much in the way of support for tuning the LP53 here in the States so I was really thrilled to find so much good information on this site and AirgunBBS. Clarky seems like the man with the answers.

In its current - presumed stock - configuration, I was shooting 7.0 grain RWS R10s at around 415 fps and 7.87 grain Finales at about 365 fps. I'm not much of a hand with spring guns in general so my groups could be better and I'm thinking that a quieter beast will be easier to keep to tighter groups. Tony Leach's 23mm parachute seal sounds like an excellent solution but I'm open to suggestions and eager to hear anyone's thoughts that will get me moving along the path.

Thanks

Re: Walther LP-53 @ 500fps

Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2020 10:01 am
by clarky
You could order the TR Robb Teflon seal or Tonys Airgun Tech seal even better. Both add 40 fps above what the Stock Leather one makes.
The original leather seal has a rubber buffer at the head of it which is riveted on. It makes approx 400 fps in good order but most are dried out or damaged now. It would have been better to have a leather cup washer with the rubber buffer inside the cup. With the rubber buffer ahead of the Leather seal, you lose volume and stroke.

The twin mainsprings was an attempt in 1953 to pack in more power but a single chopped down mainspring works much better.
Using 2 springs, the outer spring is badly supported by the inner spring and is very inefficient for the outer spring to slide over.
I use a HW30 spring chopped to 18 coils. The end flattened using a gas torch. Polished up then machining a guide rod and top hat.
This mod gains at least 50 fps.
LP53 barrels are high quality micro rifled but prefer a small diameter pellet. Using a Falcon or Air Arms Express will add 20 fps over most pellet types.
The combination of the above with a hint of Moly on the rear of the piston will make an easy 500 fps.