Other Walther LP-53

[UPBOILERMAKER]

Hello to all: I am a new member. I live in Upstate New York, USA. I am a US military firearms shooter and collector. However, I know absolutely nothing about air pistols/pellet guns!

I inherited this pistol from a relative who purchased it in Germany in the late 1960's. Naturally, the instruction manual is in German. The pistol is in like new condition on the exterior and the barrel appears clean. There is a 500 round container of Hobby pellets in the box, with very few used. The pistol has essentially been sitting in its box for 55 years with little or no use. Based on what I have read in this Forum, I assume the factory, leather piston seal remains in place.

I know firearms need to be cleaned and properly lubricated to function well. I would appreciate your recommendations and advice WRT to: 1) Proper cleaning and lubrication procedures. 2) Recommended parts to be replaced based on the pistol's age and general lack of use. 3) Ammunition for a) plinking/practice and b) small varmit hunting (squirrels, chipmunks, etc.).

Your advice and patience with my newbie questions is much appreciated.

Regards.

UPBOILERMAKER

 

[Treefrog]

Welcome! Cool pistol.

You'll find some info on it here - https://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2020/12/walther-lp53-the-james-bond-airgun-part-1/

I can say that it isn't suitable for hunting anything larger than mice. It just doesn't have the energy needed for larger game.

Cheers,

J~

 

[marflow 777]

powder burns have one thing on Air Gun they have few if any soft parts and can last forever if protected and in most cases their owner can take them apart a clean and or service
but Air Guns are not that easy some are complicated some have many soft parts and some as with the LP53 would need to be R&R
oh you might get the piston seal to take some Leads foot oil to recondition itself it is long at the tooth and if everything is going to replaced than everything should be replaced
take a look here for some information it is a start

 

[ctshooter]

First off (and maybe you know this already) - if you are not familiar with spring rifles and pistols - DO NOT dry fire it without a pellet in it. It will likely wreck a bunch of stuff internally due to the piston seal not being padded by the back pressure of a pellet in the barrel.

I owned one for a couple of years and it was an enjoyable pistol to shoot. It's really a 10m pistol and should shoot well with any 7.x gr wadcutter pellet. You've got a really nice one and the set is very complete with all the front and rear site posts, and you have the barrel weight.

There's a really nice guy on here from the UK who is likely the expert here on these. @Steveoo He's done some amazing work and mods on them. Unfortunately being in the UK he's unable to work on our LP53s here in the states.

 

[Steveoo]

Hello to all: I am a new member. I live in Upstate New York, USA. I am a US military firearms shooter and collector. However, I know absolutely nothing about air pistols/pellet guns!

I inherited this pistol from a relative who purchased it in Germany in the late 1960's. Naturally, the instruction manual is in German. The pistol is in like new condition on the exterior and the barrel appears clean. There is a 500 round container of Hobby pellets in the box, with very few used. The pistol has essentially been sitting in its box for 55 years with little or no use. Based on what I have read in this Forum, I assume the factory, leather piston seal remains in place.

I know firearms need to be cleaned and properly lubricated to function well. I would appreciate your recommendations and advice WRT to: 1) Proper cleaning and lubrication procedures. 2) Recommended parts to be replaced based on the pistol's age and general lack of use. 3) Ammunition for a) plinking/practice and b) small varmit hunting (squirrels, chipmunks, etc.).

Your advice and patience with my newbie questions is much appreciated.

Regards.

UPBOILERMAKER



View attachment 451378

Congratulations on the 53.
You really have 2 very different guns in one package depending on how you want to use it.
In standard stock trim with twin spring set and a lubricated stock leather seal, it will produce 400 to 440 fps if in good tuned order, but most with dry or old seals closer to 350 fps.
However, you can fit a single spring kit and a new seal where I've tuned as high as 500+ fps..
Set up correctly it will outshoot most spring powered air pistols.
Check the posts on here regarding my tuning of it, or purchase a Proteks kit and work with that.
In the first instance, some Neatsfoot oil can wake up a dried out seal if you do not want to try any of the aforementioned work.
You want 7.3 grain Domes for vermin, or as mentioned 7 grain Wads work fine for targets.
I would not attempt Vermin without the 500 fps, lots of practice and keeping range limited.
With that in mind, I've taken several rats with head shots from approx 8 to 12 paces, in one case shot clean through.

 

[Roboslug]

JG has a new leather seal if needed.

LP53 : JG Airguns, LLC

JG Airguns : LP53 - Accessories, Cleaning Supplies Airguns Ammo, Collectable Ammo, Shootable Books, Catalogs, Manuals, etc. CO2 Cylinders Collectables Mounts, Scopes, Sights, etc. Parts Tools Gift Certificates Buglespanner see Will JG Airguns Accessories, Cleaning Supplies Airguns Ammo...

www.jgairguns.biz

 

[UPBOILERMAKER]

Congratulations on the 53.
You really have 2 very different guns in one package depending on how you want to use it.
In standard stock trim with twin spring set and a lubricated stock leather seal, it will produce 400 to 440 fps if in good tuned order, but most with dry or old seals closer to 350 fps.
However, you can fit a single spring kit and a new seal where I've tuned as high as 500+ fps..
Set up correctly it will outshoot most spring powered air pistols.
Check the posts on here regarding my tuning of it, or purchase a Proteks kit and work with that.
In the first instance, some Neatsfoot oil can wake up a dried out seal if you do not want to try any of the aforementioned work.
You want 7.3 grain Domes for vermin, or as mentioned 7 grain Wads work fine for targets.
I would not attempt Vermin without the 500 fps, lots of practice and keeping range limited.
With that in mind, I've taken several rats with head shots from approx 8 to 12 paces, in one case shot clean through.

Thank you very much for your suggestions. I just finished reading many of your post and responses to other member questions. I to chrony the pistol to establish a starting point to measure impact of service and possible mods.

 

[UPBOILERMAKER]

JG has a new leather seal if needed.

LP53 : JG Airguns, LLC

JG Airguns : LP53 - Accessories, Cleaning Supplies Airguns Ammo, Collectable Ammo, Shootable Books, Catalogs, Manuals, etc. CO2 Cylinders Collectables Mounts, Scopes, Sights, etc. Parts Tools Gift Certificates Buglespanner see Will JG Airguns Accessories, Cleaning Supplies Airguns Ammo...

www.jgairguns.biz

Thank you. Will add JG to my sources for supplies.

 

[Steveoo]

Thank you very much for your suggestions. I just finished reading many of your post and responses to other member questions. I to chrony the pistol to establish a starting point to measure impact of service and possible mods.

No problem, you can usually work on 50- 100 fps depending on where you are coming from with its internal state.

 

[UPBOILERMAKER]

powder burns have one thing on Air Gun they have few if any soft parts and can last forever if protected and in most cases their owner can take them apart a clean and or service
but Air Guns are not that easy some are complicated some have many soft parts and some as with the LP53 would need to be R&R
oh you might get the piston seal to take some Leads foot oil to recondition itself it is long at the tooth and if everything is going to replaced than everything should be replaced
take a look here for some information it is a start

Thank you for the YouTube video. I wish there was one on removing the piston for seal replacement. I have read Steveoo's descriptions of how to do this. and might get brave enough to try. You are correct, the powder burners are easier to work on!

 

[UPBOILERMAKER]

Welcome! Cool pistol.

You'll find some info on it here - https://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2020/12/walther-lp53-the-james-bond-airgun-part-1/

I can say that it isn't suitable for hunting anything larger than mice. It just doesn't have the energy needed for larger game.

Cheers,

J~

Thank you for the link. Based on what I have read so far about the 53, I'm guessing I will be punching holes in paper and continuing to use mouse traps!

 

[UPBOILERMAKER]

No problem, you can usually work on 50- 100 fps depending on where you are coming from with its internal state.

With likely less that 100 rounds through the pistol since new, I think I will replace the breech seal and try to get some neatsfoot oil on the leather pistol seal. The factory instruction card illustrates oil being applied through the exhaust port. Should I try this first before attempting to remove the pistol seal from the pistol and applying the oil by hand? Thanks again.

 

[beerthief]

Welcome to the best AGN .and as you can see this is the best for info and friendly people .
Stan in KY.

 

[UPBOILERMAKER]

Thanks, Stan.

 

[Steveoo]

Yeah try that..