John Milewski Walther LP53 Article November AGW

[TonyL]

Anyone else read this?

Must admit, although I've never seen one in the flesh, all the images I've seen and articles that I've read put this beautiful little pistol onto my wants list.

In this months's article, John describes the tune done to one of his by Paul O'Donnell.

Sounds absolutely fantastic....pretty much in line with modern tuning thought...substituting the dual springs and fitting top hat and guide. Resulting in a decent power increase, slightly increased cocking effort but smooth.

Especially on such a beautiful classic, I think it's very important that nothing else was altered and that, just by substituting internal parts, all back to standard very easily and quickly.

Thanks for sharing with us, John.

Interesting, also, to note chaps, that Paul prefers to use Nylon over Delrin, with it being less brittle.

[Josie & John]

Thanks for the kind words Tony.

It was important to me for originality not to be compromised in any way and Paul did an excellent job. The spring BTW was a cut down Cometa spring.

If anyone wants to see this pistol in action and handle it at the Bisley vintage range, please let me know and I'll bring it along on a Wednesday evening.

Who would have thought you could exceed Webley pistol performance in an LP53 frame?

John M

[TonyL]

Thanks for the kind words Tony.

It was important to me for originality not to be compromised in any way and Paul did an excellent job. The spring BTW was a cut down Cometa spring.

If anyone wants to see this pistol in action and handle it at the Bisley vintage range, please let me know and I'll bring it along on a Wednesday evening.

Who would have thought you could exceed Webley pistol performance in an LP53 frame?

John M

My pleasure.

That pistol looks beautiful and I bet it's lovely to shoot.

I'd love to have a go with one, especially this one, but as it's so far away for me, will be a pilgrimage for one day in the future...maybe I'll get to see one more locally, one day.

Re performance vs Webley, I'd have to guess that accuracy would be far superior with the Walther? Even this one which you describe as a little "livelier". But, then, the design briefs and intended markets would have been vastly different. And, yes, excellent poke from such a dimunitive compression chamber!

[Josie & John]

Hi Tony,

I hate to choose between pistols as I am a self confessed Webley fanatic and have had some excellent results from various Webleys. However, at 10 metres using one arm, I would go for an unmodified Walther as I managed to score in the high 40s x 50 with one the last time I took one down to the 10 Metre range. If on the other hand I wanted a plink at the club or enter a pistol HFT, then the modified Walther would be my choice. Recoil is not excessive and accuracy is very good indeed. She flattens the Nockover skittles, bars and discs at the outdoor range with consistency.

The LP53 is an iconic pistol and IMHO should form a part of every vintage pistol collection. There have been some very nice examples for sale on here over the last couple of years and it is rare to come across an LP53 which does not perform well.

Kind regards,

John

[TonyL]

Very nicely put, young sir. And I know exactly where you're coming from. We don't have to choose one over the other; just enjoy them all for what they are.

My only "classic" is my Tempest. I also own a HW45, 40 and Crosman 2240 and 1377.

And I love them all.

If I had to shoot a 10m card, it would have to be the HW40 for its easily attained accuracy.

But for blatting those tinnies over, the boingers work every time for me!

[Josie & John]

Hi Tony,

I have also enjoyed some excellent results with the HW45. This is the 'modern' pistol I would recommend over virtually all others for general use. At one time, my club had an unofficial 'HW45 Owners' Club' with regular informal competitions. The more fun members saw us having the more HW45s appeared at club outings!

John