LOV 21 Upgrade
When I came back from a trip to our local supermarket this morning there was a note from our local postman to let me know that a small package had been left in the shed for me.
The small box was collected and when opened I found three really nice and crisply formed 3D printed parts to upgrade my LOV 21 pistol. These had been "printed" in black and when fitted they matched my LOV 21 perfectly.
Within a just a few minutes all of these parts had been fitted to my favourite CO2 target pistol (!) and the improvement was immediately noticeable, so I will cover each upgrade individually as I think any of these parts will be of at least some interest to anyone who either owns or is considering buying a LOV 21.
The biggest single piece was the adjustable palm shelf. The LOV 21 does not have a palm shelf and this three piece unit adds an adjustable unit that looks good, but more importantly it works really well too.
This cleverly designed main unit clamps onto the steel piercer cap that protrudes out underneath the grip and is fixed in place with a single recessed chrome headed cap screw. This cap head is fairly substantial and needs a 6mm hex key to tighten it up.
Once in place the palm shelf can be adjusted up or down to fit the size of your hand, and once you are happy with the adjustment it can be fixed in place by tightening with a 3mm hex key. As this fixing screw is mounted more or less centrally it is also possible to angle the palm rest to the most suitable position too!
A further adjustable post that sits of the palm shelf can also be adjusted inwards or outwards to ensure that you position your hand in the same place every time, and this is also fixed in place with a 3mm hex key. Adjusting this post can also be really helpful in positioning your index finger as it can be used to turn your hand either towards or away from the trigger blade so to a limited degree it also adds a trigger "reach" adjustment too!
The large front sight block looks really "industrial" but serves two purposes. Firstly it houses its own front sight blade unit that comes already screwed on, and this can be replaced by similar units of different sizes that can be screwed on instead of the 3mm wide blade supplied. Also, there are two recesses in the underside of the main unit that can be filled with one or two 44 calibre steel BB's to add nose weight (if required) to give some balance adjustment to the pistol.
The original moulded front sight blade can be left in place or cut away - it does not really interfere with the sight picture and actually helps to radially locate the new unit so I have left mine in place - at least for now!
This complete unit can be slid over the front of the pistol. The unit is a fairly tight fit and should not slip off, but a recessed cap head screw is fitted underneath and this can be gently tightened up with a 3mm hex driver just to give it a "pinch" to make sure it does not move.
A simple rear sight blade is the third upgrade part. The bent steel rear sight that comes on the LOV 21 is OK, but it is what it is, and this larger flat plate simply fixes onto the back of it with a (pre-cut to size) piece of doubled sided foam tape. There are small walls moulded into the new sight blade on both sides and at both ends of the base so it is easy to align squarely over the existing sight blade and fits easily.
Once the front and rear upgrades are fitted the sight picture is both sharper and clearer, and improves the overall sight picture enormously.
So within a few minutes it was possible to upgrade my LOV 21 to include many of the desirable parts you would expect to find on a full match pistol, and it makes the pistol better balanced, easier to hold, and has an improved sight picture .
This is a superb small set of upgrade parts for this popular and inexpensive CO2 single shot target pistol that can further improve its already impressive performance .
Last edited by zooma; 13-11-2018 at 04:40 PM.
Rossendale Target Shooting Club. Every Tuesday and Thursday evening 7 - 10pm.