Where are the Walthers??

[bootneckbob]

Just been catching up on the 10m air pistol at the Olympics and noticed a distinct lack of Walthers. I don't recall ever seeing lots tbf with Steyr and Morini tending to be the most popular. Certainly seems so this year.

I sold my Steyr Evo10e a year or two ago to Nick Marshall on here and had his Walther LP500 off him. I also sold my LP 400 around the same time. It was a crazy thing to do but I felt I'd gone as far as I was going with the Steyr and had a hankering for a Walther again; first the 400 then the 500.

My scores/ave is back up where I was with the Steyr now and it does feel better. I know from my own experience there's very little difference between one pistol or another so whats the score with the Steyr and Morini dominance?

[The Doctor]

It will all be down to local servicing and management-some manufacturers have a better representation in certain areas, and of course that will influence uptake; for example, morini and steyr are very popular with the Korean and India teams, and they are the top shooters, so they always seem to be dominant. I thought I saw one Walther in the mixed doubles final, but it was mostly Morini and Steyr again.

I think one of the things that puts people off Walther is the generally poor after market support if something goes wrong - I think this has also impacted Pardini as well.

Best

Lee

[bootneckbob]

It will all be down to local servicing and management-some manufacturers have a better representation in certain areas, and of course that will influence uptake; for example, morini and steyr are very popular with the Korean and India teams, and they are the top shooters, so they always seem to be dominant. I thought I saw one Walther in the mixed doubles final, but it was mostly Morini and Steyr again.

I think one of the things that puts people off Walther is the generally poor after market support if something goes wrong - I think this has also impacted Pardini as well.

Best

Lee

You could well be right, but I'm surprised that is a consideration at such a high level. Apparently Manu Bhaker had a bit of a problem with her Morini during the Tokyo Olympics with her cocking lever breaking. The repair taking 15mins and obviously throwing her off in time and focus.

Personally I used to shoot (and still do) a Steyr rifle for HFT and was impressed with the level of service support and spares available; especially with the online OEM service videos. When I came to buy my first serious 10m pistol the LP50 was my prefered option; at the time it gave me flexibility for other disciplines. Roll on a year or two and I'd done quite well with it but not done anything other that 10m comps and I was advised to get a dedicated single shot pistol. I ended up with a Walther LP400 carbon, almost by chance really. I was passing a shop and they had one in and I liked the feel of the grip and the price they offered it at.
I must admit I loved the feel of the Walther (still do) but after a year or so I was worrying about serving etc as I couldn't find anyone who did them. I can't remember the full story as it was years ago but I sold it after buying the then brand new Steyr Evo10e. I went with the e version as I though t with all the dry firing it might be better for the pistol in the long run.
I think I had that pistol for 4-6 years and won a few things down in Devon with it but it wasn't flawless. Now the good part. One cylinder leaked from new but was picked up by courier, fixed and returned at no cost to me. The second thing that broke was the circuit board. Quite an expensive item £100 plus but Steyr UK sent out one straight away and it was a straight swap so something I could do. So, from the service support aspect I couldn't fault Steyr. That said, I was hankering for a Walther again and I thought I'd found a service centre should I need it. I bought a mates LP400 Alu off him and did the shoot off between both pistols for a month. There was next to nothing in the results other than you could say I matched the Steyr with the Walther and I'd been Shooting the Steyr for years. You could also argue I could pick up any pistol (within reason) and get the same results.

Anyway, I ended up selling both and getting the LP500. So far I've not needed that support centre.

[nickm marshall]

I spotted just one Walther pistol at the Paris Olympics. Shot by Damir Mikec (SRB) However it looked to be a rather old LP300XT if I’m not mistaken. Strange that he prefers the older gun. I wonder if the cylinder was under 10 years old?
I have seen him pictured with a LP500. Looks like the electronic trigger version with carbon cylinder.

https://i.postimg.cc/k5DLnttb/IMG-2713.jpg

There seems to be rather a lot of Morini 200ei being shot. Didn’t spot one Feinwerkbau P8X either. Also noticed a bit of black tape covering up the makers names on all the pistols, plus some of the ear muffs.

[craig9mm]

It will all be down to local servicing and management-some manufacturers have a better representation in certain areas, and of course that will influence uptake; for example, morini and steyr are very popular with the Korean and India teams, and they are the top shooters, so they always seem to be dominant. I thought I saw one Walther in the mixed doubles final, but it was mostly Morini and Steyr again.

I think one of the things that puts people off Walther is the generally poor after market support if something goes wrong - I think this has also impacted Pardini as well.

Best

Lee

Im inclined to agree with all of this. Harry Preston of Steyr was a regular attendant at even the smaller shoots. He would obviously be punting Steyr but Ive seen him fixing other makes. Steyr in Spain has a very good agent there too
As for Pardini,Im advised better engineered than Steyr but wheres the support.....Cant see any in France,most in Germany,the Spanish agent seems to work from home and disparaging comments Ive had as regards support in UK

[bootneckbob]

I spotted just one Walther pistol at the Paris Olympics. Shot by Damir Mikec (SRB) However it looked to be a rather old LP300XT if I’m not mistaken. Strange that he prefers the older gun. I wonder if the cylinder was under 10 years old?
I have seen him pictured with a LP500. Looks like the electronic trigger version with carbon cylinder.

https://i.postimg.cc/k5DLnttb/IMG-2713.jpg

There seems to be rather a lot of Morini 200ei being shot. Didn’t spot one Feinwerkbau P8X either. Also noticed a bit of black tape covering up the makers names on all the pistols, plus some of the ear muffs.

Hi Nick. Yeah I noticed the tape too. Also, despite the IOC view on advertising I noticed one of the winners with Steyr had his pistol swapped out for the photos straight after the win; no tape on the Steyr sport logo by the fore sight on that one!

Maybe that's why there's no LP500s in the comp. No body wanted to remove the letting like you did! ;-)

[nickm marshall]

Ha.

You have never forgiven me for removing the plastic letters from my Walther LP500.

https://i.postimg.cc/wB4yf3R8/IMG-6885.jpg