Walther LGV trigger issue sorted and tune

Hi all, thought I share issues and solutions I recently found with my 2012 Walther LGV.

Got the LGV challenger ultra back in 2013, in a 20 Joules version.

First had to learn to shoot such a powerful springer, as I wasn’t used to it at all. The “damned thing” sprayed pellets all around the target. Funny thing though, in my eyes, as the equally powered PCPs I shot at that time didn’t do this. In addition, this gun shot waaaay smoother than my pal’s HW97 and Gamo (with which I din’t hit a barn wall neither, even when standing inside the barn :angrymob: ). With practice came relief, “it” sprayed less and less, so in conclusion, the gun seemingly was not THAT bad, part of it must be the shooter (well, “part of it”, the gun’s absolutely fine, the shooter was crap … awww, hard to admit, but I think I’m not the only one who went through this…).
Learned a lot from reading blogs, especially Tom Gaylord’s write ups, and there it was, with some corrections to my shooting technique, proper follow-through, some adjustment of the trigger, we started to form a team, groups started coming.
Wow, what a wonderful gun.
Until the day when…
…well, when I cocked the gun, took aim, corrected my hold, flicked off the safety, pulled the trigger … pulled the trigger … pulled the trigger … nothing.
Wow, I was sitting there with a cocked, powerful springer, pellet in the breech, and didn’t know when it would go off.
OK, security first, holding the gun in a safe direction, safety back on, opened the breech to cock again, a little harder. Aim, safety off, bang, all good.
OK, worked again, for some more pellets, but that incident kept coming and coming, so I decided to open the gun and have a look at what’s wrong.
While being at it, I changed the plastic trigger for the metal tuning trigger as well, took out excess lube from the trigger mechanism and set the trigger with the mechanism being open. When done, I relubed the spring and piston and put it all back together again. Gun’s quite easy to work on after all, I found.
One thing that startled me nevertheless was the rough interior of the piston, the spring rubs on that finish and produces friction, wear and twang. Maybe one of the reasons for broken Walther springs, but can’t tell for sure.
Gun shot well for some 50 pellets, then the issue started over again. After opening up two or three more times without results, I put the gun aside.

Got myself a HW97KT, as springers were still intriguing me. Out of the box, it was a shooter, only disturbing thing was the TWOIIING. Doesn’t fit all that well with the overall quality perception of this gun. OK, learned how to tune it, got a V-glide kit in and there it went, a dry, short “THUMP”. In addition, the stock seems as if it was tailored for me, what a gun. And the proof that I could shoot springers, progress was impressive.
That’s when I thought again about my Walther, got it out of the closet and tried to send some more pellets down range. Session finished – again – with a loaded gun ready to shoot, which wouldn’t fire :angrymob: grrrr…..
While trying to cock again, I found that when fully cocked, I could take off the safety and get it uncocked using the trigger and letting the barrel go smoothly. It just wouldn’t shoot. No adjustment I tried for the trigger would do any change, I was at the same point as before.
I found other posts of people having trigger issues and finally stumbled over Hector’s Airgun blog, in particular this post: http://www.ctcustomairguns.com/hectors-airgun-blog/a-yankee-tune-for-the-walther-lgu
Important here is the second image with the set screw protrusion measurements. I started from there and what the hell… MY GUN WAS SHOOTING!!! OVER AND OVER AGAIN !
Some more (veeery) fine tuning on the trigger and it was as crisp as I had it ever wanted to be.

In conclusion, it seems that setting the trigger on this gun can be a tricky thing, up to the point that it either doesn’t cock or it doesn’t shoot when overdoing it, so be careful when tuning. These small set screws can make the whole system fail to a point where I personally find the gun get’s close to being dangerous.

Today, this gun is a shooter, as is my HW, a real joy. I decided finally to fine-tune and upgrade the gun a bit. So took it apart again for some polishing on the trigger set screws and contact surfaces, as well as applying some moly. Furthermore, I polished the piston surface, and the metal rims around the plastic gliding rim.

In the piston went a thin sheet metal sleeve from a V-Glide HW97 kit (25mm diameter), a bit shortened in order to fit the piston length, which did further quieten the remaining twang.

The final touch went to what I should have done from the beginning: get the gun with a wooden stock, not plastic. Seems like I’m limited with the images, final result in the next post.