FWB LP80

bill57

bill57

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Since the weather started out a bit rubbish today, I bit the bullet and pulled apart my FWB LP80. This has been lying neglected for a couple of years since it jammed solid. At first the cocking lever was hard to return after cocking, and this got progressively worse. I put it away after I got dire warnings about the (apparently common) risk of breaking one particular part, which is not obtainable as a spare.

I started by following a good tutorial on YouTube, which was very helpful in the main, but the 80 is a bit different from the 65, which was the focus of the video, so I had to make my own way a bit.

The piston was slightly seized in the cylinder, and once stripped, the main buffer in the piston nose crumbled out like powder which was the cause of the jam. I cleaned everything up and replaced all the buffers and seals (thanks @Turkish) and carefully re-assembled with some fresh lubrication. I hadn't bought a new spring so the original twin spring setup was re-used. There is no shortage of little springs and circlips to go ping and disappear, so it's not a job for the faint of heart.

Once back together, it cocked smoothly and fired sweetly, clocking 420fps over the chrono which will do nicely. A good day's work.

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Yep. Not for the faint hearted ! I've done a complete strip down and rebuild of my FWB65. But with new seals and a re-grease should be good for years to come.
 
420fps is a little slow but pellet weight was not stated
i have read that you should not shoot the pistol for 24 hours so the breech seal molds to the cone and i am on the fence if that makes any sense
and yes, i have done a FWB 90 no fun really, too many small parts
i do believe we all have a bad habit of over lubing these
happy shooting
 
420fps was with H&N Excite at 7.4g, and yes, I concede that it's a little slow. A figure of 525fps has been quoted, but some say that's very optimistic and 460fps is more realistic. Below is a technical data sheet from Feinwerkbau - this is for an LP65, but an LP80 isn't going to be much different.

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i am going off State side info in both the Blue Book and Beeman catalogs
now we know that info can be high but the 420fps is in the Diana model 10 range and the FWB's shot faster than that
i think the fps will increase a little over time
now here is a 65 of unknown age and it shoots at around 500 so they can do it
 
Interesting, that gives me something to aim for. I'll probably have a look for a new spring set now that I'm comfortable with the mechanics of the gun.
 
That's a lovely pistol. There's something about sidelevers I think - seems to work well with the target pistol ergonomics. Shame no-one seems to make one anymore.
A sidelever SSP would make a great practice pistol.
 
bill57 said:
Interesting, that gives me something to aim for. I'll probably have a look for a new spring set now that I'm comfortable with the mechanics of the gun.
Click to expand...
Be careful in looking for more fps! Anything over 400 will put a decent hole in a target, if it shoots accurately an older spring will probably shoot a bit softer, I know it’s got the sledge system but that is controlling the recoil not removing it, there is still a lot going on. That said if you’ve already done the seals the. A new spring is an easy thing to do. Good choice in pistol, did it come with the extra weights?
 
Yes, I've got all three weights with it. They're interesting and clever - one is plastic and only 15g, so I think is intended as a spacer for moving the weights around. The other two are 60g and 82g, so with all possible combinations a very wide distribution of weight is achievable.
There's a slight amount of free movement in the sledge system so I'm not sure if I've missed one of the little shims at the back? According to the video I watched there should be two front and two rear, but mine only had three.

I'm not in any hurry to change springs really, it shoots well as it is.
 
Ah, sorry. I had wondered if there was an expert on the forum, but decided to do it myself in the end.
 
so my new seal kit arrived today along with new spring , I believe this kit is predominantly for the 65 and the spring is for the 65 , but my lp 80 has the duel spring system , my question is there any advantage to the duel springs or will the longer single spring suffice . this is my first ever target pistol so I have zero knowledge on this matter . thanks
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If it was me I would use the new outer spring and the old inner one, but it may make no difference. Might be quieter with just the outer spring?

I re-used the old metal piston ring but still got a very good seal with it.
 
Count the coils of the old outer spring and check the width, add the values, then check the width of the new spring wire, if it is thicker you will need to remove enough spring to be no more than the total of the old spring otherwise it will be coil bound and won’t cock. I wouldn’t change the metal seal as these wear into the cylinder and rarely if ever wear out, so unless it’s broken I would leave alone. I would also only put in the new spring as this will be equal to the 2 Old springs that just got in each other’s way.
 
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