Model 53 Luft pistol

[searcher451]

Just acquired this after looking at it, off and on, for a long time:



It might look familiar. A similar model appeared in posters for the Bond movies "From Russia with Love," "The Man with the Golden Gun," and "Moonraker." The actual movie gun sold at a Christies auction some time ago for 14,000 pounds.

[uncut]

that is a beauty... where did you get that one

[TANFOGLIO]

I have 2 from this on brown (like new) and black one

[jujonte]

Originally Posted by searcher451

Just acquired this after looking at it, off and on, for a long time:



It might look familiar. A similar model appeared in posters for the Bond movies "From Russia with Love," "The Man with the Golden Gun," and "Moonraker." The actual movie gun sold at a Christies auction some time ago 14,000 pounds.

Really something. I am not all that familiar with this gun. Just have read about it and seen a couple of small pictures (and the movie). Congrats on such a great aquisition. And a good shot of it. Is the LP53 pretty rare? Like I said I have never seen one in person.

[searcher451]

Thanks for the comments, guys -- and Tangfolio, I should have known that you would have not one but two examples, and in far better shape. You ARE the man.

The pistol came from Joe Salter's DownEast Antiques site. It was listed for more than a year, so I finally made an offer. Here's the description that was on the site:

"A high-quality, German-made single-shot spring air model LP (luft pistol), Model 53. The caliber is .177 pellet. Made from 1952-1983 and now difficult to find. This example includes an instruction manual in 3 languages (most are in German only). This one also has the barrel weight. No case or extra sight inserts. Included is a 2 page internet review from "Review Centre." The average ratings were value for money 10/10, reviewer rating 10/10 and overall rating 7.7/10. The only bad point was "difficult to find a good example in the UK". ... This example is a later version with curved receiver back and black crinkle paint, of which 98% remains."

Outside of the Bond movie posters, this is the only example I've ever seen -- until Tangfolio's two offerings here.

I don't suppose that it will do much good to look for the missing odds and ends, including an original Walther box, but I will look around regardless.

[TANFOGLIO]

they with brown grips are very rare
you pay in German for a LP53 from 150 to 500 Euro (like condition)
the barrel weight is rare also

usually you only get the weapon without accessories

searcher451 your gun is verry good
but i think the manual is newer than the Gun

[TANFOGLIO]

here is a replica of the Walther LP53

a Lucznik (lp53)

[searcher451]

The Salter crew, good people that they are, indicated that they picked up the manual separate from the pistol and combined the two for the sale. IIRC, they indicated that they paid an additional $50 for the manual alone. The original asking price was $495; it sat for the longest time. I got it for less than $400, which proves, I guess, that it never hurts to make an offer -- or at least to ask.

Thanks again for the comments and the additional photos. It's a conversation piece, to be sure.

[searcher451]

For those who like their Bond with a pinch of air pistol:

[Bessa]

For anyone who is interested in my all time fav air pistol. I developed a replacement piston head unit for it about 12 years ago.
Its stood the test of time and i started selling the occasional one now again.
The problem with the 53 head is that the entire stock of old leather rivotted head units are now all gone, with the last one i purchased from Surrey guns (the last one they had) being dried out and crumbling when i got it.
So i set about reproducing the steel head unit out of solid high grade tool steel, then turned up a classic PTFE head of the parachute design typical to the modern HW45 pistol and similar.
The head is held on with a solid screw fixing instead of a rivot, threaded into the head. I dispensed with the rubber buffer head section altogether which adds a little volume.
Head returns a full 400 fps with marginal increased upward recoil due to the missing rubber buffer. Ive found that the PTFE head unit can run fairly dry in the aluminium tube which aids consistancy.
The part is hand tooled on the lathe with no automated process available to me and quite labour intensive but made to the same high stds of the piston.
PM if interetsed.