Today, I was meeting an athlete and they showed me their 10m AP. It looked like a Steyr 10P but the case said SnowPeak. My thought: what the heck is SnowPeak? Turns out is a cheap clone of the Steyr made in China.
Problems:
Barrel vents were purely cosmetic. The barrel shroud had the grooves and centreline holes drilled out; but, the barrel didn’t have any vents. The muzzle compensator looked similarly cosmetic only.
Trigger rail didn’t allow the trigger shoe to move rearward enough. I have large hands and long fingers and I couldn’t get my distal trigger finger pad in front of the trigger.
No markings on sigh adjustments to indicate windage, elevation, or impact of change. Using Steyr instructions, I turned the sights 20 clicks and the point of impact did not change. I wonder if the adjustments actually do anything.
(Another weird thing: the barrel has “495 FPS” printed on it, suspiciously 5 fps below what constitutes a firearm in Canada. What pellets were they using? What testing facilities did they use? Sounds too convenient.)
After a few shots, the gun failed to operate. I checked the dryfire mechanism and it seemed to be functioning, but the gun wouldn’t fire. Checked the manometer and it read about half full. The owner re-charged the cylinder because as we thought maybe the pressure gauge had failed. As the owner disconnected the cylinder from the pump, the cylinder vented air and (this is the craziest thing) white fibrous material, almost like insulation or cotton baton (stretched out cotton balls). I can’t describe my shock at this. I don’t know what came out of the cylinder but I have never seen that occur with ANY modern air pistol. While the AP ceased functioning entirely, I advised the owner to box it up and try to get a refund.
Now, the authentic LP10 used to run over $2k, with the current iteration of the LP10 EVO at around $3k Canadian. The SnowPeak PP20 sells for $565. Personally, given the low quality that I saw, plus the issues with the cylinder, I would advise staying very far away from this AP. This is my opinion and you can do with it what you feel.
Take care.
Patrick