N/A A PCP will last as long as its weakest o'ring

Motorhead said:

It is a constant chore if you own a lot of PCP's ... Yes it is

It really is little different than many hobbies or sports, in that there will be maintenance & servicing involved coming with time & use.

Quit whining, fix your stuff as needed or be preemptive

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waaaahhhh

nobody1 said:

Some hobbies involving simpler and more robust weapons have almost no maintenance.
My bows and my slingshots can be fixed in 5 minutes or less, and you know what needs to be fixed.

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wwaaaaahhhhh

Jaxjax said:

The other day an Oring kit for a FX M4 was at bottom left of my screen while I was looking at RAW kit. I about sh.. myself. That is a certified sh.. ton of orings them things get. Never owned any FX & nothing against them at all, I was just shocked at what I seen...... looked like 50 + in that bag.

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Todays pro tip, to H will the kits, just buy them by the bag, that way if you mess up you aren't short one and if they are N90's you will break some and you will be short. If they are old, it's cheaper to chuck the bag and buy new, almost the same price as a kit. The only rings I need the most of are for my regulators and even that is nominal now that I am using Mobile One.

nobody1 said:

Most airgun manufacturers do not even give you a schematic.

How do you get an accurate list of o'rings with their exact dimensions ?
Are you opening up the airgun (when new) going through every o'ring and measuring them?

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I don't know about others, but after my first PCP, I did a lot of research before I bought the others. I knew ahead of time what I needed to keep my new guns going and what was involved in a reseal.

A little leg work up front goes a long way in the long game.

I don't mind changing orings but what I do mind is when I have changed them the gun still leaks because its a problem i havent found. I had a jts airacuda max apart and back together 6 times lastweek. I was tired of the thing by the time I got it working.

I still like the simpler older pcp's. Also something to be said for flawless machining where every oring fits ) and mirror over any hole it must slide over for installation, but not TOO smoth where one must seal against the airtube but have one seen one factory airgun tubbe TOO polished smooth to seal and added after market regulator (a reg being another leak waiting to happen so if you don't need it don't have one).
Now if design and materials are Top shelf I would still say DO replace all of them in 10 years after seeing a great shooter take a DNF at the Nationals at 20 after his only 10 yeas old Ripley leak.
Certainly I've pushed my AA410 S Extra well past that with it being 20 years old w/zero maintenance (pro tuned 2 stage trigger was just an option I wonted no real need for it tho). I have have a factory sealed complete rebuild kit -the 2nd I've purchased as the unsealed one was 10 years with using and even with the orings lubed sealed & stored in cool dark they are 10+ year material so???) .
Certainly not the latest greatest and tiny bore at that (shudder) but does every thing it was built too and if handed to a someone that shoots as well as it does would will competition and even take clean head shots on Squirrels at 70 yards with me shooting it.

I do wonder on some models if one issues is some users no longer have any idea what a "slow fill is" so heating em up?


John

nobody1 said:

Most airgun manufacturers do not even give you a schematic.

How do you get an accurate list of o'rings with their exact dimensions ?
Are you opening up the airgun (when new) going through every o'ring and measuring them?

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I do my homework before buying and buy ones where I know the orings lists are available.

O-rings are a consumable where airguns are concerned and will fail inside or outside of a warranty. I get that people feel uncomfortable the first time around, but life is about learning. If you're unsure about o-ring sizes, you can ask here and you're pretty assured to get an answer. You can also find pre-packaged reseal kits for many popular airguns at places like Captain O-ring or Bagnal and Kirkwood if you're lazy and don't mind spending relatively high prices for a few o-rings. At least you'll know you got the right stuff. At this point in my airgunning, I have no fear of ripping into a leaky gun and fixing it myself, even if it is under warranty.

nobody1 said:

I am doing research, usually related to the performance of the airgun.
Maintaining a PCP and changing o'rings is not mentioned very much.

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Seems to be an often discussed subject here among other places. That is in fact how I ended up here and where I found a lot of the info that influenced my buying decisions.

7 years, more or less, shooting my FX Bobcat, Boss, Royale platform guns (all identical breech blocks) & I've had 1 leak! That was on the Bobcat. A twist of the pressure gauge (without replacing o-ring) & the leak stopped. Guess it depends on a person's choice of gun & the AMOUNT of o-rings involved. I choose to go with SIMPLE, solid engineering & manufacturing & it's worked great so far.

I have a rifle out of action with a broken poppet. At least I can source O-rings easily.