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

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nobody1

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Sep 4, 2021
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WA, United States
Many of my PCPs started leaking after 2-3 years, usually after the warranty ended.

The amount of time I spent trying to fix leaks by replacing o'rings is huge.
Sometimes I succeeded fixing the leaks, other times I decided I had enough and sold the PCPs.

PCPs (at this time) are the least robust of air guns, mostly because they need to hold air much longer (and at much higher pressure) than a springer, multipump or CO2 air gun.

They also are the most powerful and most accurate at longer range, and even short range :)

When I shoot PCPs I love them!
When I fix their leaks I hate them!

If the PCP leaks continue I will soon spend more time with my slingshots or bows, both can be fixed in 5 minutes or thrown away if something breaks.

So, what am I to do?

Anyone with a leaking PCP start complaining :)
 
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I hear you man. Got my AV leaking from the box and the store I purchased it from states o-rings can fail any time so no warranty. IMHO I think they might have sold me used gun. Some o-rings missing from the supplied packet. Fill port cover missing. (more complaints than just leaking, but hey ...) Nature of the beast I guess. That being said, I kinda like tinkering so I find some joy out of stripping it to find the leak. Also like to know how my rifle works. Guess it's me convincing myself to embrace the bad with the good .
 
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I figure that when one of my PCPs starts to leak, I will take it down and do a complete reseal.
My oldest one is 4, almost 5 years old now and has no leaks. My AirForce TalonP is a little newer and did get a leak earlier this year, but was a bad gauge, so I did not replace any o-rings. My RTI I got a few months earlier and sees the most use. It has been leak free, but I have two complete sets of o-rings in sealed bags for when the day comes that I need to reseal it.

Everything needs maintenance or repair from time to time. Just prepair for it and send a lot of lead down range until then.
 
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The golden rule of O-ring maintenance: When one of them reaches end of life, replace them all.

For me, this comes from the robotics industry, but equally applies to airguns. If you only replace the one that told you it went bad, then there are others that aren't far behind and you'll find yourself doing tear-downs every month. So get a complete reseal done all at once and be all smiles for another few years.

And this doesn't mean that a particular bad component or a particular bad design warrants a complete reseal each time. That is a different matter and requires it's own individual attention.
 
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nobody1 said:
Many of my PCPs started leaking after 2-3 years, usually after the warranty ended.

The amount of time I spent trying to fix leaks by replacing o'rings is huge.
Sometimes I succeeded fixing the leaks, other times I decided I had enough and sold the PCPs.

PCPs (at this time) are the least robust of air guns, mostly because they need to hold air much longer (and at much higher pressure) than a springer, multipump or CO2 air gun.

They also are the most powerful and most accurate at longer range, and even short range :)

When I shoot PCPs I love them!
When I fix their leaks I hate them!

If the PCP leaks continue I will soon spend more time with my slingshots or bows, both can be fixed in 5 minutes or thrown away if something breaks.

So, what am I to do?

Anyone with a leaking PCP start complaining :)
Click to expand...
All while airguns with higher cylinder pressures keep coming out and nobody seems to think about this.
 
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With the growing popularity of HP air rifles, O ring wear and leaks will only get worse. IMO, we have pushed air guns into an arena for which they were never anticipated to enter. So, if you're disappointed now in O ring failures and other maintenance issues, it's only going to get worse. The fix? Get back to our roots of sub-12 air rifles in .177, and up to 20 fpe in .22. Air guns have their place, as do metallic cartridge firearms. Why mix them?
 
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Motorhead said:
It is a constant chore if you own a lot of PCP's ... Yes it is :rolleyes:

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 :ROFLMAO:(y)
Click to expand...
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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Dairyboy said:
When I buy a PCP I will order all the orings necessary in bulk and I'm set for life whenever one breaks. That said I've had maybe 2 leaks the last 5 years? I don't stress about it
Click to expand...
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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Just avoid Guns with crazy amounts of o-rings. Like above the Impact is a little excessive in terms of o-rings.. Not sure why so many are needed. Some guns only have like 10. My Rexmimex (omitting the air tube) has two on valve outer, 1 on valve stem, 2 on power adjuster, 2 on outer barrel and 1 on breach. So thats 8 in the firing path.

and 5min to change all if needed.

I wonder how long it would take to change all the o-rings on the Impact.

Mike
 
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nobody1 said:
Many of my PCPs started leaking after 2-3 years, usually after the warranty ended.

The amount of time I spent trying to fix leaks by replacing o'rings is huge.
Sometimes I succeeded fixing the leaks, other times I decided I had enough and sold the PCPs.

PCPs (at this time) are the least robust of air guns, mostly because they need to hold air much longer (and at much higher pressure) than a springer, multipump or CO2 air gun.

They also are the most powerful and most accurate at longer range, and even short range :)

When I shoot PCPs I love them!
When I fix their leaks I hate them!

If the PCP leaks continue I will soon spend more time with my slingshots or bows, both can be fixed in 5 minutes or thrown away if something breaks.

So, what am I to do?

Anyone with a leaking PCP start complaining :)
Click to expand...
@nobody1
When you finally want to throw away your PCPs please let me know.
You can them throw them away into boxes addressed to me, please
Edward
 
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nobody1 said:
Many of my PCPs started leaking after 2-3 years, usually after the warranty ended.

The amount of time I spent trying to fix leaks by replacing o'rings is huge.
Sometimes I succeeded fixing the leaks, other times I decided I had enough and sold the PCPs.

PCPs (at this time) are the least robust of air guns, mostly because they need to hold air much longer (and at much higher pressure) than a springer, multipump or CO2 air gun.

They also are the most powerful and most accurate at longer range, and even short range :)

When I shoot PCPs I love them!
When I fix their leaks I hate them!

If the PCP leaks continue I will soon spend more time with my slingshots or bows, both can be fixed in 5 minutes or thrown away if something breaks.

So, what am I to do?

Anyone with a leaking PCP start complaining :)
Click to expand...

I got one. My leaker has never been fixed, it has a fine scratch on the poppet valve and I dont want to resurface it.
 
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