Tuning AEA ELEMENT MAX .45

I cannot quote your exact numbers as normal but from the reviews i remember watching that trend in general is normal. I remember all the reviewers saying they never filled the gun to 4500 as you got one shot that was super power and ate a whole bunch of air. The next two shots would be quite a bit lower in power and POI. I believe they only filled the rifle to 3800-4000 to get two really good stacked shots and then one slightly lower.
 
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If u still have the issue. The first thing I would do if bin can't fix it is reduce the hammer spring tension and see what that first shot does. Maybe hammer bounce maybe the valve is sticking or something. But that isn't normal from my experience. That's got a balanced valve and so does the hpmax's my max use less air in the beginning and more when it's lower on air.
 
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This morning took 3 shots from 4400 to 3000 psi. Using about 500 psi per shot now. First shot was 811.3 then 909.0 and finally 851.5 fps. With 180 gr slug ( first ones I grabbed ) I got about 300 fpe average. Not too bad I think. I removed the valve pin and end cap that holds valve pin. Found the pin rides up in the cap and the cap has an oring that fits tight on pin ( see images ) . I took the end of valve pin and lightly sanded it then lubed up oring till pin slid in and out easily. Valve was sticking inside cap holding valve open longer. May need that oring inside cap replaced. Will still call Ben today to see what he suggests. I think I read somewhere they redesigned valve pin to cut down circumference of head to fit looser.

AEA VALVE.jpg


AEA VALVE CAP.jpg


AEA CAP 2.jpg
 
My Element Max is a .51, so take this for what it’s worth. The last string I had was with a fill of about 3850 psi and 310gr cast slug: 851, 808, & 778 fps and right at 500 psi per shot.

When I first started shooting this rifle, I was trying to fill it to as close as I could get to 4500 psi and it used a lot of air for a marginal increase in velocity for the first shot. Also, the second and third shot velocities seemed to drop lower than what I get with lower starting fill pressures. I see that in lots of other posts from guys with all calibers, so I tend to fill only to a max of 4000 or slightly less. That helps to conserve some air in my fill tank too.