Air Venturi Avenge-X/PCP newbie concerns

[basketbob]

PCP newbie here. I had some concerns regarding my new Avenge-X that might also be basic PCP questions:

1) The lowest pressure I can get on the regulator is 1500 psi. And yes, I degassed before lowering the regulator... I tightened the reg screw all the way before filling, but the reg still creeped up to 1500 psi over the course of a 4000 psi fill. Is this a cause for concern or do I need to "wear in" the reg some more? I should note that aside from this, the reg is pretty stable and only creeps ~100 psi over the course of a week. The 1500 psi minimum is kind of annoying because I'm trying to get <900s fps for 10.34gr 177 pellets and I'm stuck at ~910 even with the hammer spring all the way out.

2) The fill port cover is sometimes very tight and I don't know if that happens when I degas the gun (everything gets cold and the metal contracts), over the course of shooting, or if there's a leak causing pressure build up at the cover. Anybody have experience with this?

Thank you and have a great day!

 

[weevil]

If you increase the reg pressure without increasing the hammer, the pellet speed will reduce because the valve is harder to open. Try increasing in 100psi increments until you hit your mark.

 

[Trucker3573]

Or run the velocity up higher and cut it with the transfer port adjuster.

 

[basketbob]

If you increase the reg pressure without increasing the hammer, the pellet speed will reduce because the valve is harder to open. Try increasing in 100psi increments until you hit your mark.

I don’t plan on increasing the reg, I figured I would just keep it at 1500 because that’s the lowest it will go. If I increase the reg the velocity will go up no matter what right?

 

[basketbob]

Or run the velocity up higher and cut it with the transfer port adjuster.

That’s true, but is it odd that I can’t get the velocity below 900 for 177 using just the reg and hammer? It seems like most people try to keep velocity around that

 

[basketbob]

I don’t plan on increasing the reg, I figured I would just keep it at 1500 because that’s the lowest it will go. If I increase the reg the velocity will go up no matter what right?

If you increase the reg pressure without increasing the hammer, the pellet speed will reduce because the valve is harder to open. Try increasing in 100psi increments until you hit your mark.

Sorry, I understand what you’re saying now - leave the hammer spring all the way out and increase the reg to reduce velocity. Got it

 

[Vetmx]

If weevils advice works you might end up with a gun in a far nicer state of tune. The route you were going, you could have wound up with a blubbery sounding gun. Hope it works. It just all depends on how wicked of a spring they stuck in there.

 

[weevil]

Sorry, I understand what you’re saying now - leave the hammer spring all the way out and increase the reg to reduce velocity. Got it

No problem. Let us know how it shakes out!

 

[basketbob]

If weevils advice works you might end up with a gun in a far nicer state of tune. The route you were going, you could have wound up with a blubbery sounding gun. Hope it works. It just all depends on how wicked of a spring they stuck in there.

@weevil @Vetmx Ok maybe I’m going crazy but now that I’m reading into this more it seems like the rule of thumb for pcp tuning is increasing reg pressure increases velocity. If a fully backed out hammer spring at 1500psi reg pressure is still resulting in too high of a velocity, and I can’t lower the reg anymore, am I SOL or should I just shut up and try weevil’s suggestion? The reason I’m hesitant is because the gun arrived with 2100 reg pressure and I swear I was getting higher velocities (~950) even with backed out HS

 

[Vetmx]

That’s what I was afraid of. But did you have it backed all the way to where you have it now?

 

[Vetmx]

You also have to understand that these and a ton of other guns aren’t designed around the little .177. They are designed around a .22. Like other inexpensive guns, you will see that guys who buy them in .177 usually wind up clipping coils off their springs or using a lighter spring. When you figure it out and get the right balance, hopefully you will have a great gun with an insane shot count.

 

[Trucker3573]

That’s true, but is it odd that I can’t get the velocity below 900 for 177 using just the reg and hammer? It seems like most people try to keep velocity around that

Yeah the avenger is a pretty stout platform and tough to run really low power sometimes. I had a .25 and at an utter idle still pushed 25.39 pellets at 850.

 

[weevil]

Give it a try at 2k. It’s the most “interference free” approach. Otherwise, a weaker spring or lighter hammer. Or we could help you to drop the low end on the reg by changing washers.

 

[basketbob]

That’s what I was afraid of. But did you have it backed all the way to where you have it now?

Yea I did

 

[basketbob]

You also have to understand that these and a ton of other guns aren’t designed around the little .177. They are designed around a .22. Like other inexpensive guns, you will see that guys who buy them in .177 usually wind up clipping coils off their springs or using a lighter spring. When you figure it out and get the right balance, hopefully you will have a great gun with an insane shot count.

Yea that makes sense, especially with the avenge-x being able to barrel swap all the way up to 25. Due to shipping restrictions in IL I had to get a 177 and get the 22 barrel kit separate but it's been out of stock. Just need to stick with the 177 for now and figure out a good tune. I was running into issues Sunday getting crazy flyers and crap groups at ~35 yards so I blamed it on the high reg but maybe I'm just getting used to the gun

 

[Tango Sierra]

Have you tried adjusting the transfer port adjustment knob to low? On my Avenge-X 25, this drops the fps a lot. I can get a sweet low power tune with some light weight pellets.
Yes, the fill port cap "locks up" when you degas the rifle. I pull it off before degassing now and that works.
I should have ordered the 177 cal barrel. They had them in stock last week for couple days. Now all out of stock. I'm still waiting on the 22 barrel kit. All kits OOS and says 3/25/24 now.

 

[rdtricks]

The 1500 psi minimum is kind of annoying because I'm trying to get <900s fps for 10.34gr 177 pellets and I'm stuck at ~910 even with the hammer spring all the way out.

Have you tried running a heavier pellet? JSB makes an 'Exact Monster Diabolo @ 13.64 gr and may help to lower the velocity of your current tune to speeds more to your liking. There are also slugs. . . .

 

[Vetmx]

I didn’t know it had a transfer port restrictor. The small port on the .177 barrel should already be handling this task but it doesn’t hurt to try. In the end if you just had less spring, life would be good.

 

[MongooseV8]

I wouldnt go lower than 1500psi on the Reg anyway. Too low or too high will increase wear and shorten the service life of the Reg/seals. I havent tried out the new AvengX but the old version Avenger we had a problem with the 177 version shooting waaaaay too fast no matter the settings. Some pcp's are just too powerful and dont have a low enough range of adjustment to get the tiny pellets going slow enough. I would try raising the Reg to say 1600psi or 1700psi with the hammer spring all the way backed out. If you leave the hammer spring adjustment at its lowest setting, and slowly raise the Reg pressure you should see the other side of the bell curve and velocity go down. If it doesnt, then your only other options would be to use the power port adjustment, or try heavier ammo.

 

[basketbob]

Have you tried adjusting the transfer port adjustment knob to low? On my Avenge-X 25, this drops the fps a lot. I can get a sweet low power tune with some light weight pellets.
Yes, the fill port cap "locks up" when you degas the rifle. I pull it off before degassing now and that works.
I should have ordered the 177 cal barrel. They had them in stock last week for couple days. Now all out of stock. I'm still waiting on the 22 barrel kit. All kits OOS and says 3/25/24 now.

Will definitely try this, and thanks for the insight on the fill port cap. And yes I saw that they updated it to the end of March! That's an insane delay but hopefully they are just being conservative.