FX Does higher reg. pressure mean more stress on the gun

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PennyPincher

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May 13, 2020
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I see comments like "Pushing the gun pretty hrad" or "Running it pretty hot". These comments generally relate to regulator pressures and/or hammer spring tensions etc. I am not very knowledgable in PCP guns so wondering the affect of running a gun as 150 or so reg pressure, or I guess I should say, running a gun at the max the company recommends it for.
From a newbie viewpoint I am assuming that running at say 150 would put more stress on O rings especially as well as many other parts as opposed to running the same gun at 120 or less. I am sure there are a lot of you who will say you have run your gun at max pressure and is not caused a problem, BUT, my question does not relate to a particular gun but in general the running of max pressures as opposed to way less being easier on the gun.
 
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if your bottle pressure is at 300 bar, running the reg at 80 bar "generally" is going to put significant more stress on the reg than if you were to run the reg at 150, or have the bottle fill at 250 bar, since it has to maintain/regulate and keep down 220 bar of pressure (from 300 down to 80). But running the reg way too high has another issue, your stock hammer might not be heavy enough with enough preload to strike open the valve so you'll end up losing velocity.
 
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What matters is that you get the performance that you want from your gun. NOT, that you baby all it's parts so that they are never stressing out. The gun is going to need maintenance either way, running a gun at it's max adjustment range might have you doing it a little sooner, -thats it. They have a range of adjustment and if you try to go out of it either way your gun won't shoot well. If you break a poppet from a heavy hammer strike, then you had a bad poppet or a poorly designed gun with too heavy of a spring for the poppet supplied. A good well designed gun won't fall apart from use, even heavy use. Using your reg hard won't break it but it might not work as well so you won't want to do that anyway. Don't worry about problems you don't have and don't think for a second that if you are really gentle on it that you are never going to have to do maintenance.

Now, I just noticed that your name is PennyPincher, so I will add that if you buy a cheap thrifty inexpensive airgun, then all bets are off, baby that thing!
 
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Healthservices said:
Biggest thing is to pick a gun you are not afraid of. Something that is easy to repair, has spare parts that you can purchase, has plenty of support, like here, the factory and the internet. Remember it's just a hobby. It is so easy to get in over your head.

Allen
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I second that and why I choose airguns like air ventrui avenger since there is an abundance of info and aftermarket parts available. I also buy aea straight from bintac becuz his customer service is really good.
 
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Higher reg settings require higher hammer strikes. You can and will break hard parts faster the harder you push your setup. Many of the normal mainstream pcps cant actually adjust high enough for people to see these issues. But FX has a very high ceiling available out of the box and with the aftermarket support. Some people have never had any problems with the more tame or balanced designs, but many have smashed parts. Just stay within your lane, and tune so your setup is happy. For normal FX AMP regs keep them all under 150-155Bar and you will be fine.
 
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I would explain it more like this, whether or not the amount of pressure on the regulator depends on the degree of damage to the internal parts. So it's more about the design itself. If I were to take a comparison by failure rate, the worst design is on the Fx Impact because there is no rigid frame to prevent twisting and thus damage to parts at higher pressure settings. Whereas the Maverick which is actually a modified Impact is more or less failure proof at higher pressures due to the support frame. And if I were to consider the others like crown, Panthera, Dynamic most of the failures are only initial from the factory and they are made for higher performance i.e. higher pressure settings.
The only one I actually get to service the most is Impacts where they change o-rings every now and then. Where as the panthera only occasionally for o-ring replacement on the valve stem and it had over 35k shots on a 170 bar regulator.
Otherwise the amp regulator is made for stable operation between 50 and 190 Bar.
So the main differences are only in the design on which the durability of the internal parts depends.
 
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Since O rings are already sealed at whatever pressure extra pressure is not going to make any real difference, the same goes for a regulator as the only parts under stress are the sealing surface which is usually PTFE or nylon and its metal sealing surface, increasing the pressure will just help to seal, however if you try and adjust a regulator down depending on its design will quickly kill its sealing surfaces, as for the rest increasing spring pressure for the hammer also depending on its design is just opening the valve which will also have a slightly harder time of it depending again on its design and material, but all in all its not that much .
 
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MongooseV8 said:
Higher reg settings require higher hammer strikes. You can and will break hard parts faster the harder you push your setup. Many of the normal mainstream pcps cant actually adjust high enough for people to see these issues. But FX has a very high ceiling available out of the box and with the aftermarket support. Some people have never had any problems with the more tame or balanced designs, but many have smashed parts. Just stay within your lane, and tune so your setup is happy. For normal FX AMP regs keep them all under 150-155Bar and you will be fine.
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Having started this hobby like many thinking more fps and more fpe was the goal….. I’ve since learned I enjoy a smooth gentle shot cycle and the increased accuracy much more than a loud thwack.
I often notice on several high end HFT rigs that higher / max fill pressures often result in more crazy flyers increases. Always looking for that sweet zone regulated or not.
 
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THese are some great responses, I appreciate all of them.
I own a FX Dreamlite and have on order a FX Crown. I ordered the Crown as I would like to shoot at 75 yards mostly. THe Dreamlite shoots great up to 50 but falls off more at 75 than I would like. On the new Crown, I am assuming I will be running reg. pressures more than the 110 I have found to be best on the Dreamlite. In asking this question curious if regs. of maybe 150 is harmful to the gun as opposed to the 110 I run on the Dreamlite.

The Pennypincher name is a carry over from years ago when I was big into CB radio's. When a penny was sure worth a lot more than today.
 
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PennyPincher said:
THese are some great responses, I appreciate all of them.
I own a FX Dreamlite and have on order a FX Crown. I ordered the Crown as I would like to shoot at 75 yards mostly. THe Dreamlite shoots great up to 50 but falls off more at 75 than I would like. On the new Crown, I am assuming I will be running reg. pressures more than the 110 I have found to be best on the Dreamlite. In asking this question curious if regs. of maybe 150 is harmful to the gun as opposed to the 110 I run on the Dreamlite.

The Pennypincher name is a carry over from years ago when I was big into CB radio's. When a penny was sure worth a lot more than today.
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Your real concern is velocity, not reg pressure, and I'm not sure that you can achieve more from the Crown. Tuning and barrel length will be the limiting factors, and I don't see much difference.
 
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PennyPincher said:
THese are some great responses, I appreciate all of them.
I own a FX Dreamlite and have on order a FX Crown. I ordered the Crown as I would like to shoot at 75 yards mostly. THe Dreamlite shoots great up to 50 but falls off more at 75 than I would like. On the new Crown, I am assuming I will be running reg. pressures more than the 110 I have found to be best on the Dreamlite. In asking this question curious if regs. of maybe 150 is harmful to the gun as opposed to the 110 I run on the Dreamlite.

The Pennypincher name is a carry over from years ago when I was big into CB radio's. When a penny was sure worth a lot more than today.
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For the Crowns you probably will hit the point of diminishing returns before you really hurt anything. They are amazing with pellets, which will be fps capped to about 890fps anyway. If you want more fps/fpe you would be better off with something else. Some common advice you will find here is to try out your new Crown stock out of the box before messing with the tune. It will probably come from the factory ready to stack pellets.
 
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PennyPincher said:
THese are some great responses, I appreciate all of them.
I own a FX Dreamlite and have on order a FX Crown. I ordered the Crown as I would like to shoot at 75 yards mostly. THe Dreamlite shoots great up to 50 but falls off more at 75 than I would like. On the new Crown, I am assuming I will be running reg. pressures more than the 110 I have found to be best on the Dreamlite. In asking this question curious if regs. of maybe 150 is harmful to the gun as opposed to the 110 I run on the Dreamlite.

The Pennypincher name is a carry over from years ago when I was big into CB radio's. When a penny was sure worth a lot more than today.
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I have a Crown MK2 and really like it. It came as a 600mm .25cal and I never had to adjust the reg or hammer spring. I installed a 500mm .22cal barrel kit and just used the power wheel to have it shooting extremely well. It's been an excellent gun. I did have an Impact MK2 in .25cal and ended up selling it and went with a Ghost which I'm glad I bought. It's a very solid platform. BTW, I was just bugging you about your name.
 
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PennyPincher said:
THese are some great responses, I appreciate all of them.
I own a FX Dreamlite and have on order a FX Crown. I ordered the Crown as I would like to shoot at 75 yards mostly. THe Dreamlite shoots great up to 50 but falls off more at 75 than I would like. On the new Crown, I am assuming I will be running reg. pressures more than the 110 I have found to be best on the Dreamlite. In asking this question curious if regs. of maybe 150 is harmful to the gun as opposed to the 110 I run on the Dreamlite.

The Pennypincher name is a carry over from years ago when I was big into CB radio's. When a penny was sure worth a lot more than today.
Click to expand...

I have a .22 Crown Mk2 with 500mm barrel.

Its use is target shooting at 30 and 40 yards and its my most accurate rifle at those distances out of 15 PCPs.

I shoot the Crown only using 18.13g JSB/FX/AA at 870-880 fps. Regulator pressure is 135bar.

Interestingly, if I swap barrels to the shorter 380mm .22 - and change nothing else - no adjustment to hammer spring preload or regulator adjustment - it shoots the 15.89g JSB/FX/AA at 870fps with excellent accuracy.

If your Crown is a .22, I hope this helps.

-Ed
 
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In my experience, running a pcp at 150 bar reg pressure compared to 120 bar will have negligible effects on the internal parts. That usually happens at pressures above 180 bar. That’s when you’ll see guys upgrading valve stems and increasing hammer weight.

Besides the increased wear on parts; it’s not as enjoyable to shoot a gun that is pushing its power to the limit. The increased hammer spring tension and heavier hammer weight create a harsh shot cycle. Shot count will drastically be reduced.
 
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