American Air Arms Evol having cardiac arrest

New to me 15in Evol in .22… needed some work from the beginning and I though I got it there but this last thing is damn persistent…

It’ll shot a handful of shots or so at the speed I set it to (965fps with 18grain / 890ish with 22 grain), then 1 to 3 or so shots way slower, then back to set speed. Example:

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This happens with any and all pellets I put through, 18gr, 22gr, 25gr doesn’t matter. With the 22 it’ll shoot 890, then 830-850, then 880 again. 25gr 840ish, then 800 and back up.

Spread was way worse when I got it. What I’ve done so far is: Set reg to 2,100psi, pulled hammer and spring, cleaned hammer channel properly, cleaned and polished hammer and spring, balanced hammer to reg at around 96.5-97% of max speed…

I’m almost guessing the reg is shot but, per gauge, holding pressure constant. Interestingly, it has the purple reg but based on the rest of the gun and serial it is a newer model and should have the blue reg, right?! The gun also sounds different when the slow shots occur, I can tell without looking at the chrony numbers… obviously also from POI… when it’s shooting as it’s supposed to it’s very accurate with the 18gr but the weird slow shots are all over so can’t trust it for now. Tried with different mods obviously but no change. The one on it right now is a Falx, which can go up to .30 so there shouldn’t be clipping.

Hoping the Evol fanbase has ideas ;) Thanks in advance!! Orings to rebuild the reg and basically the entire thing are on the way.

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Degas the cylinder and get to the regulator. I would do a rebuild of that for starters and make sure everything is good and clean, with just a small amount of lubricant. Make sure you use the suggested lubricant that Tom suggests, other wise you could find yourself getting into more problems.

The rifle is really easy to work so, so dont hesitate to open it up and do some cleaning. Toms rifles are extremely durable and not much to go wrong with them.
 
Degas the cylinder and get to the regulator. I would do a rebuild of that for starters and make sure everything is good and clean, with just a small amount of lubricant. Make sure you use the suggested lubricant that Tom suggests, other wise you could find yourself getting into more problems.

The rifle is really easy to work so, so dont hesitate to open it up and do some cleaning. Toms rifles are extremely durable and not much to go wrong with them.
Yeah that’s on the list once the orings arrive, so is pulling the valve and make sure it’s fine as well… No hesitation here to tear airguns apart :) still weird… it’s consistently inconsistent. Can almost predict the next slow shot.
 
Any chance the hammer is dragging on the sear ? I haven’t studied the internal workings very much but that is something that gets overlooked quite often.
Good idea. Checked that though and looked fine. Also based on how the hammer is designed it’s basically flying once the sear lets go. May be the “anti rotation” screw on the hammer is dragging but looked fine as well when i had the hammer out…
 
I’ve had my fair share of inconsistent regulated rifles. Most were due to leaking probe o rings. Once in the last 10 years have I had a regulator problem where it was leaking past the piston , poor quality oring was at fault. Barrel/ transfer port leaks are another problem area. Mushroomed / bent valve stems from too much hammer strike and high reg pressures.
Just looked at the diagram and there’s really not that many seals in these guns to go bad. I’m sure you’ll get it with a fresh set of O rings.
 
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I’ve had my fair share of inconsistent regulated rifles. Most were due to leaking probe o rings. Once in the last 10 years have I had a regulator problem where it was leaking past the piston , poor quality oring was at fault. Barrel/ transfer port leaks are another problem area. Mushroomed / bent valve stems from too much hammer strike and high reg pressures.
Just looked at the diagram and there’s really not that many seals in these guns to go bad. I’m sure you’ll get it with a fresh set of O rings.
Thanks! Yeah hopefully full reseal will do the trick… hard to get parts for them if it’s more than that…