Impact M3 random leak - Help

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Heavyopp

Member
Aug 21, 2022
478
236
Middlesex,NJ USA
Fx impact M3 .22 caliber
1st reg 130
2nd reg 75
valve just above line 4

I get a random leak in the valve. Leaks through the barrel or breach if action is open. Slowly. You can hear it.
It’s not constant, I can shoot a dozen times, shot 13 will leak. Can’t stop it with another shot or 2 or 3.

I can stop the leak in 2 ways. Turn the valve counterclockwise, opening it more will stop the leak for a few more shots. Obviously changes my velocity.

I can also stop the leak by removing the bottle and let the gun bleed out. Reinstall the bottle and all is well for another random number of shots till it happens again.

What is happening? How do I fix?

thanks.
 
Richfromohio said:
I agree, the pop-it valve o ring is probably deformed or material is gotten hard.
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what would cause an oring to get hard? The gun is only a couple months old...

Deformed - could be — my last tune was high, seeing how fast I could throw MRD’s — leak started with the down tune — yes I did de-gas the gun completely before turning the regs down. I had the 2nd reg up around 150-160 for a couple of pellets

Decided I didn’t like the shot count at those high pressures, besides I couldn’t get the MRD’s to preform at range.

Where I’m at now 18 grn JSB are 880fps ballpark
 
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The harder you hammer your gun, you just have to expect things to happen. The guns will do it but you just have to be cool with the consequences. Call FX and order a valve rod. Then do what Impact guys do, wear out some screws. It’s not just Impacts. I’ve seen other guns like Leshiys with pulverized valves because hammerheads don’t know when to say when.
 
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Vetmx said:
Your poppet was getting slammed with a combo of the high reg pressure and your valve knob being turned in. When you backed the gun down, it just won’t seal now.
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When I was at high reg pressure I had the valve wide open. Didn’t turn it down till trying to fine turn the 18 grn pellets.

Any recommended reading for tear down?
 
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There is a lot you should know and tools you will need. C1 tool, modified pliers to grab valve rod, blue lock-tite and most importantly setting your C1 and how to air the gun up and finish tightening the top rail. If you screw that up you’ll have barrel alignment issues. If you want to be an Impact guy, this is your new life. Don’t feel bad, I get no enjoyment out of maintaining two of them.
 
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Glem.Chally said:

This or there's others on YouTube.
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This is a great video. Looks pretty straight forward. Didn’t see any special tools, at least for disassembly. Did mention some guys make a tool for C1 removal but this guy didn’t use anything but vice grips and an allen key as a lever.

Nothing in this video on putting it all back together. Vetmx seems to be warning me about alignment issues on re-assembly — need to heed that warning when the time comes.
 
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There are plenty ways to skin a cat. When I sell my guns I don’t want the buyer finding teeth marks on the valve rod or egged out holes. Remember, your hammer slides on that rod. If you want any of your previous valve settings to be remotely close, you have to get your C1 setting almost spot on every time you put the gun back together.
 
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Watch the video above as well as the one Ernest rowe has on youtube. Also, I run my 22 M3 HARD slinging slugs. And yes, I've had an oring or two go, here and there. It's going to happen, but relax. It's easy to completely disassemble the M3 and repair/reseal it. I highly reccomend you go on amazon and order an o ring kit for the Impact m3 from "captain o-ring". Or go to captainoring.com and order directly. I keep a couple of these on hand for all of my rifles. Never hurts to always have the right size o ring replacement on hand so you're not down for long. Also get Ernest Rowe's C-1 tool from 910 tunes. They also have a great regulator piston removal tool as well. A really good set of quality metric hex wrenches and some silicone grease for the orings. With the right tools and parts, it's really easy to break the M3 down. You will learn and understand the inner workings much better if you do it yourself.
 
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Oring kit ordered from Yenniedn — he has full kits listed in classifieds.

Have wiha metric allen keys, used to be quality, bought some stuff this year direct from wiha. Seems good but haven’t really used them much. Have 30 year old craftsman kits too.

Only thing I’ll need is C1 stuff but I like to do a little learning before just buying very specific task tooling.
 
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Heavyopp said:
Oring kit ordered from Yenniedn — he has full kits listed in classifieds.

Have wiha metric allen keys, used to be quality, bought some stuff this year direct from wiha. Seems good but haven’t really used them much. Have 30 year old craftsman kits too.

Only thing I’ll need is C1 stuff but I like to do a little learning before just buying very specific task tooling.
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You can just wrap leather around vise grips to hold the rod, hit the C1 with some heat from a propane torch then it'll back off easy with either smooth jaw channel locks or your buddy leather and pliers or a hex key in that hole. The special tool is nice but there's workarounds that cause 0 damage and you probably own them already.
 
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douger said:
watch the videos its not rocket science. just take your time, measure everthing with calipers also c-1
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Certainly can do that
Glem.Chally said:
You can just wrap leather around vise grips to hold the rod, hit the C1 with some heat from a propane torch then it'll back off easy with either smooth jaw channel locks or your buddy leather and pliers or a hex key in that hole. The special tool is nice but there's workarounds that cause 0 damage and you probably own them already.
Click to expand...
kinda figured I can improvise with what I have — I’d rather do it that way anyway
 
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