Leaving a CO2 gun charged

[Bluemill]

I dissected the grip/handle part of the PPK's frame and judge it to be straight still. How they engineered the new flush cartridge tightening bolt/cup is a bit bizarre, as the female part of the threading that fits into the handle base comes in 2 parts like a clamshell, which doesn't give it a lot of strength, Perhaps they did this to keep people like my younger self from bending and cracking the frame, the clamshell would give before the frame would. I'm calling Umarex USA today to get one more air valve assembly for the pistol. If that doesn't hold up, I'll comeback to trying to make my own gaskets from Polyurethane stock. Many thanks to CTShoooter & Trig. The latter sure sounds like an engineer! Love this site so far. Bluemill

 

[Bam86]

Is it possible the leak is somewhere else? Seem like you are focused on this one seal. I am sure you have troubleshot the issue plenty, but just wanted to throw in the possibility.

On the ring that is staked in, have you tried to work it free in one of the many failed assemblies? Maybe a small burr bit, or destroy the seal and try to thread the staked ring in further to work it back out? Just trying to think of ways around having to buy a new assembly each time.

 

[Bluemill]

Is it possible the leak is somewhere else? Seem like you are focused on this one seal. I am sure you have troubleshot the issue plenty, but just wanted to throw in the possibility.

On the ring that is staked in, have you tried to work it free in one of the many failed assemblies? Maybe a small burr bit, or destroy the seal and try to thread the staked ring in further to work it back out? Just trying to think of ways around having to buy a new assembly each time.

 

[Bluemill]

Dear Bam, The leak only happens when I'm loading a new CO2 cartridge, the cartridge gets covered with frost, it's freezing etc. I've had plenty of internal valve leaks before and fixed a few too. I've had the earlier model of the PPK since 2002 and never had the cartridge seal problems that this one has had. The old one has been maintained by the availability of parts from Umarex USA, Fort Smith Ark. I have several spare air valves that I can easily disassemble, but I can't get the cartridge seals. This is the only Umarex gun I've ever been able to get parts for.

I called them yesterday and they said they no longer are selling parts for this pistol. I suspect they have discontinued the gun as most vendors I checked say sold out. They did say they would replace the one I have under warranty. I hope this means that they are doing a new design for the famous pistol, hopefully with the dropout magazine that holds the CO2 cartridge and bb's. I now own three pistols with this arrangement and it works well: Berretta 84FS, Makarov ULTRA, and the Air Venturi 1911-Springfield Armory. Another possibility is that they have pulled the pistol due to many failures like I'm having.

 

[Bluemill]

Two weeks after I mailed in the defective PPK BB pistol to Umarex I called them, as they hadn't responded to my emails regarding tracking the replacement pistol back to me. They said they were out of inventory, but would send me one asap. Not sure if that's going to happen as they are out of stock everywhere. The good news is that I fixed my old PPK, parts of which go back to 2002. Thanks to the tips and direction of Member- Nervoustrig, whose posts are on page one of these threads, I was able to make a successful, no leak seal. On Amazon I found a metric set of hollow leather punches, I think 2-10mm. Then I found polyurethane in 2mm thick sheets, 12" x 12" for $23, with a hardness spec of 80A. That site was "Fix Supply" out of Buffalo, NY. I had previously removed the air valve assembly and made a simple tool to unscrew the brass collar that held the old seal in. I measured it at 8mm diameter. I tried a 9mm punch to cut the new seal. When I tried to hammer the punch into the poly, it bounced up, as I was using my very light duty hammer. Got a BIG one and hit that sucker hard- which did the trick. Then cut the center hole for the piercer with a 3mm punch. Dropped that into the valve and attempted to thread the ring over it, but the seal material was tooo thick and hard. Thinking I'd need to cut a new seal of 8mm to fit inside the ring allowing me to easily thread, and NOT cross thread the collar retaining ring. I figured I'd worked hard on the 9mm one so I thought I might be able to squeeze it into the ring, as the hole in the middle might allow enough give to get it in. It worked.

Then I reassembled the gun and put in a new Umarex 12g cartridge. I thought I'm going to probably have to screw this in VERY fast as the poly was so hard. But then there was no hiss.... and by the looks of my modified tightening screw, it was in almost all the way, but no that tight....

Pulled the trigger, and BAM! -it fired beautifully!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's too early to tell about long term durability, but it felt like a brand new factory seal, and I can make hundreds out of the stock and tools I have! THANKS SO MUCH TO TRIG!!

File under HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN CO2 SEALS,,,,,,,

 

[nervoustrig]

Outstanding! I’m glad to hear you were able to repair it yourself and get back to enjoying it.

 

[Bluemill]

DURABILITY REPORT - DAY 5, March 29-Apri l3, '23

Finally started to hear less "POP" out of the old PPK/S bb pistol, today at day 5. I shot it down to the point the blowback wouldn't work and pulled the CO2 cartridge. With good light and a 10x power jeweler's loop I took a good look at the homemade gasket. It looked like the day I put it in, flat as a pancake, with not a hint of any indentation, As many of you know, that second CO2 cartridge you put in often does not go in as smoothly as the first. This time, it did- NO HISS, but this time I tightened the the CO2 screw a lot less, and I was surprised when I pulled the trigger and it POPPED loud again. I'd say this material is ideal for this application.

Think it might be time to pull out some of those other pistols that had failed seals that the makers of the guns refused to sell seals for, and get them shooting again.

I'm still waiting on my warranty replacement PPK/S from Umarex. I am convinced they have stopped production of this model made in Japan. Although it's an old design, it's a good one, and it was still selling. Hope this means a better NEW design.

Yours,
BLUEMILL