PCP failures you've experienced

[manwithnoname]

I'm trying to understand the type of stuff that can go wrong/what to plan for. I'm assuming seals and stuff will fail eventually, anything else? There is the mental hurdle of having a ton of compressed air near my face with PCP. I'd assume most failures regarding air is just leaks and not going boom.



Just trying to get a feel of what to expect as a PCP owner coming from the spoiled world of rimfire.

 

[rangur1]

unique question , as I'm not in firearms , I would think you could be at risk of a "hot load" in a cartridge. But I wouldn't know that for sure. Now as for your concern. Yes , there are a few cautions to be observed. Most are with filling the tube / bottle of the gun or carry along resevior tank. the fill whip can become detached from the gun if the fill probe slips out. But you can usually tell by the probe being real loose as you plug it in the port - bad O-rings. Once gun is filled , it is very stable , most "booms" occur when a person decides to work on their gun and fails to depressurize the gun prior. Almost all others are just eventual O-ring leaks and those start out small. I guess bottles can be cracked if the guns are abused. tossed into back of trucks , dropped on rocks. However , all I know tend to transport their guns tightly secured in cases , secondary air tanks have dedicated carry kits for them and I HIGHLY recommend them. Keeps them secure from rolling and damaging tanks or their valve systems on top. Air tanks are really where the caution needs to be observed , it's not sexy , but it's important. As for the guns , they are very stable , and if you work on it , watch any of the video tutorials that are readily available , can't find any vids , drop the question on this forum , answers will come quickly. 

 

[Marley5]

I think about it everytime I fill a gun, all that air pressure. Something I've gotten in the habit of doing is wearing safety glasses with each fill and muzzle and tank facing away from me. 

Not really concerned with any other type of failure which I've yet to experience like leaks.

If double loading is a failure, I'm guilty. 

 

[Saltlake58]

Double loads, and yes, if I'm touching High Pressure Air, eye protection. Normally, also use hearing protection. If something goes wrong, high pressure air is loud.

Probably funniest in hind sight (stupid at the time) was while filling a tank, the fill whip wasn't properly connected and blew off. I believe it was a 3 foot, very angry hose blasting around. Caught my arms and left a couple bruises. I just got out of range and thankfully it was a 90ci tank, so it depressurized quickly. No damage, but a reminder of high pressure air and loose hoses HURT. 

 

[dizzums]

mainly leaks .. and mostly on new guns believe it or not .. you got to get good at learning how to seal these things lol, especially sealing threads, aint no easy win i can tell ya that, but dooable once you know whats needed, also ive seen damaged gauges, again FROM the factory where theyve been overfilled to test i presume, if the mid-point of the needle looks off-center a bit, its damaged and wont read right it can be off 50 bar or more ... then other things ive had fail are fill foster seals and ive had things loosen up .. the most common point for that are the allen head fasteners commonly used to key the bolt to the actions, they can back out and cause random jamming ...

 

[Glem.Chally]

Just oring failures, I wouldn't consider a double load a failure.

 

[LMNOP]

Leaks for me. I also had a DonnyFL Koi in .22 on a .22 that was clipping the baffles. Donny made it right and replaced it, free of charge, with a .25. No more clipping and Donny has a customer for life.

The third is a assumption poorly made on my part:

I had an old thick memory foam mattress. I was tossing it out and figured I'd just discharge a 14.3gr CPD into it after shooting outside and leaving a round in the chamber. It shot through the mattress, through the box spring, through the carpet, through the 8# pad, through the OSB floor board, and rested in a joist. Yes, it was cleared in a safe direction and I adhered to "Never point it at anything you don't want to destroy" as well as "Know your target and what is behind it" but it was a good lapse in judgement.

I recommend you treat every PCP as-if it were a firearm. Make no assumptions and do not mentally classify it as any different than a firearm. My .22 PCPs I treat as-if they were .22 LR.

 

[TMH]

Situation: Filling FX Crown. Event: User error - although the user always checks/tugs on the Foster connector to make sure it is seated and locked, this one blew off at ~200 bar pressure. What made things worse - Crown's pressure gauge is read from the bottom of the stock, right next to where Foster connection is made and user was watching the gauge during the fill process (at the time user was using a compressor which did not have an auto shut-off when a specific pressure was reached). Result: User took one between the eyes. This photo was taken after the bleeding was controlled through direct pressure. Lots of blood vessels in one's head - head wounds bleed a lot. I should have taken a photo of the gun on the garage floor covered in blood, but for some reason I wasn't thinking straight at the time.

Since this event:

1) Fill whip is always pointing away from me when filling, even though I have checked and double-checked the connection.
2) I added a better (digital) gauge to that compressor, so now I read fill pressure off of that instead of off the gun.
3) I have placed a shelf next to my compressor so I can fill the guns while resting on the shelf, and not holding the gun or with it resting on my lap.
4) Others have also suggested that the fill whip end can be tethered using either a rope or elastic cord to limit its travel in the case of high pressure disconnection.

I have also read of at least one incident (cannot verify validity, but there were photos) of certain high pressure air accessories which let go at pressure. This was an extra air supply for a gun which had a really small OEM air cylinder, and was being made and sold by "one of the guys on the forum." (This was NOT the AGN forum) Did a number on the gun, but apparently (fortunately) not on the user. I only use pressure vessels with DOT or ISO certification.

I have had burst disks go on one compressor, and some guns also have them. I had not exceeded that compressor's maximum working pressure, but burst disks are continually being flexed on every fill, and eventually weaken and let go. Fortunately I knew what happened (I used to work in a SCUBA shop many, many moons ago, so I have been around plenty of bursting burst disks) but my buddy just about jumped out of his skin.

 

[MileHighAirGunner]

The regulator on my Fortitude failed and locked up the valve. I didn’t have a degassing tool with me so I degasses the air reservoir by loosening the fill assembly and let the air bleed out not fully thinking it through and recognizing that the plenum between reg and valve may still be pressurized. Fortunately the plenum on a Fortitude is pretty small. I’ve seen champagne corks pop more violently than what occurred with my Fortitude when that pressure released when I started disassembling. Still damaged a couple of parts though. Hard and costly lesson learned that day. Little embarrassed and not too proud to admit that mistake. Do stupid things win stupid prizes I suppose. This is by far the stupidest thing I’ve ever done with a PCP and I’d like it to stay that way.

 

[TMH]

...Do stupid things win stupid prizes...

GREAT line!

Needs to be added to my signature.

 

[nervoustrig]

Nothing much to add to the component failures like O-rings or the occasional poppet (valve stem if you prefer) but the pressurized plenum caution from Milehigh reminds me of one...

Some years ago I had a rifle propped up against the wall in my workroom. A seal let go and the pressure began to fall. The rifle was uncocked with a pellet in the chamber left over from a nighttime pesting session. At some point the pressure fell enough that the preload on the hammer spring threw the valve open and sent the pellet up into the wall at a shallow angle. No one was anywhere nearby and it was an exterior wall so there was no risk of it hitting someone but it opened my eyes to a mode of failure I had not considered.

 

[ctshooter]

I guess I can add a few user induced failures which could lead to AD. 

Hammer Spring adjustment - the hammer spring can be adjusted to the point where the sear will not engage. If the cocking lever is snap released at this point it could kick off an AD.

Trigger adjustments - happened to my with my Brocock. I was lightening the trigger and had it just right when the adjustment must've slipped a little and the gun would fire as soon as I closed the bolt.

 

[Motorhead]

Failing fill foster o-rings

Failing / Leaking Dowdy seals

ANY O-ring in the pneumatic system

Broken poppet heads / stems

Regulator seat leaks

Broken trigger parts / sears

Sheared off cocking lugs

Pellets stuck in barrel / Many !

Bent or broken pellet probes

Air tube corrosion / rust

Seized hammers

Major Green slime corrosion on brass internals ( mostly BSA )



Lol .. yea a LOT can happen, but with proper use, some maintenance, dry air filling and not leaving out in the weather a VERY reliable platform is the modern PCP air gun. 

 

[bowtieguy66]

Not having enough spare $ for a Leshy, or Taipan.

 

[bubblerboy64]

I had a catastrophic failure of a Browning over and under while shooting trap. My reloading error. No need to go into the details but it was entirely my fault. Gun blew apart into three pieces. Not a scratch on me or anyone close to me. If it can happen it will. It’s hard not to believe in divine intervention when something like that happens and you live to talk about it. Air guns are relatively safe as compared to firearms but they certainly deserve lots of respect. As with most things gun related the drive to the range is likely the risky part.

 

[JimD]

I shot powder burners, occassionally to often depending on circumstances, for decades and only bought my first PCP last year. It was a Benjamin Marauder Pistol (Prod). I've retuned it multiple times but it has had no issues. It doesn't leak and shoots accurately. The first scope I put on it (a UTG bug buster 3-9) would not hold zero but that wasn't the guns fault and has happened to me on powder burners. The Hawke Vantage 2-7 replacement has worked flawlessly.

My 25 caliber Avenger leaked when I first got it, I don't know where, Air Venturi fixed it under warranty, I was only out the shipping to get it there. No other issues so far.

I have not failed to bleed the supply source before disconnecting the hose but I know if is possible and inadvisable. I have started to more than once but the fitting does not move nearly as easily when under pressure and the different feel stopped me. So there is a clue if you forget. But I guess if you tug hard you can get yourself in a little trouble.

I fill my guns from a SCBA tank and fill the tank from my Yong Heng. I have failed to open the bleed valve on the compressor before shutting it off and then failed to open it before turning it on. That flips the breaker on the power strip that feeds it and is not good for the pump but so far it works fine. My SCBA tank is more than 15 years old but I don't worry about it, I am pretty sure it will leak if it fails, not explode. I protect the carbon fiber wrap from damage and have examined it for wear or damage.

I think the fill process is the biggest opportunity for a mistake but it normally ends without blood loss. I also understand I may need to replace O-rings in my guns someday but it has not arrived yet. Crosman ia particularly good at supporting their guns with parts (so far I've just purchased new transfer ports). I've also purchased a fairly large set of O-rings so I may have the needed parts on-hand when the need arises.

 

[Emu]

A double charge in a firearm cartridge or an obstruction in the barrel of a firearm should be much more dangerous than a mistake with a PCP (except from shooting someone. People use to die equally by any reason).

 

[Joer]

I was moving an Mrod in my garage range one time holding it by the front of the stock. Unfortunately, I tripped on something and lost my grip on the rifle. The bottom of the stock hit the ground and it bump fired. 

 

[TDK]

I think about it everytime I fill a gun, all that air pressure. Something I've gotten in the habit of doing is wearing safety glasses with each fill and muzzle and tank facing away from me. 

Not really concerned with any other type of failure which I've yet to experience like leaks.

If double loading is a failure, I'm guilty.

YEP! Same here and it has already paid off.

The event - dead head in Chinese made extended female foster QD (pretty sure all the extended ones are the same), purposely pointed down range, at a range. Passed the tug test, but post analysis determined there was no click and coupler was only partially engaged. Dead head blew out at around 3000psi and went downrange never to be found. Sounded like a subsonic 9mm.

That was my first and last non-USA made foster connector. I now pre-check the fit on any new fitting I enter into service to ensure easy and proper engagement onto all my other fittings. Humans get distracted and hurry even when they say they won't, so I think that part is important to eliminate need for special attention during routine use. Good connectors should engage easily and be reliable even if you were only paying half-attention. I also now specifically listen/feel for that 'click' in addition to doing the tug test.

Last change I made was to switch over to dead heads that have a hole in them and a cable loop that can be tethered around the tank neck. This should help control the dead head in the event something similar happens. Like others have said, I also keep out line of the fill hose should it come off the gun.

 

[manwithnoname]

Wow, wasn't expecting so many stories and good info thanks guys!

I guess I can mention one failure I had with 22lr. I had a 22lr dedicated upper (basically barrel part) that goes on an AR15 lower (basically trigger group and holds magazine). I was shooting it with a suppressor and no ear protection. Well at some point the barrel liner slid forward in the barrel. This created a gap where when the 22lr shell goes into the chamber it is not fully supported. Thus the cartridge exploded and left me with a ringing right ear. All the gas came out the ejection port instead of going through the suppressor. Glad it was not 9mm or .223 or I'd probably have lost hearing in that ear. Now I wear some for of hearing protection no matter what.... well not always with 22lr bolt action....