AEA Possible problem with a Megalodon

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Panzerfaust

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Jul 5, 2024
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What’s up air gun experts? I recently purchased an AEA Megalodon, I have enjoyed the rifle very much. I had no plans to do anything with it but use it as a long distance hole punch. After shooting it a lot I discovered it produces ample power to use it for deer hunting. Even without a moderator and even being a 50 cal the reduced noise when shooting the rifle makes it appealing to me over a powder burner for hunting and possibly even home defense. You wouldn’t go instantly deaf if you had to discharge it inside and so far it holds its air charge reliably. If I fill the tanks on my Megalodon to the max which is 4500 psi, consistently the first time I shoot it produces something like a half power shot. The slug or pellet will hit 6 to 8 inches low and you can just tell by the noise from discharging as well as the sound of the slug impacting being less tells me it’s around half the power it normally produces. My guess currently is the hammer is not striking the valve hard enough to overcome the air pressure enough to allow enough air to produce a full power shot. Assuming that is not incorrect what could be done? As far as I know there is no way to adjust the hammer spring, I would check the manual but it is an AEA product and they apparently don’t want to waste any paper or ink on anything like an instruction manual. Nothing like buying something you know very little about in general , then it arrives and you think they forgot to include the manual, then you start looking and find out they just don’t even bother with any manual. That fact may have caused me to choose a different brand for my first pcp. I didn’t know though and now I own it so I’ve had to ask a lot of questions to get going with it. This is the reason I referred to everyone as air gun experts at the start of this thread. I have found the answer to all my questions so far here on this site. I appreciate all the info so far and would also appreciate any info anyone might be able to share concerning the half power first shot from maxed out air tanks. If I stop filling the rifle at 4100 to 4200 psi I then get a full power shot without fail, so that is what I have been doing. I guess my question is do I need to even worry about it or just stick to 4200 psi ? I’m concerned the issue may become worse over time and I will regret not trying to deal with it now while there is a warranty, assuming they honor it of course. Thanks for reading all that if you made it to the end. Thanks in advance for any advice also.

Jim

p.s.- I’m not filling it inside and then taking it outside where the temp increases causing the air pressure to rise and exceed 4500 psi, I was warned about that happening before I filled it the first time. Just in case someone thinks that might be what’s causing the issue.
 
I shot my .51 Challenger with 4100-4300 fill, it was a sweet starting spot. Didn't notice significant power increase going over that pressure. The most precise and consistent shots were number 2-5 out of 6 slug mag. And it took basically forever for my pump to go over that pressure.

Going to the max pressure still makes sense if you mod your gun with a regulator.
 
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vtl said:
I shot my .51 Challenger with 4100-4300 fill, it was a sweet starting spot. Didn't notice significant power increase going over that pressure. The most precise and consistent shots were number 2-5 out of 6 slug mag. And it took basically forever for my pump to go over that pressure.

Going to the max pressure still makes sense if you mod your gun with a regulator.
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I didn’t know you could mod a regulator on to a gun that didn’t have one. What you said about shots 2 thur 5 being the best shots, my mags are 8 and 3 thur 6 nearly keyhole consistently from from a lead sled on a table. I can shoot 16 times with the pressure dropping to about 2000 psi, this surprised me, never thought at 50 cal I could squeeze 16 easily lethal shots from those tanks on board the rifle. There is drop , but after you shoot two mags from filled tanks a few times you know how much to hold over for the 2nd mag. All that aside that megalodon would be super sweet if it was regulated probably. I was thinking of getting a regulated rifle in 25 or 30 caliber.
Consistency is always nice when shooting. There are 2 versions of the Meg, a 15 inch barrel and 22 inch barrel. I went with the long one as I didn’t buy it for home defense or a truck gun. I’m going to hunt with it. That’s why that whole valve lock thing was so concerning. I didn’t realize until I got it that the long version has 100 cc’s more air storage with 300cc tanks instead of 250 cc tanks the 15 inch version has got. I really jumped into all this fairly blindly, I looked at that challenger and that single shot Element that can be customized to add a back tank rather than a foldable stock. The guy I was getting it from kept telling me I would be better off with the megalodon. I normally won’t buy something so recently released, I wait for about a year until people find all the flaws and address them. I took a chance because he kept saying the Meg was the best unregulated rifle AEA had released at that time. I don’t know if it is or he is just a decent salesman , either way I ended up with a Megalodon. I have had so much fun figuring it out I don’t think I would change it if I could go do it over. Thank you for replying , you guys on here are the greatest. I appreciate the information very much. Sorry to go on and on , thanks again.

Jim
 
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Panzerfaust said:
I didn’t know you could mod a regulator on to a gun that didn’t have one. What you said about shots 2 thur 5 being the best shots, my mags are 8 and 3 thur 6 nearly keyhole consistently from from a lead sled on a table. I can shoot 16 times with the pressure dropping to about 2000 psi, this surprised me, never thought at 50 cal I could squeeze 16 easily lethal shots from those tanks on board the rifle. There is drop , but after you shoot two mags from filled tanks a few times you know how much to hold over for the 2nd mag. All that aside that megalodon would be super sweet if it was regulated probably. I was thinking of getting a regulated rifle in 25 or 30 caliber.
Consistency is always nice when shooting. There are 2 versions of the Meg, a 15 inch barrel and 22 inch barrel. I went with the long one as I didn’t buy it for home defense or a truck gun. I’m going to hunt with it. That’s why that whole valve lock thing was so concerning. I didn’t realize until I got it that the long version has 100 cc’s more air storage with 300cc tanks instead of 250 cc tanks the 15 inch version has got. I really jumped into all this fairly blindly, I looked at that challenger and that single shot Element that can be customized to add a back tank rather than a foldable stock. The guy I was getting it from kept telling me I would be better off with the megalodon. I normally won’t buy something so recently released, I wait for about a year until people find all the flaws and address them. I took a chance because he kept saying the Meg was the best unregulated rifle AEA had released at that time. I don’t know if it is or he is just a decent salesman , either way I ended up with a Megalodon. I have had so much fun figuring it out I don’t think I would change it if I could go do it over. Thank you for replying , you guys on here are the greatest. I appreciate the information very much. Sorry to go on and on , thanks again.

Jim
Click to expand...
It's a gun. Any gun can be tweaked :)

Yeah, I usually shot two 6 slug mags before going for refill. 500 cc is plenty of air.

Huma-air released a regulator for big bore Challengers. If your bottle is similar to Challenger, you may try it. https://huma-air.com/aea-challenger-big-bore-bullpup-regulator-and-tube-extension-set-by-huma-air/
 
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Panzerfaust said:
What’s up air gun experts? I recently purchased an AEA Megalodon, I have enjoyed the rifle very much. I had no plans to do anything with it but use it as a long distance hole punch. After shooting it a lot I discovered it produces ample power to use it for deer hunting. Even without a moderator and even being a 50 cal the reduced noise when shooting the rifle makes it appealing to me over a powder burner for hunting and possibly even home defense. You wouldn’t go instantly deaf if you had to discharge it inside and so far it holds its air charge reliably. If I fill the tanks on my Megalodon to the max which is 4500 psi, consistently the first time I shoot it produces something like a half power shot. The slug or pellet will hit 6 to 8 inches low and you can just tell by the noise from discharging as well as the sound of the slug impacting being less tells me it’s around half the power it normally produces. My guess currently is the hammer is not striking the valve hard enough to overcome the air pressure enough to allow enough air to produce a full power shot. Assuming that is not incorrect what could be done? As far as I know there is no way to adjust the hammer spring, I would check the manual but it is an AEA product and they apparently don’t want to waste any paper or ink on anything like an instruction manual. Nothing like buying something you know very little about in general , then it arrives and you think they forgot to include the manual, then you start looking and find out they just don’t even bother with any manual. That fact may have caused me to choose a different brand for my first pcp. I didn’t know though and now I own it so I’ve had to ask a lot of questions to get going with it. This is the reason I referred to everyone as air gun experts at the start of this thread. I have found the answer to all my questions so far here on this site. I appreciate all the info so far and would also appreciate any info anyone might be able to share concerning the half power first shot from maxed out air tanks. If I stop filling the rifle at 4100 to 4200 psi I then get a full power shot without fail, so that is what I have been doing. I guess my question is do I need to even worry about it or just stick to 4200 psi ? I’m concerned the issue may become worse over time and I will regret not trying to deal with it now while there is a warranty, assuming they honor it of course. Thanks for reading all that if you made it to the end. Thanks in advance for any advice also.

Jim

p.s.- I’m not filling it inside and then taking it outside where the temp increases causing the air pressure to rise and exceed 4500 psi, I was warned about that happening before I filled it the first time. Just in case someone thinks that might be what’s causing the issue.
Click to expand...
Check where the rear tank screws in to the back on the gun itself. There's a valve thru which when the rear tank screws on it actuates the valve.. it will come loose and needs to be tightened down. I found the same thing happening to me .. it takes a little spanner wrench to tighten but I tightened w needle nose pliers along with a screwdriver as the lever. I also took a punch to it to make sure it stays secure. So I basically leaks a little air before your shot . Check it out . Mine was finger loose
 
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Chandler said:
Check where the rear tank screws in to the back on the gun itself. There's a valve thru which when the rear tank screws on it actuates the valve.. it will come loose and needs to be tightened down. I found the same thing happening to me .. it takes a little spanner wrench to tighten but I tightened w needle nose pliers along with a screwdriver as the lever. I also took a punch to it to make sure it stays secure. So I basically leaks a little air before your shot . Check it out . Mine was finger loose
Click to expand...
When I put that tank on when I took it out of the box, I screwed it on by hand and never put a wrench to it, I can grab it right now and start unscrewing it by hand. I had no idea that might be an issue, thank you I will try tightening that up . Thank you very much for your reply, I was getting concerned as I set my air pump for 4000 psi and that was working well until yesterday I got a weak first shot. Thanks again , I’m going to find a spanner now and tighten that rear tank on tight. Just in case you didn’t know, that steel extention piece that screws into the internal hammer can start loosening and basically cause the same issue , just with every shot , not just the first one. I check that piece for tightness before I shoot the rifle, it will also start to rust where it’s steel and you have to touch it a lot to decock and stuff. Thanks for the info!
 
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Panzerfaust said:
When I put that tank on when I took it out of the box, I screwed it on by hand and never put a wrench to it, I can grab it right now and start unscrewing it by hand. I had no idea that might be an issue, thank you I will try tightening that up . Thank you very much for your reply, I was getting concerned as I set my air pump for 4000 psi and that was working well until yesterday I got a weak first shot. Thanks again , I’m going to find a spanner now and tighten that rear tank on tight. Just in case you didn’t know, that steel extention piece that screws into the internal hammer can start loosening and basically cause the same issue , just with every shot , not just the first one. I check that piece for tightness before I shoot the rifle, it will also start to rust where it’s steel and you have to touch it a lot to decock and stuff. Thanks for the info!
Click to expand...
That's actually is what I was referring to
 
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Chandler said:
I found another issue fyi
The gun for some unknown reason is much harder to cock than normal idk what the reason is but it doesn't seem to effect the shot as far as I can tell but it all the f a sudden became a problem. Any insight would help..
Click to expand...
You are my hero. I would have never figured out what was going on, I broke a round chainsaw file tightening that rear tank. Fixed issue I had instantly.

as far as hard cocking , mine sometimes is slightly harder to cock. That round steel piece attached to the internal hammer will screw out, after it gets loose enough it was affect power, starts to weaken, I seen this on a YouTube review on a megalodon, the guy was getting ready to return it and tell them something was wrong when he noticed that manual cocking/de cocking piece Was loose. As far as mine harder cocking sometimes I’m blaming the design where it all works on that fairly skinny rod that makes it all work. i have had no huge difference, but I do notice variations in smoothness of cocking sometimes. I think I have Ben Tec’s number , I was told he would answer texts after 4 on weekdays. I will look for that and forward it to you later today or in the morning. That slide piece that comes out of the back of receiver also is really close to the rear tank where it goes over the end of the tank about an inch or so, see this best with pump action with plunger pulled all the way back and look at rear tank where it meets gun. I could see those rubbing possibly and would make it harder to get all the way back. That whole can’t accidentally load double slugs thing screws me up all the time🤣, I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to that feature. i Thought something was wrong right away because of the way all that works. I hope all that was understandable and possibly helpful. You certainly helped me my friend , I’m going to go shoot right now and I will pay attention to the way it cocks and see if I notice anything that might be helpful. I will forward number to your PM on here so you will have it if you ever need to reach out to them.
 
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Chandler said:
I found another issue fyi
The gun for some unknown reason is much harder to cock than normal idk what the reason is but it doesn't seem to effect the shot as far as I can tell but it all the f a sudden became a problem. Any insight would help..
Click to expand...
There is a transition happening when you cycle the slide, I just was messing with mine and when you cock about half way through something in that internal part is changing somehow and it makes it harder to get past that spot, if that increased on yours it might need some oil or lube of some type to work smoother. I hope this or the other response helps.
 
Upvote 0
Panzerfaust said:
You are my hero. I would have never figured out what was going on, I broke a round chainsaw file tightening that rear tank. Fixed issue I had instantly.

as far as hard cocking , mine sometimes is slightly harder to cock. That round steel piece attached to the internal hammer will screw out, after it gets loose enough it was affect power, starts to weaken, I seen this on a YouTube review on a megalodon, the guy was getting ready to return it and tell them something was wrong when he noticed that manual cocking/de cocking piece Was loose. As far as mine harder cocking sometimes I’m blaming the design where it all works on that fairly skinny rod that makes it all work. i have had no huge difference, but I do notice variations in smoothness of cocking sometimes. I think I have Ben Tec’s number , I was told he would answer texts after 4 on weekdays. I will look for that and forward it to you later today or in the morning. That slide piece that comes out of the back of receiver also is really close to the rear tank where it goes over the end of the tank about an inch or so, see this best with pump action with plunger pulled all the way back and look at rear tank where it meets gun. I could see those rubbing possibly and would make it harder to get all the way back. That whole can’t accidentally load double slugs thing screws me up all the time🤣, I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to that feature. i Thought something was wrong right away because of the way all that works. I hope all that was understandable and possibly helpful. You certainly helped me my friend , I’m going to go shoot right now and I will pay attention to the way it cocks and see if I notice anything that might be helpful. I will forward number to your PM on here so you will have it if you ever need to reach out to them.
Click to expand...
I had a similar issue with my T9. There is a small rod screwed into the bottom of the bolt, which is what cocks the hammer. If that rod is screwed out too far it will rub against the top of the hammer. You can clearly feel more drag/resistence. AEA and BinTac really need to invest in some proper loctite glue. Pretty much every screw in my bolt assembly came loose because of recoil. Including the bolt handle.

I think this explains why the gun becomes a little weaker. The resistance slows down the hammer and it'll hit the valve pin with less force.
 
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Upvote 0
Panzerfaust said:
You are my hero. I would have never figured out what was going on, I broke a round chainsaw file tightening that rear tank. Fixed issue I had instantly.

as far as hard cocking , mine sometimes is slightly harder to cock. That round steel piece attached to the internal hammer will screw out, after it gets loose enough it was affect power, starts to weaken, I seen this on a YouTube review on a megalodon, the guy was getting ready to return it and tell them something was wrong when he noticed that manual cocking/de cocking piece Was loose. As far as mine harder cocking sometimes I’m blaming the design where it all works on that fairly skinny rod that makes it all work. i have had no huge difference, but I do notice variations in smoothness of cocking sometimes. I think I have Ben Tec’s number , I was told he would answer texts after 4 on weekdays. I will look for that and forward it to you later today or in the morning. That slide piece that comes out of the back of receiver also is really close to the rear tank where it goes over the end of the tank about an inch or so, see this best with pump action with plunger pulled all the way back and look at rear tank where it meets gun. I could see those rubbing possibly and would make it harder to get all the way back. That whole can’t accidentally load double slugs thing screws me up all the time🤣, I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to that feature. i Thought something was wrong right away because of the way all that works. I hope all that was understandable and possibly helpful. You certainly helped me my friend , I’m going to go shoot right now and I will pay attention to the way it cocks and see if I notice anything that might be helpful. I will forward number to your PM on here so you will have it if you ever need to reach out to them.
Click to expand...
Lol I'm no here my guy but thanks for the compliment and glad I can help. Ya the way the mechanism works by those two rods is kinda weird and I started messing with it to take the hammer off and get access to the extra breach sewl orings that sit around the hammer on the skinny piece about halfway point of the hammer that l square little piece that if u take off the hammer looks like u should be able to slide it out. Well before taking out the hammer I put it back together and oiled the assembly and right after that is when I noticed the difference in cocking. Have u heard about the extra orings for the breach that sit around the hammer like that? That's another fyi I heard someplace. Anyway I'll have to take it apart again because it just seems like it just a touch to hard to cock it or...... Or I mistakenly did something that messed with the power now maybe this is in my head but the way it shoots just seems more powerful and I don't mean a little bit I mean it seems like it's quite a bit more powerful. Idk if it's my imagination or if it actually is more powerful but I almost have my self convinced lol. Oh ya do u know what size that oring is at the breach because I can't find it anywhere
 
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Panzerfaust said:
There is a transition happening when you cycle the slide, I just was messing with mine and when you cock about half way through something in that internal part is changing somehow and it makes it harder to get past that spot, if that increased on yours it might need some oil or lube of some type to work smoother. I hope this or the other response helps.
Click to expand...
Well yes actually I have oiled it I was naively trying to get to the extra seals supposedly that sit around the her but before I had it all apart I changed my mind and put it back together oiled it and decided against it because its more involved than it seems but idk it s me like it's got more power than usual. Its maybe
My imagination but ya I'll have to take it apart again ugh. Thanks for the info
 
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Panzerfaust said:
There is a transition happening when you cycle the slide, I just was messing with mine and when you cock about half way through something in that internal part is changing somehow and it makes it harder to get past that spot, if that increased on yours it might need some oil or lube of some type to work smoother. I hope this or the other response helps.
Click to expand...
Well maybe an oring inside is torn and gets in the way of the hammer being able to slide freely and making it harder to cock??? There are oring that sir around the hammer and if it's torn seems like it would be getting smooshed between the hammer and the block? Idk if that makes any sense do u think that is possible?
 
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