Others Alpha air decompression event

[Haolesan]

Hi. I’ve had the alpha for a month or so. Shot about 250 pellets so far. Today when I shot the gun a steady burst of air came out of the barrel till the cylinder was empty. New to the game - what is the most likely failure? Not a great look for the gun. Thank you in advance.

 

[hameditor]

Hi. I’ve had the alpha for a month or so. Shot about 250 pellets so far. Today when I shot the gun a steady burst of air came out of the barrel till the cylinder was empty. New to the game - what is the most likely failure? Not a great look for the gun. Thank you in advance.

I'm sorry to hear that.

If air comes out of the barrel when the bolt is open, it's probably an issue with the valve sealing correctly. That can be caused by a breakdown of the vale stem.

But - in my experience - it's more likely to be the result of dirt or junk of some type gaining ingress to the gun during filling. Such junk can prevent the valve from closing fully, hence the leak.

Can you tell us more about how you are filling the Alpha? That should help with the diagnosis?

 

[Haolesan]

I'm sorry to hear that.

If air comes out of the barrel when the bolt is open, it's probably an issue with the valve sealing correctly. That can be caused by a breakdown of the vale stem.

But - in my experience - it's more likely to be the result of dirt or junk of some type gaining ingress to the gun during filling. Such junk can prevent the valve from closing fully, hence the leak.

Can you tell us more about how you are filling the Alpha? That should help with the diagnosis?

Hi. Been using a brand new Umarex G2 (it has the basic carbon filter on the hose end). I never over fill. I was at the bench and after about 10 shots the air just suddenly expelled out the barrel. I didn’t try and fill it again yet and I am not sure I should even try (could it damage the gun more?). The gun was purchased at Christmas and should be under warranty still of course. Does anyone know if I should deal directly with Air Venturi or the shop I purchased it at?

 

[FL22]

Hi. Been using a brand new Umarex G2 (it has the basic carbon filter on the hose end). I never over fill. I was at the bench and after about 10 shots the air just suddenly expelled out the barrel. I didn’t try and fill it again yet and I am not sure I should even try (could it damage the gun more?). The gun was purchased at Christmas and should be under warranty still of course. Does anyone know if I should deal directly with Air Venturi or the shop I purchased it at?

imo AV will probably just send you a new one as that is likely more cost effective. But you might have to pay for return shipping.

It sounds like you’re not ready to take the plunge into repairing it yourself so with that in mind, if I were in a similar situation, I would return it to the vendor / dealer for a refund (if possible, hopefully they will pay shipping) and if you still want another then buy it or something else, that way you can have a fresh return window and warranty if there is any issues down the road.

Good luck .

 

[Haolesan]

imo AV will probably just send you a new one as that is likely more cost effective. But you might have to pay for return shipping.

It sounds like you’re not ready to take the plunge into repairing it yourself so with that in mind, if I were in a similar situation, I would return it to the vendor / dealer for a refund (if possible, hopefully they will pay shipping) and if you still want another then buy it or something else, that way you can have a fresh return window and warranty if there is any issues down the road.

Good luck .

Thank you for the info!

 

[Haolesan]

So I decided to try and fill the gun and it seemed to work. I shot a magazine and it seemed ok. Hameditor - does conform your thought that something foreign was creating a leak?

 

[Billm]

I had the same thing happen with the 250z. I refilled it and cycled it a few times and never had the issue again. Like you I received some great advice on the HAM forums.

 

[hameditor]

So I decided to try and fill the gun and it seemed to work. I shot a magazine and it seemed ok. Hameditor - does conform your thought that something foreign was creating a leak?

Yes it may be that the junk was blown out by subsequent use. That would be an ideal outcome

 

[Dogowski]

Hi. Been using a brand new Umarex G2 (it has the basic carbon filter on the hose end). I never over fill. I was at the bench and after about 10 shots the air just suddenly expelled out the barrel. I didn’t try and fill it again yet and I am not sure I should even try (could it damage the gun more?). The gun was purchased at Christmas and should be under warranty still of course. Does anyone know if I should deal directly with Air Venturi or the shop I purchased it at?

Try the dealer first as they might just swap out for another exact replacement. Then Air Venturi if that doesn't work out. From reading some of the other posts above, you might have it worked out. Keep us posted!

 

[Bravo3d]

Sounds like you might of shot it down in pressure too far. At some point if there is not enough pressure to hold the Valve shut it will dump all the air. I would guess around 1700 psi would be as low as you want to go as it starts to fall off the of the regulator anyways. When you refill from empty make sure you have the rifle cocked with no magazine or pellets. This allows the valve seat to seal while there is no air pressure.

 

[Madhatter]

Sounds like you might of shot it down in pressure too far. At some point if there is not enough pressure to hold the Valve shut it will dump all the air. I would guess around 1700 psi would be as low as you want to go as it starts to fall off the of the regulator anyways. When you refill from empty make sure you have the rifle cocked with no magazine or pellets. This allows the valve seat to seal while there is no air pressure.

That's what I was going to say. If the hammer spring has to much tension and the pressure in the rifle is to low the hammer being pushed by the hammer spring will cause it to leak. Then when the pressure is low enough it will release the remaining pressure quickly. I had that happen to my .25 cal sentry. It was just sitting in the gun rack in my bedroom and whoosh all of the pressure came out of the barrel.