Tuning AEA HP Custom. UPDATE

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oregondude

oregondude

Member
Jul 21, 2021
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Oregon, United States
Bin of AEA U.S., Was kind enough to put an AEA HP Varmint together for me. I wanted the regulated air tube, not the bottle. The "Custom " is .25 only, so I probably have the only one in .22. Nice customer service for sure. I chose this particular rifle for weight, accuracy and ofcourse , POWER. The Varmint is promoted as 62fpe in .22 with muzzle velocity of 1,400fps shooting 14.4gr pellets. As it came from Bin it achieved 47fpe on max power setting, (tp power wheel). I was advised by an AEA dealer to bump up the reg. Here's how that went.

After removing the air tube and turning the reg up 1/4 turn, I reinstalled the tube. As I refilled the tube, the reg gage climbed in kind, as it should. At 2,200psi the reg stopped increasing. Good. Then when the fill pressure hit 3,000psi, the reg clicked and the reg jumped to 3,100psi. Ops. Several dry fires showed the reg drop immediately to 2,200psi and jumped back to 3,100psi. After many adjustments to the reg, using 1/8 turns, it held at 2,200 psi for 5 dry fires. Fill pressure was 3,400psi. Thinking it was stable, I topped it off at 4,000psi. Reg went up to 3,100psi. It's now purged and sitting on the work bench. So between the wobbly folding stock, (no the latch pin does not adjust), the exaggerated power claim, (maybe reg issue) and the inordinately difficult cocking bolt, ( also you have to hold the bolt open against an extremely strong spring to insert the mag), I'm starting to think this may not be worth the issues I'm experiencing. 

So, any thoughts about the reg problems?

And finally, I love my Dreamline Classic even more. 40fpe tack driver. If the AEA can't deliver the advertised power, it will be redundant and not have a place on the rack.

☆☆☆UPDATE ☆☆☆

The reg is broken so I took it out aired up to 3600psi and got 55fpe. I can live with that. To be clear, I had issues with the gun, not with Bin or Peter. Everyone in the AEA USA family have been first rate. I have no doubt that anything that becomes a problem will be handled. I'm not sure if I will keep her, but I'm not sure I won't. If she is a shooter and a longer bolt handle makes cocking easier, I can see her staying. I hope AEA continues to evolve and improve since a company with such regard for its customer base is a win for all. I may have reservations (small at this point), about the gun, but I'm all in on the people. Lastly, thanks to the people who responded to my op and let me know the reg was not helping velocity. 47fpe regulated (140bar) to 55fpe unregulated. Mister Raccoon best invest in a helmet and body armor. 
 
Bin of AEA U.S., Was kind enough to put an AEA HP Varmint together for me. I wanted the regulated air tube, not the bottle. The "Custom " is .25 only, so I probably have the only one in .22. Nice customer service for sure. I chose this particular rifle for weight, accuracy and ofcourse , POWER. The Varmint is promoted as 62fpe in .22 with muzzle velocity of 1,400fps shooting 14.4gr pellets. As it came from Bin it achieved 47fpe on max power setting, (tp power wheel). I was advised by an AEA dealer to bump up the reg. Here's how that went.

After removing the air tube and turning the reg up 1/4 turn, I reinstalled the tube. As I refilled the tube, the reg gage climbed in kind, as it should. At 2,200psi the reg stopped increasing. Good. Then when the fill pressure hit 3,000psi, the reg clicked and the reg jumped to 3,100psi. Ops. Several dry fires showed the reg drop immediately to 2,200psi and jumped back to 3,100psi. After many adjustments to the reg, using 1/8 turns, it held at 2,200 psi for 5 dry fires. Fill pressure was 3,400psi. Thinking it was stable, I topped it off at 4,000psi. Reg went up to 3,100psi. It's now purged and sitting on the work bench. So between the wobbly folding stock, (no the latch pin does not adjust), the exaggerated power claim, (maybe reg issue) and the inordinately difficult cocking bolt, ( also you have to hold the bolt open against an extremely strong spring to insert the mag), I'm starting to think this may not be worth the issues I'm experiencing. 

So, any thoughts about the reg problems?



Click to expand...

the numbers/metadata provided with the AEA guns seem to come straight from china, and you may be being told the unregulated FPE numbers. so the regulated tube may never achieve that fpe.

i was going to purchase an element, had one on order, but cancelled after doing more research into customer experiences.

the aea guns seem to be getting better, but still have a lot lot lot of problems i see posted on the forums. i would assume the regulator crapped out, or was not built to handle higher pressures.

most of bin's, and foxairpower's customers i've seen have been happy with their AEA's largely due to the good customer service those outfits provide. i think if you wait, bin will take care of you.
 
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Just too much pressure for the seal material or springs used in the reg?

A bit c0onfused on what rig you ended up with. Just glancing at their site the bottle version is rated at 60+fpe the tube version 45fpe so perhaps, differences inside?

I do know in most rigs there are differences in regulator materials if it will never see over 3,000 -high side- vs one that may see 4,500psi +.

Keep us posted.

John
 
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Spysir, the tube with reg is rated 5000psi max. The bottle version is unregulated and max fill is 3600psi. The Varmint with its 24" barrel is marketed as 62fpe. My gun is the Varmint with the regulated air tube replacing the unregulated bottle. The Custom HP, ( Varmint with regulated tube), only comes in .25 cal. So Bin converted a .22 cal Varmint to a .22 cal. Custom HP. The 24" barrel gun is rated at 62fpe. for .22, and 80fpe for the .25 cal. Fox Airguns put out some false information do to testing a shorter barrel and attributed the fps and fpe to the 24" barrel. All other AEA specs rate it 62fpe. Fox did post a correction to their mistake. However, the old info is still out there. 
 
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Corny, thanks. I had a text convo with Bin this morning. Looking like I am going to pull the reg and go unregulated. Ofcourse I will drop fill pressure to 3600psi. He (Bin) is going to make a video on the process. I may be underwhelmed with the gun, but I am totally impressed with the AEA support. This gun may find a place with me yet. The bolt issue might be improved with a longer bolt handel for greater leverage. Finally, Bin said you are right that unregulated it will have more power. I don't care about shot count all that much. 15 to 20 full power will do just fine. Anyway, thanks for getting me pointed in the right direction. Bill. 
 
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