After experiencing a bottle or valve dump on the second shot of a new gun I contacted Airforce with the info below.
45 Texan rifle with the new valve and started with 3600 psi fill. I shot the rifle for the first time today and I have a question, . I am shooting Nielsen .457/ 350 grain slugs. On the second shot I got a bottle dump. On both the first and second shot, I purposefully pushed the slugs into the chamber. I haven't filled or shot the gun since that experience.
Can, or has, anyone experienced a bottle dump when purposefully loading these guns? When this occurs while purposefully pushing a slug into the chamber is it a symptom of a bad valve or other issue with the mechanism of the gun? In short, please advise what to do to next.
This is the response.
Good morning,
I would be glad to help you out with that. Since your gun has a Carbon fiber tank and a higher fill pressure it may not work well with Nielsen Specialty ammo until it is back at or below 3000PSI. This is because Nielsen Ammo is made to fit the space in the bore between the lands of our rifling (.457cal). At pressures 3000Psi and below this is not issue at all, however once you get above 3000Psi it can lead to problems. The measurement between the grooves in your rifles barrel is actually .001” larger (.458cal) than the measurement between the lands. When you shoot at a higher pressure than 3000PSI a lot of air blows around the slug through the grooves and not only creates ballistic issues but can lead to the tank dumping because of all the excess air blowing by the slug as it travels down the barrel.
Though loading the round correctly, like you discussed, is important it likely has little to do with the issue. If you want to continue using NSA slugs then the only thing I can recommend to avoid this in the future is to not fill up beyond 3000PSI to go shooting. If you would be willing to use different slugs however so you can utilize that higher fill pressure then I would recommend Mr. Hollowpoint, link below.
https://www.mrhollowpoint.com/index.html
His ammo is sized to fill the bore completely, with it being made to the measurement between the grooves of our rifling (.458cal) so it is good to use with a 3600PSI fill.
Your rifle should still be good to use unless you can hear a rattling in its’ tank and it will not pressurize. If you hear that let me know (it would not be subtle, you would be able to hear it clearly) but otherwise your rifle should still be in a totally fine usable state. Let me know if you have any questions or if you need assistance. I am happy to help.
All the best,
I plan to follow their advise and try other ammo, but I am skeptical. NSA has never heard of this issue in these guns and they sell a ton of these bullets and when the issue happened the gun was at, or near 3000 psi. I plan to slug the bore tonight to see what I am working with.
Any insight or like experiences would be appreciated. Thanks, Bill
45 Texan rifle with the new valve and started with 3600 psi fill. I shot the rifle for the first time today and I have a question, . I am shooting Nielsen .457/ 350 grain slugs. On the second shot I got a bottle dump. On both the first and second shot, I purposefully pushed the slugs into the chamber. I haven't filled or shot the gun since that experience.
Can, or has, anyone experienced a bottle dump when purposefully loading these guns? When this occurs while purposefully pushing a slug into the chamber is it a symptom of a bad valve or other issue with the mechanism of the gun? In short, please advise what to do to next.
This is the response.
Good morning,
I would be glad to help you out with that. Since your gun has a Carbon fiber tank and a higher fill pressure it may not work well with Nielsen Specialty ammo until it is back at or below 3000PSI. This is because Nielsen Ammo is made to fit the space in the bore between the lands of our rifling (.457cal). At pressures 3000Psi and below this is not issue at all, however once you get above 3000Psi it can lead to problems. The measurement between the grooves in your rifles barrel is actually .001” larger (.458cal) than the measurement between the lands. When you shoot at a higher pressure than 3000PSI a lot of air blows around the slug through the grooves and not only creates ballistic issues but can lead to the tank dumping because of all the excess air blowing by the slug as it travels down the barrel.
Though loading the round correctly, like you discussed, is important it likely has little to do with the issue. If you want to continue using NSA slugs then the only thing I can recommend to avoid this in the future is to not fill up beyond 3000PSI to go shooting. If you would be willing to use different slugs however so you can utilize that higher fill pressure then I would recommend Mr. Hollowpoint, link below.
https://www.mrhollowpoint.com/index.html
His ammo is sized to fill the bore completely, with it being made to the measurement between the grooves of our rifling (.458cal) so it is good to use with a 3600PSI fill.
Your rifle should still be good to use unless you can hear a rattling in its’ tank and it will not pressurize. If you hear that let me know (it would not be subtle, you would be able to hear it clearly) but otherwise your rifle should still be in a totally fine usable state. Let me know if you have any questions or if you need assistance. I am happy to help.
All the best,
I plan to follow their advise and try other ammo, but I am skeptical. NSA has never heard of this issue in these guns and they sell a ton of these bullets and when the issue happened the gun was at, or near 3000 psi. I plan to slug the bore tonight to see what I am working with.
Any insight or like experiences would be appreciated. Thanks, Bill
