Anyone try out the AirMaks Krait X?

Status
Not open for further replies.
I commend Airmaks for trying to make a reg that’s safe to play with. Contrary to popular belief, once you find your set point, you shouldn’t mess with your reg. I know they market many popular guns that you can treat the reg like a faucet valve. But you really shouldn’t. It appears that Airmaks made the hard and soft sealing surfaces of the reg to mimic a poppet and seat. In theory this would allow you to adjust up and down without the drill bit effect of a conventional reg. The problem is that’s a lot of surface area compared to standard regs method of seating. I will inspect it more in depth when I get the chance.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AirShootist
Just an update even though I doubt anyone is crazy enough to buy one. I did some work inside my reg with the limited resources I have at my hunting camp. The reg still creeps for now but I have a 9 hour window to fire my first shot. I did some accuracy testing today and it cycled the reg a good bit. I will see tomorrow if things improved. I would like to add something for the guys or future guys who will have this gun. Tuning it is a very sensitive matter compared to any other gun I ever owned. My gun is very consistent with the three pellets I tested. Getting there is the tricky part. This gun will not allow sloppy tunes and decent numbers like other guns. It must be tuned perfectly to get good numbers if you’re a numbers guy. But some of us know that it isn’t all about numbers. It’s about accuracy. My gun is accurate.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AirShootist
This is all a little strange.

I have the Caiman and the Caiman X. Neither of which leak anywhere. They (both) can sit a month, no leaks. I started using a small piece of tape on the pressure gauge to tell me where the needle was, the last time used. I've adjusted the pressure on both guns, not up and down, and back up again, just to the pellet speed I wanted, then stopped turning things !

I have no idea about the Katran line of guns, but I haven't noticed anyone or any major complaints about that gun, leaking or otherwise.

So...what happened to the Krait's, and why ?

Mike
 
Bottle guns, to stay compact require a different style reg than a tube gun. This is their first rodeo with the bottle and they got bucked. Judging by the engineering and thought process involved in how they build their guns, they should be able to figure it out. Hopefully they won’t have to remake the action of the gun to accommodate a reg that actually works.
 
My Krait L in 22 cal start at 260 bar reg at 109 after 40 shots [obviously not all recorded] end at 245 Bar reg never moved from 109Bar.
38 shots 3 targets 32 yrds

View attachment 11_8_2022_krait_18_1_gr_continue_11_9_contine_11_10_22[1090].pdf

IMG_20221110_150758368[1091].jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: harrymoreland
Curious about bink2’s gun also. His first shot was recorded a day before his second shot. Then his first shot was screaming. To me, it shows his reg crept and he has too much hammer spring. Too much HS will cover reg creep with a fast first shot. But it also means that your gun is not operating efficiently once you keep shooting. His gun did surprisingly well so either his reg isn’t creeping or his valve setting is helping cover up too much hammer strike.
 
Way low, upto 30mps ( 100fps ISH )
3 shots and it settles. Not fired for a couple of hours= maybe a 10mps drop.
That sucks, dude. So obviously a lot of people are having the exact same problem.

I still have no update from Airmaks, but it has only been a few days.

We tried setting the gun at 115 to test VetMX's theory of lower reg output equaling less creep, but it still crept 20 bar.... Ooooof.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mike_Lenardon
Curious about bink2’s gun also. His first shot was recorded a day before his second shot. Then his first shot was screaming. To me, it shows his reg crept and he has too much hammer spring. Too much HS will cover reg creep with a fast first shot. But it also means that your gun is not operating efficiently once you keep shooting. His gun did surprisingly well so either his reg isn’t creeping or his valve setting is helping cover up too much hammer strike.
As stated the reg started at 109 and stated at 109 for what it's worth much more stable that my red wolf's
 
Then there’s hope to get a good one. But unfortunately with some of our regs, once a creeper always a creeper.
A lot of folks have been commenting on my videos with the exact same creep issues. It's definitely a problem. If you have a gun that doesn't creep - how long will it stay like that for? My guess (based on the reg design) would be: Not long. Our gun stayed at 130 for a week and a half just sitting, and it performed OK during my review video, but once we starting shooting it a lot - the reg creep returned!

The design of having a tapered pin being pulled into a delrin valve seat is bad. Here is my idea to upgrade these:

1668267193895.png


Instead of that tapered collar on the pin being pulled into the delrin material, we use a cup seal. Now the sealing surface is on that cup seal rather than on the bottom reg "disk". The disk would be changed to be all metal and have a machined lip in it to seal against that cup seal. This, in my opinion, would provide a way more positive seal. Of course testing for consistency and recharge rate would be needed, but I think this would be a good start.

EDIT: The sealing should is NOT actually tapered

@Vetmx you've got a ton of experience with regs and airguns in general - what do you think about this? Worth transmitting this idea to Airmaks?
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: darylm
My reg looks just like your picture. It seals flat metal on flat delrin. I polished the area I marked red. In my current location, I have no magnification to actually inspect the metal surface for imperfections after polishing. In my opinion, the metal disc we will call it sealing on the delrin is just too much surface area to get a non creepy seal at the pressures we are dealing with. Would it seal out liquid or hydraulic oil, yes. Not air.

575DD4A2-4850-4101-980E-9832F43213FC.jpeg
 
I sent a new email to Airmaks. I think I did a better job explaining my "fix" for this in the email than I did in my post above. That email is below, for reference:

---------------------------------------------------------
Hi, Konstantin,

Any update with the regulator situation? Everyone has been asking me for a status.

Additionally, I have an idea that could possibly help if a new regulator design isn't already in the works. Basically, the circular steel/delrin piece of the regulator (bottom part) that creates the seal would be instead machined out of steel and have a precision machined/ground lip that a cup seal would interface with to form the seal. A cup seal made of a suitable material (or possibly a recessed high durometer oring) would be incorporated onto a new valve pin. I tried to draw this, see below:

1668450405909.png


Here is a photo to give you an idea of what I mean. This is just some existing parts I had laying around, but you get the idea:

1668450385880.png

So it would basically seal the same way, but in reverse. Instead of the bottom circular plate on the reg body containing the reg seat, we'd move it to a cup seal on the pin itself to seal up to a lip on that circular part of the valve body.

Anyway, I hope this maybe helps.

Please let me know what the next steps are in getting this Krait to stop creeping and if new parts are on the way. If a fix is made and it works well, I will do a whole new video for Airmaks.


Best Regards,

Warren

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, this idea could be totally garbage, I don't know. But I think it could work. Would definitely require testing. Having a high-durometer oring in a cup seal like that would be squishy enough to work and also easily replaceable so you never have to get a new cup seal from Airmaks and could instead just replace the recessed o-ring. Anyway, I will continue to keep you all updated with whatever happens.

Let me know what you guys think of this idea as we wait...
 
  • Like
Reactions: darylm and Pfddi
Status
Not open for further replies.