can reg breather hole be bigger?

[Thach2264]

By bigger, I mean on the air cylinder breather hole not the regulator itself. I am asking this is because my gun regulator adj is on the side, if I open up the cylinder breather hole, I can adj it without removing the reg. Currently it's 1mm in size, I want to open it up to 3x6mm or two 3x5 hole.

Is it safe or the 1mm in size currently is there for a reason why it's so small.

 

[Airgunmann]

I don't think it matters as long as there is room to keep the cylinder sealed as in the o-rings aren't right next to the hole I'm not totally sure hopefully some others will chime in

 

[nervoustrig]

Looking at it from two perspectives, function and safety…

Making it larger will have no influence, positive or negative, on the operation of the regulator. It just makes it easier for contamination to get into the moving parts, but if you can fit a plug with a tiny opening that concern can be overcome.

From a safety perspective, consider this extreme example as a thought exercise. Imagine making such a large opening in the tube that its structural integrity is significantly compromised. A sudden failure of the high side O-ring would allow the pressure to rush through the extrusion gap and attempt to at least briefly raise the pressure in this chamber. The total cross section of the extrusion gap is likely much smaller than the hole you made, so the pressure vents out just as fast as it enters. Thus the chamber never has the opportunity to build to a significantly elevated pressure.

 

[PumaCarl]

I ordered an aluminum JSAR mrod tube a while back, WITHOUT the guage hole, because I was going to be using a regulator. Guess what I got? Yup, one with a guage hole. I shrugged my shoulders, put the reg in and I have never had a problem. No leaks, gun is always first shot accurate, and yes I have taken it apart and checked on it and the tube, pristine. I am mindful of it and put foam in the guage hole in the stock to keep debris from entering, but the large hole does not diminish function at all. I would have much prefered to get what I had ordered, but they were hard to get then and near impossible to find now, so I put up with it. The gun has performed so well that I will not change anything at this point. As long as your hole is in the right spot between the orings you will be fine. The only problem I see is that any hole weakens the tube, I wouldn't be putting multiple holes in a pressure tube. I am just saying from my own experience, that a single guage sized hole has presented no problems for me, so if you made your existing hole that size and positioned your reg to that spot, I'd think it would work fine. I don't know the details of your gun but the Marauder is only a 3000psi fill, so if yours fills higher you might reconsider. Measure twice, cut once, as the saying goes. Good luck