Tuning Is it easy to modify a paintball tank regulator?

I'm planning to get a Crosman 1077 which I want to convert to HPA. I could get a standard 13/3000 paintball tank but they generally come with regulator pressures ranging from 800-850 which would decrease the power compared to co2. The alternative would be the Air Venturi which has an output pressure of 1100 psi. My problem is the difference in price. I can buy a standard tank for $45 and the AV would be $80. Now I'm wondering if it is easy to modify a regulator to have a higher output pressure. I'm not really experienced but if it's simple then I'd consider trying.
 
Solution
The standard Ninja regulator comes as you quote, about 800-850 psi. With Ninja you just need to add a very small amount of shims to get the pressure up. Like 15 to 20 thou worth of shims. Add shims slowly and from thin to thicker, small changes make a big difference. Shims can be gotten at a local hardware store. The Ninja ones are 3/8 ID and 5/8 OD. i would get a few 2 thou, a few 5 thou and a few 10 thou shims. It wont take much to raise it. Doing so, you will also need to replace the 1.8K regulator burst disk on the bottle and replace it with a 3K burst disk, because running 1200 or whatever psi on the reg, if it creeps and it will, you will be blowing 1.8K burst disks alot. The 3K disks prevent that. The bottle will retain...
The standard Ninja regulator comes as you quote, about 800-850 psi. With Ninja you just need to add a very small amount of shims to get the pressure up. Like 15 to 20 thou worth of shims. Add shims slowly and from thin to thicker, small changes make a big difference. Shims can be gotten at a local hardware store. The Ninja ones are 3/8 ID and 5/8 OD. i would get a few 2 thou, a few 5 thou and a few 10 thou shims. It wont take much to raise it. Doing so, you will also need to replace the 1.8K regulator burst disk on the bottle and replace it with a 3K burst disk, because running 1200 or whatever psi on the reg, if it creeps and it will, you will be blowing 1.8K burst disks alot. The 3K disks prevent that. The bottle will retain the original 5K burst disk. Just my thoughts from my experience.......Consult manufacturers if in question.

If youre currently in Belize, man I wish I was there with you. Ive never been there, but other places further south.
 
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Solution
In my experience, the standard Ninja regulator (those with a coil spring) can't be increased very much by shimming. Somewhere around 1000psi, they go into bypass mode. Switching to 0.032" thick Belleville washers (like the Pro V2 regulator) gives a range of 1000 - 1500psi depending on how it's shimmed.


^ pack of 12. You would use 10 or 11 to fill out the Ninja piston.
 
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Is it important to get a name brand burst disc to be safe or just will any unbranded be fine?
I have bought many burst disks on EBAY, probably made in India or China, and not had an issue. Ive recently bought a 3 pack for $ 12.00. Theyre cheap. But if you want to buy from a top manufacturer, go right ahead. I have not seen any difference.
 
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I'm planning to get a Crosman 1077 which I want to convert to HPA.
A quick comment regarding safety. The 1077 is designed for CO2, from which we can reasonably infer it is safe for hot day CO2 pressures topping out around 1800psi or so.

If you elect to change the 1.8k burst disk for a 3k, make absolutely certain the gun is safe for potentially being exposed to the full pressure of the bottle.

If you will be adopting an approach which use a dummy CO2 cartridge to feed HPA to the valve, that is usually both safer and simpler than pressurizing the tube.
 
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A quick comment regarding safety. The 1077 is designed for CO2, from which we can reasonably infer it is safe for hot day CO2 pressures topping out around 1800psi or so.

If you elect to change the 1.8k burst disk for a 3k, make absolutely certain the gun is safe for potentially being exposed to the full pressure of the bottle.

If you will be adopting an approach which use a dummy CO2 cartridge to feed HPA to the valve, that is usually both safer and simpler than pressurizing the tube.
I’ve reshimmed a paintball regulator before to boost the pressure up to around 1100 psi, but I wouldn’t want to both reset the regulator pressure and replace the burst disc unless I beefed up the other components to deal with the new potential pressure.
 
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