N/A Seal failure after approximately 550 shots

[1900colt]

Well, this one gave up the ghost!
It actually held up about as long as expected

Leather seal on the left from a Girandoni rifle after going through over 5 boxes of round balls.

Valve stem and seal are from a spare valve.

As it started to fail, it was a learning curve on the guns power. When it was in great condition, the gun was not very powerful... it was in the mid to low 400fps range. But as it got worse, the stem was higher in the valve face. Resulting in velocities near 600fps. Huge difference with very little length change. So it was either that or the dying seal was letting more air out around it.

Regardless, a better seal will make the gun a decent rifle.

 

[mercado]

By the looks of it .. you have a serious water problem in your AIR .

 

[1900colt]

By the looks of it .. you have a serious water problem in your AIR .

Ahh... no, this is leather.
Tank is coated in animal fat (reason for the green) leather is treated with neatsfoot oil.

 

[Privateer]

I'd go delrin to start. Then once a good fit and results? Go Peek.
Save that other one for authenticity.

 

[1900colt]

I'd go delrin to start. Then once a good fit and results? Go Peek.
Save that other one for authenticity.

That is what I would like to do. I think the performance would greatly increase too.

Only issue I see is the seat is not perfectly smooth, and honestly I have no intention of polishing it. I want to leave it as intact as possible, and any changes/modifications can easily be reversed

 

[Privateer]

If you made a delrin seal, then spun it in the seat? That may do it.

 

[1900colt]

If you made a delrin seal, then spun it in the seat? That may do it.

Maybe, or is there a material just a little softer to use perhaps?

The gun only runs on 800 to 850 psi

 

[Privateer]

If I was to play with this? I'd look into casting a rubber mold then trying different stuff to cast it.
Some really good casting stuff out there.
I'd make the mold, then cast a rough part. Then use clay to smooth that and make a new rubber mold.
The start playing with the different mixtures for a final.

 

[sb327]

Teflon may be a good alternative. Try not to match the angle exactly.

Dave