What's Happening With My Wildcat II

[Jim81]

Went out this morning practicing with the WC using a stool and a Primos Tripod punching holes in paper. Shot about 35 shots and it was time for a refill. It wasn't topped off before I started. It shot really well.

Went to refill it and the probe flew out of the fill port and almost got me in the noggin. I thought silly me I guess I didn't have it in all the way. Tried it again with the same result. From this point on I only turned the air on until it was barely flowing and I could hear air leaking out of the fill probe port so I would stop and try a couple of beginning remedies. Nothing helped. I now have an otherwise perfectly good WC II that has about 140 bar left in the tank and can't put air back into it.

What's next? The solution might be sell it and stay away from FX. I have the WC and Impact. The Impact has already been back for repair. It would fire when the safety was in the safe position. Now the WC won;t allow a fill. I have adjusted nothing on either rifle except the hammer spring tension on the Impact and that was only with the wheel. When they work they are probably the best. The key thought here is when they work. The Cricket is becoming more and more of an attraction.

Sorry about the brief rant, sort of, but I have experienced problems with both my expensive FXs that has made them unusable and nothing more than poor boat anchors..

Any help would be gladly received.

 

[rgpointer62]

need new O-rings on fill probe

 

[Matt247365]

Hey Jim

Glad you're ok with the probe flying out like that.

Can you take a picture of the probe showing the o-rings?

Matt

 

[Jim81]

Gee!! Thanks a ton!! O rings looked good but I have a assortment of O rings I kept around for dive gear. Grabbed one that looked right and slipped it on. Wallah!! Gun is filled. I looked at both O rings really carefully and could not see any damage. Thought it was something else deeper in the rifle. It wasn't. A new different O ring fixed it. Nice people here and a nice forum. Hope I can help somebody else out in the future.

 

[Droptine26]

Now its time to apologize for bad mouthing FX. Lol

 

[markT]

Do any of you guys use "divers lube" on the probe? I bought some years ago and lubed my probe o-rings. .

The guys at Straight Shooters recommended it.

Have had the original O-rings on my probe since ~ 2000..

 

[jNc]

I use divers lube to all o-rings in every PCP gun I own. No o-ring failures so far. Considering how much pressure changes the poor o-rings have to face, not wondering if they fail every now and then without lube.

 

[Tweeter]

Glad you figured it out. I have never heard of this happening due to bad o rings on the fill probe? Leaks but no rockets lol. Think on the bright side though... If you can sneak up on him, you could probably head shot a squirrel with that fill probe.?

 

[scubajeeper]

I've been on dive boats and watched guys open up camera cases with very expensive gear inside. They always lube the orings before they close them back up. Yes, I always use a light film on the probe orings and any other oring and I've never had an issue. If you don't have any, get some.

https://dipndive.com/trident-silicone-lube-accessories.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjwvezZBRDkARIsADKQyPmdzwMt1FY2Ljv-LFSWDr5wce5K-ssWaeO__JCkOK3-Bva-RByLoAgaAmqrEALw_wcB

 

[Yote]

I’ve learned too always hold onto the fill hose

 

[Jim81]

I made my own underwater camera housing before they were commercially available. It was made out of acrylic. Acrylic is strong and can withstand the ambient pressure encountered in a dive. It's also nice because you can see through it and discover leaks before camera and lens are damaged.

After placing the camera in the housing, lubing the O ring, and placing the open end onto the housing I could see the O ring. As the cover was tightened I could see the O ring start to compress and slide and totally create a seal within it's groove. If lubed it totally filled almost invisible defects on the surface where the groove was machined for the o rings. That O ring has to seal on both sides and has to create a boundary where, water in this case, cannot get through. I was only dealing with the challenge of stopping about 60 PSI not the thousands of pounds of pressure in an PCP. The first lube I used was ZipSlip and came from the packaging industry.

I saw where somebody purchased an O ring at a major box store and it cost $2.50. If you go to a regular O ring supply distributor you can probably get 10 O rings for that $2.50. Check your local listings. It wasn't very creative but the one nearest me was called....O Ring Supply. If you needed an O ring you need not specify the application. They had machines to measure the one needing replacement. The only thing they wanted to know is what environment it was to be used in so they could give you the correct O ring made from a compound that would not deteriorate where being used. Air or water is no big deal. Some O rings need to survive in caustic chemicals.

 

[jking]

Mine did the same thing a month or so ago, replaced both orings and no more problems. I can see that if the inner oring leaks just a minute bit it’ll pressure up the guns probe cavity and blow out the probe. Always turn the gun away from you while filling. I also would not hold onto the probe or hose while filling. They blow out with such force that the probe might hurt your hand. They are either going to seal or not seal so just use common sense and caution. 

Jk