Airforce Texan (full length) losing power?

[Bullfrog]

What might make a .45 Texan lose about 100fps and up its air usage? My brother’s .45 Texan is having this problem. Contrary to what the very nice lady at Airforce told me, it is not the power wheel settings or the way we clean the barrel. We’ve had this gun for a year and a half and are very familiar with how to tune it for different weight projectiles. The gun is totally stock except for the addition of an R&L shroud. Any breech orings or valve/tophat factors I need to be looking at? Are there known issues with hammer spring fatigue?

[aceflier]

Yep that hammer spring has been known to fatigue. You can try 3 drops of silicone oil in the top hat ports. Let it set on end to work into the valve for a bit. Could help. If your looking for an easy power boost remove the valve and take out the return spring and brass spring retaining nut. Easy 30-50fps gain. You could try to get airforce to send you a new hammer spring.
Not sure why you would use more air with less power. Thats backwards. Is the oring behind the top hat damaged? May have to look in the valve side at the return spring perhaps its bound up? Also the RL shrouds have been known to blow lead dust back into the hammer area. Doug has found this on some guns. Could be slowing the hammer down. Bit still doesnt explain air usage.

[Gut2Fish]

If the hammer is being slowed by lead build up isn't it possible it's releasing air long after the slug left the barrel? A slow air release would slow the projectile and not close immediately. spitballing...

[Kinetic45^]

I had a similar problem and cured it with new top hat seals.

[ToRmEnToR]

I have heard a tea folks talk about airing fatigue on the Texans. Appalachian airguns sells springs from Africa air ordnance that will wake the Texan up..

[Bullfrog]

Thanks for all the input everyone. When I get the gun in hand from my brother I'm going to strip it down, clean it all inside and outside, and check all the seals I can find. Losing power while upping air consumption is symptomatic of a bad seal somewhere between the valve exhaust and the breech in normal airguns. If that was to happen in my Marauder or my Flex the first thing I check besides the breech seal is my transfer port. I know a bit about how my Condor seals in the breach, but nothing about how the Texan seals.

Checking for lead dust is also a good idea I will do. I cleaned the barrel for him about a month ago and it was filthy. I got the barrel spic and span with little effort (I have previously polished it so now heavy fouling comes out with just a long soak with a lot of Hoppes #9 and some light brushing). It very well could be that the inside of the chasis is caked with lead.

Don't mention spring fatigue to Airforce. I had called them before posting just to check into a replacement spring and I got a long lecture about how the springs don't fatigue, how I'm probably not using my power wheel correctly, and randomly that I shouldn't clean with a brass brush. They offered for me to send the gun back to them, but not to send me a spring. The lady meant well and wasn't rude, but d-a-n-g.

[KnifeMaker]

ONe thing you can count on, is staff at AF knowing virtually nothing about their own guns. Yet will pretend to be experts. LOL 

[ToRmEnToR]

I contacted AF with questions about slug usage in the Condor SS. I spoke with a young lady there who seemed to not know even the basic things about airguns. I know what you mean. When the call was ended I was where I was before even bothering to call.

[gendoc]

well i hate to hear of yall's trouble getting tech support from AF...
i have contacted them with questions and ask to speak with there
repair tech and was put on hold for a little while then the young lady came on and took my number for a return call.
not even 2 minutes from when i closed the call, there tech answered my questions and gave me some areas to check.
he called back the next day wanting to know what i found. his instructions were perfect and they worked flawless.
i have no clue why you folks had problems......

[Bullfrog]

No one's accusing them of being rude or not making an attempt to help, which in my mind are the cardinal sins for a company. The lady was trying to be helpful. Nor did I think the lady I spoke to was an idiot or anything like that. In fact I'm pretty sure I've spoken to her before when ordering parts. And that's what I called for this time, just to order a new hammer spring. I was prepared to buy one if it wasn't covered under the warranty, and I in fact never mentioned the warranty. I just said I'd like to find out what I need to get a new hammer spring, I've had the gun for a little over a year and I think it may be worn out. But it turned into a well meaning, but ultimately unnecessary, lecture, on stuff that doesn't matter and some of the info was downright wrong (such as no brushing a big bore... really?). Although she wasn't rude, she was blowing me off to the extent she didn't accept what I was telling her.

It is what it is. Its not going to stop me from enjoying their guns or obtaining more in the future. I have my eye on a .357 SS and either a Talon SS or Escape SS for backpacking. I was aggravated for all of 15 seconds after I hung up then after that it was more amusement than anything. I just won't call them back unless I'm prepared to tell them exactly what the problem is with no room for them to question it or to politely cut it off and say, "ma'am or sir, I just need a part."

[ToRmEnToR]

Yeah the young lady wasn't rude. I believe she put me on hold to ask someone else questions. Maybe she had some sort of database she was referencing. None of my questions were answered, BUT... MY AF Condor is my fav AG hands down. They make a great product.

[Bullfrog]

Does anyone know what the dimensions are on a Texan .45 hammer spring? I looked at the AAO spring kit but its $70 when you add shipping to the States.

[aceflier]

Does anyone know what the dimensions are on a Texan .45 hammer spring? I looked at the AAO spring kit but its $70 when you add shipping to the States.

Lethal air can get it or has it localy.

[Bullfrog]

I think the mystery is solved. My brother sent me this pic today:



Very big nick in the tophat bring.

As another factor, my chrony is also reading low, but that's another topic.

[Kinetic45^]

There is another tophat seal inside. I had to send mine to Doug to get it replaced as AF was being a d*** about it on a new rifle.

Denial is not just a river in Egypt.

FYI - Doug also told me that my valve and Loc were off center causing the problem

[Spy.vs.Spy]

I went to the oring store.com and stocked up on every O ring required for this rifle... checked them all with a Digi-Caliper and went with Buna-90 for better durability..Works very well for me....
 I tried the AF way, many times, and I hit a brick wall unfortunately ... Want something done,??... Ah you know the rest... Good luck