P-17 malfunction

[buellm2]

I had around 1500 pellets thru my P-17 and then it started misbehaving.  It sounded like the hammer would drop but didn't have enough force to open the valve correctly.  So I opened it up and was surprised to see how many particles of what appeared to be tiny pieces of lead and plastic  were inside.   I trimmed up some crappy looking and beaten plastic flashing with an exato knife.   The nut at the end of the valve was indented a bit where it gets repeatedly hit by the hammer so I rotated it 90 degrees.   I wish I had taken some pictures but the cleaning frenzy hit me hard.   Anyways now it works fine, at least so far.  I suspect it will be pretty much impossible to buy parts (other than O rings)  if any should fail on this 30 dollar item. 

Does anyone have a general idea of life expectancy by pellet count on P-17s?

[Geoff]

congrats on the repair ... i have tossed 2 of them due to not holding pressure ... for some reason they stumped me .. i have torn down almost all the rifles i have w/o error, just that darn P17 has my number.

[Unk]

I gave mine to our very very own 45Bravo and he is looking into what seems to be the problem. I got my $35 worth of enjoyment and then some out it 

 I’m hoping you all get yours figured out and running again, they are a hoot to shoot 

[Duckfish]

Mine never worked right from the start so I call PA and told them I wanted to return it.  They gave me a full refund and said to not bother sending it back.  I put the $ toward a HW40. It works and shoots like it a dream.

[Tom Tucker]

I have bought 2 of these guns, and both were extreme examples - one was flawed in almost every way, while the other was a great example of what this gun could be.

The first one failed in the first 100 shots due to a valve o-ring getting chewed up. Before it failed, it shot 7.33 grain pellets at about 390fps.  Affecting accuracy, the barrel was drilled off-center, and the breech-end of the barrel was ridiculously tight.  The barrel was probably cut a hair too short as well, since it didn't want to maintain a tight seal with the breech.  The trigger had some slight crunchiness in the first stage too.  I like to tinker, so instead of sweating the $30 I spent on a dud, I decided to see if I could get this gun shooting how I wanted. I ended up replacing all the o-rings with 90-duro polyurethane, I bedded the barrel with JB weld and opened up the breech end a touch, and I epoxied a 1/32" aluminium disk to the piston to bump up compression.  I also smoothed the entrance to the transport port and widened the port a bit.  I polished the trigger bits too and lubed with moly.  When all was said and done, the gun was much more accurate, but not perfect, and the velocity averages 445fps with the same pellets.  It has about 2000 pellets through it.

I picked up another gun, and it shot 435fps right out of the package and was more accurate than the worked-over P17 "dud".  The trigger was perfectly smooth too.  I went ahead and did the same o-ring replacement, transfer port work, barrel bedding, and I shimmed the piston with 1/100" of metal tape (2 layers) to bring compression to maximum.  I lubed all the trigger stuff with moly, but I didn't feel like I had to polish anything.  This gun now averages 450fps and is very, very accurate.  So far it has about 750 pellets through it and never a leak or misfire.  It's now the only one I shoot, and the other gun is a working spare parts collection.

I've attached two targets I shot free-hand with each gun.  As you can see, the groups are much better with the newer gun even though I brought the overall score down by pulling 2 shots pretty badly.

[pgritty]

I have 2 p17's. Have had both apart many times, but still the best value in airguns. The sweet trigger and accurate barrel are just too nice for under $40.

congrats on the repair ... i have tossed 2 of them due to not holding pressure ... for some reason they stumped me .. i have torn down almost all the rifles i have w/o error, just that darn P17 has my number.

Mine developed a leak where the air chamber fits over the valve body. There is an oring under the crimp. Had to grind that off with a dremel, replace the oring, and recrimp. Been working fine since.

I will have take the other gun down again soon as it's starting to not cock correctly everytime. When not correct the trigger jams.
Still great fun.
Pat