My new .25 SPA M16 (Air Max Dominator) thread... :-)

[smythsg]

Very sorry to hear about your tribulations so far John. My Dominator came about half filled. What appears to be causing your barrel issue?

As for missing inspection, my Dominator was double boxed and did not appear to have been opened since leaving the factory...

[shultz]

Fairly certain it's just the barrel band outa wack, WAY outa wack. Not sure if I want to mess with this or just send it back.

Huh, mine was single boxed in a generic cardboard box...... it was surrounded with fitted foam.

[smythsg]

You are right Manny, the press pin was a bad idea. If the locktite does not work for my rifle I think Harbor Freight has a roll pin selection that will fit. May be my next attempt.

[shultz]

The lever looks to be cast, forget staking the pin...

[smythsg]

Holy Smokes John, I just saw your pictures, that barrel is way off. Thanks for the great picture of the Pivot Pin falling out before you ever fired a shot. Unfortunately it looks like that one needs to go back to Mike...

[shultz]

I removed the air stripper, have to wonder if the barrel is bent. Mike will be getting a call first thing tomorrow.

[Nomadic Pirate]

My gun must have missed inspection....

ZERO psi in it and the barrel is pointing to the left. Yep, that pin is gona fall out.

6lb 4.5oz on my postal scale with out LDC or scope.

Gota say, I'm not impressed so far....

Edit for pictures and, I worked the lever half a dozen times, the pin nearly fell out.......

It's not the barrel that is bent,....unscrew the barrel band and let the barrel come around straight again, than tighten the barrel band screws back on, stuff like that can happen when the gun get banged a bit.

that pin/lever action design is very poor indeed.

[shultz]

NP,

Yeah, I get that. BUT the barrel actually hit the shroud hard enough to make a "PING" noise when I pulled the stripper off....it was under some tension! barrel may not be bent, I'm not sure I want to go into this gun any farther without talking with Mike first..

[Nomadic Pirate]

Wait, how can the barrel hit the shroud ? .....is there no support to keep the shroud aligned to the barrel ?

[Nomadic Pirate]

I removed the air stripper, have to wonder if the barrel is bent. Mike will be getting a call first thing tomorrow.

I see now,...that is a terrible design, the barrel NEEDS to have a support where the shroud rides on and keeps everything centered.

[smythsg]

As you can see in the picture John, mine came double boxed, so not sure if I got lucky or you got unlucky...

[shultz]

NP, the support would be the air stripper. Heck with it,I'm going in DEEP boys!!!!

Barrel is threaded into the breech and was LOOSE. It rolled cleanly on a flat surface, not bent.

The trigger groups screws LOOSE, one not even snugged down.........

Pic of the reg adjustment.

Pressure gauge was LOOSE. This may be where the air leaked out.

All in all, VERY poor assembly. My gun must have been built by a union man, an hour before quitting time on Friday

[smythsg]

My barrel was also a little loose when I took it off for cleaning. I am not sure that it did not loosen up when I unscrewed the air stripper though. I do not remember seeing any O rings on the barrel itself, and the set screws on top of the breach do not hold it so the threads seem to be all that is holding the barrel in place?

[Nomadic Pirate]

LOL, they just put the guns together without tightening anything ?

[smythsg]

Before we get John too discouraged, I want to point out again that while my Dominator is not currently making the power I want, it is shooting very accurately and the magazine seems to be indexing properly so carry on John, there is light at the end of the tunnel...

It looks like the blue locktite may hold the pivot pin in place so maybe that issue will be solved as well.

Now for that regulator... we need to know the adjustment ins/outs...

[shultz]

Well, its all back together. Cleaned, lubed, screws tight W/loctite and everything is straight now.

It didn't blow up when I put air to it, good sign. It's holding air so far, I'll know tomorrow if I still have a leak.

If you want to remove the pellet probe, you'll need a small socket, to remove the bolt cocking pin. Not sure what size it is as I can't get calipers on it to measure... 3mm, maybe smaller

Since the mag loads in from the left side, I had to remove my small, 60mm AO side wheel..... The hits keep coming!

[Digeraro]

Wow what a cluster had some interest but gonna wait this one out no hurry here. Still not sure about this new asian invasive species.

[shultz]

Still had a small leak....

Since the fill end is very much like the air max MKII, which has leaked several times here...I check it first. Yep, bubbles coming out of the fill probe hole.

You have to remove the pressure gauge, spring and cover, then barrel band. Now, use a large punch inserted into the fill probe hole to loosen it. Once the fill end is screwed out of the air tube, you need to remove the small flat head screw that's inside. This screw has a shoulder that an o ring seals against along with the end cap itself. This o ring, had a TINY sliver embedded in it causing the leak. I just replaced it since I have a bunch of these o rings...

Put it all back together, air it up. Now I just have to wait and see if this was the only leak....

[Nomadic Pirate]

NP, the support would be the air stripper.

WOW, now that is a weird design.

So you can't choose to shoot the gun without the LDC for a shorter carbine style,...basically forced to keep the LDC on, ...funky.

[shultz]

Nope, the air stripper has a shoulder that supports the shroud. The stripper screws on to the end of the barrel, putting tension on the shroud as it pulls into the breech. The LDC threads are at the end of this stripper. You do get a thread protector for the air stripper.

The gun is not at all backyard friendly using just the air stripper/shroud. Hunting, it would be hearing safe for sure. With the LDC, it's backyard friendly but not by much IMHO. It's certainly not SUMO or rocker1 quiet