Slow leak in the DAQ

[ronbeaux]

I noticed the last few days while hunting that the 308 DAQ has a very slow leak. Is this something a new guy like me can fix? I have tuned spring guns before but have never tore into a PCP.

If not, who wants to fix it for me???

[Butcher45]

I noticed the last few days while hunting that the 308 DAQ has a very slow leak. Is this something a new guy like me can fix? I have tuned spring guns before but have never tore into a PCP.

If not, who wants to fix it for me???

I would set aside some time to tear-down your rifle to give it a good cleaning and divers' grease the o-rings (if needed), and get a good general familiarity with your rifle inside and out.  It's fun seeing the innards anyway.

If it still doesn't hold air after you re-assemble it, THEN consider sending it off.  My 909 has a slow leak past 1500psi, so I'm tearing my bigbore down here in the next couple of days.

[Nomadic Pirate]

bummer

[melloroadman]

Before you tear it all the way down . Make sure it is not just the intake valve . Soapy water , and or balloons can help you pin point a leak . Marvin

[ronbeaux]

I'll snatch a bottle of Snoop from work this week and see if I can find it.

Another DUMB question. Is there a way to de-cock the DAQ? AND, when you need to empty all the air out of it do you just keep pulling the trigger or is there a way to poke something in there to let it out.

[Joshua A.]

to de-cock, hold the bolt in the back position with your finger, pull the trigger, and slowly let foreward on the bolt. to de-gas the gun is easy if there is a power adjuster. just un screw it all the way out, remove the hammer spring, and press the hammer foreward with a dowel, screw driver or something of the such. there might be a better way, but this is how i do it.

J.Austin

[ronbeaux]

I'm learning. There is no power adjuster on the DAQ I have.

Thanks for the de-cock info. I wasted three shots these last 4 days not wanting to screw it up.

[Butcher45]

I'm learning. There is no power adjuster on the DAQ I have.

Thanks for the de-cock info. I wasted three shots these last 4 days not wanting to screw it up.

After I am thru hunting for the day and don't want to make noise or shoot a boolit hard in a particular area, I get the boolit out of the rifle like this (I NEVER leave a slug in my rifle when I am thru with it): I pull back just a little bit on my 909 cocking lever, and release the hammer onto the valve just hard enough to expel the slug from the barrel at around 160fps or so so it is easily seen.  Do this into some lambs wool with an over-sized slug, and you can in effect slug your bore by measuring the recovered slug.  Might work for a DAQ, too.

[Nomadic Pirate]

Good Idea Chris, Thanks,.....I too never leave the gun after a Hunt with the slug chambered, I allways shoot it, but sometimes it's to noisy for comfort, I'll be using your method from now on, Thanks

[rsterne]

to de-cock, hold the bolt in the back position with your finger, pull the trigger, and slowly let foreward on the bolt

That would work for most guns.... but the DAQ has a separate cocking handle that pulls directly back on the hammer.... Substitute "cocking handle" for "bolt" and you're good to go....

Bob

[ronbeaux]

Thanks! You guys are helping me out. I can't wait to try that 'pop' thing to spit out the slug onto a soft surface.

[melloroadman]

If that is a choked barrel you are going to be thrown off by the amount the barrel has been choked . Marvin

[Butcher45]

Thanks! You guys are helping me out. I can't wait to try that 'pop' thing to spit out the slug onto a soft surface.

I saved a couple of bags of sheep wool just for recovering slugs.....I've heard it works well if you want to recover a slug un-damaged.  Hope to have time to find out more about it myself soon.

I don't think those barrels are choked but not certain.

Pull as little as you can at first, and ever-so-gradually increase the distance you pull and release until the valve just opens.  The slug may not even exit at first when the valve opens......if there is no "gunshot" sound and you don't see the slug leave the barrel, it didn't.  If done just right on my tuned 909 (about 160fps or less), a pillow would likely stop it, and you wouldn't have to dig much if at all to see the slug afterwards.  

Now keep in mind that for all I know a DAQ .308 valve may not even open at all until there is power, this technique may not appy to some other bigbores.

[Butcher45]

If that is a choked barrel you are going to be thrown off by the amount the barrel has been choked . Marvin

I was going to add, that if you feel your barrel is choked then just shove the slug from the breech end halfway up the barrel (or just before the choke), then push it back out the breech with a ramrod from the muzzle end.

[melloroadman]

Yes and no about the bullet . It will be a recovered bullet .But it will not have gone through all the punishment of a bullet shot at full power . It may not give you the correct info that you need to figure out a problem . Marvin

[Butcher45]

Yes and no about the bullet . It will be a recovered bullet .But it will not have gone through all the punishment of a bullet shot at full power . It may not give you the correct info that you need to figure out a problem . Marvin

I was talking strictly in the sense of slugging the bore with an over-sized slug.  Not good at seeing if you are grabbing the rifling, smearing, stripping, or what have you.  

[lloyd-ss]

I hope the leak is in the valve and it just has a speck of something stuck in it that you can clean out.

About discharging the gun to get a bullet out or degas it, Here is a way that I fire a bullet safely and quietly out of a gun, including big bores.  Take  a 5 gallon drywall bucket and a piece of stiff carpet about 3' x 6'.  Roll the carpet into a tube and put it into the drywall bucket make the bucket about 3' deep. Then stuff it full with all the plastic grocery bags you can find.  Really, any kind of stretchy plastic will work, just stuff it full.
Push the muzzle a couple of inches into the bags and fire.  It will blow a couple of bags out, but it works like a charm.  The bullet is virtually unharmed. And almost no noise.
Lloyd

[Butcher45]

I hope the leak is in the valve and it just has a speck of something stuck in it that you can clean out.

About discharging the gun to get a bullet out or degas it, Here is a way that I fire a bullet safely and quietly out of a gun, including big bores.  Take  a 5 gallon drywall bucket and a piece of stiff carpet about 3' x 6'.  Roll the carpet into a tube and put it into the drywall bucket make the bucket about 3' deep. Then stuff it full with all the plastic grocery bags you can find.  Really, any kind of stretchy plastic will work, just stuff it full.
Push the muzzle a couple of inches into the bags and fire.  It will blow a couple of bags out, but it works like a charm.  The bullet is virtually unharmed. And almost no noise.
Lloyd

I heard that the plastic you often see wrapped onto pallets full of goods in warehouses/box stores etc makes for excellent backstop material.  Bet any local box stores have loads of the stuff for the asking.

[lloyd-ss]

I heard that the plastic you often see wrapped onto pallets full of goods in warehouses/box stores etc makes for excellent backstop material.  Bet any local box stores have loads of the stuff for the asking.

Chris,
Yes, any plastic that stretches a lot before it breaks will work.  I'll have to check our recieving dock here at work.
The way the bullet penetrates the plastic bags is pretty neat.  You can actually put your hand into the entry hole in the plastic bags and reach all the way in a foot or more where the bullet has stretched a path thru the plastic bags. There is a scene in Terminator where the bad cop is made of liquid metal and a metal spear goes into him and stretches way out the back without breaking thru.  That is how the plastic bags behave.
Lloyd

[ronbeaux]

I decided I would give a call to Dennis. Got his lovely wife instead since he is at the St Louis Air Gun Show. I'll call him back Monday because she said he could walk me through it and if I get squeamish, She said he would not only fix it for me but tell me the history behind it since he keeps a record of each one he makes. I kind of like to know all about it I can since I plan on taking it to the hogs the rest of this year and as long as I can.

I don't at this point plan to acquire any more big bores or get set up for all the loading and buying all the HPA stuff. This is my tool and will be used within it's capabilities for as long as needed.

I am perfectly happy just placing the shot in the right place at the right distance and knowing it will do it's job.

I have plenty of backyard plinking airguns and this one is my 'baby' for hunting larger game.