Beeman QB Chief .22 broke down

[z_johnq]

Hello,

The other day, I was trying to adjust the hammer spring of the gun by clockwisely turning a 5mm Allen wrench. But I think I did too much. Right after firing the gun, I heard a pretty loud hiss from somewhere around the breech area, sounds like a seal was blown; as I pulled back the bolt, the hiss was even louder.

Do you think the valve is broken? I'll try to fix it but no idea where to start. Any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks in advance.

[Back_Roads]

 From what you described I would assume that the valve poppet has failed, may have cracked, or just some crud got in it.

[Ribbonstone]

Wish I had better news.


MAYBE Beeman has gotten better...worth phoning/emailing them to find out.  Looking at my notes, it’s been a year and a half.


Beeman was not good about spare parts for this rifle then….likely still not, but haven’t tried them recently.

Chief valve stem isn’t the same as any of the others I’ve checked...can’t check them all, but none of the spares on hand for other rifles would work (Chief uses a rather long valve stem).


Likely could talk you though a take apart….the valve and valve stem would be the very last part to come out, so it would be a pretty near total take down.

But without factory replacement part, wouldn’t do a world of good to take it all apart.

Could be fouled and the poppet (the seal on the valve stem) is leaking from that…..which was my hope at first.


Nope….it’s the black part, that should be attached to the long metal stem.  Can see that it’s split up the side and fallen off the metal stem.


DSCN2225 by Robert Dean, on Flickr


Not a hard one to make….is a hard one to make and get to seal right (the seat on the valve face that the poppet seals to is not the easiest shape to get to deal...which is probably why they used a softer material).

[z_johnq]

Thanks for the quick reply!

Are you saying I need to replace the whole valve instead of replacing some o-rings, correct?

First time to take apart of a QB Chief. But I saw some videos at Youtube.com. It shouldn't be too hard. I'll keep you posted about what happens.

Thanks again.

Thanks to Ribbonstone too! I didn't see your reply until I posted the previous one.

I understand what you said. It's a Chinese made airgun and I don't expect too much from it. But it's sort of too good to throw it away since it's about 2 years old. I have a Maxima too. It doesn't look as good as the Chief but it's slightly more accurate, with a bad trigger.

I will think about it if I keep it or not.
Take care.

[Ribbonstone]

If you get Beeman to break lose with ANY parts....let me know.

Make sure the vids. are for the Chief....it's doesn't share much of any QB parts other than the trigger.

[CraigH]

Beeman was not good about spare parts for this rifle then….likely still not, but haven’t tried them recently.

A very congenial description of Beeman (Chinese guns via SR Industries) customer support.   They are mostly incompetent and error prone.   It was a few years ago, but it took 6 emails and phone calls to finally get a few simple parts for a Chief.

The Chief platform is reasonable good, but without CS and parts, things can get difficult for owners.

[wll2506]

Beeman was not good about spare parts for this rifle then….likely still not, but haven’t tried them recently.

A very congenial description of Beeman (Chinese guns via SR Industries) customer support.   They are mostly incompetent and error prone.   It was a few years ago, but it took 6 emails and phone calls to finally get a few simple parts for a Chief.

The Chief platform is reasonable good, but without CS and parts, things can get difficult for owners.

Did you have a Chief Gen 1 or Gen 2 --- I heard the Gen 2 had improvements ... I least I hope so as I bought one in 177 cal ;- ) ?

wll

[BigBird]

Possibly you turned the RVA spring adjuster TOO MUCH and the hammer put pressure on the valve stem/poppet.  When you shot the hammer didnt return back and pressed the stem/poppet.  Try turning the hex counterclockwise and releasing the spring pressure.

[Ribbonstone]

  You are more use to PCP’s….may be wrong, but the original poster didn’t seem like he was.

In you case, the worst would be having to make a poppet.  So long as the original metal stem can be salvaged, it’s mildly aggravating job.


Looking at the dead poppet...it split at an injection mold seam.  Wasn't being pushed hard (low pressure. about 16 foot pounds, two finger cocking.

[CraigH]

Beeman was not good about spare parts for this rifle then….likely still not, but haven’t tried them recently.

A very congenial description of Beeman (Chinese guns via SR Industries) customer support.   They are mostly incompetent and error prone.   It was a few years ago, but it took 6 emails and phone calls to finally get a few simple parts for a Chief.

The Chief platform is reasonable good, but without CS and parts, things can get difficult for owners.

Did you have a Chief Gen 1 or Gen 2 --- I heard the Gen 2 had improvements ... I least I hope so as I bought one in 177 cal ;- ) ?

wll

If addressed to me - Gen 2 .22 caliber.

[Ribbonstone]

Took 10 years...but eventually the Crosman poppet died.  Did push that one harder.

Good news is that a new one is like $5 and easily avaliable.


DSCN3088 by Robert Dean, on Flickr

Looks like it “beat” a ring seat into the poppet, and eventually the poppet blew out at that ring seat’s edge.

[BigBird]

Wow!  Thats a bad poppet.  Yeah could be a bad poppet similar to Mr. Dean. BUT have you turned the RVA back and pump it up?  If poppet is bad I bet it wouldnt be too hard to make a poppet.  I should make one for mine JIC.  Is that an imperial sized stem?

[Ribbonstone]

Seals are disposable bits….aren’t going to last for ever.   Tires, fan belts, brake pads are like o-rings and poppet seals (or springer’s piston seals/breech seals). So long as you can buy a new part or make one, can fix it.

Did make one….then replaced it with a new factory one. Likely to run out of shooting lifetime about the time the replacement fails.

[z_johnq]

Dan, if the spring was pushed too much and counter-clockwise can help, but I cannot explain the heavy leaking of air after a shot. I guess I am not lucky eough that releasing the spring can solve the problems.

But it is worth trying.

Thanks.

[BigBird]

If there is any air left make sure it is empty and check the condition of the hamner area (action).  Im not sure how you do that if there is something wrong with the RVA but thats a first step and then check the pressure tube.

[z_johnq]

Okay, thanks for the tips from all you guys.
Let me remove the barrel first, will do it tomorrow.
thank you all.

[z_johnq]

I took off the barrel and found at one o-ring got chipped (total 3 on the barrel). Another one is also damaged but not as bad as the one in the pic.

Is Pyramid the right place to get the o-rings? Any idea? Not sure if replacing the o-rings will solve the problems but that's at least what I should do.

Thanks. Please let me know if you cannot see the pic.

[OTmachine]

AS568-012 O-ring (3/8 I.D. x 1/16” cross-section) will work.  Should be able to get them at an Ace or True-Value Hardware store. And, just so you know, the cross-section measurement of a 1/16” o-ring is about .070” which provides the squash on the o-ring to make it seal.  But, I think there is more to your rifle’s problem than that.
HTH,
Keith

[z_johnq]

I agree with you OTmachine. But let me try to replace the o-rings first. Thanks for providing the info about the supplier.
Regards.

[BigBird]

Did you take the "action" portion apart (hammer area)?  If you are going to take out the valve to see what is going on in there might as well reinforce with better screws.  Forgot which works better but whether metric or tapping for 10-32 gr8 SHCS would be a big step up in safety.  Its always better to have a tube yield than your pins fail.
Along the same safety lines but unrelated, the valve has 2 orings.  I wonder if it can operate with one nearest to the closest opening on the breech side. Some designs in the past have a close oring to a hole for a degas on a tube yield.