massive pcp failure, headed to the er

[painless]

Mike, I am glad to hear that you are not critically injured. I may have missed it stated earlier, but would like to say one thing first, in general to all here. At a minimum, Safety Glasses. Think about where correct PPE should be applied. I would advise any one reading that safety glasses are not just for the shooting aspect of this hobby/sport.
 When I am at work I deal with N2 pressures on the order of 300 to 15,000psi on a regular basis. On occasion even higher for design qualification and certification. Volumes range from approx 20cc to several hundreds of sq/ft. I work in the subsea well head industry and it is part of the pressure integrity qualification testing set forth by API on many of the well head assemblies we manufacture. I have witnessed ALLOT of ugly things happen in the oil field over the last 20+ years to people and coworkers with compressed gas and pressurised hydraulics. In one instance, I litterally have seen an uncontrolled N2 pressure release from the bore of a sub sea well head tree assy, propell that 27,000 lb tree 18 feet straight up into the air. It happened 15 feet behind me. When another technician unlocked the tree from the test fixture there was still only about 5,000psi trapped in the bore (was 10,000psi test). The concussion knocked my hard hat off of my head. my ears rang for a day and a half. Also have seen flesh split open by considerably less N2 pressure venting from a unsecured pressure line. I could go on and on. Gas pressure is the only thing in my work place that really puts me on edge.

The point is, compressed gas is capable of storing and releasing incredibly large amounts of energy in a split second. Just like a machine it has no conscience, get too comfortable, lower your guard just once, allow complacency to set in..................in many cases, it just takes once. I have fallen victim to complacecy, and was lucky to come out alive.

Mike, you have my prayers for a rapid and full recovery. Happy Thanksgiving to all.





 

[MustangMike]

thank you again guys for the kind words.. i can say if i had ben wearing safety glasses my eye would not have ben injured i guess that was stupid mistake number 3..

i have found the cause of thefailed guage, it was in fact a peice of the original fuel tubing i used for the deping. im going to be checking around the house for a section of pvc i can use to remove the valve and guage port. i might end up having to order a new airtube unless any one has a disco airtube laying around.. when i drilled out the breech screw i damaged the threads airtube and im not sure if i have to drill the hole in the breech out a tad for the screw since once i rethread the airtube the hole will be slightly larger thus needing a slightly larger screw for the breech..



nah havent been in the attic looking for the fill adapter.. plus im sure its going some dry wall packed down into it since it did cut a perfectly round hole in the ceiling.. so im just playing it by ear and wont be ordering parts untill i get it completely taken apart and then put back together so i know exactly what i need.. if i miss one thing on the order to crosman it will add an extra week to wait..

[MustangMike]

here it is guys, peices of fuel tubing that ended up shredded and completely clogging the gaug port hole that pass through the gauge port

[TOM aka critter99]

I would just live with the ping....none of my rifles are depinged

the ping really does not carry very far from the rifle but sounds loud to the shooter

try it stand back 10 ft and have somebody else shoot the rifle

which direction did you push everything out???

[MustangMike]

ya i am just going to leave it alone

also found a peice of tubing that had been sucked into the valve

ps... trying to install the valve is a pita to keep it going straight down the tube with out rotating and messing up the alignment of the screw holes

[MustangMike]

Went to some doc appointments today

3 cornial abrasions which are like really small paper cuts on the eye, hurts to blink when you have them.. that pain went away over the weekend.. I've had a few of them in past but never 3 at one time. Pain wasn't bad enough to complain about since I've had them before..

Now to the bad news 5% eye sight loss in my right eye and about 10% hearing loss in my right ear.. I can't really tell loss of either one, but I don't have to renew my drivers license for another 6yrs so no worries there with the eye sight test..

Called crosman about parts and got a total price of 56.05 shipped for a new fill adapter, breech screw, air tube and gauge.. thinking I might get a gauge else where that gives a bettet reading of pressure and I'm still not sure if the threads on the airtube for the breech screw are jacked up from having to drill out the threaded shaft of the breech screw because it was bent in the airtube after I removed the head of the breech screw..

Can't order parts untill the 3rd of next month and my bigcat has a bad seal so I'm unable to shoot any airguns untill maybe the 10th when the parts would be here or around that time after ordering...

[aack73]

hopefully your eyes and hearing will recover more with time. if you were in NC and closer i'd loan you something to shoot til you got your parts.

[MustangMike]

hopefully your eyes and hearing will recover more with time. if you were in NC and closer i'd loan you something to shoot til you got your parts.

Thanks man, I will be back shooting soon enough.. the doc's jaw dropped when I explained what happened... the fill adapter and end of the barrel was a foot or less from my face the stock between my knees to help steady...

I've turned the bass down on my amp in the stang and won't be using head phones for a few months.. I hope everything will eventually get back to normal but if not I can say the lesson from this accident will always be in my mind anytime I pick up a pcp rifle...

I'm starting to want a mrod again...lol.. gotta get back on the horse or I guess pump in this case

[aack73]

yep. i always want another gun. it's figuring how to get it that's the trick.   i'm sure time alone would cause such a decrease in vision and hearing too. did they say if that was permanent loss or may get better still yet?

[MustangMike]

I was told to not hold my breath on the eye sight or hearing getting better.

[joe k]

mike i hope they are wrong and you do improve.
joe

[redone1992]

Mike i would be interested in your old air tube if you don't use it.

DON

[Rescue35]

Good attitude there brother.
Richard

sometimes you just gotta pull ur man panties up and keep on truckin

Glad you are OK and sticking it out. Thanks for sharing your story as most probably wouldn't.

[MustangMike]

Mike i would be interested in your old air tube if you don't use it.

DON

i will let you know, odds are im going to replace it but ive been considering doing a co2 crosmods disco or maybe a just a scratch built co2 disco for use with open sights for those close in critters.. its all kind of up in the air, but if i dont use it to build another disco from scratch i will be sending you a pm.. but to be honest man crosman said the airtube was 18.16 prolly just better to order ur self a new one

[poomwah]

"dang" mike,  glad you are ok.  I know it happened a bit ago, but I just read it now.