Empire Sniper Regulator Replacement / Help

[Booska]

*** Warning: I'm a major noob when it comes to maintenance - so bare with me. I want to learn. ***

I was out playing with my Empire Sniper today and it suddenly stopped shooting. Essentially, I'd cock it, pull the trigger, and there was no air getting behind the ball at all. It was as if I was shooting it without an air tank on it.

There aren't any leaks that I can hear and the marker airs up just fine. Its just that no air at all is getting to the top tube (?) when I pump it and pull the trigger. All I get is the same click that I'd get if the marker wasn't aired up at all.

A guy at the field mentioned that the stock regulators aren't great on the snipers and that I might want to consider buying a replacement regulator from CP or Inception.

So my main questions are:
1. What might be causing the problem that I'm experiencing? I plan to take apart the regulator to replace any busted o-rings and lube it up with some PE grease.
2. If replacing the regulator is a good option here, which regulators would you recommend?

Thanks!

[Trbo323]

First off, while I wouldn't rule out the regulator, I think it's a pretty low possibility. If a regulator goes out typically one of 2 things will happen

1) it stops regulating and the marker now gets full tank output pressure, in your case this would result in very low velocity

2) it will leak like crazy out of the side of the regulator

And while I don't think the stock regs are great, they are certainly not bad. I still run a stock one on my sniper, saw no reason to replace it

If you really want to replace it, I love cp regulators, inception is pretty good as well

As for fixing it

1) Have you looked at the gauge when it stops working? What does it read normally and what does it read when it stopped?

2) what tank are you using? Brand etc

3) stock ASA?

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[Booska]

First off, while I wouldn't rule out the regulator, I think it's a pretty low possibility. If a regulator goes out typically one of 2 things will happen

1) it stops regulating and the marker now gets full tank output pressure, in your case this would result in very low velocity

2) it will leak like crazy out of the side of the regulator

And while I don't think the stock regs are great, they are certainly not bad. I still run a stock one on my sniper, saw no reason to replace it

Have you looked at the gauge when it stops working? What does it read normally and what does it read when it stopped?

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Thanks for the response.

At the moment my gauge at the top of the regulator seems to be busted. Its stuck at 100 PSI and doesn't move at all no matter how much I adjust the regulator.

I actually recently replaced the gauge and its possible that I did a poor job with the teflon tape while screwing on the new gauge.

Maybe the teflon tape is blocking the little pin hole to the gauge and preventing the gauge from having a read out? In that case, the teflon tape could be blocking air flow to the gun after the regulator? I think the hole from the regulator to the rest of the gun is big enough that it wouldn't get blocked by a small bit of teflon tape though.

[nak81783]

Does the gage read zero when you de-gas the marker?

[shooter311]

I have heard many people say the regulator seat on on the empire snipers/Ressys are garbage. However, I have used these markers for years and never had a problem. So that might be what the field is talking about. However, in my experience a bad seat means the pressure creeps up, not eliminate pressure.

Where the gauge is at 100 psi, it could mean there is air trapped in the reg behind the valve, so be carefull when taking the marker apart.

Another issue with these markers is the ASA doesn't play well with Ninja ball valve tanks. If you are using one of those, unscrew the reg a little bit then engage the air and see if that fixes it. Inception designs sells a "star" piece to fix the issue.

You could always unscrew your reg, and just slightly engage the tank and see if air is coming out of the reg (BE SUPER CAREFUL). If it comes out, then you have an issue with your cup seal, or hammer. If it is not coming out the reg, rebuild it.


Here is a rebuild kit, with the better seat: https://www.inceptiondesigns.com/HPR...p/cgp-0040.htm

[Booska]

Does the gage read zero when you de-gas the marker?

Here's a picture of it reading ~100 psi while de-gassed.

[Booska]

I have heard many people say the regulator seat on on the empire snipers/Ressys are garbage. However, I have used these markers for years and never had a problem. So that might be what the field is talking about. However, in my experience a bad seat means the pressure creeps up, not eliminate pressure.

Where the gauge is at 100 psi, it could mean there is air trapped in the reg behind the valve, so be carefull when taking the marker apart.

Another issue with these markers is the ASA doesn't play well with Ninja ball valve tanks. If you are using one of those, unscrew the reg a little bit then engage the air and see if that fixes it. Inception designs sells a "star" piece to fix the issue.

You could always unscrew your reg, and just slightly engage the tank and see if air is coming out of the reg (BE SUPER CAREFUL). If it comes out, then you have an issue with your cup seal, or hammer. If it is not coming out the reg, rebuild it.


Here is a rebuild kit, with the better seat: https://www.inceptiondesigns.com/HPR...p/cgp-0040.htm

I hadn't thought about there being air trapped in the reg. I'll keep that in mind if I go to maintenance the reg.

I actually do already have the inception designs star plug installed. I run an HK 13ci nowadays that doesn't have that problem, but its good to have anyways.

Interesting idea to unscrew the reg and test it to see if the reg has any output. What do you mean when you say be super careful? Any risk involved in trying this?

Thanks for the reply!

[Trbo323]

Interesting idea to unscrew the reg and test it to see if the reg has any output. What do you mean when you say be super careful? Any risk involved in trying this?

Thanks for the reply!

Just that air will be blasting out of the reg if there actually is no problem with the regulator.

What I would do, unscrew the regulator, turn ON the ASA, and then screw your tank in slowly. If there's no problem with the reg you will have air start to come out. If there's a problem with the reg you will screw the tank in all the way and get air into the regulator without it coming out the top

Yes those regs can trap air downstream. With no tank on it like it is on your photo, if you pump and fire it does it do anything? Gauge change at all?

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[superman]

I would be willing to bet that the reg piston punched through the reg seat and is touching the spring and follower now. Likely just need to replace the reg seat and set the pressure to the appropriate output.

[Booska]

Just that air will be blasting out of the reg if there actually is no problem with the regulator.

What I would do, unscrew the regulator, turn ON the ASA, and then screw your tank in slowly. If there's no problem with the reg you will have air start to come out. If there's a problem with the reg you will screw the tank in all the way and get air into the regulator without it coming out the top

Yes those regs can trap air downstream. With no tank on it like it is on your photo, if you pump and fire it does it do anything? Gauge change at all?

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Yeah exactly, if I pump and fire the gauge doesn't change. Its reads 100psi at all times, which makes me think the gauge could be busted somehow.

I'll try testing the reg to see if its working.

[Booska]

I would be willing to bet that the reg piston punched through the reg seat and is touching the spring and follower now. Likely just need to replace the reg seat and set the pressure to the appropriate output.

Bit of an update that might be relevant to this reply:
I aired it up at my house without changing anything from when it was at the field, and it surprisingly was able to fire. However, after the second shot the bottom of the reg had a short sputtery leak for just a second or two.

Its odd that it worked without me changing anything. Makes me wonder if something is loose or maybe its some problem that was able to temporarily fix itself just by me packing up my gun and bringing it home.

Going to test the reg to see how that looks.

[Trbo323]

I would be willing to bet that the reg piston punched through the reg seat and is touching the spring and follower now. Likely just need to replace the reg seat and set the pressure to the appropriate output.

Correct me if I'm wrong but why would this end up with no air flow? I'm just imagining if it punched through the seat it would then send full tank pressure through

Yeah exactly, if I pump and fire the gauge doesn't change. Its reads 100psi at all times, which makes me think the gauge could be busted somehow.

I'll try testing the reg to see if its working.

Yeah most likely the gauge is either off or busted. They are not known for their great accuracy. I just removed mine, you don't need it on the marker

Bit of an update that might be relevant to this reply:
I aired it up at my house without changing anything from when it was at the field, and it surprisingly was able to fire. However, after the second shot the bottom of the reg had a short sputtery leak for just a second or two.

Its odd that it worked without me changing anything. Makes me wonder if something is loose or maybe its some problem that was able to temporarily fix itself just by me packing up my gun and bringing it home.

Going to test the reg to see how that looks.

Two things come to mind about that leak,

1) could me the macro fitting just a little further up shooting the air down

2) the reg has a bleed off piston on the bottom end

I'm leaning towards rebuilding that reg though. Regardless of if it's your actual problem or not, it would be done good piece of mind if it's fresh

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[superman]

Because it has a spring and follower below it to make sure it does not send full tank pressure through the reg if it fails.

[Booska]

Sounds good. When you say rebuild the reg, do you mean with a full new set of parts like you linked above? Or just going through to change out o-rings and lube it.

Either way, I've been shooting this pump for about 8 years and haven't had many problems. I agree that it would be good piece of mind to have the reg freshened up.

Also just realized I need to go to the hardware store to get one of those pin pliers to access the reg internals.

[Booska]

I took apart the reg as much as I could without pin pliers and found that the regulator piston was covered in a bunch of gunk. Not sure where this came from, but I suspect it came from the bottom portion of the regulator that I can't access yet.

I think the "gunk" on top of the regulator piston is what's left of the o-ring that sits on top of the regulator retainer. Looks like it got completely torn up to the point that its just a glob.

I'll have to take a run to the hardware store so I can get to the internals in the bottom of the reg to replace the o-ring, but seeing the piston totally blocked like this in the picture must have been the problem.

[Trbo323]

That would be what remains of your regulator seat. Superman nailed it

Rebuild, all o rings and in this case, replace the regulator seat as well

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[superman]

Here is a rebuild kit.

https://www.inceptiondesigns.com/HPR_ORINGS_p/cgp-0040.htm