Micro-leak: worth fixing?

[The Jayster]

I have the faintest of micro leaks in my Nova NX-1 Sentinel Sniper. I can hear it (barely) by putting my hear to the feed neck but only when the bolt is removed. When I pop the bolt back in, I can't hear it anymore. Is it worth it to go down that rabbit hole and fix this? If it won't affect performance why should I bother?

Also, is it ok to put a few drops of oil into the ASA, remove the barrel and dry fire a few times? While the bolt and hammer would need oil, I think the balanced valve o-rings as well as the Guardian regulator need grease, not oil.

[JohnB]

I have a buddy who’s macro line usually leaks or something else; he jokes his markers like the freshest of air and he just runs them. I think the main thing is does it impact your shot count or ability in game. It’s probably the valve and if a new valve could use break in time and be fine; otherwise oil down the Asa is what I typically do before tear down.

[ChuckLove]

I can almost guarantee that your hammer is resting against the cup seal with just enough force to cause a small leak. This is a very common quirk with these valves.
Try lowering the height of the lug a bit. I've also used a flatter hammer lug to help solve this problem.

[The Jayster]

Thanks, made sense. I cocked it, gassed it up and slightly pulled back the cocking rod right before the hammer lug would engage the sear, in order to relieve the pressure on the cup seal and stop the leak but to no avail (still leaking).

I'm thinking there's either some microscopic debris around the valve, the valve o-rings need grease or there's something a bit off with the cup seal. As I mentioned it is the faintest of leaks I've ever heard (the slightest ambiant noise will make it inaudible). Since it doesn't seem so far to affect performance, I'll investigate at my leisure.

[Cdn_Cuda]

To quote TLC, Don’t go chasing waterfalls. If it’s a super minor leak it won’t affect anything and you may make it worse. And really, is it really a cocker if it doesn’t leak just a little?

[The Jayster]

Thanks, I'll leave it as such until I remove the valve for o-ring maintenance eventually.
Played with it yesterday and shot fine.