New Blodnob valve results

Before I get to the numbers, I just want to say a big thank you to Sean aka Blodnob. Not only is he a true craftsman, but he’s also one of those people that will bend over backwards to make sure a customer is taken care of. I bought a valve from him almost a year ago. Awesome piece of work, for those that have one, you know what I mean.

Well, a few months back, it developed a leak. Contacted Sean, asked if he had any ideas, he asked me send it back so he could repair it for me at no charge, of course. Now, Sean does this stuff as kind of a hobby, he has a real job and a family like most of us. And like most of us, those things can really get in the way of our hobbies :-). Well, time went by and my valve still wasn’t coming, and at one point, I got pretty snotty with Sean via email. Sean remained a complete professional and gentleman, apologized for the delay, and promised to include a new aluminum breech as a way to make up for my hassle. It was about this time that Sean announced on the forum that he would be shutting down for awhile, just because he couldn’t deliver as promised.

Breech (very nice!) and valve finally arrived, put it all together, and started shooting. After about the third fill, something didn’t seem quite right. Yup, it was leaking again! Needless to say, I was not pleased. In fact, I was so frustrated I didn’t even contact Sean for a couple of days.

When I did contact him, he felt the only way to rectify the situation was to build me a whole new valve. Not only that, but he changed the design both for better air flow, and to make if easier for the end user to make repairs in the event of a leak. Not only was he going to make me a new valve, but once it was completed, he wanted me to send the old one back so he could rebuild it and return it to me. Which sums up the whole thing perfectly. I wouldn’t hesitate to do business with Sean again, and I hope he keeps building stuff for a long time to come. For those that are interested in getting a Blodnob valve, be prepared to wait, but know that the wait WILL be worth it. Thanks again, Sean! And now, on with the review :-).

When the new valve came in about a week ago, I didn’t do anything but install it, fill the tank, and start shooting. Of course, I’ve been busy as hell, so I only had time for a couple of chrony strings. I figured out on my first fill that 3K psi was going to be too high. That first 3K fill started in the mid 700’s, then climbed steadily through the next 30 shots, ending in the high 900’s. In fact, it was still accelerating, so I kept shooting, after 60 shots, it had peaked around 1060 and dropped back into the mid 900’s. Pressure was down to 1800 psi after 60 shots. That was it until today.

I’m not going to bore everyone with the various settings and adjustments, I’m just going to get to the final setup. BTW, I forgot to include this in the notes, I’m using a 75 gram hammer (also from Sean) with the stock hammer spring. Here’s the graph and spreadsheet of that final setup:

The biggest problem I had was getting it to SLOW DOWN :-)! Although once I got the curve flattened out, both the average velocity and power came up. As you can see, Kodiaks are averaging 1031 fps, which is still a little faster than I would like. But the accuracy is still there, sub 1/2″ at 30 yards, and the shot curve is the sweetest that I’ve ever managed. I suppose I could probably tweak it a bit more, but then it would be perfect, and I’d have to kill myself :-). All in all, I’d have to say this new valve is even better than the old one. Great accuracy and serious power, good shot count and economical air use, what more could you ask? Later.

Dave