One Piece Tophat fine tuning
Hi guys,
My Talon’s valve broke on the stem (inside the tophat) a while ago, I’ve had a new one-piece valve made and shimmed it to get it to the velocity I want it.
Is there another method of fine tuning the one-piece valve other than shimming or shortening the bottom of the stem?
Thanx Nick
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Mike I got them at ACE. They were in a bin with all the fasteners and odd crap they sell.
They called them fender washers, they are made out of rubber and stretch over the tophat very easily.
Riff, what are the finder washers made from? Who carries them?
Knife
The fender washer method makes sense, I don’t use a striker weight so the hammer impact on the valve is reasonable low so I don’t think it will cause damage on the collar and the grubbie but in the long run I think it’ll be the better option as it will last longer.
That’s what I love about these rifles, 50 yrs from now I’ll still be learning something new.
I have to disagree with you a little Cyg.
Once that tophat bottoms out against metal shims, the forces are transferred to the frame/bottle collar. After a lot of shots, the setscrew holes in the bottle collar start to stretch out and deform and the bottle will start to move about.
I no longer use shims, but when I did I used a rubber fender washer. I used the same one for a couple thousand shots and it never wore out.
When I made the switch to .25 caliber I quit using it.
Yes I’m worried about the o’rings giving me hassles later so I’ll look into replacing them with washers. The Talon is my favorite rifle and performed flawlessly but I know it won’t stay that way unless I replace the o’rings.
Thanx for the help Cygnus.
oring shimming is a no no….the orings will wear and give you inconsitensies
instead get some metal washers….you can pry the valve stem out without emptying the bottle…just point bottle and valvestem in a safe direction should the unexpected happen
i was in the same boat 10 years ago when i got my first condor…ordering from tony or AF would take something like 10-12 weeks to arrive…i tried :
orings they will compress and break at some point, will be inconsistent
plastic washer, will crack and compress..power will go up slowly
metal washer works great, i managed to get my condor to 45 fpe, and a good 30 shots before poi would change
try and glue the washer to either tophat or the bottle so it doesnt sit mid stem…i used crazy glue (cyanocryalate) it lasted a tin of pellets, before needing to be reglued…you could also try an epoxy or something like shoe repair glue, that stuff remains flexible after curing, just use as little as possible…otherwise the shoe glue will act like an oring
Thanx guys, that sounds like the way to go. Unfortunately importing from Tony is the last resort as our currency has taken a dip and not economically viable. For now I’ve shimmed it using 3 o’rings under the tophat and its working well but its not as consistent as I would like. After an outing yesterday, it seems to be better.
Thanx again for the advice.
+1 😉
start with one with a too small ID, and bore it up until you get to where you want it
thread the insides and use small setscrew with different sized hole in them to get what you want…get brass setscrews…they are much easier to drill
get a valve from tony with setscrews and all
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Thanks Guy!
Mike