R3 .30 caliber problem and fix

The Problem:
I first noticed after about 2K rounds my velocity dropped off. That can be common, sometimes the HST needs to be readjusted. So I screwed in the HST 1/4 turn and I was back at the 890 fps I was before. I was fine for about another 150 rounds until the real problem started. The gun started behaving erratic when trying to find zero on my target. I put the Matador on the chrony and I found a strange phenomenon. When the gun was full (220 BAR) no manner where the HST was set the most I could get out of the gun was 750 fps. As the pressure in the reservoir dropped the speed conversely would rise until below 150 bar the speed was at 912. I concluded that the valve must be stuck and the reason for the change in speed is that the valve gets more resistance from the air in the reservoir the higher the pressure. The valve must be allowed to move freely in the regulator. The belleville washers are clean, the O rings are perfect and the regulator is assembled correctly. What I found was the valve stem was slightly bent. I know this problem developed over time because the gun was super consistent when I was new. . The valve stem was not too long as it was in Ed’s factory specs. I straightened the valve stem reassembled the gun and I still had the same problem.

The fix:
what I found was the valve stem was slightly oversized and a little rough. Because the stem is steel and the valve stem housing is brass the valve was getting caught/sticking and in my opinion the valve couldn’t open enough. When the gun fell below the 150 pressure setting the valve didn’t have to work as hard to move forward when the hammer hit the stem. I polished the valve stem with 220/20/400/600/800/1200/2000 grit paper on a lathe until I could see my reflection in the valve stem. The valve moved like it was on ball bearings inside the housing. The regulator gave me 24 shots with the average at 880 and the ES at 2.6 fps.

I welcome any criticism you may have about my fix. It’s is possible that I just got lucky. Hell, it’s better to be lucky than good anyway.

shooter3

Participant

January 16, 2016 at 10:25 am

quote keyser soze:

I’m not waiting on Ed to fix this. He is working on 4 brand new models for 2016.

drid

January 16, 2016 at 8:33 am

I private messaged ed on Tuesday and he did reply in all fairness.
he said just keep shooting my gun and if any problems occur he will sort it. I’ve put only a 100 pellets or so thorough it from new. But I’m not going to shoot it no more until something is done. I’ll just shoot the .25 until then. All the guys working on a new solution on it !!! I SALUTE YOU ☺☺☺☺

oakey631

January 16, 2016 at 12:00 am

I will say this anyone who spent money on these LEMONS needs their money returned to them or a COMPLETE FIX. This is not going away until every gun is fixed. So I hope Mr Edgun is hard at work because if he is not this dog is going to bite him back and real g00d at that.

steelgunner

January 15, 2016 at 8:00 pm

6 pages in and still no Ed im really hoping that he is neck deep in fixing this. That is the only valid excuse for not having replied once, lets not leave your loyal and longtime customers that have helped build your rep and business in the dark. For without them you would not be where you are today, we just want some sign that you have heard our concerns and that we are not being ignored.

renval

January 15, 2016 at 6:26 pm

I am one of the lucky ones .30 cal owners too! I have the first gen, since day one I had nothing but problems with the gun, a leak from the air gauge, then a big puff of air coming out from the breach(that was scary)but the main problem is the gun doesn’t want to shoot pass 715fps, I have tried everything! I have to say that Tony has been very helpful, he sent me a new regulator along with one of the new valve stems but nothing works! The gun still shoots the same, I sent it back to him hoping he can fix it, but I really doubt it, this guns have a design problem even the second Gen. Ed should have tested them first before send them out! I always wanted to own an Edgun bc I know they are reliable and built like a tank, but now im very disappointed. I Don’t want my money back I just want a gun that shoots the way it should. Cmon Ed you have to make it right to your loyal Boys here, do something about it.

January 15, 2016 at 8:06 am

Keyser the more i read this thread im feeling better eveveryday. Top guys all of you for caring ☺

January 15, 2016 at 12:36 am

Voice of reason. The clorox crew.

keyser-soze

January 15, 2016 at 12:18 am

I will not stop until this issue is resolved. One way or another we will get new valves. John Hagan is involved now and I will seek out the right people to get a fix. Ed is aware of the problem.

This goes deeper than just my gun. This is what I think is fair:
1. Every owner of the 2nd generation gets a permanent fix for the R3 .30 from EDgun. The gun works like a 2K guns should.
2. after this fix is completed and tested by the owners the Gen 1 R3 .30 get their guns upgraded to the Gen 2 if they so desire. These poor guys (I am not one of them) have suffered with a broken system since 2013. Ed, show the world the owners of the first and second generation R3 .30s are important to you, fix the guns and upgrade the Gen 1 owners guns as well. We want to love EDguns. Treat me right and I’ll be the best soldier you have.

Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning. ~ Bill Gates

A customer is the most important visitor on our premises, he is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

January 14, 2016 at 11:07 pm

After reading this thread from start to finish and looking over my R3 top to bottom this is what I have found. My gun is newer than most but I am starting to have bending issues in the valve as well. I’m glad to see that there are people that are working on fixing it but the bottom line is that Ed needs to make a new valve and send out fix kits. I doubt anyone on here payed 2k for something that would need to be tinkered with, drilled out and modified to work. If that be the case I will go back to cheap rimfires, spend less and have it working faster. I love edguns and hope that him staying quite on the issue means he is waiting to reply with good news but if not I bet I’m not the only one that will never buy again. Let us not forget that without customers there is no business, manny of you have the tools and skills to fix your own guns but for those of us that expect an out the box problem free shooter for 2k that’s what I should get! For another 2k I can get a plain ticket to Russia and hand it back to him and say I’m done if nothing gets resolved. As it has been said before we just need a 3-4 mil valve with new front end and made of harder steel, why has Ed not done this yet? Ed are you out there reading the concerns of your loyal customers????
:angrymob:

dant55

January 14, 2016 at 2:51 am

My reg says 130 on it but not sure if its been adjusted since leaving the factory. I may also be having some reg issues so need to get it checked.

I do think the solution lies in a larger valve stem per KS and Ernest. 3-4mm. Would be nice if Ed could come up with a front end kit that we could just screw onto the reg body.

Any ways…..I’m going to check into getting a valve made up by a local tool shop along with matching the housing ID to the stem. Should be easy for a competent shop.

Going to keep carrying on. Peace out.

January 13, 2016 at 10:31 pm

quote dman1114:

Does the Brassinsert on the valve screw in or is it pressed ?

From what I know you cannot acquire brass insert separately – you have it together with the aluminum part. It may imply that it is pressed.

But then that leads the Question ? why didn’t ed make it larger?

Because he did not shoot 10 000 pellets through one particular instance of Gen2 .30 ? In the warranty card you can see that the gun should work for 1 year or 10 000 shots.

dman, please read once again carefully:

quote shooter3:

The proper way is to shoot at least 10 000 pellets through the gun before sending it to the market. After that number of pellets you can tell something more about PCP system durability. If something does not work correctly you make the adjustments and you repeat the whole process again and again till satisfaction. But… it takes time and money. It is as simple as that. Easy.

It is impossible to design a gun without extensive testing. Design is just a theory, testing is practice.

dman1114

January 13, 2016 at 10:17 pm

The reason the valve is being smashed come from three main reasons. First the regulator pressure is so high (150 bar). Secondly the hammer is much larger. Third the valve weighs more than the .22 and .25 valve that is made of delrin. Because of the valve increased weight EDgun used a heavier valve return spring. See in order for a regulated airgun to be efficient the valve must open and close quickly. The lighter valve is quick but it also broke more. Because of the volume of air required to push a 44.75 grain pellet at almost 900 fps the system needs to be beefier. It’s like taking a bolt action rifle designed for a .22 LR and converting it to a .223 center fire. The pressures require a new design.

I was at the SHOT show last year and a pretty famous airgun maker was there showing off his guns. I had a chance to speak with him for a few minutes. One part of our conversation was about larger caliber regulated airguns. His feeling was a lot of PCP makers make a mistake by just putting a larger barrel on a gun deigned originally to be a .22. This maker’s feeling was the .30 required an entire new platform.

Brian….

I don’t really want to muddle this thread about other guns but …. I know and you know of a Bullpup that is Running at around the 145 bar on the reg… And i haven’t seen a stem break yet.

my shorty is set at around 155 bar or so….. no issues.. Yes they are 2 very different designs .22 vs a .30 but the hammer is still slamming the stem at 150 bar and opening it.

I think you maybe on the Right track …. going with a larger diameter stem.. If it is easy as reaming out the brass insert and screwing in a 3mm stem that sounds like it would work.

Its possible that you maybe able to just have a different brass piece made too then it would just be swapping out the stem and the brass insert.

and if it didn’t work you could still go back to factory

January 13, 2016 at 9:37 pm

Thanks Keyser. I am just tired because of these airguns. Looks like an accurate and trouble free airgun is really rare. What counts is just money, money, money.

January 13, 2016 at 9:20 pm

Shooter3 is from Poland. His sense of humor is lost sometimes in translation but I love his sarcasm

January 13, 2016 at 8:16 pm

His feeling was a lot of PCP makers make a mistake by just putting a larger barrel on a gun deigned originally to be a .22. This maker’s feeling was the .30 required an entire new platform.

Send it to FX in relation to Impact. Same platform for .177 and .30. This is a joke guys.

Ed at least tried to improve .30 comparing to smaller calibers. He fell down but he will stand up stronger. Gen3 .30 will be perfect or R4 .30 will be perfect.

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