Fitting an Altaros regulator
Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2017 5:26 pm
I've just finished fitting an Altaros regulator in my S400 Classic. My overall results were very much like Mark112 with his Lane regulator: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3300 but the big difference is I didn't need to polish the inside of the cylinder or drill any holes.
First I did a ‘drop-in’ installation, exactly as per instructions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXMNayVzmkw . Just push the reg into the cylinder, with its stand-off spacer and replace the valve pot with the new fitting set to the recommended 8mm. This worked in a technical sense, with no leaks, a steady 100 bar output and a 10-ish fps spread on JSB 8.44’s. But just like Mark's Lane regulator the air usage was very inefficient and I only got 70 regulated shots from 200 bar, as opposed to 70 shots in my sweet spot from 170 bar previously – so no real gain.
Next I collapsed one coil of the hammer spring and let it air cool as I did not want to harden the collapsed part. This gave about 10.8 ft-lb with JSB Heavies with the power adjuster screw right out. The next step was the fiddly one – I reduced the valve spring tension until I got about 11.4 ft-lb on Heavies. The final setting was 8.45 mm, but it took 4 or 5 tries to get there, and of course it will be different for every gun.
The good news was that it also gave 11.4 ft-lb with JSB Exacts and 11.2 ft-lb with Air Arms. This is vastly different from before I collapsed the spring, when I was getting 11.5 with Heavies, 10.8 with Exacts and 10.2 with Air Arms. It suggests that my hammer/valve balance is now pretty well spot-on – more by luck than judgement, but who cares! The best news was 105 - 110 regulated shots from 200 bar. Early days yet, and the spread is around 15 fps, which is a bit more than I would like, but I think that has more to do with the butchered hammer spring settling in than the regulator and I think it will improve.
Another advantage is that the gun is now about as police-proof as any gun can be, since the adjuster can only reduce the power from its current safe level, and it needs comparatively major dismantling to increase it.
I'm very happy with the outcome, and although I might be able to squeeze even more shots out, I won't bother. It confirms by belief that, in the real world, there is no need whatever for the venting hole, and this set-up is totally reversible for the cost of a new hammer spring - which is less than a tenner.
Is it worth doing or is it just something else to go wrong? I'm not sure. I'm no great fan of regulators, as some of you will know, and there is no increase in accuracy or consistency compared to an unregged gun in its sweet spot. But I think it probably is worth doing for the Carbine, with its low shot count, while at the other end of the spectrum, I wouldn't even consider it for my HFT 500, which already gives over 100 shots in the sweet spot. Anyway, I had a good time fiddling about, and learned something at the same time. Good luck if you decide to try it.
Alan
First I did a ‘drop-in’ installation, exactly as per instructions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXMNayVzmkw . Just push the reg into the cylinder, with its stand-off spacer and replace the valve pot with the new fitting set to the recommended 8mm. This worked in a technical sense, with no leaks, a steady 100 bar output and a 10-ish fps spread on JSB 8.44’s. But just like Mark's Lane regulator the air usage was very inefficient and I only got 70 regulated shots from 200 bar, as opposed to 70 shots in my sweet spot from 170 bar previously – so no real gain.
Next I collapsed one coil of the hammer spring and let it air cool as I did not want to harden the collapsed part. This gave about 10.8 ft-lb with JSB Heavies with the power adjuster screw right out. The next step was the fiddly one – I reduced the valve spring tension until I got about 11.4 ft-lb on Heavies. The final setting was 8.45 mm, but it took 4 or 5 tries to get there, and of course it will be different for every gun.
The good news was that it also gave 11.4 ft-lb with JSB Exacts and 11.2 ft-lb with Air Arms. This is vastly different from before I collapsed the spring, when I was getting 11.5 with Heavies, 10.8 with Exacts and 10.2 with Air Arms. It suggests that my hammer/valve balance is now pretty well spot-on – more by luck than judgement, but who cares! The best news was 105 - 110 regulated shots from 200 bar. Early days yet, and the spread is around 15 fps, which is a bit more than I would like, but I think that has more to do with the butchered hammer spring settling in than the regulator and I think it will improve.
Another advantage is that the gun is now about as police-proof as any gun can be, since the adjuster can only reduce the power from its current safe level, and it needs comparatively major dismantling to increase it.
I'm very happy with the outcome, and although I might be able to squeeze even more shots out, I won't bother. It confirms by belief that, in the real world, there is no need whatever for the venting hole, and this set-up is totally reversible for the cost of a new hammer spring - which is less than a tenner.
Is it worth doing or is it just something else to go wrong? I'm not sure. I'm no great fan of regulators, as some of you will know, and there is no increase in accuracy or consistency compared to an unregged gun in its sweet spot. But I think it probably is worth doing for the Carbine, with its low shot count, while at the other end of the spectrum, I wouldn't even consider it for my HFT 500, which already gives over 100 shots in the sweet spot. Anyway, I had a good time fiddling about, and learned something at the same time. Good luck if you decide to try it.
Alan