Colt 1911 (CO2) power upgrade question

[sheene]

Does anyone know how to tune a Colt 1911 (umarex) CO2 pistol to the legal limit of 6ftlb and what are the pitfalls or negatives to doing this and are there any benefits other than increased power. Better longer range accuracy?

Woul like to know, thinking of buying one to upgrade then bling up. Chrome with Ivory look grips!

[ikarma70]

very unlikely to get near to 6ft.lb. from a multi shot co2 pistol as the magazine area leaks gas too much.

[PHOBUS]

Think I read about .20 barrel conversions which ups the power a bit .

Carl.

[Tiffster]

I doubt you could increase the power on a Co2 Pistol unless you some how managed to change the valving to allow more Co2 out per shot. Good luck with that

[sheene]

Thanks guys, i know it can be done, possibly with the valve. May need a smith?

[sheene]

Come on guys there must be someone who knows how to open up the valve. Can't be much more than that, maybe a stronger hammer spring?

[jtw000]

I'm no expert but i've had a few Umarex type guns and I would estimate you have a better chance of crapping snow.

[vfrkid]

There is not much you can do. wrong sort of gun to modify.. The only co2 pistol I know that is is tunable is the Drozd.

[Korium]

It might manage 3.5ft/lbs or so with a modified valve. Try opening up the valve by filing it a bit to widen it.
You could also modify a CP88 compensator to fit, that will add a little and has been done.

Calibre conversions might be possible, I think Mike Childs at Skanar may have done some work in this field?.
The S&W is tunable to 5ft/lbs with a .22 conversion and other work; I could probably find out more if required.

[Snapshot]

Mike used to make a .20 conversion for IIRC the CP88. The main problem with these pistols, apart from the leakage around the mag, is the short barrel and I think that opening up the valve will just get you a spray of CO2 out of the barrel.

Jonathan

[sheene]

Cheers for your input guys, any other pearls of wisdom would be surely appreciated

[sheene]

Anyone else??

[jtw000]

It seriously can't be done but I would love to be proved wrong. Umarex pistols look pretty but really are a pile of crap. They leak rotten at the mag and around the valve assembly, which is too small and inefficient for the sort of power you're looking for. To get foot poundage you need to go up several calibres and you can't do much due to the size of the revolving mag. Upgrading the hammer spring will over-stress the chocolate mechanism and make your trigger too heavy to fire accurate shots from in double action.
The only real mod that will make them a bit better is a mod that Brocock made some years ago. It was a pure air conversion with a brass cylinder replacing the C02 bulb. You'll struggle to find one and will have to pump it up and o top of that you'll probably find it unreliable but if you get hold of one they quoted around 30% power increase. If you really want more power get a different pistol like an EB22 or Crosman 2240 and keep the Umarex for knocking over cans at close range.
You have to remember that these are airguns and built with compromises in quality and power and design.

[Tiffster]

If you really went at it and had access to parts etc, i suppose you could re machine some internals, making them to tighter tolerances etc so that not so much Co2 is leaked.

Im not sure if you could but you might be able to get into the valve and also re-machine a copy better to reduce Co2 escaping. Less Co2 escaping means more behind the pellet pushing it down the barrel which might give a slight increase in power.

[jtw000]

The design is a heavy limitation. If you did everything to maximise efficiency you'd still only gain a tiny amount of power. Even if you completely redesigned the valve it's still too small for real gains.