Originally Posted by
silvershooter
I own 1 C25 pistol.
Have you also taken heed of the guidance regarding steel CO2 cylinders ?
CO2- gas cylinder – Steel design
After 10 years the CO2 - gas cylinders made out of steel must be examined by the manufacturer. During
the in house examination the steel CO2 - gas cylinders are inspected for corrosion not visible on the
outside. If there is no corrosion the CO2 -gas cylinder are proof pressure retested and provided with new
seals as well as marked with new test datum for a fee.
If there is corrosion or the CO2 - gas cylinder fails the proof pressure retest, the cylinder will be disposed
of without any risk. In this case the customer will be inform by FEINWERKBAU that the CO2 – gas cylinder
can not be used anymore without risk.
Sorry I did not know that you had sold one of your two C25 pistols.
Yes we are aware of that advice regarding the steel CO2 cylinders.
Any sign of corrosion inside the steel CO2 cylinder and it is scrapped.
It is very unusual to see any sign of rust inside the steel Feinwerkbau CO2 cylinders, but they should be checked and re-sealed to be sure, and this advice is passed on to all our members now that CO2 pistols are becoming more popular as shooters become interested in the Classic Carbon League.
We are not being hyper-sensitive to the 10 year age of cylinders generally as we are aware of the debate concerning them, however the cast alloy "paint pot"shaped cylinder as used on the C25/C55 pistols is now known to have been cast from an alloy that Feinwerkbau later discovered to embrittle with age.
If the alloy continue's to embrittle as it gets older it is reasonable to assume that it becomes more at risk as the years go by - and this is not good news for a pressure container ! No other cylinder product has been made from a material that the manufacturer has later reported as deteriorating with age in this way.
Feinwerkbau should be applauded for being so responsible by identifying this problem, and we are being responsible by not allowing them in our club given the 30 year or so age of most of the cast alloy cylinders that are still fitted to most of the C25/C55 pistols we have seen. As you know Feinwerkbau will not test these early cast type cylinders to extend their life and they will not re-certify them either - unlike the steel types that are made from a much more stable material.
Using a C25/C55 in private with expired cylinders is the owners free choice, and as long as he or she understands that there may be some risk with the decaying cast cylinder then that is their own free choice, but we have decided with the information now available that we do not want to take that risk on our own club range as we have a duty of care to all our members and visitors and do not want to expose them to it (or ourselves for that matter).
New C25/C55 cylinders can be purchased to extend the life of these pistols by a further 10 years, and we have no new information about the material used to manufacture these revised shape pressure containers, but it would be surprising if Feinwerkbau had not changed the material they now make them from when they also changed the shape from one that looked a bit like a pineapple ( some say like a hand grenade) to the newer rounded shape that no longer has these flat land areas on the surface.
We have no C25 pistols in our club and so we have no members that have been adversely affected by this rule - other than myself!
Last edited by zooma; 28-01-2013 at 04:48 PM.
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