Phoenix Mark 11

[darryl]

Hi Guys,
As you know I've been waiting for the adapter-adapter to arrive so I could fill my Phoenix. Well, it arrived, and I filled the cylinder. The first couple of magazines worth seemed to go fine, though I could only fill to 200 bar initially. The rifle seemed to be using a lot of air. Eventually I filled the cylinder again, and while at first it would seep some air until I shot it a couple of times, now I hear a constant hissing of escaping air. I bought this gun used, as is, so I'm repared to reseal it. Of curse the seller, dealer has no o-ring kits for the rifle, and I've contacted PAX for a kit, as well as Draper Airgun parts supplier. But do you guys have any times for me in trouble-shooting the cause? Anything will be appreciated. Also of note, I was sent a print-out of test results prior to the rifle being shipped to me. It showed the rifle was producing 9.5 ft/lbs. I may have bought trouble.
darryl

[madcarlos]

Hi Guys,
As you know I've been waiting for the adapter-adapter to arrive so I could fill my Phoenix. Well, it arrived, and I filled the cylinder. The first couple of magazines worth seemed to go fine, though I could only fill to 200 bar initially. The rifle seemed to be using a lot of air. Eventually I filled the cylinder again, and while at first it would seep some air until I shot it a couple of times, now I hear a constant hissing of escaping air. I bought this gun used, as is, so I'm repared to reseal it. Of curse the seller, dealer has no o-ring kits for the rifle, and I've contacted PAX for a kit, as well as Draper Airgun parts supplier. But do you guys have any times for me in trouble-shooting the cause? Anything will be appreciated. Also of note, I was sent a print-out of test results prior to the rifle being shipped to me. It showed the rifle was producing 9.5 ft/lbs. I may have bought trouble.
darryl

just to make sure did you cock the rifle first before you put the filled bottle back in , what pellets did you use when getting the low power reading , it may be worth starting a new thread on the general airgun section asking for advice ok bud, hope it pans out soon

[darryl]

In fact, I did cock the rifle before inserting the air cylinder. I tried repeatedly cocking and firing the rifle after refilling the air cylinder, and still air seeps after cocking the rifle. Firing the rifle didn't stop it
from seeping air. Something let loose. As for the pellet used i the test, the dealer listed the pellet weight as 14.3 grains. I used an online tool to calculate the power based on the average fps on the test strip. I'll start a new post.
thanks,
darryl

[DCL_dave]

In fact, I did cock the rifle before inserting the air cylinder. I tried repeatedly cocking and firing the rifle after refilling the air cylinder, and still air seeps after cocking the rifle. Firing the rifle didn't stop it
from seeping air. Something let loose. As for the pellet used i the test, the dealer listed the pellet weight as 14.3 grains. I used an online tool to calculate the power based on the average fps on the test strip. I'll start a new post.
thanks,
darryl

Firstly, if it's been stood up a while at a dealers the seals may be a bit dry, charge the bottle and put a good few drops of a light sewing machine type oil onto the bottle valve, put it back in and fire a few off...just to see if it makes any difference to the leak (I do this every 500 shots or so and must have put atleast 20,000 pellets through mine, still on the original seals)

[darryl]

OK. Got nothing to lose. But where can I source a kit besides PAX? Of course I've contacted PAX already, but I live by a Plan-B.
thank you Dave,
Darryl

[DCL_dave]

OK. Got nothing to lose. But where can I source a kit besides PAX? Of course I've contacted PAX already, but I live by a Plan-B.
thank you Dave,
Darryl

Hi Darryl,

Like you, I had some teething problems when I first got my Phoenix, primarily leaking air when attaching the bottle and jamming issues with the mag, I bought it from a club mate who had had the same issues...

The leaking problem was cured by just repeating the fill oil/valve bottle and fire off till it stopped...I took many attempts at just blasting air oil/through the system, let it run out then remove bottle, fill, oil and repeat untill it sealed itself, I guess I had to fill the bottle atleast 5 times and I was able to then use the gun, and loved it ...a couple of weeks later it did the same thing again so i just repeated the oil/air procedure but this time I did it with with loaded mags and just fired them off into the ground, the leak stop within two or three mags (I forget now as it was a couple years ago...) since then I have pretty religiously stuck to the 500 pellets then feed here some oil regime, touch wood, have'nt had a leak since...so, in essence, these guns like a lot of oil...and I'm guessing here but by using loaded mags and actually firing pellets off, the oil is somehow better distributed throughout the system...I assume there would be more back pressure build up through the valve area thus atomising the oil/air mixture better??...like I said just a guess!...and being an example of good old British engineering, it is designed to use oil on a total loss principal, as that is the best way to keep it running smoothly.

The mag issue was caused by not seating the pellets properly, when cocking the lever with the gun pointed up, the pellet slipped back out of the mag, into the back of the bolt prob housing and jammed the lever open...did it a few time until I realised what was happening, cured by making sure that the pellet is pushed fr enough into the mag so that the oring sits in the waist of the pellet.

All the issues I and the previous owner had were pure user error, not saying your gun hasn't sprung a leak for real, but, like you say, nothing to loose so it's got to be worth a bit of oil, air and time before you take it apart.

Cheers,
Dave

p.s. I mainly use Parker Hale Express gun oil as that is what the manual recommends, but any good light mineral based sewing machine type oil should suffice, I've 3-in-1 before too, no probs thus far.

[CORKY.]

I used I think it was a mk1 bottle in a mk2 rifle and it burgered the bottle. this was nigh on ten years back so memory is bit fuxxy but if you compare amk1 and mk2 bottle side by side there is something about the neck where it mates up to the rifle.
similar but not the same

Hi, instructions for the new Quick Fill cylinder say,"Not Suitable for use in the Parker Hale Phoenix Mk1.

[darryl]

Hi Darryl,

Like you, I had some teething problems when I first got my Phoenix, primarily leaking air when attaching the bottle and jamming issues with the mag, I bought it from a club mate who had had the same issues...

The leaking problem was cured by just repeating the fill oil/valve bottle and fire off till it stopped...I took many attempts at just blasting air oil/through the system, let it run out then remove bottle, fill, oil and repeat untill it sealed itself, I guess I had to fill the bottle atleast 5 times and I was able to then use the gun, and loved it ...a couple of weeks later it did the same thing again so i just repeated the oil/air procedure but this time I did it with with loaded mags and just fired them off into the ground, the leak stop within two or three mags (I forget now as it was a couple years ago...) since then I have pretty religiously stuck to the 500 pellets then feed here some oil regime, touch wood, have'nt had a leak since...so, in essence, these guns like a lot of oil...and I'm guessing here but by using loaded mags and actually firing pellets off, the oil is somehow better distributed throughout the system...I assume there would be more back pressure build up through the valve area thus atomising the oil/air mixture better??...like I said just a guess!...and being an example of good old British engineering, it is designed to use oil on a total loss principal, as that is the best way to keep it running smoothly.

The mag issue was caused by not seating the pellets properly, when cocking the lever with the gun pointed up, the pellet slipped back out of the mag, into the back of the bolt prob housing and jammed the lever open...did it a few time until I realised what was happening, cured by making sure that the pellet is pushed fr enough into the mag so that the oring sits in the waist of the pellet.

All the issues I and the previous owner had were pure user error, not saying your gun hasn't sprung a leak for real, but, like you say, nothing to loose so it's got to be worth a bit of oil, air and time before you take it apart.

Cheers,
Dave

p.s. I mainly use Parker Hale Express gun oil as that is what the manual recommends, but any good light mineral based sewing machine type oil should suffice, I've 3-in-1 before too, no probs thus far.

Whoa! Talk abut a save! I was about to throw myself down a flight of steps over this problem(don't worry. they'd have broken my fall! )!! Dave, I put the rifle back together, and tried some thinner light-machine oil with a full magazine and the rifle sealed right up. Without adding more oil I ran another magazine and prayed it was not a fluke. Not a hiss nor a fart out of it! I've always said " no need to reinvent the wheel" because I'm not the first one a thing has happened too! Can't thank or the AirgunBBS board enough!
darryl

[DCL_dave]

Whoa! Talk abut a save! I was about to throw myself down a flight of steps over this problem(don't worry. they'd have broken my fall! )!! Dave, I put the rifle back together, and tried some thinner light-machine oil with a full magazine and the rifle sealed right up. Without adding more oil I ran another magazine and prayed it was not a fluke. Not a hiss nor a fart out of it! I've always said " no need to reinvent the wheel" because I'm not the first one a thing has happened too! Can't thank or the AirgunBBS board enough!
darryl

No worries mate, glad you got it sorted.

[madcarlos]

glad its done buddy , think i better run some oil through mine more often just to make sure , now you can enjoy the gun ok bud

[darryl]

Now some other poor soul with a similiar issue will search the web, and find this thread. The knowledge base about this rifle grows.
darryl

[darryl]

Hello all,
My Phoenix went downhill from my last post. I'd been in contact with the factory (Hugh and Shobir). Hugh sent me PDF drawings of the gun so I could disassemble it. I found the bottom o-ring of the air valve was distorted and cracked, dry as paper. Unfortunately I had gone too deeply in the tear-dwon, and became confounded when I could not get the trigger sear to engage, so the rifle would not cock. In the intervening months I'd try to get things working, then have to stop and give it a rest. Finally, I shipped it to where I'd bought is (used) with instructions to reassemble the trigger group. The drawings are woefully inadequate in this regard, as the trigger parts are on separate drawings, plus the drawings are very dark and hide a lot of detail. As it turned out the airgun shop where I sent it (and bought it) told me it would send the gun to England for repair (no one there could sort it out); this back in April of this year. I had other things to do so I put it out of my mind until last week. It was hard to reach the repair department, but when I did it informed me the gun never left for England due to some difficulty (which it did not explain, I'm in the U.S). What it told me next caught me off guard. As I sit here now a replacement Phoenix is being sent to me. It's "new" though the inventory there is about 10 years old. I was told the gun would be tested for proper operation before being sent out. It arrives next Tuesday. The adventure continues.
darryl

[buttloaves]

I have always liked these guns, thought about buying one but would like to hold one and try it out first, that fast reload is very appealing and no need to take your eye off aim to do it.
Regards, Mark.

[darryl]

But I freely admit the idea of receiving a new ten-years old airgun fills me with a certain degree of dread. Dried-out o-rings. Honestly I'm tempted to put it up for sale as "new-in box; I never even shot it" and get something I'll never need to work on but can work on by myself. Like a Daystate.
darryl
PS my video of my impression of the Phoenix over a year ago:

[madcarlos]

Must say that i have been enjoying the weather and been doing quite a bit of plinking lately but out of my pcp guns i seem to be going for the mk2 phoenix, This gun still amazes me how accurate they are,