Regulator = more moving parts, more O rings and bigger headaches.
Oh and extra cost.
Not quite correct.
The reg steps down pressure where it is stored in a pre-valve chamber, the valve is knocked open allowing the stored lower pressure out of the valve but as soon as the pressure drops the reg tries to fill the prechamber, if the prechamber is too large then it might be a couple of shots before the reg reacts to fill chamber. if too small then the reg will top up the prechamber during the firing cycle. Even if the reg and prechamber work together then the stored pressure will still vary by several psi.
None regged guns have full pressure holding the valve shut, when full the hammer struggles to open the valve and lets a small amount of very high pressure out, with the next shot the stored pressure is very slightly less and the hammer is able to open the valve a little more, this cycle continues until the pressure is to low and pellet speed drops, each time though the pellet leaves the barrel at the same speed, but try messing with the barrel or transfer port size and it will have a power curve like a rainbow
As I have said I have both regged(3) and non regged (1) guns the only advantages of a reg is a higher shot count because the fill pressure is greater. My non regged gun is equally consistent shot to shot (in fact its very slightly better) OK it has less shots but less things to go wrong.
Regulator = more moving parts, more O rings and bigger headaches.
Oh and extra cost.
Arthur
I wish I was in the land of cotton.
Always looking for any cheap, interesting, knackered "project" guns. Thanks, JB.
Chairman Emley Moor F.T.C. 2023 - Misfits champ, HFT extreme champ, NEFTA hunter champ, Midlands Hunter champ, UKAHFT champ.
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JB has had a few regs out of rifles for customers who prefer the simpler option.Not an uncommon req he told me last time I saw him ....
I have a Hornet (reggd) and Scorpians -
I do know the sweetspot, I generally prefer un regg'd. I don't shoot FT, maybe at 45 / 50 yards regg'd helps, I cannot say. It doesn't make any difference whatsoever to accuracy at hunting / hft ranges
Looking for TO-6 Trigger unit unmessed with or T0-6 kit for 34
A reg doesn't make a gun more accurate (although adjusting reg pressure ca help fine tune the gun to a preferred pellet) I routinely shot out to 100mts with all my sub 12fte guns, one of my regged guns is slightly better than the others (most likely the barrel) but my non regged .20 put a full mags worth of pellets (12) onto a 40mm spinner
Had been running a reg in s400 for 3-4 years. Very consistent and around 90 shots but the rebuild every 6-12 because of leaks proved too much. Now running fac air cylinder with slightly heavier hammer spring and venturi wound in to flatten the curve. Over 100 shots at 777fps with a +/-7fps spread which you will never notice, the extra weight from the cylinder makes positionals much easier. That worry of "when is it going to go wrong" has now disapeared
Shouldn't need much if any maintenance if set up right. Problem is many aren't.
I'm not sure what non regged guns are doing but we've got one doing less than 1 fps Sd and over a wide range of pressures from a far lower volume bottle than a buddy bottle. It does help accuracy at long range but I guess it depends on the starting point.
I'll stick it on a list to record a shot string to see what it can do when I get 5 mins.
I think the problem is that people are putting aftermarket regs in and expecting wonders and they aren't setup right to start with or just not that good. Not only that but the knock open setups are setup around a much higher pressure and not the lower pressure the reg supplies which can affect the overall performance.
Standard regs aren't always better either. But I think most will give less SD over a pressure range of a smaller bottle but I guess it depends where you want to measure from.
Interesting timing for me as I’ve just got my first unregged gun – a seven year old S400 Classic (ie rifle length) .177. I’ve only had the gun for 5 days, but so far I’m quite impressed. I haven’t had time to run a lot of tests, but first time out I was able to shoot strings of over 80 pellets before there was any significant pellet drop at 45 yards indoors. That’s just about the same as my HW100 carbine with the A&M cylinder. What’s more, even with a very ropey trigger (now fixed) the groups were very tight, with no unexplained flyers: every bit as good as with my Steyr or Bobcat, and probably better than with the HW100.
I have often wondered how important regulators are for the sort of HFT and hunting I do, or whether they are mainly just something else to play with – and go wrong. Short distances and early days yet, but I think I might be coming closer to the answer.
Just going to hijack the thread a second...read this and something i noted was if shooting say 3 shots a minute with spring the zero came back a few yards I.e. 30y zero came back to 27y. If left for a few minutes it would recover. This was visual but do springers require a 'chill out period' during shooting?
Air Arms S410F Classic .177 (AGS 6-24x50 SFIR), Walther Rotex RM8 Black .22 (Hawke Vantage 3-12x50 AO IR), Walther Century .177 (Walther ZF 6x42 AO, BKL one piece mount), Remington Express AR1 .22 (AGS 6-24x50 SFIR, BKL one piece mount ss),