by BDSKJChris » Tue Feb 03, 2015 9:58 am
I have started this thread to do a sort of review of the new parts from Wicked Air rifles.
first impressions (based on opening the box and looking at the parts):
Valve - made out of aluminum, (bare not anodized as many have pointed out already), I did not disassemble the valve or look at it much but the valve looks nice, has minimal tooling marks on it and seems well built. I think it should be anodized or made from stainless steel considering the price point of the part.
GEN 2 NBH - I was surprised when I received the new hammer with the built in buffer (replicates the effect of b-staley o-ring mod)..this new feature comes at the cost of one of the brake shoes. the contact surfaces of the hammer have a decent surface finish but the chamfered edges and faces have a lot of tooling marks and rough finish (should not affect function). again nice quality part.
3D-depinger - not much to say that hasn't been said already, nice quality part made from aluminum, ships bare so I burnished it with silicone o-ring lube.
initial performance/thoughts (pertaining to installation and drop-in function):
Valve - does it's job well, once I got everything shooting I filled to 2900 psi, no pre-load on the 12.5 lb spring, and striker set flush with hammer face (how I received it) I shot 16 shots and still had roughly 2300-2400 psi in the tube.
de-pinger - does its job, I think I am hearing spring twang , not ping.
GEN 2 NBH - I had a few issues initially. after 2 shots the hammer locked up and I was unable to cock the rifle, I managed to unjam the hammer and shot 2 more shots and same issue. I tore the rifle down (had to be very careful as the rifle had a magazine inserted and the bolt was stuck in the forward position). so I called Travis, he told me the issue was with the airtube, told me his method of correcting it and also told me to polish the inside of the air tube and apply a dry-lube such as graphite. when I tried to pull the hammer, it was stuck in place so I had to use a punch and lightly tap it forward to dis-lodge it, this caused the valve to partially open and let out a small burst of air. once I inspected the hammer for gouges or marks indicating the source of the jam, I found none in the area Travis told me they would be. there were a lot of marks and gouges on the brake shoe's forward edge, after I looked at it and the tube for a while I came up with the theory that the shoe was going past it's intended point of travel and wedging itself between the tube and the round front portion of the hammer. I still did everything Travis told me too just to be sure as it could only help. I had no graphite on hand so I used eezox, a very light coat, (it is a dry firearms lube/rust inhibitor). once I finished I cycled the bolt about 30 times without issue, (did not fire or dry fire, de-cocked the rifle each time) so far so good. the next day I drilled the transfer port, cleaned the barrel and test fired, I was satisfied with 16 incident free shots. due to what I saw I believe that the NBH (the gen 2 at least) needs some amount of lube to function without issue. unfortunately, this also decreases its effectiveness and I could hear a very small amount of bounce, (I have yet to tune the set-up so it may be correctable).
my advice for drilling the transfer port is to go to lowes and purchase an individual dewalt brand 3/16" cobalt drill bit. they cost around $3 and using 3in1 oil as cutting fluid the bit left no burrs in the transfer port.
