[Duane Thomas]

Recently the one magazine I received with my HFC Glock 17 Airsoft began refusing to accept gas. Instead it geysers back up like Old Faithful, not even entering the magazine. At first I thought the inlet valve on the mag must have somehow gotten jammed, but then a fellow Airsofter very nicely gave me four of his old HFC mags. All four of them do the same thing. He also sent me numerous brand-new replacement valves. So I replaced the valves on a couple of the mags. They still do the same thing. Okay, I suppose it's barely possible the valves on all five of these mags, plus the replacement valves as well, are all bad, but I find that hard to believe. The only thing I can think is that the green plastic adaptor I got to use with my propane tanks might have somehow gone bad. Yes, I realize that makes no sense - like, how could that happen? But it's the only explanation I can think of.

Anyone else out there ever have a similar experience? Anyone know what the problem might be, and how to rectify it? Is it worth trying out one of the metal adaptors and seeing if that solves the problem? I really MISS practicing with my Airsoft.

[Graham Smith]

Duane Thomas, on Sep 12 2009, 06:32 AM, said:

Yes, I realize that makes no sense - like, how could that happen?

Just a thought here. The tip gets very cold very fast when filling a mag and that repeated cooling while the tip is under pressure could easily cause a small chip or crack to occur and if you don't have a complete seal, gas is going to escape.

BTW, an article on Airsoft practice and a set of drills would make good reading.

[Duane Thomas]

Thank you. That's an excellent idea. Any drills you'd like to see covered?

[sfpmb]

Duane Thomas, on Sep 12 2009, 11:09 AM, said:

Thank you. That's an excellent idea. Any drills you'd like to see covered?

Duane,

I have recently had the same problem with a WE magazine. Old faithful was a good way to describe it, you just have to hold it while it sprays like 2 feet in the air until empty. I have a metal adapter and it has not been an issue in KWA and TM mags. I took the valve out and it was OK. I fired through this magazine with green gas and it had no problems hold the gas after this incident. I have a plastic adapter and I might try that. I thought this may be just one of those "I have a mag that falls fine from my G17 but won't fall from my G34" things. Maybe mine is, but your right, how could all of your mags be a problem. The newest generation propane adapters are plastic, I think. I did observe that what happened to the spraying mag was the little post inside the valve (mag) was staying depressed when I removed the gas adapter. Tapping it with a small phillips popped it back up. Maybe its not silicon oiled enough. I will try that as well. If you find out the specific issue, please let us know.

[mongorodz]

Duane,
I had the same problem w/ a plastic adapter, I bought a new metal one w/ a silicon port and all seems to be right in the world of airsoft practice again.
Hope this helps,
Ron
uspsa L3113

[Duane Thomas]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I've got a CARE package on the way from Evike.com, including among other things a metal adaptor. So we shall see. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Did I mention that I MISS practicing with my Airsoft?

[Duane Thomas]

Okay, I got my CARE package from Evike.com today, including another plastic adaptor (this one yellow instead of green). I would have preferred metal, but what the hell. Found out the problem was the previous adaptor. With the new adaptor, all five magazines, my original mag and the four I was supplied by Joe, all took gas. Unfortunately, of the four new mags, only one of them held gas, the others three have blown seals. But on the bright side I now have a functional Glock 17 Airsoft again, two fully functional magazines, and a whole bunch of spare magazine parts in case I ever need them.

[Matt P]

Many gas mags can that leak can easily be brought back to life.

Take your main valave out of the mag. It requires a special tool. Make one, or buy one.
Make sure your magazine bottom screw is tight (If so attached), if you have pins holding your base on, leave them alone.

Spray silicon into that hole. A couple good sprays.

Replace valve, making sure to lube rubber o rings with a light dash of white lithium grease.

Gas up your mag and let it it stand up. Allow it to remain in that position for several hours or so. After that time, you can sink the mag into a cup of water looking for leaks.

This 98% of the time cures the leaky mags.

[Duane Thomas]

Good info. Thanks. I'll try this procedure and see what happens. The valves on the HFC Glock mags, by the way, can be removed with a flathead screwdriver. Just out of curiosity, why spray silicon oil down into the hole for the valve, what effect does that have and why does it cure the problem?

Can't imagine that would cure the two mags that have huge leaks between the mag body and the back of the valve plate. Replacing the valve/lubing the hole wouldn't work in that case because the problem is not the valve, right?

[Duane Thomas]

Just applied these procedures to all three leaky mags. The two that had the bad leaks still leak.

OTOH, the one mag that had a slow leak is now totally gas-tight. (Its bottom screw was very loose.) So now I have three gas-tight, functional HFC Glock 17 magazines instead of two. Thanks, Matt. A lot.