intermitent carrier leak due to worn carrier?

[Lee]

hi all, input appreciated:

retro valve level 10, "1 line" carrier, 2 shims, cut spring.
works perfectly (25,000 rounds w/ no chops and countless dry fires), home field velocity max 280 fps.

here's the issue, i get a small leak at times which is solved by either firing until whatever is loose/leaking seats just right, or by changing out to the exact same size carrier with the same o-ring (have used the one out of the gun and new ones) and same shims etc. i just swap one used carrier for another and it stops for awhile. theres no telling if or when the leak will start again, it just happens with no specific cause or reason that can put my finger one. rapid firing to heat up the vale and possibly expand parts and o-rings doesn't always help. sometimes one shot stops it, sometimes a string of shots and sometimes it doesn't stop.

i tried going to the .5 carrier, but the 280 fps limit at my field made for a lot of misfires. new pt o-rings don't solve it. this is not a huge issue, the leak is minor and i have gone several games with it due to not having down time betwen them to switch out parts, but it's not "perfect" you know?

this falls under the "minor annoyance" category, but, leaks are the enemy...and i want this one gone.

is this unique to me or anyone else experience this?

thanks for any ideas/suggestions etc.!

[Lohman446]

I had this same problem on my smart mag where it would leak sometimes - the original problems were a small seam had developed on the two o-rings under the on-off assembly and were rolling each other sometimes. I fixed this by replacing those o-rings (of course then I put my on-off brass dohicky (thats the tecnhical term)) back in upside down and it took me forever to find out what was causing those problems - LOL.

[Lee]

thanks for the info, but i have a retro valve and the leak is in the area of the carrier of my lvl 10.

[sevenlevel]

Do you oil the RT Valve before you play?

[Lee]

yes, i oil the internal spring pack the night before and cycle some oil throughout the valve via the input to the valve.

[BlackVCG]

Remove both of the shims and try that. I hate shims and never use them unless I absolutely must use them. They are an overrated component of LX and typically you should never need to use them. All of my guns are shimless and I've only run into a couple guns that needed one shim.

[Lee]

cool, will do. thanks. i never even considered that.

[xen_100]

also, what carrier you use shouldn't have ANY effect on chorno speed. selecting the right carrier is a matter of matching the carrier o-ring to the bolt's power piston. this is not a fuction of velocity.

[Lee]

Blackvcg: thanks guy, that seems to have worked. i did it last night and no leak.
i think it may have cost me some trigger speed though, the pull and release pressures feel a little different, not quite as smooth, but i can live with it.
thanks again!