Kral Puncher Breaker in 25cal

[Racing]

Ok.
So as much as i enjoy the newer Reximex guns i sure hold the Krals close at heart too.
However..
The early ones sure weren´t all that aaaand.. an early Puncher Breaker showed up in our classifieds for about a song.
Sure.
Why not?



About cheaper than dirt cause the thing here is... these earlier Krals have two major shortcomings. The charging handle snaps and the poppet spindle breaks.
Well guess what



Charging handle sure had snapped.. and some Mr Handyman had gone at it. LOL Let´s just agree on that.. that there "lock tab" installed is uncalled for as long as you get the handle far enough in vs the main block as it then travels over center and... you get the rest right.
This also meant that the probe didn´t travel far enough forwards and thus.. leakage. Big time.



Sorry to say Kral isn´t imported where i live anymore due an accident a few years back. Also brings that spares is a no-go so.. scavenged the parts bins and came up with a charging handle for an Artemis out of STEEL thank you very much!
Nope. Far from a direct fit, but a bit of welding, cutting and going ape with files later.. presto.





Hm. This is a non reg gun right and Krals have a rep of shooting rather "flat" regardless. I opted to open the transfers up to 5mm flat right off the bat and took to shooting the thing.
I was all over the paper!!
So shoved a few pellets down the bore, and sure enough there was a "constriction", for lack of better words, first thing where the forcing cone is and a few mills in.

Barrel on the lathe, a mandrel and 240 grit. Sure. Groups improved big time so.. on the right track alright.



Then. Trigger on this thing. Don´t get me started!! We´re talking an EASY 10lbs here with monumental amounts of creep! Unshootable just about!
Laid the sear surface back a BUNCH and then...



Turned me this small bung with a set screw to alter first stage resistance. Made for a world of difference cause stock 1st stage was like what i wanted the 2nd stage break to be!

[Racing]

In turn the actual blade wiggled around like was it self centering. This resides in the "keep the barrel n tube in line" setup with the pic rail for a scope atop. So the blade was handed a couple of shims and in turn i just used brute force on the vise to "massage" that there to WAY tighter tolerance.

Now we were getting somewhere. Adjusting the sear (there´s a set screw for that thank god) i saw like maybe 1,5lbs... which is more like it. Still creep though so will readress that time permitting. Good to go for now at least.



Yeah. So i "kept back" on transfer port diameter seeing this is an unreg gun that runs on 200 bar. Instead i opted to go dual hammersprings aaaaand... like 100 shots in, snap.
There´s like a king pin running the show within the main block and these have a habit of bottoming out, thus wearing like crazy.
I thought.. no more of that so.. larger diameter is a good thing right. Well. Hammer is hardened so to ease load on the end mill i annealed the thing before widening that track for the king pin to 6mm flat (stock is 4mm).



Uhu. The lower of the two pins is the original. Minor difference in the details right. LOL. As you can see even the drag link/bracket for the probe vs the charging handle is bent.. you do the math.

Word of advice here though. 6mm diameter does NOT do it due constraints on the original main block. Passage for the pin simply ain´t that wide. 5,5mm tho is fine.. so said and done, and out of hardened steel this time out. Enough already.



She was coming along, responding no doubt. However.. got the occasional flyer for whatever reason - me thinking "that sure ain´t right?".
Hm. Suppressors are just to pick up to me right and as it turns out that there suppressor on the snout of the thing, ever ever so slight baffle whip - and out the door accuracy goes.
Goes to show ya i guess.



Yes. Home brew n longer. Not only way more silent but sans baffle clipping too. Indeed, and now we were cooking no doubt!

That being said then.
As you can gather from the pictures this gun, sporting a turkish walnut stock, is on the really hefty side. Weight wise. So sat with the thing in front of me pondering...





So that there shaved what felt like a BRUTE amount of weight! To say the least.
In them first pics though, just "in the raw" to be fair.



Right. Power. That there is the infamous stock early spindle for the Kral poppet. Uhu, slightly thinned at the waist, but... look at it. From regular use, it´s twisted like a *amn Z!

Now.
For those not in the know valve tech... Closing force is a matter of return spring and spindle diameter (amongst other factors). Well. Return spring omitted - check.
But that there valve stem was busted anyhow right why me and a couple of the in the loop boys on GTA got talking which led to...



...me drilling out the snout of the valve body and threading the thing M10*1. In turn.. a seal out of POM setup for the new spindle on a mere 2mm diameter.
Yeah. Doing so i opted to use a reamer on a piece of bearing bronze i turned on the lathe, that was of course threaded the above.. the thing here is that the hole in the seal is very close tolerance AND made out of plastic. Ergo, the more i torq down on the bearing bronze insert the tighter that hole get.. to for instance compensate for wear and what not

[Racing]

Uhu. So that small piece there is what hands it all the goods. JM-7 bearing bronze, hard you won´t believe while still self lubricating. The good stuff in short.



I´ll be short and to the point. What these gents told me holds water and i´m now a believer. It´s that simple.

I ran dual hammer springs before hand right? Well, they adviced to get the inner one out of there and turn the adjuster down as far as it´ll go.
I just let her rip, WOW!
She jumped from approx 80J to 106 in one blow. Nothing else changed. I took the inner spring out and turned the adjuster down..
Now she´s at her prime between 140 and 185J where she pushes 100J with ease! Well lads.. lesson learned.



Uhu. Still on 5mm. However, the stock power adjuster doesn´t even lend itself to handle THAT. Enough already so out my 9,00mm reamer came.. Reused the "heads" of the adjusters, just threaded them to work on their new barrels.



At that rate.. revisit the stock. Layer upon layer of linseed..

Yeah yeah. But what IF?
Uhu. What if.



Stock barrel for these is on 530mm but.. this one was a tad off remember? Had this 600mm Lothar Walter piece laying around, and that sure was a rather far cry from a direct fit.
But said and done. Again JM-7 bearing bronze.



Needed sorts of an adapter too, so.. regular aluminium. No real forces involved so why go overboard?



So here we are! Incl a now pressure spike relieved moderator and what not. I took to detune her even more handing me, again, approx 8oJ which suffice and then some for the rodents it´s intended for.

[corbinace]

Wow, A fine bit of work there. Congrats on a successful adventure.

[Abert Rim]

Well that Kral clearly fell into the right hands!

[Racing]

Thx guys.
We´re not done yet tho..

An idea here, amongst others, would be to regulate the unit. Seeing how it now delivers already at way lower pressure and hammer spring installing a reg might actually be a smart move.
Me being me though.. that´d render a regulator solution that´s placed within the actual tank and.. not an ideal solution to my mind.
Such a case scenario, what´s more, would also take the implement of a rather seriously dimensioned plenum, and seeing what i did to that Reximex Zone recently i guess that hands an idea on where to place it.

Hm.
Food for thought.