Adolf Hamster

i appreciate the advice, i get what you're saying that the tappet plate could be hitting the cylinder and stretching it.

there's no tappet "window" on this box per say, it's a really strange design (a 2 peice split with the handguard being it's own unit with all the gears and the top being a big rectangular box with the cylinder/tappet)

the brass clip is more like a washer- it's mounting hole is dead centre and there's about 2.5-3mm extra draw, and it's coupled with the longest nozzle i've seen on an AEG (think double m4 length)

like i say, gun is bone stock, i wouldn't even have had it apart if it hadn't eaten the tappet plate (after about 15k rounds), so atm i'm suspecting either a weak tappet plate or too strong a return spring being the main culprits.

only other possibility is given the handguard unit is a seperate peice maybe it slid out of position when being carried and made the difference.

The window I refer to is how that 7mm or 8mm sits and allows feed/sealing

if you had a nozzle too short you will have lovely feeding but $hit seals

if you had a nozzle that was too long you get great seals but $hit feeding

so all this crap is about ensuring the nozzle is correct length

(which it probably is)

and then ensuring the "window" or where the tappet/nozzle moves

allows the correct "window" position of nozzle retracting/returning

if it is operating say more than 0.5mm out of whack/position

you will get either feed/seal issues

retracting tappet too far trying to compensate or increase stuff

runs the risk of smashing crap out of tappet if not checked

or at the very least wearing out the fin very very quickly

That window wasthe where there 7 or 8mm movement is sitting bang on

not a rear inspection window like many v2's have

ensuring it all operates within the correct position/window/tolerance  etc...

yeah, it's a very long nozzle due to the hop design, and i suspect they have the long stroke on the tappet to keep feeding issues down, not sure why it's such a strong spring as it's not like it needs to deal with midcaps.

she shoots and feeds incredibly well, so it's safe to assume they're right with the nozzle/stroke combination. although i still think the spring is way too strong which might be why it died.

we'll see how this new plate works out, and if it eats that one i'll swap the spring out for a weaker one and check it's not bottoming out