Servicing Benelli Kite In USA

[B Lafferty]

I just saw that Larry Carter passed away last December. RIP.

My Kite may need service. Does anyone know what Benelli is doing to sell and service air pistol product in the US? Thanks in advance.

[Gwhite]

Very hard to say. Getting another importer set up and supplied with parts may take a while. There was a guy worked worked at Larry's for a while who probably has the know-how. His estate may try to sell the entire business with parts, and that could include the import licenses. It could take a year or two to settle the estate.

I've done a few repairs on Kites, but mostly trigger related issues. If it's the high pressure system like the regulator, I'm not familiar with problems in that department. I've got one with a leak that I may have to dig into at some point. I'm assuming it's just an O-ring that let go,

What is the problem?

[B Lafferty]

Very hard to say. Getting another importer set up and supplied with parts may take a while. There was a guy worked worked at Larry's for a while who probably has the know-how. His estate may try to sell the entire business with parts, and that could include the import licenses. It could take a year or two to settle the estate.

I've done a few repairs on Kites, but mostly trigger related issues. If it's the high pressure system like the regulator, I'm not familiar with problems in that department. I've got one with a leak that I may have to dig into at some point. I'm assuming it's just an O-ring that let go,

What is the problem?

Likely an o ring with the regulator. At 200 it hisses and leaks air from the interior of the pistol where the regulator is. This occurs regardless of which air cylinder I use. Once the pressure drops down to about 160ish it's ok. I'm still using it for net competitor events, but I suspect that it will need service sooner rather than later. I've heard a rumor that some Kites are self-repairing. No?

My brother has a Benelli semi-auto shotgun. Completely different import and distribution system in the US.

[-TT-]

Being an air pistol, I think it's quite feasible to ship it to Europe for service as other brand owners here often do. You should maybe contact Benelli Italy.

[Gwhite]

Likely an o ring with the regulator. At 200 it hisses and leaks air from the interior of the pistol where the regulator is. This occurs regardless of which air cylinder I use. Once the pressure drops down to about 160ish it's ok. I'm still using it for net competitor events, but I suspect that it will need service sooner rather than later. I've heard a rumor that some Kites are self-repairing. No?

My brother has a Benelli semi-auto shotgun. Completely different import and distribution system in the US.

I've wondered if the shotgun side might take on the pistol stuff as well. Time will tell.

The problem you have sounds like a less severe version of the leak we've got. There is a hiss and even a slight breeze coming from the back of the regulator, blowing into the trigger area. The team I help coach has 16 Kites, and I may try to tackle it myself at some point. We also have a bunch of old Hammerlis (480K's converted to use AP40 cylinders), and Larry used to do the repairs on those as well. We've actually got several that exhibit the same sort of leak, in the same general location as the Kite.

I know that we had 4(?) very early kites that all died. From Larry's description, the regulators had crud in them, but some of the seals had disintegrated. Larry blamed it on bad air, but I think it was more likely that the seals had died of old age.

I looked at the exploded diagram:

Benelli Kite Regulator Exploded Diagram.pdf

(105.93 KiB) Downloaded 124 times

The regulator assembly looks mechanically straightforward, but you probably need a special spanner to turn the regulator adjustment nut (#369Z), and possibly a thin wall socket wrench for the front nut (#357Z). There is a snap ring buried inside (#365Z) that would have to come out, and removing that without scratching things up could also be a bit tricky. In our case, I'm guessing that the regulator piston seal (#366Z) has sprung a leak. Other than trying to screw the adjustment nut back in exactly the same amount, I also don't know how you would re-set the 2nd stage pressure accurately other than with a chronograph. I suspect you could leave the nut in place, and pull it all out the front. You just have to be super careful to keep the Belleville springs (#368Z) in EXACTLY the same order & orientation.

I also checked the parts list. Unlike some vendors, Benelli doesn't give any specs on the O-rings, so you'd have to take it apart to find out what size you need (and hope it's a standard one).

[B Lafferty]

Likely an o ring with the regulator. At 200 it hisses and leaks air from the interior of the pistol where the regulator is. This occurs regardless of which air cylinder I use. Once the pressure drops down to about 160ish it's ok. I'm still using it for net competitor events, but I suspect that it will need service sooner rather than later. I've heard a rumor that some Kites are self-repairing. No?

My brother has a Benelli semi-auto shotgun. Completely different import and distribution system in the US.

I've wondered if the shotgun side might take on the pistol stuff as well. Time will tell.

The problem you have sounds like a less severe version of the leak we've got. There is a hiss and even a slight breeze coming from the back of the regulator, blowing into the trigger area. The team I help coach has 16 Kites, and I may try to tackle it myself at some point. We also have a bunch of old Hammerlis (480K's converted to use AP40 cylinders), and Larry used to do the repairs on those as well. We've actually got several that exhibit the same sort of leak, in the same general location as the Kite.

I know that we had 4(?) very early kites that all died. From Larry's description, the regulators had crud in them, but some of the seals had disintegrated. Larry blamed it on bad air, but I think it was more likely that the seals had died of old age.

I looked at the exploded diagram:

Benelli Kite Regulator Exploded Diagram.pdf

The regulator assembly looks mechanically straightforward, but you probably need a special spanner to turn the regulator adjustment nut (#369Z), and possibly a thin wall socket wrench for the front nut (#357Z). There is a snap ring buried inside (#365Z) that would have to come out, and removing that without scratching things up could also be a bit tricky. In our case, I'm guessing that the regulator piston seal (#366Z) has sprung a leak. Other than trying to screw the adjustment nut back in exactly the same amount, I also don't know how you would re-set the 2nd stage pressure accurately other than with a chronograph. I suspect you could leave the nut in place, and pull it all out the front. You just have to be super careful to keep the Belleville springs (#368Z) in EXACTLY the same order & orientation.

I also checked the parts list. Unlike some vendors, Benelli doesn't give any specs on the O-rings, so you'd have to take it apart to find out what size you need (and hope it's a standard one).

Thank you for the information. There is a slight breeze coming from my trigger area as well. I'll try contacting Benelli sometime this week.

If purchasing a new air pistol becomes a necessity, I'm considering a Walther LP400 or LP500, FWB or Morini.
The Hammerli AP-20 Pro might be an option as well if it can be had with a medium left hand grip.

[Rover]

I recently had my SAM 10 repaired in Switzerland. I took off the barrel and the grips and shipped it in a small box labeled Air Pistol parts for repair, value $30 (as instructed by SAM).

USPS charged me $24 to ship it

[Gwhite]

That sounds a lot like the shipping I paid to send my Morini cylinders back to Switzerland for the recent recall.

Taking the grip & barrel off certainly reduces the odds of theft or damage.

[B Lafferty]

As an aside, I got my Baikal out last night and it works perfectly even though not used in about four years. Something to be said about some Soviet industrial designs, I guess.

[B Lafferty]

FWIW, while having the cylinder off my Kite, I cocked and pulled the trigger in non-dry fire mode perhaps ten times. When putting a newly charged cylinder on the pistol, the cylinder lost far less pressure before stabilizing. I have no idea why this is, perhaps crud removal or shifting in the regulator mechanism. I will do it again when performing the next cylinder change.

[Gwhite]

It's probably more likely the cylinder change that did it. If my theory is correct, the O-ring seal on the regulator piston is leaking, possibly from some dirt. Under normal firing, the piston moves back & forth very little, but when you change cylinders, it will move much further. That may have pushed the offending bit of dirt out of the way a bit.

O-rings are odd in that if they leak at low pressure, they tend never to seal. One they seat, the higher the pressure, the better then tend to seal. It only takes a small speck of dirt in the wrong place to cause a low pressure leak.

When we had a couple older Kites repaired, Larry said there was a lot of crud in the regulator, which he blamed on bad air. I suspect the Belleville springs may be mild steel and not stainless, and moisture could have caused some rust to form and flake off into the piston area..

[B Lafferty]

It's probably more likely the cylinder change that did it. If my theory is correct, the O-ring seal on the regulator piston is leaking, possibly from some dirt. Under normal firing, the piston moves back & forth very little, but when you change cylinders, it will move much further. That may have pushed the offending bit of dirt out of the way a bit.

O-rings are odd in that if they leak at low pressure, they tend never to seal. One they seat, the higher the pressure, the better then tend to seal. It only takes a small speck of dirt in the wrong place to cause a low pressure leak.

When we had a couple older Kites repaired, Larry said there was a lot of crud in the regulator, which he blamed on bad air. I suspect the Belleville springs may be mild steel and not stainless, and moisture could have caused some rust to form and flake off into the piston area..

The problem is with the regulator seal for sure. Will continue to "fire" it sans cylinder at each cylinder change and see what happens.

I emailed Benelli in Italy asking who was going to pick up distribution and repair of their air pistols in the US. Have yet to hear back from them.

[B Lafferty]

Does anyone have an update as to the new company that was taking over selling and servicing the Kite? Thanks in advance.