Revisiting Benelli Kite Service

[B Lafferty]

It does not appear that the place in Ohio (?) that was supposed to take over Benelli service from the late Larry of Larry's Gun has come to fruition. My Kite is still leaking air if the pressure in the cylinder is greater than about 130 bar. A year ago that was 150 bar.

I really would like to have it serviced. A poster here mentioned some time ago that the problem could be dirt in the mechanism. So, assuming that Benelli USA (or Italy) has made no provision to service Kites in the USA, I have two questions:

1. Can anyone recommend an air pistol service person who might be able to somehow service my Kite? Perhaps someone who services Pardini or Steyer?
2. If that is not possible, has anyone here opened up a Kite for inspection/cleaning? I do have the exploded parts diagram that came in the manual with the pistol. This would be a last resort attempt at a solution. With my track record dealing with technical service issues of this kind, without some guidance I will likely end up with a bag of parts and a non-functional Kite.

If the Kite does totally fail, I will likely go back to my Baikal MP-46M and fit a new grip from Precision Target. Now that I'm retired and not teaching as a college adjunct at present due to the pandemic, a new pistol is not on my horizon just now.

Thank you in advance for any information folks may have to share.

[brent375hh]

I don't know about your particular pistol, but a Steyr is mostly standard size O rings.
Maybe it is possible to fix it yourself, or you could try Buck at Pilkington and see if he works on those. I have to think the principle of operation is similar.
At least you have a backup.

[B Lafferty]

I don't know about your particular pistol, but a Steyr is mostly standard size O rings.
Maybe it is possible to fix it yourself, or you could try Buck at Pilkington and see if he works on those. I have to think the principle of operation is similar.
At least you have a backup.

Thank you! I'll try Buck at Pilkington.

[Gwhite]

Please let us know if Buck can tackle this. I've got several dead ones that need repair for the team I help coach.

[Brazos]

First I don’t know anything about a Kite pistol but a little about PCP guns. So your issue is you fill up the air cylinder and it slowly leaks down to 130bar. I assume there is an air gauge on the end of the air cylinder. Assuming that is true have you filled the air cylinder up and left it off the pistol to see if the cylinder leaks down? If so then at least you know it’s your air cylinder leaking and not the regulator. It’s an o ring somewhere so the parts (oring) are cheap.

[Gwhite]

The problem is a blown seal at the back of the regulators. When you screw a full cylinder on the pistols, there is a hissing sound, and you can feel a breeze blowing back into the trigger area.

[B Lafferty]

The problem is a blown seal at the back of the regulators. When you screw a full cylinder on the pistols, there is a hissing sound, and you can feel a breeze blowing back into the trigger area.

That's what is happening. One can feel the air coming out from the trigger area. It's definitely not a cylinder problem as it happens with both of the cylinders that I have. I will reach out to Buck and post back what he has to say.
Thanks again to all.

[B Lafferty]

I called Pilkguns and spoke with a person who answered the phone. She said that they do not service Benelli. She agreed to ask Buck if he knows of anyone who would be willing to service a Benelli Kit. I have not heard back. I will email them with the same question. To be continued.....

[B Lafferty]

No luck. Butch does not know of anyone able to service a Benelli Kite in the USA. I will contact the tech people at USA Shooting to see if they know of anyone.

[brent375hh]

If it ever becomes a paperweight, tear into it and determine what o-ring is leaking. At that point you have nothing to lose, and your replacement is available at McMaster Carr.

[william]

What rotten luck!

I bought a Kite from Larry out of the first batch that landed in the States. It was a marvelous device in many ways, but I always managed to shoot my Pardini just a little bit better. So I sold it to a friend (Hi, Vinny, wherever you are) who shot it very successfully. Still, I've always had a soft spot for the Kite. I hate to think of it now as a total orphan - just like my long-departed M10.

[Gwhite]

There was a gentleman who worked with Larry Carter who has the expertise to fix them, but all of the special tools & such went to Jim Henderson when he bought up Larry's shop & parts. I've tried to get the two together, but my first attempt didn't bear fruit. The college team I help coach as 16 Kites, so I need to revisit that effort.

Worse comes to worse, I will sacrifice one of the dead ones to figure out how to take them apart and change the O-rings.

[B Lafferty]

There was a gentleman who worked with Larry Carter who has the expertise to fix them, but all of the special tools & such went to Jim Henderson when he bought up Larry's shop & parts. I've tried to get the two together, but my first attempt didn't bear fruit. The college team I help coach as 16 Kites, so I need to revisit that effort.

Worse comes to worse, I will sacrifice one of the dead ones to figure out how to take them apart and change the O-rings.

A YouTube video please. :-)

[B Lafferty]

I've sent an inquiry to Benelli USA. The Kite and the Kite compact are still listed on the Italian Benelli site as being in production. Hopefully this is accurate.

Does anyone know who does gunsmithing for USA Shooting? I'd like to give that person at try about Kite repairs.

[fc60]

Greetings,

This may be a crazy idea; but, it has worked for me in the past.

Telephone the Benelli factory in Italy and ask to speak with a service representative that is conversant in English.

Explain your service issues.

Maybe, they will send you the Gunsmith Service Documents you need for self service.

Long time ago, I telephoned the Haemmerli plant in Switzerland and was well received.

Cheers,

David

[rmca]

fc60 idea eis probably a good way to go.
Or you can contact Benelli Italy by submitting the form on this page: https://www.benelli.it/en/domande/frequenti
Even if they can't send you an o-ring kit, if you can get the dimentions of those o-rings from them, it would be a major step in the right direction.
Anyway, here is the manual with the exploded drawing, that should help you nagivate the inner works of the pistol.
https://www.benelli.it/en/arma/kite

Hope this helps

[B Lafferty]

The manual with exploded diagram I have. When the o ring deteriorates to the point of not holding 110 bar, I'll try opening the regulator and finding the bad o ring. O rings are fairly standard. That said, I will try calling them in Italy before attempting this myself.

[rmca]

My bet is on part "352Z-Valve ring", which is not a standard o-ring.
It gets hammered by the "353Z-Air valve" everytime you fire the gun.
After the o-ring that seals the connection between the cilinder and the pistol, it's the most commom to fail.

One other thing, if you try to replace it (and its not hard), have ALL the o-rings first.
The rest of them will probaly need replacing as well, and some may stop sealing just because you remove them.
They will lack elasticity to seal again.

Hope this helps

[thirdwheel]

Ok so you are wanting to service your Kite yourself because of a problem of not being able to get a professional to do it for you. Before you even think about it make sure the tools you are going to use are the best money can buy - especially the drivers, torx, allen, phillips, pozi and slot point and they are the correct size for the fastening. Cheap tools from the market are are not to be used, some multi tip drivers do have quality tips, but are often too fat to reach inside some areas. If you think it is going to go boing and throw stuff all over the place work inside a plastic bag in front of you on a nice table with a towel on it. Some screws may have a spot of thread lock on them so lots of downward pressure is needed to stop the driver from camming out (slipping). Do the simple things first, to the easy stuff to reach and to do and replace every seal you come across. If you find you need a a special tool get it and do not improvise eg a pin wrench for ends of cylinders and for goodness sake get rid of all of the air.
The "normal" O ring in the little sets you can buy in a tool shop are usually Neoprene of Shure 70 hardness, the Shure number donates the hardness of the material the higher the number the harder the material, where you live in the World the hardness may not be measured in "Shure" so investigate. Also research O rings and the materials generally and make your own decision on what material it should be and how hard. Be prepared to have to buy 10 of the size you want as it is often the minimum, It is not uncommon to find you need a strange size seal and that today is no real problem (well in the UK) as one offs in any material is not difficult to organise and the cost is reasonable. Oh and do yourself a favour and get an electronic Vernia to measure the little things.
Here is a primer to the materials used to make O rings and some properties, please look up more to be able to make an educated decision.
https://www.martins-rubber.co.uk/blog/a ... ion-guide/

[Rover]

This is a great thread, and not just for Benelli's. I had a Benelli .22, but it didn't work with a sub-six hold so I sent it down the road. I guess I should have had more patience since it was a beautiful gun.