TargetTalk

After 10 years or so, I decided to replace the piston seal with the spare one I've got with the pistol.
When bringing the lever back (bolt assembly up at 90 degrees) I don't feel any resistance and if I try to shoot, I can only hear a click. If I try to bring the lever forward after bringing it back, I can feel some vacuum.
Any idea? I have ordered new seals from Ebay, but it will take weeks to get them from Russia.
Thanks

Something is leaking. Can you hear any hissing when you bring the lever back? If so, from where? I assume you oiled the new seal.

The only two places that make sense are either the piston seal, or the firing valve. If the firing valve was leaking, I suspect you would hear it fairly clearly. The piston seal may be old enough that it's gotten deformed or just fossilized in storage.

Thanks. It was the piston seal; once I reinstalled the old leaky one the problem went away.
The pistol is still shooting very low, and it's basically unusable, but I can see it has compression.
What was very puzzling to me was that the 10 y/o spare seal has even slightly larger diameter yet zero compression when pushing it in (some resistance when it's being pulled out).