Morini CM 162EI -- Dry firing with a charged air cylinder

[Rixter]

I dry fire my recently acquired Morini with an empty air cylinder, so no problem there. But I'd like to know if there is a way to dry fire it with a charged air cylinder (without damaging the pistol, and ideally reducing the amount of compressed air).

Does the pistol have a mechanism that detects the absence of a pellet?

Does shooting the pistol with no pellet hurt it? I know for spring piston pistols, that's potentially very damaging.

What about dry firing with the loading lever up? Does the trigger work or is it disconnected? If the trigger works with the loading lever up, does the pistol release air?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[rmca]

Start by reading this:

http://www.morini.ch/download/2.pdf

Hope this helps

[Rixter]

Thanks. I have a copy of the instruction booklet, and I also have the document you linked to. Before posting, I read the instructions.

Perhaps I am missing something, but I don't see anything that answers the questions I posed.

[David Levene]

Turn it on, pull the trigger, pull the trigger again and keep pulling it until you've finished dry firing; then turn it off.

(You don't open the loading lever)

[tufty]

Dry firing with a cylinder is exactly the same as dry firing without one,turning the switch on only activates the trigger

[Rixter]

Dry firing with a cylinder is exactly the same as dry firing without one,turning the switch on only activates the trigger

So how does the pistol know when to release air from the cylinder into the chamber (i.e., that a pellet is in the chamber) and when not to?

[kevinweiho]

So how does the pistol know when to release air from the cylinder into the chamber (i.e., that a pellet is in the chamber) and when not to?

Just think for a moment. Every time you cock the lever, the firing valve mechanism is ready to release air from the cylinder into the chamber. When the lever is not activated, trigger action only activates the solenoid mechanism without releasing air.

[mctrucky]

Air is released by a hammer hitting a valve hard enough to force it open for a split second.
The hammer is powered by a spring (which is adjustable, which changes the length of time the valve opens, which changes the velocity of the pellet).
The spring is compressed when the hammer is pushed back during cocking and the hammer is held back by a sear.
The sear is released by the impact of a solenoid.
The solenoid is thrown by the discharge of a capacitor initiated by pulling the trigger.

So...
The gun only goes bang if the hammer hits the valve hard. This only happens if the gun is cocked and the cocking lever sufficiently closed to get out of the way of the hammer being pushed forward by the force of the spring.
The electronics will throw the solenoid every time the trigger is pulled, and will open the sear every time.
If the gun is cocked and the lever fully open, the lever holds the hammer and spring back so all you get is the click of the solenoid.
If the gun is cocked and the lever pushed partly forward, pulling the trigger will release the sear and the hammer will get pushed forward by the spring and hit the cocking mechanism - you can use this to uncock the gun without releasing air.

Dry firing normally means not cocking the gun, or cocking and having the lever fully open, and pulling the trigger to throw the solenoid - and getting the click from that. Technically it is not giving the same mechanical activity as other guns that drop the hammer on each dry fire, but the difference in feel is minuscule and irrelevant.

If you load the gun, then want to dry fire, for example during a match, you can open the cocking lever fully to allow dry firing without removing the pellet from the gun. Just remember not to put another pellet in and fire two at once - which will not damage the gun, but will open a can of worms with scorers and judges.

You will not damage the gun by dry firing.

McT

[David Levene]

So how does the pistol know when to release air from the cylinder into the chamber (i.e., that a pellet is in the chamber) and when not to?

The pistol will only release air if:-
There is air in the cylinder
and
The gun has been switched on
and
You fully open the loading lever and close it again
and
You pull the trigger

It doesn't matter whether there is a pellet in the gun. Do all of the above and the gun will release air.

If you don't open and close the loading lever then it will not release air.

Because the trigger is switched on it will release the solenoid. The fact that the rest of the mechanism has not been cocked will make no difference to the feel of the trigger.

[Gwhite]

A fine point on competing with the Morini:

If you go to a match and have to fully open the action to insert an empty chamber flag, you have to be careful. You can't just close the action and then begin dry firing without releasing gas, which is a rules violation. It is possible to get the chamber flag inserted without raising the cocking lever far enough to cock the mechanism. Depending on how stiff the cord is, this isn't easy.

According to the factory, it does no harm to the pistol to fire the first time after the flag is removed with the action lever up. The cocking mechanism will absorb enough energy that it won't open the firing valve, and no gas should be released. I believe you need to have the lever at least about 45 degrees up from horizontal, or you may still get a small amount of gas released.

[Rixter]

Thanks for all the responses. Now I get it. I didn't realize that lifting the loading lever also cocked the hammer (because I didn't realize that there was a hammer and sear arrangement, which I am familiar with in firearms).