TargetTalk

Hi and greetings from Finland!

My air pistol has been acting up lately and I'm not sure what to believe. I've come here looking for some helpful advice.

My pistol is a Morini CM162EI (serial number 15837). It has an electronic trigger system powered by a 15V photo battery. The circuit board is marked DO2-50/97, which I suppose might imply that this CM162EI is around 11 years old.

Shooting history:

- 700 shots in 1997-2005 (unless the previous owner lied),
- 3200 shots in 2006,
- 6300 shots in 2007,
- 3700 shots in 2008 thus far.

This pistol has worked flawlessly for me, until yesterday. The problems began during a dryfiring session; occasionally the mechanism wouldn't 'click' when I pulled the trigger. These symptoms now seem to be pretty persistent.

The battery is fresh. The contacts on the circuit board should be clean.

Is this a common problem with the CM162EI? Is it difficult to solve?

Regards,
Kim Lundqvist

I would suggest you send an email to Francesco Repich at Morini.

Morini@bluewin.ch

Adjust the trigger second stage screw in 1/4 turn and test the gun again. I had solved this situation many times before on Morini EI guns. Seems like the trigger second stage spring relax over time allowing the microswitch to fully extend to the shoot release position. You can also take the grip out of the gun install the trigger circuit and manually actuate the microswitch and see if the solenoid activates. And of course do all this without the air cylinder removed. Hopes this work for you.

nc513 wrote: The battery is fresh.

Sometimes a "fresh" battery (especially one of an odd size) was actually sitting on a shelf somewhere for several years prior to you purchasing it. It's easy and relatively inexpensive to check with another battery (perhaps from another source).

Rally_Pro,
you are "right on the money" - a small adjustment and every thing is going again
macca

macca wrote:Rally_Pro,
you are "right on the money" - a small adjustment and every thing is going again
macca

Excellent! It is good to know it works and I was able to help a fellow shooter.

Rally_Pro

Try this,
- remove the grip
- remove the trigger guard
- remove the trigger assy from frame
- check the screw that holds the micro switch to trigger assy.
Make sure it is firm (Do not over tighten)
- Plug trigger circuit into trigger assy and switch on.
- On top of trigger assy is a small allen key screw.
Turn this screw OUT, anti clockwise one turn (unloads trigger bar)
- now slowly turn this screw IN, clockwise until the trigger soleniod fires.
This set the firing point.
- Now back the screw OUT anti clockwise min 1/8 turn-max 1/4 turn.
- Try and test trigger for action
- If OK. re assemble.
- If not OK something else is wrong, send to gunsmith.

Thanks for your replies, everybody!

Some further information:

I can hear the microswitch ticking/clicking when I pull the trigger. It _always_ ticks. The solenoid, however, is not consistently activated.

With these symptoms in mind, I suspect that the small allen key screw (162083) on top of the trigger assembly might not be the solution in this case.

I've also received some excellent advice from M. Galli and R. Nilsson. After exchanging a couple of e-mails with them, I removed screw 162090. This allowed me to closely inspect the above mentioned microswitch. When I tried holding and releasing, holding and releasing the tiny red button, the solenoid would react most of the time, but occasionally there would be no reaction at all.

I think that replacing the microswitch would probably solve the problem!?

(At least according to the battery check LED, the battery is is good condition).

Regards,
K.L.

I believe in trying the easiest fix first. Did you check the battery with a voltmeter? Or, lacking one, you might want to try replacing the battery.
Paul

I've replaced the battery fairly recently. The previous battery was indeed quite tired. I clearly remember what the battery check LED was behaving like before I replaced the battery. Currently, I am not experiencing any symptoms of that kind. ...which is rather unfortunate, I suppose, since there would be a simple solution to that problem.

Three possible things come to mind from your recent experiments:

1) Your solenoid is sticking. This could be due to fossilized oil that has gotten into it, or dirt. I don't know if there is any easy way to see if the solenoid plunger moves freely or not. It probably has a return spring, which makes it harder to feel if it's working well.

2) The firing capacitor may be dying. Of all passive electronic components, capacitors are the most common thing to fail. A high current pulse-discharge application like the Morini is really hard on a capacitor.

3) The capacitor isn't getting fully charged. You could check this with a good high impedance voltmeter, and see if the voltage is a little lower when it doesn't fire. Ideally someone with a reliable pistol (or better yet, Morini) could tell you what voltage the cap should have across it. It may be that it is consistently charging, but to a voltage that is low enough to be marginal.