I disassembled the valve as I said I would, for the picture.
As I did I noticed that my quest for power has led me to hammer the valve excessively.
The bulletnose had knocked forward and on the return the O-ring on the piston had popped out.
I'm sure glad I took it apart.
Last evening I had been testing it without the " balance" effect!
The silent shots where a result of the valve working like a regular hammervalve.
The counter piston was no longer effective and the valve shut very quickly.
I feel stupid for not noticing the difference.
Anyway....I replaced the damaged O-ring and put the valve together again.
It's working fine.
I've now learned that hitting the valve really hard is counter productive.
Now gentle taps give much better shots.
I tried a lead slug and it mushroomed on the inside of my old 2" valve from my Mr Porter cannon.
This was at 45 pumps
I shot into the elbow so I'd be safe from ricochet.
Funny how I find myself counting pumps without even building up a sweat..as a measure of controling the pressure rather than monitoring a pressure gauge while sweating in fear..
Here's the blurry valvestem pic.
I tried with the cam on " focus" but it was too dark.