Paintball

[idkfa]

I need an answer to a question I have been asking myself for a while. I am trying to decide what would be a good semi for use in the winter (I use a stock gun most other times). Winter playing for me is -15°C and a little lower (5°F), and is usually snowy, icy, and wet.

I am trying to decide between an Automag or a Tippmann. The Automag would be a Classic Mag (Level 7) and the Tippmann would probably be a Pro/Carbine. I have a Palmer's Stab coming for Christmas, so that is covered for any marker I get. I WOULD BE RUNNING ANTI-SIPHON CO2.

I just want to know how Mags perform in the cold. I would prefer to avoid bias (if possible) and get some true answers. I want to know if a Mag will perform well after I bury it in the snow and haul it out.

Any thoughts?

[foughtwolf]

Airtank is all you need, for the mag at least.

[Walking_Target]

honestly, a mag has fewer moving parts to screw up, use a nice light lube and it will prevent bolt-stick (heavier lubes can become more viscous in cold weather and cause bolt stick with mags)

i would avoid tippmanns, simply because of the more composite construction does have more issues with leaking and breaking in colder weather.

[russc]

I hate to say it but you can't beat blowbacks in the winter.

[B]

CO2 +Mag + cold not going to work well at all.

Pro carbine on liquid will run circles around most other guns in the cold.

[Railgun]

Originally Posted by russc

I hate to say it but you can't beat blowbacks in the winter.

Blowback snob...

I love my blowbacks. I like the fact that they shake rattle and roll enough to let me know I'm actually DOING something. And my Piranha R6 with Lapco barrel shoots groupings as nice as my nicest autococker.

And it doesn't hurt that my best ever game where I got 5 outs was with my splach ano Piranha blowback....

I'd even go so far as to suggest you run one of the direct feed blowbacks and forget the reg. The cold is going to have the CO2 bottle pressure well under 500 psi anyway according to this chart on CO2 pressure vs temperature. You'll need to set it up for LP operation just to reach your velocity goals.

Truly it may be time to run compressed air in those conditions..... or just stay home with a thermos of hot rum toddy's....

[idkfa]

Thanks everyone! So, will the Stab offer anything to the Mag in the cold, or is it a futile attempt?

Originally Posted by B

CO2 +Mag + cold not going to work well at all.

Pro carbine on liquid will run circles around most other guns in the cold.

I do have a question about this. I thought the Pro-Lite was able to run liquid, and the Pro/Carbine valve could not. Am I wrong? I much prefer the look and feel of the Pro/Carbine, so if I am wrong, I would be happier.

Originally Posted by Railgun

Truly it may be time to run compressed air in those conditions..... or just stay home with a thermos of hot rum toddy's....

Ha! Hardly. I am too young to let a little cold ache my bones. There is something about playing in snow drifts during a light snow fall that is so calming...

[sdawg]

The pro/carbine's CVX valve can run on liquid and will operate very well in the cold. The stabilizer is often matched with the pro/carbine, using a Carbine vertical adapter (which are sometimes hard to come by).

The use of composites in the Pro/Carbine is not a point of failure. That marker is rock solid. In addition to a Stabilizer, an rear velocity adjuster and/or spring kit is very convenient.

The stabilizer would not be useful on the Mag as it already has a regulator that was designed to deal specifically with the problem of liquid CO2 causing shootdown. The problem you'll encounter with a Mag is liquid CO2 freezing up the seals and taking you out of the game. Go watch the training video on YouTube to learn about this from Tom Kaye himself.

Comparing the two, the mag is a much higher quality marker with a built in regulator. However, a level seven bolt will occasioally chop a ball, something I never experienced with my pro/carbine (it will just pinch a ball, forcing you to recock).

What can I say, my pro/carbine and my minimag are two of my favorites!

[Surestick]

Thanks everyone! So, will the Stab offer anything to the Mag in the cold, or is it a futile attempt?

Futile, trust me, I've tried it and in the same conditions as you are looking at.
It's happy as a pig in the proverbial excrement on HPA in the winter but CO2 was a no go, even with a stab.

Look at a CO2 phase diagram: http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu/chemweek...se_diagram.gif
at -15C the point where CO2 becomes liquid is around 10 ATM or less than 200 PSI. The mag takes ~375PSI...

From what I've read your best bet if you can't or don't want to go HPA is a blowback on liquid CO2 for the winter. A siphon tank is just as easy to make as an anti-siphon tank.
You could go for ultra low pressure on a blow-back but it would cost you more in parts than a siphon tank.

[ljpiller]

Mags really hate liquid CO2, while you can get them to work extremely well on it, at -15 degrees it would be a stretch.

I know it isn't an option for everyone, but if you want to have the performance of an automag in that cold of a climate I would recommend HPA/Nitro. Then you can play in even the worst of conditions.

The Pro/Carbine should function just fine in the freezing cold. I've had a lot of use with them and they work great. I don't like them as much as my Automag, but when it becomes the difference of working and not working, I'll take what works. A Pro/Carbine with a Palmer's Reg and anti-siphon should be a very dependable performer.

Make sure you get some tough paint! Anything you get is going to be brittle as heck when its cold out.