Paintball

[CJOttawa]

Latest iteration, based on input from (in alphabetical order) Chappy, DSA, Dukie, GreenMtnPhantom, IronChef97, new2pump, RedNeckSniper, skx762, Splattttttt and others:

The TPC has been completely sliced off and contoured with a countersink bit.



Shown in the above photo: TPC, Redux bolt, pierce pin assembly and modified
velocity adjuster with pins for installing pierce pin assembly.

(for more on the pierce-pin tool, see this thread: http://www.mcarterbrown.com/forums/c...-assembly.html)


Installed in the bolt, it sits far enough back that the gas diffuses before reaching the paintball.

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INITIAL TEST DATA

• Marballizer*, 0.675 TyMcneer insert, 7" barrel, valve insert
• initial velocity: 315fps (!)
• no breaks (!)
• reduced velocity to between 285 and 298fps
• still no breaks
• louder and more of a "gas cloud" apparent
• did I mention NO BREAKS?

I'm calling this a resounding success.

If extremely brittle, tournament grade paint isn't breaking at 315fps, underbored significantly, it suggests there is a large margin of error with this configuration.

Detuning to 285fps adds a further safety margin.

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Take special note: a valve insert was used to avoid siphoning liquid directly from the 12-gram. I would highly recommend this.

Though I haven't tested without the valve insert, I suspect siphoned liquid CO2 could cause paint breakage with this open-faced bolt configuration.

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*measured with Mongo's ball gauge, the Marballizer either catches slightly on the 0.679 hole or drops through, touching slightly. I put that at around 0.678, give or take 0.001.


FYI, if I had a mill, I'd contour the inside of the TPC to "hex shaped" to a standard velocity adjuster would work. HaveBlue did that to a TPC. See this thread:
Modded TPC
HaveBlue's TPC:

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In retrospect and in light of the above, it seems clear why simply drilling a hole in the TPC face destroys paint.

• the paintball sits DIRECTLY on the face of the bolt.
• gas has no place to expand
• the paintball is impacted with a full pressure SPIKE of gas

Even rubbery, recreational grade paint won't survive that treatment.

Historical information below

EDIT: I haven't shot it yet but I just re-drilled the TPC.

You can bore the hole to 3/8" (about 4.5mm) which removes all obstruction to airflow from the power tube.

The benefit of this over cutting the whole head off is there are still slots on the edge a standard velocity adjust tool will work on; no need for a huge screwdriver.

mcarterbrown.com

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Has anyone had experience drilling a hole in the front of a Phantom tuned-port-compensator (TPC)?

I cite the second paragraph of this page: LAPCO Phantom Internals

The author indicates better efficiency having cut the front of their TPC off, creating a straight-line path from powertube to barrel.

Previous revision, drilled to 3/32-inch (2.5mm):
mcarterbrown.com

Trackbacks: What do phantoms look like with the PPS phantom stabilizer?

phantom question

[1996XJ]

I cut the front of my TPC off for my regulated setup, i havent got the springing figured out yet so i cant compare the effiency.

[flyweightnate]

This gave me an idea... what about not drilling it all the way through, but just putting a small hole in the middle? It would allow you to still use the stock velocity adjuster.

[CJOttawa]

That's exactly what I did. The hole is fairly wide but there's still a slot for the velocity adjuster at the perimeter. Just haven't had a chance to test it out yet.

[slowerpig81]

Sounds interesting. I would personally enjoy machining different parts for Phantoms if I had the tools money and time. However my Phantom works great on C/A CO2 and if it aint broke, don't fix it .

[Gogged_Gurl]

cj watch out for brittle paint!

[CJOttawa]

Originally Posted by Gogged_Gurl

cj watch out for brittle paint!

*laughs* Yeah, I thought that might be a concern. I expect I'll have to use a weaker main spring to compensate for the added force.

I'll be using X-Ball Gold so it's about as brittle a tournament paint as you can get. If it survives, I'm confident most paint will.

[taz22]

was also thinking of doing this. don't know when. also need to buy a chrono.. damn. i need cash!

[russc]

I played in a pump tournament where we used x-ball gold. In the first game I believe 4 out of 5 guns went down due to catastrophic barrel breakage: a Bushmaster, Sniper, Phantom, and Grey Ghost.

I sometimes have problems with ball breakage on my Buzzard, even regulated down to ~6-700 psi. I'm hoping that I can get ahold of a really tightly ported venturi adjuster for it.

[CJOttawa]

Originally Posted by russc

I played in a pump tournament where we used x-ball gold. In the first game I believe 4 out of 5 guns went down due to catastrophic barrel breakage: a Bushmaster, Sniper, Phantom, and Grey Ghost.

So far, with the Redux and underbored Freak inserts, X-Ball Gold hasn't given me grief. *knock on wood*

That's been with a standard TPC though; I'll let you know how the drilled one works.