Paintball

[Talfuchre]

This article originally written and stored Here.

This article will be written to explore what upgrades a person might perform on a standard stock Autococker turned pump. I purchased a 04 Prostock for a Comprehensive Pump Kit Review that I have been performing and I turned it into a pump.

WGP Prostock as I purchased it.


WGP Prostock with Vendetta Economy Kit Installed.

As I was performing these reviews I realized many shortcomings of the Prostock that might be elevated through upgrades. I decided to acquire some of these upgrades in order to review them to see if they were worthwhile or not. Below I will list the upgrades I explored and I will state my positions on whether they are worth it or not.

Possible Upgrade #1 - .45 Grip:



<The Prostock comes stock with a two finger trigger. This is great when the pneumatics are installed (and you might want to keep it if you ever reconvert your Prostock into a 'cocker) but lacks a lot when you pump the marker. This is because you loose your middle finger on the grip of the marker to stabilize the marker when you pump it. It makes for a shakier platform and frankly the two finger grips are unnecessary.



To solve these shortcoming a simple .45 grip can be found for relatively cheap on line. I found a stock WGP .45 grip that a friend had and he donated it to me for the purposes of this review. The .45 grip, once set up properly made the use of the Prostock Pump a much more comfortable thing to use. It also made pumping and shooting the marker in rapid fire much more accurate.



One cool thing about this upgrade is that you can buy a frame that does not have grips installed because you can rob the grips off the double trigger frame. They not only will work but I find them to be very comfortable.

You can find .45 frames by various manufacturers on line in a myriad of places. I also acquired a Benchmark Frame, a Dye Slider Frame, an ANS Quickfire Frame, A Freeflow Frame, as well as a few others that I could not identify. These all basically worked the same as the WGP in pump configuration. There is a marked difference between these frames when used on a 'cocker - but as a pump - almost any slider frame is about the same.



Above - Free Flow .45 Frame. Below - Dye .45 Frame



Difficulty Rating of Upgrade:

I would rate this as a 3 out of 10 on the difficulty scale. You simply need to remove the two screws on the double Trigger Grip Frame and put two screws back in when installing the frame.



Note: You will need one different screw when changing from the double trigger hinge frame to the slider frame. The screw that secures the front of the frame will need to be acquired in order to install this frame.

The tricky part, but not too much so, is setting the lug of the marker to match the firing point of the new frame. Also, the trigger frame itself has a few set screws that can be adjusted to make the frame the smoothest and shortest it can be. This can take trial and error, but you really can't break anything - so tinker and figure it out.

Cost of Upgrade:

Between 15 and 45 dollars depending on what frame you buy. The cheapest being a stock WGP frame and the most expensive most likely being a rarer Dye single trigger Hinge - which can go for 75 dollars or so.

Is it worth it?:

Absolutely! This is one of the upgrades that is a 'must do'. Sure you can use the double trigger hinge and it will work fine - but a small cost (or if you are vigilant - maybe even a donation) will get you a lot.

Possible Upgrade #2 - An After Market Barrel:

The stock WGP barrel is a 12 inch basic barrel. It works fine - but frankly leaves a lot to be desired. You can use this barrel just fine - but we are talking about upgrades here - so I got together a collection of aftermarket barrels (Deadly Wind with Freak inserts, CCM Barrel kit, Bob Long Barrel Kit, Empire Kit, and a Deadly Wind Fibur Null Barrel) All of these barrels performed better than the stock barrel. A longer barrel was easier to point and aim for me and the increased accuracy was evident. You can certainly use the stock barrel - but every barrel I put on this marker was much more accurate and some were even more efficient.



One big advantage to a barrel kit is that you can size your barrel to the paint you are shooting. I will not go into the particular barrels, and barrel kits - because I think this is up to the end user as to what they are looking for in a barrel. I have found that nearly all after market barrel kits perform about the same. Borrow other peoples barrels, figure out what you like, and then buy what you are in the market for.

Difficulty Rating of Upgrade:

1 out of 10. Um... you unscrew the old barrel and put the new one on. If you cannot do this, stop reading this article - you can't handle the rest of the upgrades - and you probably have your .45 frame on backwards.

Cost of Upgrade:

Between 35 and 150 dollars depending on the barrel or barrel kit. The cheapest way to do this is to keep any eye out for a selection of different sized bore barrels. I found an Empire three bore two front kit for 35 dollars locally and was very happy with it. A full kit can be had for a little more - but a three bore kit would serve most of your paintball days well.

Is it Worth It?

Yes. I haven't shot a stock barrel on any marker besides the CCI in a long time and been happy. However, the Bob Long LongShot is a good barrel but can only be found in one size. I would find at least three bore sizes and the length you are comfortable with.<br />
<strong>Possible Upgrade #3 - Adjustable Regulator:</strong></p>
<p>I have spoken a lot, when setting up other markers, that you will want to sweet spot the regulator for maximum efficiency. A tutorial on how to do this can be seen here.

The question I asked myself is whether this was necessary on the Prostock Pump. I took various regs that I already had (CCM, WGP Ergo, Bob Long Torpedo, and CP) and tried them on the Prostock Pump. All of them performed the same for the Pump. They allowed me to set the Prostock at it's most efficient point very easily.



From Left to Right: Older Stock WGP, WGP Ergo Reg, WGP Prostock Reg, New Bob Long, Older Bob Long Torpedo, Newer Bob Long Torpedo, CCM Regulator.

However, I found that the sweetspot of the WGP prostock was about 300 - 325 psi and the stock regulator that came with the Prostock was set at 325. Furthermore, the Prostock regulator is adjustable itself. You have to take off the bottom portion of the regulator (using the wrench flats) and use a flat head screwdriver - but you can adjust the reg to the spot desired). It is a bit of a pain to do so - but you shouldn't need to do this very often (in fact, once I have set my regs on my CCM markers - I don't touch them).

Difficulty Rating of Upgrade:

2 out of 10. The reg simply screws off and the new reg screws on. The only hard part is replacing the connections to the regulator and sweetspotting it.

Cost of Upgrade:

Between 15 to 100 dollars - again depending on the regulator. An WGP Ergo reg can be found very cheaply on line (especially if it is used - but working) but you can spend up to over 100 dollars on regs like the PPS Stabilizer and the AKA Sidewinder. I would go with an inexpensive working reg. For a pump - you don't need lightning fast recharge rate and lesser performing regs work just fine.</p>

Is it worth it?:

Possibly. If you are going to change your internals (see below) I would recommend having an adjustable regulator or at least access to an adjustable regulator. You could set up your marker, discern what pressure your marker needs, and then set your Prostock reg to that point. I would be more hassle, but you can do it.

Possible Upgrade #4 - Delrin Bolt:

The stock bolt is made from Aluminum and has two tightly fitting o-rings on it. Again, this is fine for anyone that just wants to shoot a Prostock Pump but I wanted to test out some Delrin bolts to see if they improved performance. CCM was gracious enough to send a S-6 Delrin bolt to test for this application. I also acquired a WGP delrin bolt, a Shocktech Supa-Fly bolt, and an unnamed Delrin bolt that was exactly like the stock bolt, but made from Delrin.



From Left: Stock WGP Bolt, CCM Delrin Bolt, WGP Delrin Bolt.

To test a change in bolts I got a second 04 WGP Prostock and set it up exactly the same - same internals, same regulator, pump kit (in this case a pair of CCM Economy Kit's - I even went so far as to chronoing them the same and setting the same input pressures. I then switched out only the bolt. I compared performance and tested the feel of the pump stroke.

The CCM and Supa-fly bolt made a great improvement in the pump stroke of the marker. I noticed immediately that the pump was smoother and more even than with the stock bolt. Delrin bolts are generally lighter than their stock counterparts - for instance - the CCM bolt was over one ounce lighter than the stock. This doesn't seem like much, but when you move that one ounce 500 times in a day's worth of play - one ounce can mean a lot to speed and reciprocal mass (leading to a steadier string of shots). This is most likely due to the lack of o-rings because when I put in the other two bolts that had similar o-rings to the stock - they essentially felt the same.

There are, however, efficiency differences. Over the Chrono - simply replacing the delrin bolt with a stock bolt got a net of 10 to 15 FPS. I don’t think this matters a lot for those using a pump - but it is about 5% difference.

Note: The delrin bolts will mar a lot more easily than the stock bolt. This is easily remedied by sanding out these burs and marks with very fine sand paper (1000 grit or better) periodically.

Difficulty Rating of Upgrade:

1 out of 10. This is similar to the barrel. Take out the old bolt and put the new one in. Easy as a girl I knew in highschool... boy do I miss her.

Cost of Upgrade:

10 to 50 dollars. A used Delrin bolt can be had, like I found, for about 10 dollars. I picked up a used CCM J2 bolt for 20 and the Chipley all delrin bolt runs about 40. CCM also made a half delrin bolt and half aluminum (much like the Supafly) and those can be found for about 15 or 20 dollars.

Is it worth it?

I would say yes. A good smooth bolt can make the most difference in a pump stroke of a marker. The only upgrade that makes as much or a little less difference is respringing or updating your internals. A good delrin bolt, found lightly used, can have a LOT of bang for your buck.

Possible Upgrade #5 - New Internals:

Over the years Wgp has really improved their stock internals. They are really well done these days and balance out all of the factors that the Prostock might encounter, a new user, C02 or Compressed Air, Pump or 'Cocker and so on. I like the stock internals - but they are sprung rather heavily. You will do fine to leave the stock internals alone - but in the spirit of possible upgrades I wanted to check out this option


WGP Stock Internals

Yet again CCM came through and donated a set of internals for this test. I really cannot say enough about the graciousness of Bill at CCM. Melissa has been awesome as well.

Again, I used my pair of Prostocks and I set up both identically, as above, and only switched out the internals. In this case, I sweet spotted both markers regulators and chrono'd them the same. I then tested performance, pump stroke, and efficiency.


CCM Internal Kit.

The performance was almost identical - in that when you pulled the trigger - the paint seemed to shoot the same out of both markers. This does not surprise me - the valve really is just a hole with a pin through it - and in the case of the CCM valve - it is nearly identical in hole and pin size compared to the WGP valve.

The pump stroke was markedly different. CCM springs their internals much lighter and uses a slightly heavier hammer (about .2 ounces) to create the same force on the valve. CCM's internals also come with better polishing on the hammer, and lug thus making the pump stroke even smoother. To be fair, I polished the internals of the WGP valve and could still see a large difference in the pump stroke. I could also feel a difference in the trigger. The lug, being better polished and machined made for a smoother release of the sear and thus a smoother trigger pull. I spent some time with sandpaper and the polishing wheel and could replicate this smoothness with the stock WGP hammer and lug - but out of the box the CCM was smoother.

As far as efficiency - I could only estimate how efficient the different markers were. They were both nearly as efficient as far as I could tell, in that they were very efficient. I want to run dome further tests on this portion and I will be updating it soon. Both valves run at nearly the same input pressure - the CCM at about 290 to 300 psi input and the WGP 300 to 325 psi input. I would advise turning your prostock regulator down to 300 psi output and leaving it if you are putting in a set of CCM internals.


Difficulty Rating of Upgrade:

6 out of 10. Swapping out a valve takes a little moxie and a special tool. (You can see how to do this on a CCM S5B here.) However, it is not a difficult thing to do once you have done it (if that makes any sense).

Cost of Upgrade:

CCM's internals can be had for about 50 - 60 dollars and might be too large of an expense for the return.

Is it worth it?:

I like to have a very smooth pump stroke - so I think it is worth it. My advice would be to first play with the stock internals, then switch out the bolt. If you are happy with the pump stroke - leave it. If you want a smoother pump stroke - buy a new internals kit.

Now - there are other internals out there that can be had for testing and will make your pump stroke smoother. However, none of these are in current production that I know of. Also, there are one that I can think of that come complete (a full set of springs, valve retention nut, hammer, valve, and valve pin). These kits require re-springing and a lot of testing. This goes beyond many peoples experience level and almost must be seen as a modification as opposed to an upgrade - so I will leave that for another time. I liked the CCM kit for this test because it was a drop in kit. Please surf around the internet for other options.

A decent option would be a Shocktech Phat Hammer, 3:16 valve, and a set of Maddman springs. However, this would be about the cost of a CCM kit or more.

Possible Upgrade #7: An Auto-Trigger:

The Auto-Trigger for those that are unaccustomed is a lever that attaches to the grip frame and the pump arm that allows the trigger to be held down and the marker pumped - firing the marker at the end of every pump cycle. The marker must be 'timed' so that the marker fires at the end of the pump cycle and not in the middle for maximum efficiency but once this timing is not any harder than adjusting the lug on the hammer (see above).


CCM .45 Frame with Auto Trigger

The Prostock, being set up as an auto-cocker does not come with any sort of Auto-Trigger nor is it really capable of setting up with an auto-trigger. A .45 slider frame can be modified to accept an auto-trigger - but again - this goes well beyond the knowledge of most players. The only real option that is in current production is a CCM Auto-Trigger Kit. This kit comes with a pump, .45 or 86 degree grip frame, and auto trigger cam and a tapped pump rod. It is a drop in kit that does not require any modification to the marker itself to use.

I had this set at hand in the garage and installed it on the Prostock. The pump stroke was much smoother and less binding than the economy kit and the auto-trigger was a nice addition to my pump. An Auto-Trigger allows those that need additional firepower to put out a few more balls per second - and I use mine from time to time in a game. I generally shoot a lane off the break using my auto-trigger and from time to time when I am moving or trying to prevent a move I will use my auto-trigger.


Difficulty Rating of this Upgrade:


5 out of 10. The pump must be replaced, as well as the grip frame, and the lug must be adjusted to time the pump stroke.

Is it worth it?:

At 180 dollars or so I don't think a Prostock justifies a full Auto Trigger kit. I think if you are going to spend the money on a Prostock and you like pump enough to make this large of a cash outlay - you should sell your Prostock and buy a new marker that has an auto-trigger installed. There are many to choose from including Palmer's Markers, Phantoms, CCM's, and many others.

However, if you wanted to buy a former 'cocker body that you are in love with - the CCM Auto-Trigger kit is a great addition to these pumps. A friend tricked out a Freeflow cocker body with a CCM Auto-Trigger kit and it is a schooove marker indeed.

However, if you have one of the .45 trigger frames and you can find an airsmith to modify your frame, trigger plate, and pump rod - an auto-trigger could be had for much cheaper - say around 50 -70 dollars. Keep your eyes open for this option and it may be worth it to you.

Wrap Up:

I think the three most important upgrades would be a .45 grip, a new bolt, and a perhaps a set of internals. All of these are not necessary but as you can see have their advantages. The rest would be nice - but are not needed.

TF