MCS pump conversion kit

[gnarlynick]

Does anybody here have experience with the pump conversion kits made and sold by Modern Combat Sports (MCS)? I have a Blizzard and was curious what others thoughts are on the kit. How does it feel as far as materials and quality? How does the pump action feel?

I'm interested in getting into pump and this seems to be a cheap way for me to do so.

[Chuck E Ducky]

Jonnydread had one for a bit. I think it took some tweaks to get it right but it worked well when he did.

[Trbo323]

Jonnydread had one for a bit. I think it took some tweaks to get it right but it worked well when he did.

This has been my impression of most mcs stuff. Decent quality but not top of the line by any means

My brother in law has a blizzard kit on his 98c. It had issues feeding and breaking paint last time it was out but it was about 40 degrees that time. It's sat in a closet since. Probably could work decent if someone put time into it

Sent from my motorola edge 2024 using Tapatalk

[Chuck E Ducky]

I think that’s magfed in general you need harder shell paint with the majority of them.

[gnarlynick]

I haven't fielded the Blizzard yet, but the test firing I've done with a few mags has been super consistent; no breaks or misfeeds yet. I know that won't always be true but I've been impressed with its performance so far. Have since installed a lokbolt into it so I'm sure that will only help.

Just wondering if anyone out there running one of the Tacamo conversion kits went with the pump kit as well and how they like/dislike it. It doesn't have any reviews on the MCS product page and I don't really see any YouTube videos of it outside the instructional ones made by MCS.

Is there a way to cross-post this to the pump gun section? Not sure how much overlap there is between these two groups.

[JonM]

The Blizzard as a semi actually serves me better than my M17. At it's heart, it's just a spring fed Model 98. So long as you treat it like one, it'll work fine. This means using lower end paint with thicker shells like you would in any other field rental. Just be careful with that Lok-Bolt. I went through two of them before giving up on them in the Blizzard. The plastic around the hinge pin is very thin and will eventually crack.

[Chuck E Ducky]

What do they call the pump one? Don't they make one that converts a 98 to a pump. I know I shot one Jonny had that was a pump that used D mags.

[Jonnydread]

Jonnydread had one for a bit. I think it took some tweaks to get it right but it worked well when he did.

Correction: I have a MCS Bolt magfed pump. It's a built up 98 clone with a pump kit and magwell, not a conversion kit. Semantics, but I do wonder if the quality is different for a built marker vs. a kit.

In general, I really like the platform. There were/are limited options for pump magfed markers and I don't love the H7, nor did I want to drop a bunch of money on a CCM, so I grabbed the MCS. It's been a fun to shoot and reliable platform. capitalpaintball tweaked the springing for me and now it has a beautifully soft shot and has no issues hitting field velocity. Here's my quick pro/con list of the platform:

Pros:

• Cheap
• Uses Helix & DMAGs (I find the Helix mags feed a bit more reliably, but it's nice to have a cheap option with the DMAG)
• Uses A5 threads so fairly widely available "magfed" barrels.
• Lightweight
• Compatible with most 98 parts
• Has plenty of rails for accessories
• Shoots FSR great

Cons:

• Plastic grip frame (not comfy)
• Fit and finish is a bit cheap
• Choke screw velocity adjustment (may not be a con, ymmv)
• Roundball performance is mediocre

Most of the challenges with the platform are inherent to magfed; FSR jams, hard on paint, etc., but I also have a EMF100 and I can tell you that the the struggle exists everywhere.

LIke Chuck E Ducky said, magfed is a challenging platform for quality brittle paint. Your best bet is to buy the most consistent, medium-hardness paint you can and GIT GUD (hit markers and masks). Magfed to me is like stock class, an intentional limitation placed on gear in order to challenge yourself. The complications and inherent wonkiness are just part of the FUN.

[Chuck E Ducky]

The “Bolt” that’s what I was thinking of. He said Pump so I assumed that’s what the OP was talking about. He could be talking about the bolt action kit for them as well MCS calls it a “pump kit”

[gnarlynick]

Jonnydread thanks for the write-up, very helpful. Currently, I've only ever shot Tippmann 98's so I don't necessarily know what I'm missing with newer markers out there, Magfed or hopper-fed. I used to play woodsball with my 98 custom back in the early 2000's; dusted off the cobwebs and rebuilt that marker and played a few rec games with it this year and have been really happy with it. In the 2010's, I played airsoft in the woods with some buddies and the Magfed nature of that was very appealing to me, however, I really missed the added benefits of paintball (like actually feeling/seeing your hits).

Recently got a Blizzard from an MCB user and have been slowly building it up for trying out Magfed this spring/summer. I have 6 Helix mags for it and shot some of the cheap field paint I had left from my last rec game through a few of the mags and it so far has performed beautifully (I know that won't always be the case). I'll try and load all 6 mags up and cycle paint through them all to make sure everything is running consistently.

Lurking around on the MCB forums and other paintball communities (Discord, Reddit), I've really started to get interested in the pump format as well. Like you said, I like the constraints that pump and Magfed formats impose on the player and force you to rely more on your skills and strategies rather than on your marker's features and ROF. The CCI Phantom seems to be the route I may actually go if I truly get serious about pump, but the $60 price tag to modify the Blizzard to pump seems to most feasible route to go to dip my toes into the water.

[Jonnydread]

You should absolutely give the pump kit a try. The action feels very solid and it's satisfying to pump. Phantoms are great for pump as well, but I think the more familiar the platform is when you first jump into pump the better. I normally recommend a Sniper/Sheridan style setup for newer pump players as it tends to translate more easily, but since you're just coming back into the fold I think the world is your oyster in this situation. I should use my Bolt more, this conversation is reminding me how fun it is to shoot.

[gnarlynick]

Thanks for the recommendation! I've been reading up on Nelsons, still haven't hit the Sheridan material yet to compare/contrast. I will give the MCS pump kit a try. Looks simple enough to remove and revert back to blowback should I not like it for whatever reason.

[gnarlynick]

The Blizzard as a semi actually serves me better than my M17. At it's heart, it's just a spring fed Model 98. So long as you treat it like one, it'll work fine. This means using lower end paint with thicker shells like you would in any other field rental. Just be careful with that Lok-Bolt. I went through two of them before giving up on them in the Blizzard. The plastic around the hinge pin is very thin and will eventually crack.

Ya, my lokbolt already developed a crack on one of the two hinges. Was able to super glue it back together for now. I may not need it as the test fires of paint I already cycled through it before installing the lokbolt didn't cause any breaks. I have one of those aftermarket anti-chop front bolts on my hopper-fed 98 and that works flawlessly so far. Figured it the lokbolt doesn't work out, I can just use one of those if chopping becomes an issue.

[JonM]

Not surprising. Using thin plastic like that for a part designed to take repeated strikes is just asking for failure. MCS really should have machined this part instead.

[gnarlynick]

I agree. I actually thought it was machined just like their first strike bolt was. Was surprised when it arrived that it was injection molded plastic. I may have split the hinge by removing it after the first installation attempt. I believe the glue is holding now but I don't have high expectations for it. We'll see the in spring when I play some games with it how well it goes.

[gnarlynick]

I put a stronger drive spring in behind the hammer and now it completely bypassed the lokbolt entirely as there's too much force behind the bolt to be stopped by it. Wound up taking the lokbolt out entirely and shot 6 magazines worth of paint through the marker. No breaks, no misfeeds, and only like 2 double-feeds. Gonna run without the lokbolt.

[gnarlynick]

I wound up picking up the Bolt/Blizzard pump conversion kit and, unfortunately wouldn't recommend it. Every piece seemed to have a fitment issue, and in some cases, the kit didn't appear to include the proper pieces:

• The valve pin that's included to remove the air blowback from the valve would not screw into the brass cup. Wound up putting it into a soft-tooth bench vise and, with some vise grips, was able to persuade it with minimal marring. Ultimately reinstalled the OEM valve pin.
• The kit does not come with the necessary linkage arm that connects the rear bolt to the spacer that slides onto the power tube just behind the front bolt; this linkage arm is slightly shorter than the standard one since it doesn't need to reach the front bolt. I had to order the internal air version of this linkage arm separately, but it's odd the standard linkage arm isn't included as it is a core piece needed to operate the marker. The pump/internal air linkage arm appeared slightly bent in areas it shouldn't have been, especially compared to the linkage arm that came with the internal air kit which was perfectly straight in those areas. Not sure if this damage occurred during shipping or not but once installed, I was able to cock the rear bolt despite this.
• The front bolt/pump linkage arm that came with the kit was slightly too tall where it connects to the front bolt. This prevented it from lining up to the pre cut routes in the Blizzard receiver halves and required me to cut a small amount off the linkage arm so it can fit when installed and allow both the receivers to close and the pump action from the front bolt to actually work.
• There was this solid metal piece included that, according to the assembly video, is intended to mount in the same slot as the pump linkage arm and provide some stability to the pump handle. However, in the video, it appears there is some channel milled out of this piece for the linkage arm with return spring to route through it, mine was solid and would not fit in this area with both it and the linkage arm installed; they both could not physically occupy the same space. Without this solid piece installed, there was some side-to-side slop in the pump handle, but being an over barrel-mounted pump handle, it was a forgivable amount.
• Without that aforementioned metal piece installed, when the body screw was installed on the receiver near the pump linkage arm, you were unable to rack the pump handle back or forward as the screw caused some interference with the pump linkage arm/return spring. This completely prevents the front bolt from moving, thus not allowing a paintball to be loaded into the breach. I assume I do not have the correct part, but images on their site match what I received and don't match what can be seen in the assembly video.
• The threaded end of the pump linkage arm ever so slightly did not properly match the thread pitch of the transfer block that is intended to screw onto it and then secure the pump handle to the linkage arm. I was able to force it a bit with some pliers as extra leverage, but screwing it any further to get the pump handle close enough to the marker body will likely snap the linkage arm at those threads due to the amount of torque that's needed to thread it in. Because of this, I am unable to get the pump handle close enough to the marker body to put nearly enough tension on the pump return spring, so you need to both pump in and then out without any assistance from the return spring to properly cock the marker. The pump return spring is essentially useless due to this.
• The pump handle ID is supposedly bored for 1" OD barrels and comes with a sleeve to allow it to slide over 7/8" OD barrels with minimal slop. This is somewhat true, but I had to glue some sandpaper onto a 7/8" dowel to attempt to "hone" out a few more thou of tolerance so it could slide over a 1" OD barrel smoothly. I was eventually able to achieve this, took a bit of work, though. It still is a bit tight when pushing the barrel through past the barrel o-ring.

Overall, I will not be using this kit as it simply is not functional when the body screw by the pump linkage arm is installed. This kit fought me every step of the way and did not appear to be in a functional state out of the box and required a decent amount of modifications to get to fit in the marker it was supposedly built for, but ultimately still did not function as intended following those modifications.

In a slightly positive light, the pump handle can be used as a stationary foregrip featuring upper/lower picatinny rails. It secures to the marker via the solid metal piece that I assumed was intended to provide additional stability for the pump action with all the internal pump hardware removed, so it's not all for naught. However, this can be purchased separately from MCS as a purpose-built foregrip for 1/3 the cost of the pump kit, so this certainly is not the economical route to install a foregrip to the Magfed marker, should that be a route you want to go.

Ultimately, I couldn't recommend this kit if you're looking to convert your blowback Magfed marker to a pump Magfed marker. Needs major modifications on the buyer's time and dime, and even then, won't function as intended since it doesn't come with the proper parts to do so, at least in my experience. Go buy a Phantom if you want to get into pump.