Tippmann FT-12 Breakdown

[Cdn_Cuda]

Finally, the thread you’ve all been waiting for, aside for Jordan’s brass thread, a full breakdown of an FT-12 Rental! Be prepared to be amazed at all the thrilling features of one of the crappiest markets Tippmann has ever made!

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There little suckers were designed to be quick and easy to disassemble, clean/fix and get back into action. While I’ve heard they are to bending, rendering them useless. They have variances of standard Tippmann parts, meaning they are not directly interchangeable save for the bolt and the rod that connects the bolt to the hammer. This kinda sucks.

So let’s get into it!
The front collar needs to be removed. There’s a button on the underside of the barrel that needs to be depressed so you can spin the collar off.

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With that collar removed, the FT-12 opens up like a Crocodile! snappy, snappy, snappy.

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With the collar off you can also remove the front grip. It slides off to reveal the ball detent! This is my FAVOURITE part of this marker after all the times I’ve put a Tippmann together only to realize I forgot the detent and have to take it all apart again.
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Sadly the front grip itself is not removable. If you want to try to make one of these into an Uzzi clone, you’ll need to hack it off completely.

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The two halves are connected at the rear:

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With the top removed you can see the how the top cocking mechanism works. It’s not the most solid solution, and if the top plate gets bent, it will likely affect the ability to cock it.

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And then this is what the internals look like. Lots of added bumps to hold various pieces in place.

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So if you’ll notice, the hammer is grown a little nub on top. (Or it as just happy to see me). This nub is what interacts with the top cocking mechanism. The top cocking rod bumps into the hammer nub.

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Looking at the back of the marker, you can see there’s a nice little recess for the cocking pin and spring. I’ve managed still managed to shoot this across the room.

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And this just shows all the nubs on the powertube that guide the various rods.

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This moves me to the bottom line. The power tube does not like to come out until the bottom line releases.

As you can tell, the air line is internal on these. The airline goes up the grip frame into the powertube. The yellow grips just pull out. After a while I’m sure the material will wear out and they will fall off on their own.

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With the grips removed you can see the airline. Remove the two bottom line screws, and pull the ASA down and the airline comes with it, and frees the powertube apparently, as that went flying.

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With the airline and the power tube removed you can take out the trigger group.

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To put things back together, re-install your air line and bottom line first:

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When putting the power tube back in, you need to slot the rear of the trigger frame below a metal catch or else it will not sit properly in the body:

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Then you slide the trigger group back and down so it sits properly in the body.

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The power tube goes back in, and the is a fitting for the airline on it that needs to line up. There is a single oring in the fitting, so give it a little grease.

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And put the rest of the parts back in. Take notice if the offset connecting rod between the hammer and bolt. The powertube has little supports built for it.

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[Cdn_Cuda]

I have a pair of these and I have yet to shoot them, but they are going to feel pretty similar to a 98 Custom. There is little you can do to modify these and it’s disappointing that they use specialized parts that differ from the standard Tippmann parts which are plentiful.

i can see some potential for custom builds given the trigger group just pops right out. Yes, the trigger is terrible, but you’d have some freedom of design choices. With a little creativity you could do an Izzy-style build

What I really want to do is get one if those plastic alien/monster finger puppets with the crazy arms and put it on the cocking bolt so every time it fires he moves around waving all crazy.

[Toestr]

Unfortunately I don't think the charging handle reciprocates.

[Cdn_Cuda]

Dammit! Well at least the hands will wiggle when you move around then.

[COB]

I have fitted a modifed tippmann magazine well to the bottom of an FT-12, to make it magfed. It seems to work well.

[Cdn_Cuda]

Good to know!