viking/excal noob

[scribe]

hey guys, i've been hearing a lot about these guns and i want to nkow what the deal is. i've decided i'm going to get a new gun, so i'm sorta looking around. i like how the 03 shocker looks and such, but i heard performance wise the viking owns. or excalibur, or whatever. they're about the same right?

anyway, what is up with all the different vikings. makes things so complicated. like the immortal, dark viking, featherlite....i mean, what is the difference between all of these? i wish there was like a scale so i could just see what's better. like for mags u have the regular mag, then the rt, then the emag, then the xmag.

so anybody out there know much about the vikings that can give this newb a heads up. thx.

[jdev]

all vikings are created equally... for the most part ;)

the only difference you will mainly see in vikings (or excals) are the milling patterns. (well, and excals internals are a lil differnt, they operate differently)

there are several types of milling patterns for vikings/excals:

featherlite
crusader
destructive
immortal
streamline
bonebreak

those are specialty millings

then you can get full and half milled vikings. generally, performance is the same, as they all now come with WAS standard. eyes are usually extra though, depends on where you go to get it. and they come with the humphrey solenoids.

for a very good portion of info on this, you can check out the AKA forums (http://pbnation.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=149) on PBN. lots of info there. as far as performance goes, I can safely say it beats a timmy, matrix and x/emag. but, those are my preferences in markers. Ive handled the 03 shocker, didnt like the way it felt, though it was extremely light. maintenence wise, its like a mag. lil oil in the ASA, and its good to go. that is unless you shoot sand through your hopper, instead of paint :)

on another note, if you are interested in purchasing a viking, I have mine for sale. PM me if you are interested.

hope this helps.

Joe

[scribe]

oh tahnks for the info. so if i were to get a viking, i should just pick the one taht looks the best to me since everything else is the same eh? nice.

[jdev]

scribe, that would be pretty much how it goes.

again, stop by the AKA forum on PBN, there is an excellent newbie guide to AKA there.

[Ov3rmind]

Originally posted by scribe
oh tahnks for the info. so if i were to get a viking, i should just pick the one taht looks the best to me since everything else is the same eh? nice.
Yep. Aside from looks, most aftermarket Vikings also weigh less than stock ones, with the Destructive being the lightest. here's a breakdown of milling options:

stock:
No Milling
Half Milled
Full Milled (if you want this you'll have to buy used, AKA just discontinued it on the 04s)

aftermarket/custom:
Featherlite smooth
Featherlite striped (an earlier version had more milled off around the vertical adapter, it was discontinued in favor of the current one)
Crusader
Immortal
Destructive
Bonebreak (not yet released)
Streamline
Edge (Excalibur only, very rare)
Paintballistix (Discontinued)

[ubooze]

All though I am just stating what I hear Froth(PBN) say, shorter bolt and higher LPR means more cycles(makes sense). THEREFORE, if you were to get a Destructive, you would probably be able to cycle your gun faster if you raise the pressure (Destructive is that super nice Vik with shorted top-tube and bolt). But then again, no feeder has yet fed over 30 bps... that I know of.

[afrankart]

I am not sure if this is what you are trying to say, but there is nothing about the destructive that gives it any speed advantage over any other viking.

[Ryknow]

There is no better viking than any other. If you put a black non-mill w/ eyes next to an Immortal with eyes they will perform the same. They are both VERY VERY fast. The Excal is fast to though, dont get me wrong. The excal is much smoother than the viking though, and it quieter. I like the way it shoots over the viking. Anyway, there are many shops that sell them.

The AKA forum at PBN is really good though.

[Ov3rmind]

Originally posted by afrankart
I am not sure if this is what you are trying to say, but there is nothing about the destructive that gives it any speed advantage over any other viking.
Theoretically it's cut down bolt allows it to cycle a little faster than other Vikings. But for what it's worth, there's no way you could even notice the speed difference. If you have the cash, I'd go Destructive, but that's me. Light, dead sexy, and pure performance baby!:D

[scribe]

i was looking at pictures and i think the dark viking and the immortal look the best.

i've beent rying to look for a picture of the destructive, but i can't find it anywhere.

i saw a picture of the bonebreak or whatever, which looks nice as well. it was done on an excal tho i think.

anybody have a pic of a destructive viking i can see?

[Ov3rmind]

Destructive info and pics (http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=113878)

[afrankart]

The dark viking is nothing more than a halfmilled with Stickys and a razorblade.

[QUINCYMASSGUY]

Destructive Vikings are done by an up-and-coming company right here in Massachusetts (Easthampton, out by UMass Amherst) and are pretty sick and affordable for the custom quality they are. Alan and his crew have worked really hard and if you're in the market for a 1200 or so dollar gun get an '04 Destructive, fully loaded with all the good stuff and looks sleek.

[scribe]

hey quincy mass guy. what kind of mag do u own? upgrades? you live right in my town and i was wondering if i can check yours out if it has a lvl 10 or x-valve so i can see if i want to upgrade my mag as well or get a new gun

[QUINCYMASSGUY]

Actually, I have officially retired as a mag user... it was my first marker and I respect the company greatly and think they make great products, and I stick around here because AO is one of the best forums out there due to it being open to all types of marker-owners and usually maintains typically intelligent conversation or at least not much of the insulting, unreadable, postwhoring garbage that other sites get all the time (ie posts such as: dood, you hella suck, cockers throw the bullets harder..... crap like that), although a little of PBN's population seems to be bleeding in here now and I actually find the PBN AKA forum to be more informative than even AO now. But thats offtopic.

I will be shooting a Destructive Merlin (basically a Cocker if you don't know what a Merlin is) fully loaded with AKA parts and a few other top-level items that AKA doesn't make as soon as it is completed by, you guessed it, Destructive Customs. So the annoable parts are in Easthampton with the carve-and-anno experts and the rest is in a box in my Quincy apartment waiting for me to assemble it. I traded the mag to a guy in Wisconsin for the raw Merlin parts so it's not showing up anytime soon. Sorry man, but there are plenty of AO-MAers who have the loaded mags, not sure who they are offhand though. When its done if you happen to be playing the same field I am you are more than welcome to try the merlin though.

What do you shoot now, just to have as reference regarding markers you're looking at?

[scribe]

what i shoot onw is in my sig.

i'm contemplating whether or not to upgrade my mag fully (x-valve, new tank, intelliframe, ult, ule), or just buy a new gun.

[QUINCYMASSGUY]

ah, totally missed that in your sig. Well the X goes for 225, body for 150. intelli for $100 or so, ult for 50, and you won't get much for the scrap parts, and for that money I'd personally say you're better off selling your current setup and get a Viking w/ WAS, eyes, humphrey noid, etc. Right now, because the '04s are coming out, you can get an '03 that will make an XMag look like a Spyder (exaggeration but makes my point) for real cheap, maybe even for just a little over what you would spend on the upgrades. I guess it all depends on what you can get for your mag and what you like in a marker, but AKA is one of the top companies right now and they're getting bigger by the day.

[jwren00]

I am sooooo close to buying an orange immortal viking (loaded) from www.ontargetentertainment.com, I want a Viking so BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By the way they are selling the edge excalibur on that sight too, for 1525 though:rolleyes:

[QUINCYMASSGUY]

I was never a fan of Excals, open bolt is faster and the whole deal of closed bolt being more accurate is bull (I'm building a Merlin mostly just to try it out). But the Excals are pretty sweet.

[afrankart]

I think the speed difference is negligable. They will both cycle faster than a halo can feed. Anything faster than that is pointless.

[Ov3rmind]

QUINCYMASS, the Excal will seem just as fast when you shoot it, so the speed difference really doesn't matter. However, the Excal is softer on paint and cycles smoother.