Mag Efficiency

[robelezph]

I notice how when my tank gets down to about 600 psi my mag stops shooting all together. I've been told that this is due to the fact that mags need such a high operating pressure to work.

So isn't there some way to make mags more efficient? Is there some kind of miraculous invention we can expect in the future?

[trains are bad]

No. The most notable mechanical change in automags to come along (LX) made them less efficient. Deal with it.

[Deathshadow9k]

yeah the LX kits made it less efficient, dont expect anything in the future really cuz the input pressure on an AIR valve is set at 800 psi or so

my best suggestion? buy a bigger tank

[deathstalker]

Operating pressure and efficiency are two concepts that for the most part are independent of each other. You might be able to set up your Mag so that it works when you have 400, 200, even 100 psi in your tank, but that alone does not mean your marker will be more efficient. It's interesting that you mention efficiency but instead if listing how many shots per fill you get, all you mention is that your Mag stops shooting when you have 600 psi left in your tank. Just because it operates at a higher pressure does not mean it's inefficient.

Other markers might be more efficient, but I've never had an efficiency problem with any of my Mags, and I've had many different setups:
- Mechanical Mag with Classic valve (lvl 10)
- Mechanical Mag with RT valve (lvl 10)
- Mechanical Mag with X-Valve (lvl 10)
- E-Mag with E-Mag valve (lvl 10)
- E-Mag with X-Valve (lvl 10)

On my mech with a Classic valve (with lvl 10), I used a 45/4500 tank and could shoot almost half a case before I had noticeable shootdown or it would stop working. My current setup is an E-Mag with X-Valve, 68/4500 tank, and I use approximately 2500 psi to shoot about 900 balls (hopper, 5 tubes). As long as I can shoot all the paint I bring on the field with me, I don't worry about efficiency.

Are there more efficient markers out there? Sure, but that doesn't mean a Mag is INefficient.

[the electrician]

operating pressure and efficiency are related, but efficiency does not depend on a low operating pressure, like you have stated.

but it is easier to get a higher shot count if you can shoot deeper into the tank.

example: my cocker uses a calculated 11 cu in of air per shot. it runs at 200 psi.a 68/4500 has 19008 cu in of air in it, filled exactly to 4500. it can't use the last 200psi of that, so that is 1001.5 cu n it can't use. that leaves 18006.5. divided by the 11 per shot, that gives me 1637 shots.

now the mag has a chamber size of .55 cu in. let's say you are running a stock classic, at about 400 psi (that's being nice) that would mean it held 15.76 cu in. of air in the chamber. now it has been stated that the residual pressure in the chamber after a shot is about 50 psi. so that leaves 2.43 cu in. in the chamber. that means it would use about 13.33 cu in. per shot. pretty close to the cocker right? not really. it cannot use the last 400 psi in the tank. that's 1948 cu.in. it can't use out of the 19008, that only leaves 17060. divided by the 13.33 per shot, gives 1280 shots. even if it used the exact same amount of air, it wouldn't have as much air available. so operating pressure is definitely related to efficiency.

my classic w/lvl10 needs 500 psi to operate. this is more than it did without the lvl 10. the main reason the lvl 10 needs more pressure is because of the tighter resctriction caused by the need for the small white washer. the flow is restricted more than it was before, so it takes more pressure to ge the same amount of air through to the ball, in the same amount of time.

by design, the mag wastes air. this coupled with the fact that it uses the same amount of to shoot a ball as guns that work on a lower pressure. this makes it's shot count lower.

all in all though, I like the trade off that the lvl 10 offers. I don't need my mag to be super efficient, but I do need it to shoot without chopping. this is worth more to me. makes for a higher "fun/funds" ratio. :)

[trains are bad]

It's interesting that you mention efficiency but instead if listing how many shots per fill you get, all you mention is that your Mag stops shooting when you have 600 psi left in your tank.

You say that as if it was not important. It is very important. Mine stops going somewhere around 900. At that point my buddy could still shoot 300 rounds of paint with his marker, easily. When you can only get 3000psi or 2500psi fills it sucks even more.

[deathstalker]

You say that as if it was not important. It is very important. Mine stops going somewhere around 900. At that point my buddy could still shoot 300 rounds of paint with his marker, easily. When you can only get 3000psi or 2500psi fills it sucks even more.
The operating pressure of your marker is not important at all given your and the thread starter's information. The best example I can offer is a blowback. Stock, these markers operate at a pressure of approximately 800 psi. MANY people have made their blowback "LP" and found their efficiency has gone to crap because they don't know the right way to do it. What's more efficient? A marker that runs at 800 psi and can shoot 3/4 of a case or a marker that runs at 300 psi and can shoot 1/4 a case?

There's more to efficiency than how deep into the tank you can shoot. Using your example, what if you shot 2000 paintballs before you get to 900 psi left in your tank, while your buddy only shot 1000? Sure, he can get 300 more shots out of his tank, but who has the more efficient marker? Not knowing how many shots per fill a marker gets means you can't tell if it's efficient or inefficient.

Look at old school Shockers: very LP, very inefficient. From what I've read, the new ones aren't much better ;) (I'll admit I know next to nothing besides what little I've read on the web about them).