ANS bolt flows better than AGD long nose

[steveg]

I was bored and had nothing better to do today so I
timed how long it took 4 litres of water (about 1 gallon)
to flow through an ANS bolt and a long nose AGD

ANS ~ 36 seconds
AGD ~ 39 seconds

Hmmm

[The Mag Man]

In my opinion, that ANA bolt is horrible product. Some time ago, I replaced my AGD long nose stock bolt with the ANS one. After that, my gun was turned into a ball breaking machine. I was getting breaks in the breech and barrel. Simply horrible. As soon as I switched back to my long nose, all problems were gone. The long nose is the best bolt in my opinion. Yes, even better than the "Super" Bolt.

[Thordic]

Ok, I don't think anyone would argue that it flows better. But the question is, what does that matter? Is the higher flow rate solving a bottleneck? If not, it doesn't matter. In other words, a hula hoop is bigger than the top of a bucket, but if you are trying to throw a penny though, then flow isn't an issue. I doubt the small difference in flow has ANY effect on performance whatsoever. Companies play up this flow thing like its the best thing since sliced bread, but I'm kinda skeptical. Unless everything in your gun is upgraded to have higher flow, isn't the highest flowing piece limited by the slowest flowing anyway? Just a few points to ponder...

Also, the ANS bolt is made of softer steel than the AGD bolt. That means faster wear. It also may or may not be made to tolerances, which means it may eat at your sear faster. If you want to pay more for replacement parts, then go ahead.

[LaW]

Sure the stock bolt is better...I'm not denying that. However I like my ANS bolt a lot. In my experience I stick with what works...I was chopping a lot with the stock foamiless bolt so I tried out the ANS and that took care of my problem...I plan on getting a superbolt once all of the kinks are worked out of it...I have faith in AGD to fix all problems.

[Ice-Child]

With the stock bolt I broke one in 15 or so. I talked to a few people and they all agreed that the ANS smokes stock and it seems everyone around here loves the ANS. I bought it on a friday and played a scenario game that sunday. Broke one ball all day. Almost a case of paint and only one brake. Sounds better to me.

All you have to do is to take the factory glue off the back of the fomie and super glue it in. Worked for me and is still working.

[DRAGONSLAYER]

I haven't had any dealings with the AGD Long Nose or the SuperBolt. But my experience with my ANS Foamie bolt was not good. My gun turned into a "blender" and the thing leaked down the barrel like a sieve. So, like you said, I stick with what works, the stock bolt.

[LaW]

well leaking down the barrel I don't see how it could be contributed to the bolt....most likely the spring, or power tube or whatnot....I've found the foamieless bolt was just to harsh on the paint around my area...the ans bolt was nice after I glued on the foamies....

[PyRo]

A poorly made bolt could cause leaks down the barrel. The plunger has the be the right leangh, any scratches in it would cause a leak, needs to be the right diameter. Several other factors could also cause a bolt to leak.
ANS bolts also wear out faster, and do not increase range, accuracy, or recharge despite claims made by some others.

[dmorrow30]

everyone has there opions.I tried just about every bolt out there.pro-teams bolt,ans bolt,superbolt,longnose bolt,and the regular stock bolt.out of all of these bolts.the ans worked the best.the ans bolt hardly broke any paint.I am thinking about returning the superbolt and getting my money back.I used the ans bolt for over 4 years now.Still going on strong.

[RJR99SS]

in my experience, all aftermarket bolts suck. I've tried two myself in two different guns, and one didnt even work, and the other performed quite horribly and chopped paint.

I see alot of player shell out alot of money to buy that awsome aftermarket bolt, and are completely dissapointed.

In fact i knew one guy with a tricked out spyder (so he must of been real intelligent right?) who wouldnt admit that his $50 bolt was a p.o.s.

We even went so far as to show him by firing the gun and switching back to the stock bolt, everyone saw a vast difference except him. But oh well, he lost all the time anyway? so i didnt worry about it too much.

With bolts, i've never come across an aftermarket that even performed the SAME as the stock one, much less outperform the stock one.

Like someone else said yeah it probably flows better but so what? The best comparison i can think of is K&N air filters for cars, yeah they flow more air than stock filters, but they also dont seal as well and let more debris into the engine.

So stick with stock.

[Ice-Child]

I seen a major difference switching from the stock one to the ANS bolt I run now. I was breaking a lot of paitn with the stock and didnt get as good of accuracy as I do with the ANS.

As the saying goes "To each his (or her) own"

[LaW]

accuracy is not an issue here with the bolts...accuracy is mainly paint/barrel match... whatever you thought was improved accuracy was most likely in your head...however the getting less breaks is something a lot of peopl have found by switching to the ANS bolt...however there are some that have switched and either a bad batch or whatever it didn't work well...that's just how it is

[tranman]

If you really wanna find out what has better flow then you measure the FPS using say the stock bolt, then you dont change anything and replace the bolt with another one and measure the FPS. The one with the higher FPS has better flow simply because it lets more air out, therefore putting more velocity on the ball...

[steveg]

Hi guy's and thanks for your responses. It's refreshing to have a thread on
THE EVIL AFTERMARKET PART by people with
ACTUAL experience with them both good and bad.

Tranman you are right, the correct way to measure the difference is over
a chrono and I suspect the difference is not that great.
I bought a Shooting Chrony a while ago and will test the difference one day
(probably again when I'm bored and have nothing better to do).

Thordic, if you think about it for a minute, the only air that matters to the bolt,
is the air already in the dump chamber. The air supply to the dump chamber is
cut off(hopefully) when to bolt does It's job, so at this point
the rest of the valve and It's flow rates are irrelevant.

Leak down the barrel. this has a couple of causes but all
related to how the powertube o-ring and the bolt stem meet.
The o-ring it's self could be worn or cut , the stem could
be scratched or yes even too small.
Finally and most often, when changing bolts It's the powertube spacer
that causes leak down the barrel.
AGD makes the spacer kit not for aftermarket bolts but for
their own. I have seen and even responded to posts from
people changing stock agd to stock agd bolts and having leaks
with the new AGD bolt.

A point to ponder the spacer kit has spacers from 0.220"
to 0.235" a range of 0.015" For non-machinist types take
4 sheets of 20lb printer paper that's what 0.015" looks like
Of course, if you have the spacers you can set them side
by side to see the difference.

Hardness and tolerances . A misconception to clear up first.
It's highly improbable that a soft part (ANS bolt)
will cause wear or chipping to a harder part (AGD sear)
The closer together in hardness two metals are the MORE likely
both metals are going to be worn by the other.This is the
principle by which bushings are designed,bronze (very soft)
running against hardened or chromed steel (very hard).
Of course If the bolt is too soft the sear well saw or chisel away at it.

I measured, with a mitutoyo digital vernier, both bolts
and didn't find any real differences in size (+/- 0.002")
I could not measure the stem on either because I couldn't
reach it.

The stem on the ANS bolt does seem to be consistently shorter
than the AGD bolt, that could be a problem for someone
(like me) who has a valve already using the shortest spacer.

Now to get to the point of this whole mess, the one REAL
difference that to ANS bolt has compared to the AGD is that
it is shorter 1.78" compared to 1.85" for the AGD longnose
and short nose. Slightly more than 1/16"
A lot of people who use the ANS bolt, use it because it reduces
breakage or chopping.(and not because of ANS's B.S. claims).
And despite the fact that it might wear out faster.

In my mag the long nose bolt sticks into the breech by that 1/16"
the ANS is flush with the edge of the breech
I have to wonder how the bolt sticking into the breech
like that could do anything but negatively effect clean feeding.
And it flows better;)

[the electrician]

I use the ANS bolt because it was in the used gun I bought. But when I put a stock bolt in it started breaking alot of paint. So I went back to the ANS. I use a leather hole punch to make my own foamies for it and use super glue gel to stick them. I now set up all the mags I put together like this and they chop less paint than most all the guns I've ever seen. If your mag doesn't chop paint then stick with the stock.
~E~