My second experience with my tac one

[Ebbed]

Ok I thought my lvl 10 broke a ball so I remember a previous post where everyone told me the next softest spring was the red one. So I threw it in there and spent 3 hours out at the field trying to get that thing to stop seizing in a forward position and leaking air. Eventually I gave up and put the gold spring back in and played the last game of the day. What’s the deal? Why was it doing this? I tried carriers, and shims and I was going crazy trying to figure it out…

[KC]

Ok I thought my lvl 10 broke a ball so I remember a previous post where everyone told me the next softest spring was the red one. So I threw it in there and spent 3 hours out at the field trying to get that thing to stop seizing in a forward position and leaking air. Eventually I gave up and put the gold spring back in and played the last game of the day. What’s the deal? Why was it doing this? I tried carriers, and shims and I was going crazy trying to figure it out…


Bolt/stick not enough return force.

Is the red spring old or cut?

Did you try the next larger carrier using the same carrier oring?

[Watcher]

If the lvl 10 is breaking balls you go to the next strongest spring. The gold is the weakest, red is the missle, and the silver is the strongest.

I use a silver one and it works amazingly.



If the bolt is sticking forward, go a carrier size up. You want to use the biggest carrier possible without leaking, or one down from that.

2 shims is usually fine.

[maniacmechanic]

Ok I thought my lvl 10 broke a ball so I remember a previous post where everyone told me the next softest spring was the red one. So I threw it in there and spent 3 hours out at the field trying to get that thing to stop seizing in a forward position and leaking air. Eventually I gave up and put the gold spring back in and played the last game of the day. What’s the deal? Why was it doing this? I tried carriers, and shims and I was going crazy trying to figure it out…

What made you " think " you broke a ball ? was there paint in the breech , on the end of the bolt , or just in the barrel , i've had many instances of balls hitting each other in the barrel & " thinking " i chopped , upon teardown I found everything clean

[DamianTC]

what is the max velocity at the field your playing at? The field I play is 280fps and it seems to be very difficult to get the red spring to recock reliably at that velocity.. Considering if the max is 280, then your probably going to want your average velocity at around 270-275

I might be a bit off, but I believe the level 10 resources on this site say the minimum velocitys for the springs are 250 for the smallest, 270 for the red, and 290 for the biggest.

Even though the red will work at 270, I feel to get the best performance, you have to have your velocity set well above that... I have only had any luck with it at fields with a 300 max.

Being that my main field that I play is 280, I use the smallest spring and I never chopped a ball.

Actually the only time I can remember chopping a ball is playing on a field thats max is 300 and I was using the smallest spring that day. That being said, I feel you have the greatest chance of chopping when you use a spring that has the biggest difference in minimum velocity and the actual velocity you are running

[DamianTC]

Here is that info from this site:




Main spring tuning
You are almost finished now. You have probably noticed that when you used the original main spring the bolt came forward with less force than usual but still had enough to chop a ball. The pin in the middle of the bolt is called the Power Piston, it acts like a cork to seal the air chamber. Just like a cork, it’s being pushed out by the air pressure but the sear holds it in. When you fire the marker, the bolt is getting pushed out by the air chamber pressure but the mainspring is pushing BACK against the bolt at the same time. The level 10 modification reduces the size of the “cork” so the main spring has an easier time holding it back. If you put a big enough main spring on the bolt and it will not fire at all!!

The last thing to do is find the right main spring that pushes back hard enough on the bolt but not so hard that the marker does not fire. The right main spring will depend on many things such as what velocity you are shooting, what barrel you are using, the size of your paint etc. Start with the longest mainspring (9) from the LVL10 kit, assemble the valve with it and gas the marker up. Try firing, if it doesn’t fire, turn up the velocity until it does. Turning up the velocity is normal for Level 10 tuning it does not mean anything is wrong. If the marker starts venting out the back or the velocity is too high when it does start firing then the main spring is too long.

Switch to the next shorter main spring. There are three mainsprings supplied in your kit. For the AO beta testers we have cut one coil off the longest main spring to make a “middle” spring. This spring looks funny on one end like it’s missing a coil (cause it is) put that end on the bolt first so the good end is sticking out. In our experience either the longest or the middle main springs make the Level 10 config work on all the markers we have tested. If you need to shoot 250 fps for indoor you need to go back to the original main spring.

Fine tuning
For most people the setup outlined above will make every paintball day a great experience. For those looking to get maximum anti chop with fragile tourney paint we offer the following suggestions. The O-ring friction can be used to additionally slow the bolt down. By going to the next smaller carrier you add an additional layer of protection at the expense of risking bolt stick. You must keep your marker oiled daily to keep it working reliably. The long mainspring can be trimmed to further fine tune the performance. The best performance comes when the marker just starts firing at 270 fps and works reliably at 290 fps.

So basically if your field limits the velocity at around 280fps, Your not going to be able to get your gun to fire reliably using the red or biggest spring because you wont be able to set your marker to 290fps. If this is your case, you need to use your smallest spring

[chinstrap]

What made you " think " you broke a ball ? was there paint in the breech , on the end of the bolt , or just in the barrel , i've had many instances of balls hitting each other in the barrel & " thinking " i chopped , upon teardown I found everything clean

Me too. I've chuffed mid-rope and the chuffed ball usually gets torn up in the barrel by the rest of the balls behind it.

I haven't had this problem since I started making sure I have fairly fresh batteries in my loader.

[Ebbed]

My mistake guys, for whatever reason I thought the gold was the stiffest spring. Yes my field is 280. No, I won’t try to put the other springs in, just a bad idea to begin with. Thanks again for your help.

[frans42000]

My mistake guys, for whatever reason I thought the gold was the stiffest spring. Yes my field is 280. No, I won’t try to put the other springs in, just a bad idea to begin with. Thanks again for your help.


Sometimes even the best systems can not prevent a broken ball.

Check this video out, it might explain a few things for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXM6MpEsalA&feature=channel_page

It convinced me that a high torque loader causes more ball "chops" than I previously ever considered.

No amount of anti-chop eyes or level 10 soft force bolt will prevent a bolt nicking the next ball that is being pushed too far into the breach by the loader.

[Wanta B Sniper]

Actually, take a look at your LvL 10, notice that the nose is a tiny bit rounded. Combine that with the bolts velocity for the first third/quarter of its travel of 4 +/- FPS and you have something that has a similar effect to the Cure bolt - feel free to correct me.

I will add a bit about your spring problem later unless I cannot find anything.

[athomas]

Your correct. The rounding does help.

Ebbed, if your gun is firing and the bolt is getting stuck forward, then you are experiencing bolt stick. Changing springs can exploit an existing condition that has been masked by a setting that allowed a greater range of operation. Even though you got your gun back to shooting properly, you should fine tune your setup to get rid of the bolt stick or it will crop up sometime when you least expect it.