Remember the NOVA? (not the car)

[beam]

Well the main reason I was thinking about these was because they are SO different in there operation. I was wondering if AGD ever pursued this methodology and if so, what caused them to opt for the blow-forward design?

Also, why does the barrel move back and forth? I know that it does, but does it have something to do with feeding the paintballs or what?

[Chris]

The barrel is actually held in place very well. The actual barrel is made of brass, and on most models you dont even see it. Generally you only see the black plastic shroud that the barrel is in. There are set screws that hold the barrel to a spring that is attached to the shroud. The barrel does not wobble at all. On some barrels, the shroud leaves the last few inches of the barrel exposed, once again the barrel does not wobble, just go back and forth. You are able to use the shroud as a foregrip if you like. The key to accuracy is paint match, make sure you use a med bore paint, and you will have no problems. Anyways, the brass barrel on the nova is the best barrel I have ever had, bar none. There was no porting, and yet the gun was still very very quiet...although it did have a distinctive pop sound to it. Try one, and see for yourself. By the way, I have a few mags now, and the barrels on them wobble far more than on my nova...not that it makes any diffence in accuracy though.

-Chris

[Chris]

The barrel moves back and forth because there is no bolt. When it moves back, the spool valve opens and fires the ball. The barrel then moves forward and a ball is fed. There is no blowback, in fact there is a bit of suction from this action. When you gas up the gun, the barrel is pulled back. When you pull the trigger, the ball in the barrel fires, and the barrel moves forward. Release the trigger and the barrel moves back into the breach.

Very simple operation. Unfortunately if you get a Nova 700, they are somewhat easy to shortstroke. I was unable, however, to short stroke the super nova. There is a difference in the triggers of the two. Also, the supernova was better than the 700 with co2, which is quite the feat since I never did get the 700 to freeze up.

-Chris

[sarpadian]

I owned a Super Nova, one of the ones that were recalled which gave the company it's bad name. What happened was that one of their suppliers drilled the regulators too deep. If conditions were just right the pressure in the gun could go full bottle pressure. The gun couldn't handle it and the from end would blow off. Normally any excess pressure, which is anything over 150 psi, is bled off via a blowoff valve. But when the main regs failed the overpressurization was too much for the valve to bleed off. So they recalled the guns, fixed the regulators and installed check valves on the air inlet as an added precaution. But their sales took a hit that Airstar couldn't recover from and they went under.

As far as I am concerned the gun was excellent. It shot great despite what you would think with the moving barrel. The thing is that the barrel never moves while the gun is being shot. And when it is in the rear position it is locked in place and does not move at all. The reason that the barrel slides is because the gun has no bolt. Sliding the barrel forward is how the gun loads a paintball in the chamber. Then, the barrel slides back forming a complete seal around the paintball. So unless there is a problem with one of the o-rings there is zero blowback from this gun, anywhere. Which is partly why it can operate on less than 100 psi of pressure.

I could fire the gun extremely fast, my only complaint with it was the size because I play a lot of speedball.

Beam, by the way if you are interested, I might be selling my Super Nova.

[XspyX]

I wanna shoot one of those someday. It would be like one of those guns in the arcade with the top that goes back and forth. The recoil.

[beam]

Thanks for the offer, but at this time, I am solely interested in the operating principles.

Thanks.

BTW, is there a site that still has info. on these markers? owners group, whatever. I will look for myself, but just checking.

[FeelTheRT]

NOVA, where the N stands for "nowlage"!

Northern Virginia Community College

did u know NOVA is the best community college in teh nation??

[Chris]

One of my friends has a Nova 700, if you are interested Major Jam, let me know and I will see if he is selling it.

-Chris

[SniperWolf]

they really are quite keen. ive seen older novas, without d-icer technology, that would shoot liquid co2 particles out the barrel and just keep chugging along

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Frag'd, toe tagg'd and body bag'd,
hell son, you mustve just been automag'd

[-§on-]

I heard the Barrels really suck.

[Chris]

The barrels are brass, the best material for barrels since you can make it very smooth. I never had a problem with any of mine...so Im not sure how you got that they "suck"

-Chris

[rt_81]

thanks for clearing that up for me chris. i know a guy who has one, maybe ill give it a whirl and see how she performs on the field.

RT

[rictus]

ACI doesn't make the Mayhem they only distribute it. PGI manufactures it. Section 8 is taking over where airstar left off. Only the web site is down now so maybe it won't happen. It is at Splatmaxx.com. The SuperNova shoots very straight and fast. I have one as a backup and can outshoot my 9-volt revy easy (because we all know how 9-volts stink anyway). It is probably the straightest shooting stock gun I've ever had. Here are a couple of links for anyone interested.
http://www.pbnation.com/forumdisplay.php?s=a5bc85e860a14294ec4a291c2118ae7 9&forumid=194

http://www.petecoffey.com/snova.html

[ZeezNutz]

the meyham sucks. i was thinking about getting one and they had one at the field i play at. after about 9 shots on co2 it died. you had to wait then shoot another 9 shots and it would die. shoot down was a big problemb. the electronics on it are shotty and it really does make the nova look bad. the only problemb i ever heard about the nova is that the berrel is brass and would bend or warp if you dropped it and you annot replace them easily like other markers since they dont make them anymore

[rictus]

The Nova and the Mayhem are very different. The Mayhem is blow foreward. They both use spool valves. The Nova cycles extremly fast. As fast as a stock Mag easy. The trigger is a litter more complicated to use though so that slows you down a little. Check out Pete's link above it shows Mayhem and Nova internals. The Section 8 Darkstar is the new Nova if Section 8 ever gets going.

[Mink06]

All I know about the Nova is that my friend got one & when he gassed it up, SUPRISE- ALL THE INTERNALS SHOT OUT THE BARREL (the barrel almost went w/it too, 2of3 pegs broke off), so he returned it & a little while later the recall happened.... I wouldn't trust them, and to the best of my knowlege the recall was cause' the reg was milled wrong on x amount of markers.....

[This message has been edited by Mink06 (edited 07-17-2001).]

[MajorDamage]

On their website it said they went out of business because a company made a part for them, and made it wrong. They had to do all kindsof recalls, and went out of business trying to fix all the guns or somin.

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GO HERE!: [URL=http://wsnonline.8k.com

http://wsnonline.8k.com
[/URL] IT ROCKS!!! P.S. SIGN THE GUESTBOOK!

[beam]

The company that made them went out of business. I don't know much about them, other than they claimed to be the only "Truely" pneumatic paint marker.

I imagine the folks at AGD know about how their markers worked. How about you guys? Was it a good design? Have any experience with them?

I just was thinking...that's all.

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My wife says I never listen to her....or something like that.

[mykroft]

ACI is now selling a Nova-based gun, the company didn't actually go out of business, it just withdrew from paintball.

------------------
Mykroft Holmes IV
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My Mag:
CF11023
Classic Feed
16" CP .689
14" JnJ Stainless
Ring trigger
WGP Reg.
Diamond Labs Ti Reg Adjuster.
PMI 48/3K Preset HPA

Accuracy By Volume is not the answer

[RoadDawg]

I thought I heard something about a paintgun like that, that shot the barrell off after so many times of use. Not sure if this is the gun or even that it is true.

[gt90]

i think that teh company went bankrupt but someone might of picked them up not sure i'll give you all the info later to lazy to find it now

[Chris]

As a nova owner, I feel that I can answer most questions on them...I have had one of each type made...700, Super, and ET.

First off, there was never a design problem with the nova series, the only time there were problems was when the person who purchased the gun failed to put the sightrail screw in. It is marked very clearly that the screw must be in place...if people followed the directions, no problem every would have occured. Not only this, but for the back of the reg to blow out, three very unlikely things had to happen:
1) Overpressurise the co2 tank
2) blow-off valve has to fail
3) Sight rail screw not installed
Because of one persons stupidity, and a failed blow-off valve, people thought that the Nova would explode in your face...fact is that it is one of the best designs around, and I never once had a problem with any of mine.

As for being the first truely pneumatic design...this is true. The nova used a spool valve, operated on an advertised 95 psi (in reality mine shot 280fps @ 60 psi), and ran excellent on CO2. As an example, I was able to take my Nova ET (electronic trigger) and use an entire 20 oz tank without any freeze up. I was pointing the barrel at the ground so that I would run liquid, and shooting as fast as I could. The gun body got frosty, very very frosty but the gun never once stopped shooting, nor did the velocity go up more than 8 fps. Talk about awesome.

As for what ever happened to Airstar (the makers of the nova), there has been talk...and I am not quite sure what ever did become of the company. I do know that the Matrix uses the same spool design as the Nova, and ACI makes a clone of the nova now.

If you ever want a backup to your mag, or just want something that will use co2 with out problems, be extremely quiet and consistant(which leads to accuracy) try out a Nova. I guarantee you, it will be the best gun you have ever owned.

-Chris

[rt_81]

i dont know chris. i just have a problem with the way the barrel slides back and forth like that. when i picture it in my head i see(while fireing quickly) the barrel floping around. i mean when its not screwed into the gun like other guns it stands to reason that there is going to be quite a bit of play. iv heard bad things about their accuracy. dont get me wrong, i have never played with one in a game, only seen one. im not trying to bash your gun, just my thoughts on the matter. im building a cocker, i bet half the people on here have more than a couple four letter adgatives to describe them. http://www.automags.org/ubb/smile.gif

RT

[~WarpedRT~]

Cocker huh? Something about that back block flying around back there scares me. Thats why I own a mag. Besides, on a Nova, you probably won't see the barrel move. By the way, It said on Airstars website that they disolved the company. I don't think they exist anymore. Not even outside of paintbal. The Mayhems are different, but I heard taht the maker of the Nova made that as well.

[MajorDamage]

Novas are cool! I want one. Can you still get that problem fixed on them?

ENDO!