Is this as consistent as my Mag's going to get?

[StealingYerMail]

Lately, my Mag's consistency has really been bothering me. Back in April, the consistency was all over the place... my FPS readings ranged from 249 to about 320. It was pretty much insane. Either way, things have since settled and my Mag is a lot more consistent. But I'm wondering if this is as consistent it'll get in terms of FPS.

First off, a couple of things -- my paint to barrel match isn't optimal. The paint I'm using (Empire Ramp) is a bit small for my barrel. However it's all I have on hand, and I don't feel like buying any more paint since it's definately accurate enough for my needs, and I have about 2500 rounds of it to waste.

Secondly, I'm using a Pure Energy 72/30 (850 psi) tank. It's a $75 tank, so I know it isn't the best quality, but I don't think it completely sucks, either.

So I'll get to my chrono readings in a second... but I'm also using a hand-held chrono, and at any given time it can be up to 7% off or something like that.

So here's what I got... besides the first shot, each subsequent shot was chrono'd by using AGD's method of simulating yourself shooting a string. Here they are:

307
301
289
282
292
284
276
281
284
292

So I'm not sure what to think about those. There's well over 3k shots through my X-Valve, and the tank I'm using was probably used for roughly half of those shots. I'm guessing this is pretty consistent for using such a crappy tank and having a poor paint-to-barrel match... but is there anything I can do to improve my consistency, besides getting a better paint match and buying a better tank? I'd kill to have a nice Crossfire or MacDev tank, but right now my funds aren't going to allow it.

[pierce]

Make sure your Level 10 is tuned as well. Not having the right carrier/spring combo will make a difference.

[athomas]

Consistent sized paint will yield the best results. Each ball that is a different size or shape will result in a different velocity.