X-Valve Question

[gofarlow]

I received my X-Valve and it was an easy install. I turned up the velocity before installing the tank.. The valve leaked, but as I turned the velocity down the leak went away.

My issue is I found the velocity to be all over the place as I shot it over my chrono. I had it at 280, but then it would frop to240, then 279, then 230, etc.... Is there a break in period? Should I try the other spring? I was brekaing paint out the end of the barrel, but it was only $30 paint and not the good stuff.

Thanks,

Gary

[Frizzle Fry]

I received my X-Valve and it was an easy install. I turned up the velocity before installing the tank.. The valve leaked, but as I turned the velocity down the leak went away.

My issue is I found the velocity to be all over the place as I shot it over my chrono. I had it at 280, but then it would frop to240, then 279, then 230, etc.... Is there a break in period? Should I try the other spring? I was brekaing paint out the end of the barrel, but it was only $30 paint and not the good stuff.

Thanks,

Gary

Yes, there is a break-in period. Get your carrier/shim/spring setup where it needs to be, then put about 2 cases through the marker to fully break it in... It will be consistent, and lose a lot of that little whining/pinging noise that I'm sure you get when you fire it.


What's your tank output set to? What kind of body are you using? Once you get the right carrier/shim/spring setup you should be OK (assuming your tank isn't starving the valve) but it's sort of an educated "guess-and-check" process to get the right setup. I'm PMing you some tips about LVL10 setup right now.


Just because LVL10 can handle crappy paint does NOT mean you should feed it crappy paint. My golden retriever has eaten and digested an entire pair of sneakers, but I tend to feed him dog food because it's better for him... If you're getting breaks at the end of your barrel, it's a barrel issue.

[Frizzle Fry]

In response to the numerous PMs I've received since that last message, here's a "chronoing your x-valve" tip:


1) Hold down the trigger.

2) Release the trigger and hold it again as quickly as you can.

3) Repeat as necessary


From what I understand, the faster an X-valve fires, the more consistent it is.

[Spider-TW]

From what I understand, the faster an X-valve fires, the more consistent it is.

The recharge can cause some variations. If you don't follow the RT chrono procedure on the airgundesignsusa web site, try just keeping the same time period between shots or just a couple seconds between shots.

I have some paint that made me think every one of my markers were messed up. All of my markers from mags, blowbacks and electros all ended up +/- 15 fps. I have to be careful shooting it in the backyard because some of it will bounce off a landscape timber and ricochet around and over the fence. The fill color is bad too.

Oil in your valve (but not in your barrel) always helps with mag consistency.

[Frizzle Fry]

The recharge can cause some variations. If you don't follow the RT chrono procedure on the airgundesignsusa web site, try just keeping the same time period between shots or just a couple seconds between shots.

I have some paint that made me think every one of my markers were messed up. All of my markers from mags, blowbacks and electros all ended up +/- 15 fps. I have to be careful shooting it in the backyard because some of it will bounce off a landscape timber and ricochet around and over the fence. The fill color is bad too.

Oil in your valve (but not in your barrel) always helps with mag consistency.

All very true. What have you got for a barrel? The old crown point barrels are so hugely overbored (with todays paint) that you can get some funky readings at the chrono station.

[athomas]

I always use large bored barrels (larger than the paint) and have good luck with the chrono. They are actually more forgiving on odd shaped paint. I suspect if the paint was of poor quality, and if it was not perfectly round or a consistent size, that it is the cause of your variable chronograph readings. Poor quality paint that is misshaped and tight in the barrel can also be a source of barrel breaks.

[Frizzle Fry]

I always use large bored barrels (larger than the paint) and have good luck with the chrono. They are actually more forgiving on odd shaped paint. I suspect if the paint was of poor quality, and if it was not perfectly round or a consistent size, that it is the cause of your variable chronograph readings. Poor quality paint that is misshaped and tight in the barrel can also be a source of barrel breaks.

Overboring isn't bad. I often use large inserts with my Micros (.691 with Red Legion most recently) for just that reason; it's more forgiving with "less than round" paint.

That said, using a barrel with a .698+ control bore with ANY paint these days will cause problems with efficiency and velocity. There isn't a paint I've encountered in recent years that's been more than .005 over .680 regardless of fluctuations in size and shape due to environment. Overboring = OK, Massive overboring = you might as well not have a barrel.

I'm not sure if you played 15 years back, but paint was a hell of a lot bigger. I've got at least 3 barrels that are 100% unusable with todays paint. One I can't get over 175fps on an Autococker!

[gofarlow]

I am turning 40 and have been playing since I was 16. Still have my nelspot with my bushmaster barrel on it.

The RT Pro has an armson stealth barrel on it that I bought many years ago. The tank is a pure energy set at 850 psi output. I noticed everyone is now measuing bore sizes. Is there a barrel system I should look into? I am a rec type woods player and I have my own field out back. I like to snipe people and then die. Not one for chasing a flag or people. Still play like I did when the guns only held 10 rounds.

Thanks for all the info. I will hopefully get some time next weekend to really play around with the new valve.

-Gary

[athomas]

Overboring isn't bad. I often use large inserts with my Micros (.691 with Red Legion most recently) for just that reason; it's more forgiving with "less than round" paint.

That said, using a barrel with a .698+ control bore with ANY paint these days will cause problems with efficiency and velocity. There isn't a paint I've encountered in recent years that's been more than .005 over .680 regardless of fluctuations in size and shape due to environment. Overboring = OK, Massive overboring = you might as well not have a barrel.

I'm not sure if you played 15 years back, but paint was a hell of a lot bigger. I've got at least 3 barrels that are 100% unusable with todays paint. One I can't get over 175fps on an Autococker!

I used a 0.696" barrel up until last year. It worked great, even though the paint was quite a bit smaller. I did drop down to 0.691" last week for a game, although I still wasn't having velocity fluctuation issues with my paint using the 0.696" bore. I just didn't like looking down the barrel and seeing a gap larger than 1/32" on one side of the ball. Plus, it does hurt efficiency. That is for sure. The actual size of the paint was about 0.684".

The paint sure was larger 15 - 20 years ago. For my pump, I had a 0.6925" barrel that caused the balls to just touch on two opposite sides (the perfect fit). That size was the norm.