Soft tip bolt mod?

[lifeincolorado]

Was messing around with my new calipers today and I noticed that the lvl x bolt is exactly the same diameter as the iv core bolt for my geo. Out of curiosity does anyone think it a good idea to mod a lvl x bolt to accept the gsl soft tip on the front? Yes the foamie is softer on paint already in the breach, but the gsl tip is beveled nicely to help avoid "softening up" the next ball in the stack should the lvl x have to work its Magic. I'll defer to you modding geniuses. I'd be happy to ship my soft tip bolt to Luke or another respected machinist on here for more exact measurements. Thought it might be nice to know if cost vs benefit would make this a desireable mod.

[Laku]

I don't think you can mod it so that it would work. Remember that the bolt face would need to be at about same place, which would mean that you'd need to remove material for quite a long distance from the tip. And I don't think the bolt would be structurally strong enough after that.

As I see it you'd need to redesign the bolt front to have a chance of making it work. And then there's the question of how the soft tip would handle the wear from the spring.

[athomas]

... And then there's the question of how the soft tip would handle the wear from the spring.

This would be the problem. The front of the bolt could be cut down to accept a different front, but the spring would chew up anything that wasn't strong metal. That is why we can't have delrin or even aluminum bolts.

[BigEvil]

This would be the problem. The front of the bolt could be cut down to accept a different front, but the spring would chew up anything that wasn't strong metal. That is why we can't have delrin or even aluminum bolts.

Not so sure about this. Although the spring on the mini and axe are cone shape, those bolts hold up just fine and are very mag-like. My main issue with trying this is that the soft tip doesn't really offer anything over a foamy.

[cockerpunk]

Not so sure about this. Although the spring on the mini and axe are cone shape, those bolts hold up just fine and are very mag-like. My main issue with trying this is that the soft tip doesn't really offer anything over a foamy.

those bolts hold up fine because they dont have 6 or 8 coils of a square profiled spring running over them every single shot.

not sure the lvl10 would have enough meat, but a half decent taper on the bolt tip would help in much the same way, anti-stack clipping

[athomas]

Not so sure about this. Although the spring on the mini and axe are cone shape, those bolts hold up just fine and are very mag-like. My main issue with trying this is that the soft tip doesn't really offer anything over a foamy.

The superbolt was a good example of what happens to the bolt when you use a material that can't hold up to the scraping of the bolt spring. If you only use a rubber material on the first couple of millimeters, you might get away with it because that part of the bolt is always past the bolt spring and never comes in contact with it.

I think the rubber tip edge theory is to try to prevent the cracking of the next ball in the stack, and the foamy theory is to absorb the impact of the bolt when hitting a ball that is not sitting against the face of the bolt. They are two different problems. The level 10 does a remarkable job on both due to the light initial push and the low initial impact. I'm not sure you would actually gain much by using a rubber tipped bolt over a standard level 10 bolt anyway, especially if the level 10 bolt was properly setup.

[BigEvil]

The superbolt was a good example of what happens to the bolt when you use a material that can't hold up to the scraping of the bolt spring. If you only use a rubber material on the first couple of millimeters, you might get away with it because that part of the bolt is always past the bolt spring and never comes in contact with it.

I think the rubber tip edge theory is to try to prevent the cracking of the next ball in the stack, and the foamy theory is to absorb the impact of the bolt when hitting a ball that is not sitting against the face of the bolt. They are two different problems. The level 10 does a remarkable job on both due to the light initial push and the low initial impact. I'm not sure you would actually gain much by using a rubber tipped bolt over a standard level 10 bolt anyway, especially if the level 10 bolt was properly setup.

I pretty much agree that there is very little to be gained on a lvl 10 bolt. That soft tip does wonders on other guns though, I will tell you that.

Oh and how do you solve the problem of a Zodiac ZR1 being bad on fragile paint? Mod the bolt to take a mag foamy, of course!

[p8ntbal4me]

I actually did this mod years ago based on what you were describing to accomplish.

But I took my idea one step further:

This is the same concept of what your "going for" except what "I" was looking to do was make the foamie removable on the fly.

This is what I have done:


I needed more experience with molding a spacer in the bolt,... but what you see there is a Level 10 bolt that has been tapped for a screw, and a foamie that has been bored out and locked in place using the screw.

I only have 2 cases though it so far (over 5 years), but its still on the same foamie

I wanted the entire bolt head AND face to be soft..... but as I said,... I didnt have the experience to make it work then.

[cockerpunk]

The superbolt was a good example of what happens to the bolt when you use a material that can't hold up to the scraping of the bolt spring. If you only use a rubber material on the first couple of millimeters, you might get away with it because that part of the bolt is always past the bolt spring and never comes in contact with it.

I think the rubber tip edge theory is to try to prevent the cracking of the next ball in the stack, and the foamy theory is to absorb the impact of the bolt when hitting a ball that is not sitting against the face of the bolt. They are two different problems. The level 10 does a remarkable job on both due to the light initial push and the low initial impact. I'm not sure you would actually gain much by using a rubber tipped bolt over a standard level 10 bolt anyway, especially if the level 10 bolt was properly setup.

the foamy also prevents roll back, which is probably its best feature.

[BigEvil]

the foamy also prevents roll back, which is probably its best feature.

Wrong again noob.

[Tunaman]

Wrong again noob.

Actually, he is right. The foamy was used to position the ball correctly so it wouldn't roll back too far into the face of the bolt.

[BigEvil]

Actually, he is right. The foamy was used to position the ball correctly so it wouldn't roll back too far into the face of the bolt.

I mean gezus krist can you just let me mess with the guy in peace????

[Tunaman]

I mean gezus krist can you just let me mess with the guy in peace????

ok sorry

[BigEvil]

ok sorry

lol

[Tunaman]

I actually did this mod years ago based on what you were describing to accomplish.

But I took my idea one step further:

This is the same concept of what your "going for" except what "I" was looking to do was make the foamie removable on the fly.

This is what I have done:


I needed more experience with molding a spacer in the bolt,... but what you see there is a Level 10 bolt that has been tapped for a screw, and a foamie that has been bored out and locked in place using the screw.

I only have 2 cases though it so far (over 5 years), but its still on the same foamie

I wanted the entire bolt head AND face to be soft..... but as I said,... I didnt have the experience to make it work then.

When the Lawyer from AGD tells the court that the bolt was modified in an unsafe manner resulting in the loss of an eye due to a screw that wasn't supposed to be there...what else is there to say!