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

------------------
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=a5bc85e860a14294ec4a291c2118ae79&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.