Differences & Opinions - Excalibur vs. Viking

[Loguzzzzzz]

I am thinking of adding a AKA to my arsenal. Besides the obvious cosmetic differences what are the weight differences, unmilled to unmilled and internal (if any) differences.

I would also like to have opinions from those who have owned and/or shot both.

Thank you in advance for your input.

Loguzzzzzz

[Dewok82]

The basic difference is an Excalibur uses two solenoids while a Viking only uses one. The Excalibur is "closed bolt", which any Autococker fan will tell you makes it 10000x more accurate.

I've owned and shot both. People say the Excalibur shoots smoother, but I honestly couldn't tell a difference. I sold my Excalibur for the simple reason that there were twice as many solenoids to go bad.

As far as weight goes, I never weighed mine, but I would assume the Excalibur is slightly heavier.

[jenarelJAM]

I've never shot an excal, but a basic overview to get you started is that both are awesome markers. The excal is more complicated, due to it being closed bolt, but gives you a "smoother" kick. Whereas the viking can technically shoot faster(though I don't think you'll outshoot the excal even. The viking can do the cool "turn the bolt backwards to dry-fire" thing. The viking is also noticibly cheaper.

The excal isn't capable of being as milled. It has two solenoids, more complicated, etc. It's also heavier IIRC.

I love my viking, but I always wanted to shoot an excal.

IIRC... pneumagger has and loves his excal, or viking, or something.

[punkncat]

I am about to be an Ex Viking owner. Its a terrific marker. Very stable, efficent, and consistant. My ONLY real gripe is that , like mags, its a niche thing. Has to be sent off or mail ordered parts on the VERY rare occation that they are needed. I just didn't care for the size and weight either. A few hundred bucks and the weight issue can be fixed, but in todays resale market you have to be REALLY attached to a marker to spend that much on one.

The few Excals I have shot were IMO just like the Vike except that balls would roll out the barrel if the bore wasn't sized right.

GL, you won't be disappointed with either of them.

[�?�� �m���]

My Viking never goes down on me, unless I leave it in the car in - degrees and the solenoid won't click because the battery is so cold oops

My Viking is so smooth I don't feel anything when I shoot, all I see is balls leaving the barrel where I was to place them

My Viking gets great comments from previous owners and people that know nothing about Vikings all wondering what I am shooting

Unmilled is heavier than milled

Milled with run you a pretty penny
Vikings 04's are shorter they need soda can mod SCM to comphensate the LPR, mighty max we usualyl hear are for looks its suppose to be a volumizer, dont really need one because vikings are so efficient
03 vikings dont need SCM although mine shoots even smoother with one now

There are many custom trigger styles that you can find on the forums at the place we dont name

the new robtown valve that destructivecustom is selling rocks (light weight internals, better valve)

Board wise, for viking I perfer Tadao, it just works great lots of programibility

Sidewinder equivalent to 2 liter. Yey AKA regulators!

LP or HP interchangeable

Eyes work great with the board, battery life is amazing, easy to clean with a tool kit etc.

[jenarelJAM]

the place we dont name

Actually, we call it PBN over here. I think you're too used to SCP

I've never used anything different, but I will second that the Tadao is an excellent board. It's very user friendly, plenty of modes/options. I use it pretty much on base settings, but it's nice to know when there isn't anything in the chamber, when I've got a chop, etc. The colored LED on the side tells you these things. Very good design.

And I get tons of comments on my UNMILLED viking. Not so many "wow, what a pretty marker," but I get a lot of "wow, that thing's awesome." And it is.

Should I start on reliability? The only problem I've ever had with my viking was the first time I took it out. I was a and had tried to take it all apart to see how everything worked, and in the process, I misadjusted the LPR. I got it working, sort of... so I could play that day. I bought a parts kit and found out it was running around 55 psi. I turned it up to 72 and no problems since. And I mean NO problems. My friends usually have to fix something on their markers at some point in the middle of the day. I've never had to.

[craltal]

getting almost a case off a 68/45 tank is a wonderful thing...

As has been stated before, the viking is the open bolt, single solenoid gun while the excal is the closed bolt/ dual solenoid version.

The Excal uses batteries a bit faster than a Viking. The Viking is capable of a few bps higher than the Excal, but it's not something you'll ever really notice. Yes the Excal is a bit heavier, but then again, not so much that you'd notice unless you had both in front of you. They came from the factory with Sidewinder regs.

The 04's shortened the bodies a tad and have different detents. Basically everything else is usually called an '03, even though they started around '01, or so, i memory serves.

As for the milling, the differences are aesthetics and weight reduction.

Board choices: WAS, Pandora, Tadao.

I love my Excal, I can't wait for DC to finish the milling code (or Tarantula to get back to me)

[LS1 WS6]

My Excal is just as light as my Viking and a tad smaller



Viking

[phat4life07]

John I think you should ask me this question . I mean after all I own both of them.

[buzzboy]

I have now a viking ( click here for pics ). It is pretty darn sick. Nothing I have shot feels the same as this is. It has ZERO kick just about but I have a feeling that when I get the tuning kit I can reduce it to a negative. I have been told mine is big and heavy but (they haven't seen it milled)an aftermarket mill job makes these things a lot smaller and very light. As for performance I have seen great stuff. I got mine, with humphry noids, to top out at 26 cps cheating heavily. With my revy and semi it shoots 12 steady. The other great thing is the trigger frame and trigger itself. Stock it is great. Probably the most comphy frame and the trigger pull can be set killerly short and sweet. It's easy to rip into the high teens on straight semi.

Much more can be said about these great guns.

Oh yeah, and consistancy/efficiency. I get +/- 3 over a big red chrono(which I hear is bad for a viking) and off a 90/45 full fill I get well into a second case.

[11 Bravo]

I have 2 milled Vikings and a milled Excal. I love shooting them all, but if I had to shoot only one. I would go with the Excal.

[Chaos_Theory!]

I own the best of both and honestly either one is a good buy. As of now i find myself using my mQ Excal a lot simply because my Viking isnt working quite right, im waiting on parts for it, and its gonna be sent in for a new valve whenever i get said parts. As ive never owned a normal excal i cant give you a fair comparison between the two.

Everythig about either one is great. Efficiency, Reliability, Speed, Weight and Looks (on milled ones), and of course family. I cannot think of any marker group that is near as helpful as AKA owners, period.

If you need anything or have any questions feel free to let me know. Ill do my best to help you out.

[Zedthephish]

I have an unmilled 03 Viking. And it's super sexy.

I know that the FSP milling takes off about 6oz, and I havn't heard of any milling that'll take off more weight than that.

[Pneumagger]

I didn't read the whole thread, but in short the Excal is a closed bolt marker so it will be more accurate... but the closed bolt operation comes at the cost of a slower rate of fire due to the increased complexity of the firing cycle.

Viking - faster (around 30 BPS max) and slightly less accurate
Excal - slower (still close to 20bps) but more accurate.





:dodgy:

[ShadowNife]

kinda off topic, but wondering which is heavier, karta e-mag with an x-valve or a viking?