A-5 Cyclone Ratchet Spring

I noticed my feeder Sprockets were not rotating.  It was just oscillating back and forth.  The marker was working fine otherwise.  No ball breaks and firing as fast as the response trigger would let it.  When I got home I took it apart and discovered the Feeder ratchet Spring had broken.  As a result the ratchet could not skip to the next tooth on the feeder axle.  I removed what was left of the spring and tested it again.  Still works fine.  I thought that without the sprockets rotating the balls would not feed properly.  Evidently the recoil and movement of the sprocket back and forth is enough to bounce the balls to the proper position.  After several hoppers full I had only one ball in the hopper that did not advance to the firing position.  I wonder if tippmann had over engineered the feed system and the rotation is not necessary?  Also since the ratchet doesn't jump to the next tooth it doesn't seem to wear.  I ordered the replacement spring anyway.  Anyone else have a similar problem?

Edited by GBLoon