Inside the C3

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   Heres some pics for anyone interested in the guts of this thing.

Sorry I was an idiot and didnt take pictures of the actual guts guts...

http://www.takiweb.com/~killtippy/shi/c3/c3_1.jpg - KInda trying to show how it fits in your hand. Or something.

http://www.takiweb.com/~killtippy/shi/c3/c3_2.jpg - Size comparison to the 98

http://www.takiweb.com/~killtippy/shi/c3/c3_3.jpg - Looking
iniside the weird bore-drop barrel. The back end is rough, but the
actual bore of the barrel is very very smooth. You can also see the
not-quite-adequete anti double feed.

http://www.takiweb.com/~killtippy/shi/c3/c3_4.jpg - The fuel
injector valve, manual says its one of the main things to keep clean of
gunk.

http://www.takiweb.com/~killtippy/shi/c3/c3_5.jpg - After opening the halves. 

http://www.takiweb.com/~killtippy/shi/c3/c3_6.jpg - Its
pretty idiot-proof. All the actual guts of the thing are locked up in
the practically bulletproof chamber. The chamber is solid milled
aluminum, very well made.

Now for info and stuff, copy/paste from my post on Tinkers Guild

 The coolest Enos in the world wrote:

Ahoy guys,

Just got my C3 today from Tippmann, and of course the first thing I did
was dissasemble it. I dont have any propane laying around, Ill have to
hit up Meijer tommorow for a canister and a 200rd thing of paint.

Anyway, First impressions:

Its heavy. Not super unwieldly heavy, but definately a chunker. Theres
a ton of composites used on this thing, but in my opinion the only part
of it that feels "cheap" is the pump handle. Its really cruddy
chinese-toy quality plastic. All the other plastics on the gun are very
solid composites.

The only actual solid metal part of the gun is the combustion assembly.
Its extremely well made, solid machined aluminum. Thats where 90% of
the weight on the gun comes from, this thing is literally bomb-proof
(no pun intended).

As for maintenance and such, it seems pretty well thought out. There is
a fuel injector valve underneath the barrel that comes out with the
removal of one snap ring. Basically a big cocker switch, the manual
reccomends checking the o-rings for gunk and damage every so often. The
guts of the firing chamber are fairly easy to get at as well. Removing
the gigantic velocity screw from the back end allows you to slide the
guts out the back. Again well machined aluminum.

Now functionality. I was figuring it used the combustion incidentally
to compress a gas piston, and using that to fire the ball. Well, I was
wrong. The propane combustion itself drives the ball. As I can tell the
firing process is

User pulls the pump back, this clears the chamber of the gas from the
previous shot. The pump stroke is about 1.5-2". On the final quarter
inch or so, the pump arm buts up against the fuel injector valve (brass
cylinder under the barrel, you can see it in the pictures). This allows
a small burst of propane into the firing chamber.

When the user pushes the pump back, I believe (not 100% at all, the
front end of the chamber is rather difficult to get apart) the fuel/air
is mixed as it passes through the giant piston that the pump moves.

Trigger pull activates an electronic igniter, combustion. This is where
it gets interesting, there is a spring-loaded plunger on the back end
of the chamber that gets pushed back by the combustion, exposing the
barrel pass-through. The velocity screw adjusts spring tension on this
plunger, acting something like a mechanical dwell. The gasses from the
combustion then directly propell the ball out of the barrel.