CO2 Efficiency

Whats your Rigs specs ? are you shooting with an RT ? (BIG GAS HOG !) or are you looking for a balance between efficiency and performance ?

Just as in the Muscle cars of the "60's and "70's its a trade , what do you want ,, 600 HP and 45 MPG ?!? generally speaking Higher performance equates to lower efficiency and Vice-versa .

Literal answer to your post :

Reduce reciprocating mass

utilize all expended propellant

Specs ?

and what bottom line of performance are you looking to achieve ?

Shadowminion wrote: and what bottom line of performance are you looking to achieve ?

Get a few more paintballs out of my CO2 tanks.

UF #1 wrote: How much does it cost to fill a HPA tank?

Usually a dollar per 1k psi.

If you get a 70/4500 or larger and can get it fully filled, you will get more out of it than a 20 oz.

Otherwise, polish internals. Don't expect a huge leap, and don't expect for amazing efficiency. If it's a big problem, buy several tanks.

What do Palmer's Stabilizers do exactly?

What Tallen said about the stabilizers is true ,  it will help prevent liquid from entering your CVX valve .

Remote lines tend to do the same thing as well by carrying the CO2 bottle in a postion thats much less likely to allow liquid to leave the bottle , and any liquid that does escape enters a long coiled hose which acts as a larger heat exchange surface to ensure total expansion of the liquid into a gas .

the unregulated pressure from the bottle that fills the CVX valve is anywhere from 600 to 1500 PSI depending on the ambient temperatures (approximately 40 Deg F to 100 Deg ) . This is a characteristic of CO2 and theres not anything anybody can do about that except install a pressure regulator if thats what you feel is needed .

I do not run a stabilizer or remote setup on my rig , so , occasionally I encounter inconsistencies because of that .

Assuming a person isnt or doesnt have the pocketbook to buy all those above mentioned goodies , there's a couple lower dollar tricks to get almost the same consistency / efficiency for practically nothing but some careful labor and a few dollars .

1.Polishing the internals . there's most likely some overspray on the inside of your receiver halves where the rear bolt cycles back and forth when you shoot it . This impacts how smoothly the rear bolt moves , and as you know if you reduce friction , you reduce the amount of force required to move that piece (rear bolt , AKA hammer ) in this case the force is compressed CO2 . There are plenty of threads on polishing the internals both on this forum and at model98.org so I wont go into the "How-To" . Search and read  , you will be rewarded with a wealth of information .

2. this is a mod I developed purely for gas efficiency.. with your marker fully assembled look at the seam where the two reciever halves come together , there are inconsistencies where the casting process either left an excess of material or not quite enough for the halves to come perfectly together (this is an inherant drawback to the diecasting process , not a quality control issue ). to show you how much gas is wasted by these small imperfections , gas up your marker , point it down to feed liquid this makes it easier to see escaping gasses (leaks) , and cycle it rapidly 10-15 times any CO2 smoke you see coming out of the top and bottom (trigger area) of your marker is WASTED gas , not excess , but pure waste .

 Right now if you think a very tiny gap doesnt make much of a difference  , look at the open area around the poppet valve pin , this is where the gas from the CVX valve is directed to blow the hammer back (you have to disassemble the marker to look at the end of the CVX valve ) . I took a Norton two sided sharpening stone and VERY carefully worked down the high spots of the recievers until I had a very close fit with out any gaps showing when the two halves of the recievers were fully assembled .

 WARNING HERE !! Always fully assemble your marker and fit test all the components for proper function Ie: free movement of the hammer and that you can still screw in your barrel fully . you will be reducing the operating clearances inside your marker and care must be taken not to take off too much material . if you elect not to polish the internals , you will encounter resistance sooner and may need to do that just to obtain a good fit of the recievers . I dont have a "Before" picture of the fitting of the recievers , but here's an "After" :

<img src=" http://shadowminion.mypicgallery.com/widowmakerMODS/clamshel l-fitted-no-gaps.jpg">

To assist you in deciding where to use the stone to take away material , initially you can use you eyeball , you can see where the largest gaps are , but as you get closer , use a sharpie marker to completely "color" the surfaces you've been grinding with the stone and reassemble the marker . The spots that come into contact with each other first (the high spots) will mar the sharpie markings and you wwill have an indication of where to grind just a little bit more (this is called "Witness Marks" showing where there is metal to metal contact . ) .

I have found that with a few mindful tactical changes to my play style , The liquid feed issues can for the most part be eliminated , such as not trying to "Hose Down" the field with sustained saturation fire (afew rapid bursts seem to keep heads down just as effectively ) , and shooting from a lower postion (kneeling or laying down ), to keep the marker and its CO2 supply bottle oriented to lessen the chance of feeding liquid into the marker .

Remember , Only use the Norton stone where there is metal to metal contact , you want to shave off the high spots of the clamshells , nothing more . If you get too exhuberant with removing metal , you can actually hurt the performance of your marker . Take your time , reassemble and fit test often .

To Tallen702 :       / Raspberries