First look at the 98 Custom Platinum

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   *Copypasta from the Tinkers Guild, so ignore the obviousness to Tippmann Forum folks

A few months ago, one of the higher-ups at Tippmann contacted us
moderators, and asked what the most common
trip-ups and design flaws were with the 98 Custom. Mainly the kinds of
things that a new player getting a 98 out of the box runs into when
they try to maintain the gun. So we all contributed, and now months
later Tippmann is getting ready to ship the 98 Custom Platinum, which
has damn near every little annoyance with the gun design changed or
fixed.

Externally, you can see the added weaver rail on the top of the gun.
The ASA adapter has also been changed around a bit, but Im not exactly
sure why. The rear sight on the gun is no longer adjustable (Who used
that feature anyway?) and is a part of the gun half castings. You can
also see the end cap has been changed to allow for a sling on the gun. 

Tippmann borrowed a very common user modification, where people would
bandsaw the left gun half in two, allowing you to pop the back half of
the gun off to work on the guts.

Im not sure how many of you have gotten to see their anti-chop system,
this is it. The linkage arm runs in a slot on top of the hammer instead
of the usual hole. The spring pack above the guns main spring pushes on
the link arm, so if a ball mis-feeds, the hammer cycles normally, but
the bolt wont chop up the ball. Im still not sure what the bend in the
linkage arm is for, maybe to further slow down the bolt before it
contacts a ball.

Other little changes in the back end, the trigger and sear pins were
notorious for falling out, sticking in the wrong half, etc. The pins on
this model are knurled on the right side, and nicely chamfered on the
other side. They also seem to have downsized the pivot hole on the
trigger, because the trigger seems noticably less "sloppy".

You cant see it in the picture, but the lower end of the grip changes
thickness, allowing the ASA bolts to stay with the right half of the
gun, no more loosening the ASA bolts before disassembling the gun.

If you look close, you can see that the gas line no longer threads into
the valve. It threads into a large square nut held between the gun
halves, and press-fits into the valve with an o-ring.

Up front, the front sight pin has a large head on the end, preventing
the front sight and that notorious spring from flying across the room
as soon as you crack the gun open.

Double air taps, same as on the X-7. No more double-ended Clippard fitting for users running a cyclone and RT at once.

Also notice the old valve bolts are gone. The new gas line does all the
work holding the valve in place, bravo for that, I dont need to tell
you how many new players overtightened those valve bolts and stripped
the aluminum valve threads.

On a personal bragging note, see a serial number? Thats right, this
puppy is un-serialed from the factory. Even the packaging isnt done on
this gun.