A TPX Owner's Suggestions

Greetings and salutations everyone, I'm new here to the Tippmann Forums, but in no-way new to the sport of Paintball. I've been playing for about five years now, my first "real" paintball marker being a Tippmann X7 with the AK47 Mods (and various other after-market add-ons since then). I became a HUGE fan of Tippmann after purchasing the X7 and really getting a feel for the gun. The simplicity of its design, the craftsmenship of the parts, and the overall performance just astounded me. And the new TPX Pistol definately lives up to the Tippmann name.

I could go on and on about the pure epic awesomeness that is the TPX Pistol, but I'll leave that for another post. I wanted to actually delve into some of the issues I've had with the pistol since I picked it up last weekend.

So after taking it out of the case and getting a feel for the weight and the basic mechanics of my new marker, I noticed that one of the magazines wasn't locking into place when I pushed the follower down. No big deal though, I was planning on taking the marker apart before I shot some paint through it anyways, might as well take a magazine apart too, right? (and yes, I'm a bit paranoid, but I always check to make sure everything is in order before I pressurize a brand new marker... especially when the ID number is in the 2000's)

Which leads me to the first issue I had. After taking the magazine apart and figureing out how and where everything fit, I struggled a bit trying to keep the Release Armature,Carrier Release and Ball Latch in place when I put the spring for the Ball Latch in. Once I figured out how I could hold it down with one finger on the Armature, I then had to try and keep the Follewer Spring in the Follower with another finger while I put the other half of the magazine on... which 9 times out of 10 the tension in the latch spring would cause the armature to jump and everything to go flying before I could put the two halves together. And the few times out of the hundred I attempted this I actually got the two halves together, I had to try and shift the two pieces into position so I could snap the clip closed, but the shifting of the case would cause one or more parts to come out of alignment and it wouldn't close. *sigh* Took me nearly 2 hours to finally get it closed and I NEVER intend to open another one.

I realize that the magazines were intended to be made cost effectively, but something definately needs to be modified so re-assembly is easier. My suggestions for this are;
    1. Perhaps the Armature should slide in through a bit of plastic that holds it into place horizontally. This would hold it into place when tension is put on the Latch spring, and prevent the armature from being pushed out.
    2. There should be a small hook of plastic that hold the bottom of the Follower Spring into place, so that the tension doesn't cause it to jump out of the bottom of the case.
    3. A detailed set of instructions on how to dis-assemble and re-assemble the magazine. I noticed this is the only thing left out of the original instruction manual and is definately a must for newbies and pro's alike.

After I finally got the magazine together, I took the marker itself apart, which to my sheer glee, was 1000x easier than the magazine. Altogether it took me about 5 minutes to dis-assemble and re-assemble the marker, which was in perfect working order and up to the high quality standards that I expect from Tippmann.

Next I threw in a 12 gram canister of CO2, and proceeded to do some dry firing, then moved onto shooting targets with some paint. I shot about 500 rounds of paint through it, and only had 2 balls break on me (cheap paint though, so I expected as much). One thing I noticed while shooting paint, was that as the CO2 pressure dropped, the time it takes to re-pressurize increases. Again, I know this is just how it's designed, but the problem is that I had a hard time unscrewing the CO2 cap, even when it was nearly depleted. I had to fire a bunch of blank shots until the canister was pretty much dead before I could unscrew the cap and exchance canisters. And with the delay in re-pressurizing the gun, I had to wait 3-5 seconds between each pull of the trigger.

I'm not sure if this is possible, but it would help greatly if there were an easier way to release the rest of the gas in the marker and canister. Since the 12 gram canisters only offer peak performance for about 2 to 3 clips, but they have enough in them to pressurize the gun for 3-4 clips, it would be helpful if there was a quick release for the excess CO2. This would make exchanging CO2 twice as fast, keep the performance at its peak for every clip, and help save paint. Again, not sure if it's possible, but perhaps the trigger could be re-designed for this purpose. Holding the trigger keeps the valve open, allowing you to extinguish the remaining CO2. *shrugs*

And yes, I know the Remote Air Adapter would solve this problem, but not everyone has one or is going to use one. Since it's considered an "optional" feature and sold seperately, I figured the people who will be using 12 grams would benefit from this feature.

Anyways, my post if quite long, I know, but I think I've made the points I needed to make. Overall I am a 100% satisfied customer, and will continue to be a true Tippmann fan. I'm recommending the TPX Pistol to all of my friends and teammates, and other than the two minor issues I've had, this new product is sure to rock the paintball community.

Rocking my AK-X7 and my TPX Pistol at all the BC Fields,

Your Fan and Loyal Customer,

~Big FN Target

P.S. If you have any questions, comments, suggestions for me, feel free to post a reply to this thread, or message me personally. And if you live in the Lower Mainland of BC, Canada, feel free to get in touch with me to play some games or whatever.

That's one nice post bro,     did the same w* mine

Tippmann staff does read the boards. Thank you for your honest input.

Yes I have problems with the co2, thought it was the gun.  I put a stick on spacer on the co2 cap as it seems the brass eagle co2 canisters are just a bit too short.  I will try another brand.  I also found with mine I can get 2 clips out reliably with 1 co2 cartridge.  If I try to fire a third clip I get 3 or 4 balls out then 1 usually gets stuck in the chamber and the next chops.  But after reading maybe I just needed to wait a couple seconds between each ball on the third clip.

I'm considering a small co2 tank and remote line for it but I think it may get in the way, I fire a pistol arms fully extended and my remote line for my 98c pro is barely long enough without pulling.  I have a bigger torso than most people so it's a long distance from my back to my front.

My holster should be arriving soon.

Sounds like a 98 Platinum, or an X7 is what you want. 

Helio,

Quite a few people on here don't believe in the concept of snipers in paintball, so you want to be careful throwing that term around.  (Or at least prepared to defend your position on the subject.)  Anyway, I think you really need to tell the story about sneaking around with the TPX backfiring because it sounds amusing.

I was running with just a pistol one day (a first generation PT Extreme) and had the bad luck to get spotted by a little kid right after I emptied the pistol taking out three of his teammates.  I learned several important lessons in quick succession:

• Little kids generally run faster than me
• It is impossible to reload a PT Extreme from a 10-round tube while fleeing in a circle around a big bush to avoid being shot by the aforementioned little kid
• Being shot in the derriere at close range is zero fun
  

Edited by Mack - 15 September 2009 at 6:23pm

Use a remote line on the sniper gun, then if you ditch it they can't use it against you ;-)

While we are telling fun tpx stories I have one.  The arena I play at is indoors in an old warehouse basement.  It's all room to room urban combat but the 'rooms' are rooms in the most basic sense, most of them only have 2 maybe 3 walls with doorways and huge openings.

Anyway my team was eliminated all but me.  I was pinned down in a room where the doorway was an old screen dor with cardboard attached and holes cut out of it.  The other side of the door had stacks of tires for people to hide behind.  I knew all three of my enemies were on the other side of the door.  It was my first day with the tpx so I figured screw it, double fisted my tpx and 98c pro, kicked open the door and started spraying.  Everyone ducked for cover and I took one of them out.  My first kill with the tpx.  I ducked back in the room then took a side exit to try and flank them.  Unfortunatly for me they had the same idea and I got lit up.  But for my first tpx kill it was an exciting one.  Afterwards they said they about pooped their pants when the door flew open and I stepped through slinging paint in 2 directions.  If nothing else it was a good intimidation tactic.

Haha that's actually a pretty good story, I'm sure you'll tell that one a couple times post-game, etc.