Everyone is always looking to get the best setup for their marker, and the reason for the forums is just that. I think I could spend hours searching the forums and glean almost all the info I need on this subject, but I am wondering how many others have a similar setup and what they did to dial it in.

I am looking for real facts, not opinions on anyone having an A-5 with the LP kit, and what combos they are using, (i.e. air, barrels, regulators, triggers, bolt, etc.), and why they think it works best in their playing environment. Accuracy and paint type would help this topic as well.

Game on!

Evils don't work so hot in Flatlines- a tad too small. They tend to shoot out, then arc upward. It's supposed to be straight. PMI Premiums and Marballizers/ All Star work well.

I have the LP kit. I had to customize my expansion chamber for it to work. I removed the chambers and drilled four openings on the top, replacing the one very small hole which wouldn't allow air to flow properly. And my Custom Products regulator has a male remote line fitting instead of a macroline input. The reg screws into the ASA and my expansion chamber works as the volumizer. I didn't like the LP kit as a foregrip, so I booted it. I used to use it on the ASA, until the bridge between them exploded apart.

LordJovian wrote: I have the LP kit. I had to customize my expansion chamber for it to work. I removed the chambers and drilled four openings on the top, replacing the one very small hole which wouldn't allow air to flow properly. And my Custom Products regulator has a male remote line fitting instead of a macroline input. The reg screws into the ASA and my expansion chamber works as the volumizer. I didn't like the LP kit as a foregrip, so I booted it. I used to use it on the ASA, until the bridge between them exploded apart.

Why use and x-chamber when you have a regulator ??? Are you using C02 ??

I know cleaning the FL is important, and that will change the accuracy allot no matter what kind of paint you are shooting. As far as regs go, it seems like palmer would be the reg of choice here, followed closely by the CP. The refresh rate seems to be very fast for both makers. I have chosen to do a remote, since the marker gets pretty heavy even with a fiber wrapped tank.

I am looking for any other mods done to the LP internals besides polishing that anyone has done to make improvements.

How about any e-grip mods for faster auto fire?

Anyone, anyone? Bueller? Anyone?

I am the friend ashthedog has refered to.   I have dinked around a lot with the flat line, learned the lesson of the "dirty barrel" and how to fix it (Boil the barrel for an hour in soapy water, alcahol also work well for the field). I have shot a miriad of different typs of paint through it including marbs, evil, allstar, anarchy, big ball and many more. The accuracy was fine with evil, and marbs before the LPK, after the install of the LPK none of them shoot well. Even my velocity consistency has gone to pot, before with CO2 I had the marker dialed in to hold +-2fps 95% of the time with many tests running the exact fps for 3-4 shots in a row. Now I am lucky to be holding  +- 5fps, so now it is theory time......

Here is my theory on the matter, The flat line works by forcing the paint to the top of the barrel, then when the paint is there excess gas starts to escape under the paint causing a cushion or air under the paint forcing the paint further against the top of the barrel causing the paint to be "rolled" out the top of the barrel and giving it the back spin that causes the desired flight path. This being said logic dictates that when one is running 800psi as opposed to 325psi the force applied to the underside of the paint is lessoned by over half causing less force to be applied and less "friction" against the top of the barrel, thus causing inconsistant spin and inconsistant flight path. This also I believe is the reason for the drop in velocity consistnecy with the chrono. This is open for debate, but only by people that understand physics and what is happening not those that "feel like" something will cause something else. My physics mentioned above is sound, I am looking for something that I am overlooking. Thanks

bobbyg nice set-up.  i don't like the stubby though  sorry....

Rocket Man wrote: BoobyG, what pressure do you have your set up running?

300psi

Lightningbolt wrote: bobbyg nice set-up.  i don't like the stubby though  sorry....

Thanks, I picked the stubby because the A-5 is alittle long with a normal tank.

Rocket Man wrote: Thanks BoobyG, I have been running at 325psi and have occational issues with having enough pressure to reset the bolt, especially when there is no ball in the chamber to create the extra back pressure. Do you ever have those issues? Thanks

If you have done a FVA mod or have a JCS Gold powertube with no FVA installed then you will get that problem sometimes. But who cares about how it shoots without balls. I know alot of peeps that have to run 400 to 425psi to make their A-5 shoot right.

BobbyG wrote:  I know alot of peeps that have to run 400 to 425psi to make their A-5 shoot right.

Seems that if your marker is dialed in and shooting the most efficient, you can set you psi allot lower. That’s part of the point of the thread, to get the most effective efficiency out of this gas hog. 300psi tells me that your setup seems dialed in and you are comfortable with the efficiency.

I am not familiar with the Maddmann spring kits as of yet. It looks like BobbyG also has the spring kit, and he is running at 300psi. Either you two are running different spings, or his setup is dialed in a bit closer...
What spring are you running BobbyG?

1. I use my x-chamber for its shape. It's my foregrip. I can't find a volumizer over the internet too well- I need to basically take every x-chamber apart. BobbyG, you know that long black thing coming out of your gun from the ASA? That's a volumizer. I'm not sure if the A-5 really needs it or not, but Tippmann had one on the LPK. I need an x-chamber because that black thing isn't on my gun anymore. I have pics, I'll post them sometime. Basically, my x-chamber is now a volumizer.

2. The Flatline shouldn't have problems with LPK, something else is wrong. The volume of air (amount) with the LPK is increased, thus making your ball still shoot the same speed.

BobbyG. Couple questions. I noticed you say you have the shocktech bolt. Is that the standard one for the A-5? Also, can you explain your front velocity adjuster mod?

THX

ashesthedog wrote: BobbyG. Couple questions. I noticed you say you have the shocktech bolt. Is that the standard one for the A-5? Also, can you explain your front velocity adjuster mod? THX

The bolt is from the company Shocktech USA. I actually dont have the FVA mod anymore, i use the JCS Gold Powertube without a FVA adjuster instead.

LordJovian wrote: Aftermarket powertubes and bolts are crap, just to let you guys know.

I absolutly love such intellegent statements like this one. It is like saying all VW Bugs are yellow. Do you think it is possible that Tippmann may consider retail cost when designing and building their markers? Did you pay $1000+ for your A-5? Of course Tippmann designs their markers to have an acceptable price point (they want to actually sell markers) and thus do not build their marker with the absolutly best parts possible.  Their parts are good, reliable and very functional, I will not argue that nor would I have bought their marker if that was not the case.  That being said I have studied the A-5 internals quite extensively and almost evey part on the A-5 could be improved upon in some way, not because Tippmann is stupid but because they need to be able to present a marker at a sellable price. With all of that out of the way I think there are a lot of "upgrades" that are junk and play off of peoples ignorance on the marker functions....  There are Better than Stock part for the A-5 including bolts and power tubes. Blanket statement not grounded in fact are not helpful to others in this forum. 

You tell me what bolt will improve anything for the A-5. Just how extensive did you get into, eh? Front Bolts: The cupping does nothing worthwhile, delrin doesn't make a hair worth of a difference, the "better seal" most of them make around the powertube usually end up causing more breaks in paint, and to top it all off, the front bolt doesn't affect accuracy, that job belongs to the barrel. Powertubes: this holds the CVX valve, and it holds the CVX valve, and it holds the CVX valve. The fonr bolt moves on this, and the rear bolt strikes the CVX inside the power tube. There was a site / link posted a while back where someone actually tested the powertubes. One tube outperformed the stock powertube in consistency by 1 +/-. The stock powertube smoked all of them in every other aspect. Basically, you're buying a downgrade. The main reason is not that Tippmann designed their bolts perfect, it's that theres not really any adverse affects of upgrading it. An anti-chop bolt, yeah, but you tell me how the Shocktech bolt anti-chops? There are no upgrades available for the powertube or the front bolt, just useless tweaks making attempts at doing something.

Most of the forumers who have been there and done that will tell you the best internals are stock internals. Generally, most people who buy something will believe that it actually did something for them. Every so often someone will post about how this front bolt made their gun so accurate. The front bolt doesn't re-hone the barrel or change the bore of it the last time I did my extensive study. Once I remember someone posted about how their powertube gave them better accuracy. He, once confronted, backed out and gave a poor excuse saying that he meant to say something else.

I didn't wrap my statement in fact because I felt there was no need. This has been around and around and around the forums- the aftermarket upgrades for specifically the powertube and front bolt are total hype, marketing tactics, not anywhere near the .0001% upgrade they *might* offer, and therefore are crap.

Don't think you can come here and try to pick fights.

I too have looked at every part of the A-5, and I am planning to upgrade the Cyclone's feed rate. There is nothing to be done to the front bolt, besides softening up the blow from the drive spring for weak paint. The powertube only needs a little compression on the end where the air is released. Beyond that, all other upgrades are useless.

Thanks for the response Lord Jovian. After your rebuttal I agree with most of what you brought out and realized you totally missed the point of the post. First off if you would have included even a couple of the points you made in your rebuttal I would not have posted at all. Even a post that stated something to the effect "guys I have tested and read test results on after market power tubes and bolts and they don't make enough difference to justify their cost" would have been a good post in my book. What frustrates me are post that make blanket statements with no backing. Like one I saw in another post that stated "cylone=blender    nuf said", that was in my book a useless unintelligent post. These formums could be so useful for improving our markers in both function and relaibilty if one didn't have to wade through all the CRAP from the pimpled face fourteen year olds that don't have anything but a cool log in name, and don't even know the first thing about pneumatics or physics. That was my point!

Now there are a few point I would like to discuss about your post.

First, I think that you and I have a different out look on what constitutes an improvement. I will start with power tubes, the reason I would consider "upgrading" to say and aluminum one in simple, I do not pretend it will increase my accuracy, it would be for a better velocity adustment screw, my stock one will not hold position any more, also I think that they are a bit more durable, and with those two improvements I think they are a "better" power tube.

Also, I did test a front bolt that a local guy designed and built for a local shop, this bolt did give me a legitmate 3-4fps improvement over stock. that is not a lot but it is a %1.5 increase in efficiency, this is better that your stated .0001%. So there is (if some company would actually take time to design a good one) room for some improvement, though I will agree with you not much. 

Secondly, A lot of what I do is not for accuracy (I agree the stock accuracy isn't too bad), it is for efficiency, I think we can both agree that the A-5 is a bit of a gas hog and any improvement in that area would be helpful. So I think in some ways what we consider improvements vary by function.

Thirdly, there is still many upgrades I am planning on testing in my A-5 most of them I will be manufacturing my self because I do not like most of the after market stuff. I will be building a new power tube (once again trying to tweak a little more efficiency out of the design), I am in the process of replacing a few components to lower the over all cyclical mass (especially the parasitic mass). I have already shortened the over all stroke of the marker by over 10% which has improved cycle times on the bolt (granted until I increase the rate on the e-grip that doesn't matter too much). I think there is room for improvement on the cylone, but primarily in the area of increasing the bore of the gas cylinder and shortening the stroke. So there are some improvement that could be made to the marker.

To sum up, I hope you better understand the point of my post now, in some way it was to "pick a fight" but I think for a valid reason. I appreciate you taking the time explain  your position on the subject I think that will be useful to other forumers. I am not sure but I think we could be friends.

Unless of course you are pimpled face fourteen year old in which case I have probably pissed you off too much to be reconciled

lordjovian,

how are you going to upgrade the cyclone's feed rate?

i'd like to know, cause that'd be sweet.

ashesthedog wrote: Everyone is always looking to get the best setup for their marker, and the reason for the forums is just that. I think I could spend hours searching the forums and glean almost all the info I need on this subject, but I am wondering how many others have a similar setup and what they did to dial it in. I am looking for real facts, not opinions on anyone having an A-5 with the LP kit, and what combos they are using, (i.e. air, barrels, regulators, triggers, bolt, etc.), and why they think it works best in their playing environment. Accuracy and paint type would help this topic as well. Game on!

I would like to get back to the original question, what are you guys using and how is it working for you?  Thanks.

See my post in the Paintball Ideas forum- it may be on the second or third page now called Cyclone 2.0.

One more thing about my little post there- I log on at work and post these messages. Every now and then I have to hurry a phrase in.

I mentioned what I use, and it works great. With a good quiet barrel my A-5 no longer sounds like a Bunker Buster bomb. Many Flatlines are plagued with the noise effect. Sound travels faster than paintballs, and when many people hear the BOOMING of the A-5's they take cover.

Rocket Man, the easiest and quickest solution to the "air hog" effect is an RVA. That's about the only thing that makes Tippmanns appear to be air hogs- RVA's control the amount of air released, the FVA's only slow down the flow of the same amount of air.

LordJovian wrote: I mentioned what I use, and it works great. With a good quiet barrel my A-5 no longer sounds like a Bunker Buster bomb. Many Flatlines are plagued with the noise effect. Sound travels faster than paintballs, and when many people hear the BOOMING of the A-5's they take cover.

This is the biggest reason I dont use the flatline so much. Most of our firefights are close enough that the extra distance gained with the flatline is not needed. I am not into longballing, so a good barrel is fine for me.

If you know the specs on your setup, and it works good for you, maybe list like this;

Marker, barrel, what operating pressures and bps, best paint, custom add-ons and if how they helped or hindered your setup.

Jovian, you mentioned the RVA and that it would help with the A-5 being less of a gas hog. What have you noticed about your marker that gives you the impression that you are more efficent? Do you have more shots per tank? How much do you think it helped you and would you recommend this aftermarket mod? You and Rocketman had a few posts going back and forth about mods being crap and then some being useful. I have considered the RVA but haven't heard enough feedback from folks about the reason to buy, just that it would be a good mod.

Thanks for all the feedback so far guys and keeping the thread going. I figure if we are dropping this much money in a marker, some good feedback from field experience would be very useful to everyone.