You need to stop using junk paint.

Cyclones like thick shelled balls.

Edit: spelling

I still have my 98 and it has an 18" sniper barrel on it. It doesn't chop at all. It is not ACT.

What kind do you recommend?

I only have one place that sells paintballs by me and they sell everything Nelson (which hasn't been a problem before), some draxxus dusk, rps marblelizer, jt stealth and recon, and something else but I can't remember what it is. They used to have more but they discontinued a lot of brands.

Should I buy paintballs from here or do you recommend something else? 

I know a place nearby that sells zap and big balls, but zap wasn't any better than what I have now and big balls were the worst paintballs that have ever been through my gun.

That is one thing. I have always upgraded my gun, mask, and everything else, but I don't know much about paintballs.

LOL @ 18" sniper... I bet that thing shoots like a mile!

The problem lies within the cyclone, not the marker. The cyclone can be pretty hard on balls at times, and you will end up breaking balls in the feeder. I would suggest trying the marbs, as those balls have been known to work well with the cyclone.

Snake6. wrote: LOL @ 18" sniper... I bet that thing shoots like a mile! The problem lies within the cyclone, not the marker.

I have heard people say that a longer barrel is a waste of money, but I can hit a pop can at 30yds almost every shot with my 98. I have a red dot on it and a clamp with some cloth to hold it in place.

Thanks for the help

Maybe Squishy Paddles? Haven't chopped any in my cyclone since putting them on, even with crappy paint.

I almost forgot. Sometimes after a ball has broken in the cyclone when I shoot with a full hopper it just dry fires. This is after I have shot it a minimum of twenty or more times. Sometimes it won't work at all and I never stop the playing but I have to push the rod forward to get the ball to go into the gun. There isn't any shells but I thought maybe the reason for it was the paint in there. It should still work though right? I do clean it after the game but I always finish it first.

I also tested the balls I have been using and even though I can't break them in my hand, if I drop them from shoulder-height on a hard surface they sometimes break. One of my friends fairly accurately compared them to eggs.

I do think the squishy paddles would be a good idea though. Where can I buy them?

oldpbnoob wrote: If you have a full hopper of balls and they are not feeding without pushing the rod forward, it sounds like your cyclone is not advancing. Could be an issue with having the screw that holds the paddles on too tightly or not oiled well enough.

The cyclone does advance when there is nothing in it or with just a few balls. I don't think I overtightened the screw that holds the paddle down, but it did screw in and out kind of hard. I doubt it is, but it could be the oil because I normally oil it sparingly.

thejudge wrote: or it could be a broken ratchet.  open the bottom and make sure it is still intact.

I have never done this, so what am I looking for and should I clean and oil this part?

I will take it apart tonight to see if I can find something.

Also do the upgrades for the cyclone help with performance or do they just look cool? I am talking about the lightning rod and things like that.

orange88 wrote: Also do the upgrades for the cyclone help with performance or do they just look cool? I am talking about the lightning rod and things like that.

well the metal rachet is nice to have, thats if you break your plastic one and dont want to order another one from tippmann, and the rest of the upgrades you dont really need, unless you want to run it a the max bps all the time and dont want to worry about fixing it for a while.

The ratchet was pretty good, maybe a little bit worn on the bottom but not bad, but it was kind of tight and there wasn't much oil there. So my solution would be just be to put more oil in it. Should I get a new ratchet just with a little bit of wear, or is it ok?

orange88 wrote: I almost forgot. Sometimes after a ball has broken in the cyclone when I shoot with a full hopper it just dry fires. This is after I have shot it a minimum of twenty or more times. Sometimes it won't work at all and I never stop the playing but I have to push the rod forward to get the ball to go into the gun.

This is what is making me question whether it is advancing properly. If it is advancing, it should be feeding balls into the breach unless there is an obstruction. If you can push the rod in and manually feed balls, it seems logical that you are not getting enough pressure from the blowback to advance leading me to ask if everything is too tight.