The free to me tippmann???

thanks for the advise.. Right now I'm just going to put in all back together.. gravity feed hopper and all and just go have some fun on Sat night at "night paintball" on our local field.

Edited by jeepininaz - 09 January 2014 at 1:37pm

Answers are in blue:

jeepininaz wrote: 1) either a RT trigger or a E trigger (any pros or cons to either set up ???) R/T runs off the exhaust air from your valve, just like the Cyclone Feeder system does. If you're running a cyclone and a R/T, you have to make special modifications to allow a larger volume of air to be diverted to get both systems to run simultaneously. There are kits to do this, in fact there's info on it at tippmannparts.com when looking at the description of the cyclone feed system for the 98. The upshot is, you don't have to worry about batteries dying on you in the middle of a game and you can easily go between true semi and R/T just by varying the pressure you exert on the trigger. Most fields allow R/T even if they say no full-auto. Check with your field though. It's also possible to turn the R/T off if they don't allow it at one field but do at another. The pros and cons of the e-grip/e-trigger set up are similar. You can switch between various modes (ramping, reflex, semi, full auto, etc) but not on the fly. The controls are under the grip panels to keep people honest on the field. The trigger pull is also reduced greatly with an e-trigger which makes walking the trigger very easy. The only drawback is batteries. But that's something that most of us deal with these days anyway whether it be batteries for motorized hoppers or batteries to run high-end markers. Usually, if you pop a fresh 9v into the marker at the start of a day of play, it'll last you the whole time, no problems. Other pros are that you can upgrade the board to allow different firing modes, and some even allow you to program your own modes into them. 2) a cyclone feeder 3) dual / longer trigger DO these MODS break these field rules ?? Markers All markers will be .68 or 50 caliber pump action or semi-automatic markers. No issues here Semi-automatic is defined as that which gives one shot per trigger pull and release. This is where the rules can get fuzzy on the R/T. Technically your ARE pulling the trigger for each shot, it's just that the marker forces the trigger back to the ready position with the use of a gas-operated piston each time. In essence, it's semi-auto assist. You're literally bouncing the trigger off your fingers by varying pressure. Some fields allow it, some fields don't. Just call them up and ask if you can still play using a R/T on an older 98c. Really, it's no faster than someone using a high-end marker and walking the trigger. No fully automatic paintguns are allowed. This is pretty normal across the board with most fields. Unless playing a scenario event. Do not use "ramping" features if your marker is so equipped. Ramping is another feature that is allowed at some fields and not at others. Usually the fields that allow it separate their walk-on groups into "rentals" and "owners." Rentals groups are just that, people who play using rented equipment, it's a level playing field and nobody is going to get over-shot and go home pouting. They tend to let the owner walk-ons use more features as they're more used to the game. But I digress. Ramping might as well be fully automatic. You still have to pull the trigger a certain number of times per second to get it to kick in, but once you do, the marker goes full auto until you stop dancing on the trigger. Local fields have a tough time figuring out who is using ramping and who isn't though. A lot of less honest players will simply drop the ramping rate down to a reasonable level (9-10bps) which doesn't give them much of an advantage over the average Joe, but it doesn't draw attention to the fact that they're technically cheating. Regardless, you can turn that function off if your marker is equipped with it. Maximum velocity will be 285 feet per second with three shots fired across a chronograph with none above the limit. This is just pure safety related stuff. Max safe FPS was determined to be 300FPS almost 30 years ago through a mixture of scientific testing and trial and error. In the early days of adjustable velocities, guys started coming home with lacerations, cracked lenses, and broken digits when people started cranking the velocities up. Eventually the industry self-regulated and came up with 300FPS as a safe limit with the help of the ASTM and others. Most fields want to add another layer of safety in there for very good reasons. Most people use CO2 to fire their markers, CO2 in a liquid state holds more potential energy than "expanded" gaseous CO2. If you suck some liquid into the marker's valve, it's going to rapidly expand when the valve is opened, more so than the gaseous version is. This means a spike in velocity which can be anywhere from 5 to 20fps. It also keeps their liability insurance companies happy by backing away from that limit of 300FPS. Again, you'll have some people try to cheat the system because they think it'll give them more distance, or that it makes them "hardcore" but anyone who has ever been hit by "hot" shot knows that the limit exists for a reason.

As for the main differences between your marker and your son's:
1) ACT. His hammer, linkage arm, and endcap are all different than yours. You CAN convert yours to ACT if I recall correctly (don't quote me on that though) it's just a matter of swapping parts.
2) His stock trigger is a double trigger. Walking a mechanical trigger is really hard, but double triggers give you more leverage so you don't wear your fingers out with trigger pull, and it's already there for when people make upgrades to electronic triggers so you don't have to buy it then.
3) He has a drop-forward ASA. This puts the tank lower and further forward on his marker making it easier to pop in and out of tight spaces. It DOES make the marker taller though, giving more of a vertical target to shoot back at.
4) CP Barrel. They're a good barrel. I had one on my DMLCD back in the day. I still prefer LAPCO and J&J myself.

Pretty minor differences other than the ACT.

That looks like a whisper barrel too, they are pretty decent.

No clear coat. But they look pretty damn good for Arizona desert paintball. My son wants his done now lol

Will hand paint the tippmann 98 custom in the morning. Planning on a dark red. Should pop out great

JohnnyCanuck wrote: That looks like a whisper barrel too, they are pretty decent.

I have to disagree with this.  While I never used a Whisper Barrel on a Tippmann, I have tried them on one of my pumps and the excessive porting really caused problems with air efficiency and maintaining adequate velocity.

UPDATE:

By the way, you officially have the "bug" eventually you will go crazy, buy one of these, and spend unholy amounts of money to accomplish very minor differences.

It's a WGP (now defunct company) Back Magic Autococker. The Autococker was one of the first semi-auto platforms and pretty much ruled the tournament circuit until the early 2000's when electros became widely available.

They're overly complicated to achieve a simple task, but that's what makes them fun. All that crap up under the barrel there is solely used to re-cock the marker. It uses a 4 way valve, low pressure regulator, and air ram to push the block at the back of the marker rearward when the trigger is pushed past a certain position. Then, when the trigger is released, it forces the back block forward again chambering a round. One of the only closed-bolt systems in paintball.

The autococker itself is relatively cheap these days. The money-pit starts when you realize you can literally change every single last part on it for something different. Everything from the bodies, back and front blocks, pneumatics, barrels, regulators, grip frames, trigger, valves, springs, bolts, etc. etc. etc.

You can see several in operation in the practice match between Avalanche and the Iron Men in the old documentary "Push": Link

The guy near the start at around 11:40 is using one, you can see the back block pushing backwards and forwards with every pull of the trigger. A bunch of other guys use it too. You see someone shooting one off the break from the other side too.

Edited by tallen702 - 15 January 2014 at 11:12pm

Going to psintball at Wild West this sat. For my. 43 rd birthday.