Chops/Barrel Breaks

[VSportsGuy]

My quest shreded paint this sunday at the field. The temp here in MD was maybe 40-50 degrees so it wasn't freezing yet it was pretty cold with the wind. The paint was fresh, i did the drop test and it was fine, so is there anything i can do to prevent chops or barrel breaks relating to my quest? My batteries were low in the halo at first but i changed them and i changed my 9V in the gun as well, I overbored the paint at .692 with my scepter. It was usually just one barrel break and it would seem to shoot fine until i cleaned it out the next game and then it would break again. It wasn't constantly breaking once i already had a barrel break.

[Viva La Dan]

Turn your LPR down, lube it, and check it for a weak spring,

Also, where were you playing, and where in MD are you? What team? (i'm in MD)

[NYGuardians capt.]

if your using a GM bolt check it for breaks. it could just be shitty paint

[bronc.v2]

I've been noticing that Quests are not that gentle on paint. When it's cold here, ours turn into blenders as well.

I don't think anything but using less brittle paint will help. The barrel breaks are just crap paintballs. Those would happen in any gun.

I think putting a soft tip on the bolt, like Angels use, would help the Quest be a bit easier on paint.

It's one of the things I've been experimenting with, but I can't figure out an easy way to keep the tip on the bolt, without milling the bolt.

[KMA]

I live in upstate NY, so it gets cold enough for sure. My experience is that my Quest is one of the more gentle guns on fragile paint. It easily compares to a DM6, etc... My Ego was decent, maybe average (better than my older timmys), but the Quest is much better. Be sure to turn your hopper down (my Reloader B was always set to 1). Often "barrel breaks" are really balls that are cracked or damaged slightly when fed, and explode as they are propelled out of the gun. If you over-bore and are shooting 280 fps or so but still get barrel breaks, try another hopper (and EggII would be a perfect test case since it is very gentle).

I've owned a decent number of markers over the years, and played in very cold weather. Here's what you can do to minimize the number of breaks:

1. shoot paint with a harder shell (winter grade) if possible
2. warm up your paint (many fields store paint in cold rooms)
3. make sure your LPR is acceptably low but not too low (maybe increase dwell and lower HPR?)
4. chrono lower (260-270 fps) - I'd rather lob, then glob (I'm a poet! ;))
5. user a larger bore barrel
6. lower the "speed" of your force fed hopper or switch to non-force fed
7. often, you can pick a lower grade of paint which has a tougher shell
8. make sure your ABS settings are not too high (if applicable)

Good luck!

[NYGuardians capt.]

really? i have a cure bolt in my ego and its better then my quest on paint by a bit

[KMA]

really? i have a cure bolt in my ego and its better then my quest on paint by a bit
I've never tried the cure bolt, so it may help even things up a bit. :)

[VSportsGuy]

Thanks for all the input. I was shooting hard, fresh, and semi-warm paint. I highly doubt it was the paint. It wasn't brittle paint by any measure, I actually bought cheaper paint than I usually do because I had noticed it wasn't as brittle as I liked in the summer. It was Draxxus Rec-Sport. Oh and by the way, no problems with breaks when it's warm outside. I also have a stock halo so I can't turn down the feed rate. As far as the lpr, I still am running it relatively high, a little lower than the 100 psi rate. So I'll have to turn that down to the 70-80 area, it's relatively broken in. It can get higher or lower, and is always higher after i let it sit for awhile cause of fsdo. I'll try the .696 if it acts up this weekend. I'm still trying to figure this one out cause when I think back, I can only remember it breaking when I shoot really fast bursts or occassionally on the first shot. So that could come from any number of the suggestions above. The other problem that I'm getting is my first shot is too strong with the fsdo setting on 1. Then it will even out after that and give me good consistancy without any sign of further drop off or increase. But I always have to chrono lower than what I'm actually shooting because of that first shot.

[KMA]

Breaks on the first shot could be your board settings are too high to account for bolt stick and fsdo. Make sure you are using a lighter weight lube such as Hater sauce. If you are breaking during long bursts, then I suspect the hopper is involved. If you (or a buddy) has an Egg or revy, give it a try for a few games and see if there is a difference.

BTW, I've used Recsport during the winter many times in the past, and it's hit or miss. Sometimes the paint is amazing, and sometimes it is crap. I've quite often had issues with it in the cold.

Good luck!

[jglass75]

I was having blender problems myself, a few monthes back. I turned up the dwell and hat seemed to cure the problem!

[Blackrain7557]

mine chops when i start shooting too fast...course it was like 30* indoors...but the tourney before i was using semi and ripping it up and when it got too fast it chopped on or two