[Isharfoxat]

Hi everybody.

Coming back to paintball after a VERY long break, I intend to convert my old Stingray to HPA.

Indeed, here in Europe, air is available in every field and CO2 is now a bit hard to find...

If I remember well, liquid CO2 pressure on a warm day is around 800 PSI (~55 bar), but I think I'll need a regulator, because air from an air tank is 3000 to 5000 PSI.

And as I want to put a remote-line (is it possible to adapt a mamba to the "back orifice" of a Stingray?), I guess the regulator must be connected to the tank's preset...?

What do you think about it?

Have anyone ever had such an exeprience?

By the way, I have doubts about the spring tension... maybe I should change it before starting the conversion?

I guess dedicated O rings are not available anymore, so if I have no other option, I may try plumbering O rings (rubber ones, of course), but I really don't like to do crappy stuff like that without having a clue about the impact on safety....

(Please forgive my poor English, as it's not my mothertongue... I never use online translator to avoid weird translations)

[Fubarius]

Take the HPA tank and screw the preset directly into the back of the gun. It will work just fine with no modification needed. You do NOT need a second regulator as long as it's a high pressure (800 psi) preset.

All HPA tanks I've seen sold have a preset regulator already on them. They do not output 3000+ psi, that's how much they hold. The regulator will step it down to 800 psi (give or take a bit) for a high pressure output HPA system, or 400 psi (give or take a bit) for a low pressure output HPA system.

[Isharfoxat]

pfeeew, that's a good new...
In fact, I think I'll screw a mamba there... the Stingray is lightweigh and adding abottle as a stock would negate this advantage...
Anyway, I'm breathing better knowing that!

But will the internals be sturdy enough?
What O rings can I use (plumbing stuff really freaks me out about safety)?

[glaman5266]

I don't know much about Ray o-rings, but I know the internals will handle HPA. They were designed to work with co2, so I don't see why they can't hold up to HPA. On a hot day co2 is likely going to be the harsher gas to use.

[melkson]

i've run a ray with no mods on hpa, works great, possible better than CO2.

You have to do nothing, just gas and go.

Good Gaming!

[autoCAKA20]

I playedwith a stingray on my high pressure air tank just today. I just put the tank staight into the gun, and had no problems!

[Isharfoxat]

thanks, people!

I'll try to gas it up ang go shoot out.

I re-checked the O ings, they look fine, but as they haven't been under pressure in more than 10 years, I'm pretty sure there's gonna be some leaking..

If needed, I'll try the plumbing stuff and see if it works..

[Fubarius]

It will probably just need some oil. Good paintball gun specific oil. If you don't have access to that, some automatic transmission fluid (like you would use in a car) can be used. It's not as good, but won't hurt anything.

The only o-rings you need to be careful with are on the hammer and down inside of the valve. Everything else can just be close enough to work since they don't actually move.

[Isharfoxat]

I checked out the "Do-It-Yourself" store (don't know the exact english term) and saw plenty of nitrile (black) O rings which match perfectly those on my 'ray!
(that seems a bit weird, because US measures are imperial and europes' are metrics, but I won't complain!)

I'll have to check the one in the valve, thought (forgot about that one, thanks for reminding)

now, for the lubricant...
I could get some paintball-specific oil (within 1 week), but I found a PTFE lubricant (for chain mechanism, like motorcycles or chainsaw, NOT WD40 which is NOT a lubricant) that seems fairly nice and chemically less aggressive than ATF (which sounds good too, anyway) or petroleum-based lube...

I think that should do the trick for sliding parts (I vill post ze result ov my crrazy eczperiment).
If it works, I'll post pictures of the cannister.

[Fubarius]

You don't want anything too thick or sticky since they'll slow down the cycle speed, and nothing that lists on the packaging "petroleum distillates" since they tend to cause o-rings to expand.

[Isharfoxat]

agreed...
petroleum-based compound are bad anyway... tends to gather up craps, and as I intend to play woodsball, that would sound like a bad idea...
I made a side-test with a tube, a metal bar and a standard nitrile Oring... looks like PTFE (AKA Teflon)-based lube works great: smooth movement and the Oring doesn't melt like with silicone-based lubes!
I'll try that on my 'Ray and see what happens!

[Isharfoxat]

PTFE works like a dream!