Why the heck did this happen??

[Drunkscriblerian]

As an old 90s player I'm digging my guns out of storage and I notice; two of them have that Weird 90s Ball Detent Thing going on.

Looking back, that weird "twist something on the gun to make the paintballs feed" thing always felt like a solution in search of a problem. The feature being on the two guns I pictured are the big reason why the markers in question wandered to the bottom of my gear bag. The slanted detent interfered with my sight picture and overall, I hated it. Like really...when shooting either left or right handed, this feature sucked. I guess the paintball community agreed, because I haven't seen anything close on modern markers.

Anyhow, anyone know what the heck the designers were thinking when they built this "feature" into a marker? I've always been curious, and now that I'm getting back into the sport I'm even more so.

[Junglepeanut]

The powerfeed? I think the logic was the angle kept blowback from pushing the paintballs up the feedneck and causing delays in feeding/lower your hack rate...... I actually kinda like them

[BrickHaus]

As Junglepeanut mentioned power feeds were critical before hoppers caught up to guns.

Now a days hoppers can keep up with markers so they are not as necessary. Thats why you dont see them utilized these days.

[scottieb]

The best way to overcome the blocked sight picture over the marker is to use the barrel to sight downrange. There are raised sight rails available also.

[Spider!]

The automag in particular, but open bolt markers in general, would blow balls back up the feedneck, causing feed delays and chops. The thought was that the power feed stops the ball and even bounces it back some. Like junglepeanut said, but to be clear, the power feed angle is 90 degrees and it stops the ball not the gas.

The first ones were hopper-left because they were automag conversions from the factory. At least they started making some hopper-right.

[Morgenstern]

I used an Alley Cat with a back-bottle setup a lot and you’d think it would be super awkward. Honestly, because you’re using the barrel to aim and in woodsball you tend to engage at longer ranges, you’re always tilting the gun up without realizing it. Makes it surprising comfortable and intuitive.

As mentioned above, this was also the era of comically tall sight rails for people who still insisted on aiming it like a rifle. Brother, it’s a 300fps paintball. It drops off almost immediately and you’ll get nowhere aiming it like an M16.

[Drunkscriblerian]

Yeah, I learned right quick that sights on a paintball gun are useless..no paintgun in history of the sport has ever shot point-of-aim. Plus, aiming a marker like a rifle destroys your peripheral vision, and you kinda need that - no sense getting focused on the guy shooting at you when his team-mate is moving to flank you. I learned to look down the side of the barrel, see where my ammo was landing and adjust for effect within months of playing.

Where the Powerfeed fucked me up is that it blocked my view of the barrel on either one side or the other (one of my guns has it on the right, the other on the left). My Pro-Lite kinda did the same thing, but the way the elbow was laid out I could sort of see around it and it wasn't as big of a problem.

I never thought of using the top of the barrel as the aim point though. You make a good point. I'll remember that as I get back into the sport.

[Nish]

The automag in particular, but open bolt markers in general, would blow balls back up the feedneck, causing feed delays and chops. The thought was that the power feed stops the ball and even bounces it back some. Like junglepeanut said, but to be clear, the power feed angle is 90 degrees and it stops the ball not the gas.

The first ones were hopper-left because they were automag conversions from the factory. At least they started making some hopper-right.

This right here. That's why you don't see it on Autocockers.

[Spider!]

I have to say the hopper - left thing really irritated me. We got our level 5 automags back from the factory upgrade to level 7 with that power feed. I had only played stock class or hopper right at that point. No one asked, they just made the "upgrade". It was a real pain to get used to, and I have long banished such things from my collection.

[Jackson]

The automag in particular, but open bolt markers in general, would blow balls back up the feedneck, causing feed delays and chops. The thought was that the power feed stops the ball and even bounces it back some. Like junglepeanut said, but to be clear, the power feed angle is 90 degrees and it stops the ball not the gas.

The first ones were hopper-left because they were automag conversions from the factory. At least they started making some hopper-right.

This explanation makes sense to me, but I have to question whether this problem is as big as claimed.

I have been shot a direct feed Automag for years with a gravity feed hopper and I have never had an issue with feed delays or chops. Granted, my direct feed body has the original unmodified super long feed tube which puts my hopper up like a mile high. Maybe I just have enough ball stack height? Maybe I just don't fire fast enough? I'm not playing tournaments, so I'm not "laying ropes" or trying to squeeze every ounce of performance out.

Two factors that I think might have played into it: Automags lack an o-ring on the front of the bolt and the barrel is the breech. The design relies on a close fit between the bolt and the barrel breech diameter to prevent blow back up the feedneck. Since aftermarket barrel manufacturers wouldn't have access to AGD design tolerances, they would probably err on the side of making the ID bigger so that there wouldn't be any issue with bolt stick. Side effect being that there is more blow back up the feedneck. So AGD develops the powerfeed to make their guns work better with aftermarket barrels.

Other gun manufacturers see AGD doing powerfeed, and they want to copy what the high-end companies are doing, so they make their guns with powerfeeds too.

[Toestr]

IIRC TK said in one of the Automag tech videos that AGD would provide the barrel specs to any manufacturer that asked.

[Levi]

When I bought my first paintball gun (an Automag) back in the 90's I went with the standard right feed for the unobstructed sight picture. I never really had an issue with it. Was mostly playing outlaw woodsball and walk on rec... so not typically trying for high rof though.

[Brokeass_baller]

On my very first Automag, I had horrendous chopping issues with my right feed body and Revy. Guy at the pro shop sold me a power feed body on the cheap and it solved my problems.

That said, I've been using a stainless vertical body for like 15-18 years, and also haven't had an issue. So who knows.

[Spider!]

Many of the AGD decisions were based upon tournament conditions, since that was where the money was. Any perceived advantage was acceptable.

[Nish]

For what it's worth, 100% hearsay.

I was told that part of the idea was that when you chopped a ball the paint wouldn't end up making a mess all the way up into the hopper, just in that one elbow and out through the hole in the powerfeed.

[Morgenstern]

^There has to be something to that because why on Earth would Proteam have put out all of those powerfeed cockers if it was just for blowback? Timing maybe? Like, you turn the plug to shut off the feed and after a couple shots you’re dry firing and that’s why?

[Brokeass_baller]

Head on over to 1:14:00. This dude invented it.

[Toestr]

Something else the Powerfeed does is prevent
you from loosing balls when you pull out the barrel mid game.

[Nish]

That's right. I forgot the panic the first time I pulled a twist lock barrel off without turning the powerfeed plug and paint went everywhere

[Drunkscriblerian]

Thanks for answering my question y'all, its appreciated.

With other guns I used that lacked this feature (I ran a Tippmann Pro-Lite as a primary) I never had the problems described above, so again the Powerfeed (Thanks to Junglepeanut for telling me what its actually called, I never knew) to me back in the day always came across as "a solution in search of a problem". I guess my Pro-Lite or the VM-68 I owned before it just couldn't fire fast enough to cause the issues described; I remember never actually having to use that feature on a Pro-Lite where you can open the bolt and clean the chamber out if you break a ball there. Maybe I was just lucky, but that never happened.

Also with the Mokal Titan, its unlikely you could ever fire fast enough to cause a breakage that way; either the valve would freeze up far before you hit that rate of fire, or the CHING CHING CHING of the bolt cycling would annoy you into not wanting to shoot it anymore. Seriously; that gun rings like a bell every time you pull the trigger, I definitely remember that lol.