Is there really a difference between AC bolts?

[Masonhd81]

I ended up getting a freeflow bolt because it was brown. I shall see if it’s truly Smooth AF as it says on the funny packaging. I’ve got a Venturi bolt lying around but it needs some polishing. It’s currently in my loaner

[Blackmagic71]

I’ve definitely noticed velocity differences as much as 30fps between different bolts.

On WGP bodies I’ve had the best luck with WGP bolts (usually the orracle bolt or the Delrin bolt with orings) and AKA lightning bolts.

[MrBarraclough]

The venturi bolts that are cut out all around so that it's impossible to put them in upside down will yield a lower velocity at the chrono, everything else being kept the same. I had to swap back to the stock bolt on my Trilogy in order to achieve decent velocity after I installed an Inception IVG which cannot be turned in as far before it bottoms out.

[Tracker]

Generally speaking, yes, but I have had a firsthand experience where the only way I was able to get one marker over 300 was to use a venturi

[latches109]

these bolts are the craziest things! they all shoot paint, unless it's upside-down. BUT if you want to squeeeeze every last bit of that tank juice.. then try a few dozen like me.

[latches109]

one of the most important bolt features is clearance. A custom machined bolt tip with less than .003" clearance will go a long way in the efficiency department, no o-ring required. If that is not an option, then a front oring bolt will yield more velocity. Lighter bolts afford lower LPR pressure. Inception makes a nice bolt, basically the cumulation of other successful bolt ideas put into one.

[Tarsun2]

the bolts i like the most have a soft face and a slight ramp on the top side.
other than that it dont matter to me. in rec ball, we fill up after every other game. and even at that, i dont NEED to fill up either. so if i use more air to meet the desired FPS, so be it. im never come close to running out of air during a game.

[cfos00]

There are absolutely differences in bolts that will make performance differences. Most come from direct ports instead of the circular style inlets that venturi bolts have, and from o-rings. Open face, three o-ring bolts will get you the most velocity. It prevents leaks around the inlet, and then again with blowback at the ball face when shooting (not all of the air pressure wants to go down the barrel with the ball when it hits the object). Removing the tip o-rings and the inlet o-rings will both lose some velocity (around 30 fps for the same o-ringed bolt versus one without any).

Having a ramped tip will help with chops. Most breaks happen in the stack---you're clipping the ball before you feed in the stack, it falls into the breach, and you're shooting confetti down your barrel bc you cracked it before it ever actually fully fed into your marker. It's extremely rare to actually break paint with a barrel that doesn't have too big over an underbore (like over -.005) or a burr/seam in it. Ramping the tip really helps stop that.

[Masonhd81]

Never heard of ramping a tip. Do you happen to have a picture of what that looks like?