Another Pro-Lite ID. Venturi front bolt?

[FlightMedic938]

So I picked this up and it was labeled as a Venturi front bolt for the Pro-Lite. I got it but the Venturi face made contact with the power tube which prevented sear engagement. It was also much longer than a standard Pro Lite bolt. It’s aluminum as well which surprised me.

I tried it on the Pro Carbine and it was worse. The Pro Carbine doesn’t have the recess on the rear of the power tube the Pro Lite has so it wouldn’t even get close to cocking back. I decided to make it work for the Pro Lite which required me cutting part of the powertube so the Venturi face wouldn’t contact it and I had to cut the back of the bolt down because it was just a little too long which was also preventing sear engagement. I got it all squared away but I’m wondering who made it and which marker it was intended for?

The picture is post cut, it was longer, I think I cut 3/16 off. I can’t remember. Maybe it was 1/4 but I’m pretty sure it was 3/16. Same for the power tube. It was either 3/16 or 1/4 that made it work. They both were cut the same amount. I learned the hard way that I can’t just drill a new linkage arm recess when I was working on another bolt for a different Tippmann. If I had drilled a new recess the bolt would’ve stuck out too far in the breech.

[Ecapnation]

This might be a fuzzy memory but I think the 68 carbine and pro carbine bolts were longer than the pro lights.

[FlightMedic938]

The Pro Carbine is by a little bit, like 1/16, but this bolt was longer than a Pro Carbine bolt as well.

[Ecapnation]

Might not have been for a tippmann then

Vintage parts especially when they're pushing over 25 years away from the original manufacturing date get dubious to purchase unless you know exactly what you're buying. A lot of people call things what they aren't because they look like they are something else.

[Chappy]

I suppose it could be possible it was originally sold as a kit with a power tube to swap that fit it. It wasn’t uncommon back then to see that sort of thing from small distributors like bullseye. And just guys posting adds in the back of the ‘zines.

[Axel]

What about the Pro/Am? Even though it's basically a metal Pro-Lite there seem to have been a lot of little adjustments made between the two.

That said, and I am not in a position to look at the moment, I think ALL the old Tippmanns have the bolt sliding back past the tip of the power tube. Total speculation, but it may have come with its own tube like Chappy said, or required the installer to cut down the old one.

The venturi bolt concept (misnomer, but w/e) would have required more space for the diffuser face. Naturally you'd need the front of the power tube positioned further back, and the bolt lengthed so it would still slip over it while keeping space for the venturi. Forget the total length--is the distance from the linkage arm hole to the front face the same distance as a stock bolt? If so I'd say that's what's going on

[FlightMedic938]

Yeah I believe it’s the same distance but I can compare later tonight or tomorrow. It looked like the back half is much longer than a stock bolt. I agree that it may be for a Pro AM. I can’t track down a pic of a Pro AM bolt but I have read that Tippmann changed the front bolt length and hammer length during the Pro AMs life cycle to improve velocity. It’s stated that they switched to longer bolts and shorter valves.

[capitalpaintball]

It was sold by I&I Sports. It came with a power tube that would not fit in the gun(Pro-Lite). it was one of the many parts back in the day, that were created and sold but never tested or even installed. I complained to them when i received it but they really didn't know anything about, they just sold it.

The only Venturi bolt that worked(sometimes) it the Pro-lite was Telescoping. It was like a collapsing antenna. I still have one in my Pro-Lite

Edit My bolt does look different then yours. You can see the powertube they included . It wont work because its loose and does not open the front valve pin.
the bottom bolt is the telescoping one.

[FlightMedic938]

Wow. Now I gotta track down one of these power tubes lol. Can you remember why it wouldn’t fit?? Thank you much for the info and I gotta see this telescoping bolt!

[FlightMedic938]

Yep that’s it. It has Venturi face right? Mine looks different because I chopped part of the back off probably. That telescoping bolt looks crazy lol.

[capitalpaintball]

FlightMedic938 the base of the power tube needs to be the same as the original. When installed there is nothing holding it in place. it will never work.
it pre-dated the Carbine so it wasn't made for it, I just checked and the power tube is to big (width) for the Carbine. it could be modded to fit, but you loose your velocity control.