Inception Drift Kit - Initial Review

[Cdn_Cuda]

I recently picked up an Inception Drift pump kit and wanted to do a quick review on it.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS:
The Drift kit is a good looking pump kit with some very nice features. It's a three rod design and has a lip on the front block that sits under the body of your pump to prevent the kit from twisting. I think it looks great on guns, but let's take a bit more of a deep dive into the kit.



THE LITTLE DETAILS:
There are a bunch of little details that I really like about the Drift kit. One of my favourites is the screw for the pump rod. This allows for quick removal of the pump handle handle and you don't need to mess with unthreading your back block. For those that are the set it and forget it types it's likely not a big feature and you may prefer the standard cocking rod instead for its more streamlined appearance, but I like the ease it allows the remove of the pump handle for any maintenance or cleaning.



Next we have the pump rods. With the pump handle removed you can see the delron bushings that the pump slides on. There are the contact points for the main pump rod and for the secondary guide rod. You can also see ID's fluted pump rod which further reducing contact points but still provides a stable pump stroke. There is also a nice pump return spring that's included in the kit the sits in the main guide hole of the pump handle.



The bushings are replaceable as well. No clue what type of mileage you'd get out of one of these but they are pretty solid looking.



The final little detail is something I hadn't realized until it was brought up by a fellow MCB member (Cunha perhaps?!) is that Inception front block on their pump kits is the same width of a standard cocker front block. This means the front block is a little more husky than say a CCM kit. It's not something that bothered me at all, but it may make the pump kit sit further to the front of you gun than other kits.



Continues onto next post....

[Cdn_Cuda]

And finally, this brings me to the pump handle itself. It's a similar size to the standard CCM handles, but a different form. Generally it's comfortable and easy to grip and it has a finger groove on the front (see second photo).




I like everything right up to wrapping my finger around the front of the pump along the finger groove. In my typical pumping position my pump hand is held under the handle with my index finger wrapping around the front of the pump hand at about a 45 degree angle. The bottom lip of the finger groove hits my finger right in the bone and digs in very uncomfortably. Unfortunately, for me this takes away from all the benefit of this otherwise excellent kit. As I received my pump handle in rough shape (vender took care of me and was very understanding in regards to the handle) I may remove a portion of the bottom lip to make the pump handle more comfortable.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Ultimately, I'm disappointed. I've wanted one of these kits for a while now. I really like the features and it is extremely well made, but the uncomfortable pump handle is something I cannot live with. This will be the first pump kit I've owned in which I need to modify or replace the pump handle. So while I had intended on using this kit on a high-end build (condition of the pump kit aside) it's been demoted to replacing a stock WPG pump kit on a project cocker I'll use as a loner or eventually sell off.

I just want to further stress that I have no issue with the build quality or features of this pump kit, it just comes down to personal preference. If you hold a pump handle where you can put your finger directly across the finger groove the kit is very comfortable, but after a decade or more of playing pump my default hand position does not allow for comfortable use. I'm also a lefty when shooting, so I'm pumping with my right hand. I tried switching had the same issue. In order to get a comfortable grip on this pump handle I need to rotate my wrist to an uncomfortable position. So either my wrist or my finger is uncomfortable. And if it's uncomfortable while just playing around with the pump I couldn't imagine using it for an entire day of paintball.

[Cdn_Cuda]

Initial Feel:

Finally got my springs sorted out in my pump gun and was able to shoot a few rounds off using the pump kit. I only got to shoot about four balls before ai ran out of air, but the pump feel was smooth and on par with my CCMs. I would assume they’re be a break-in period that may improve things with more use, but there was not noticeable twisting or binding and the gun recocked a comfortable distance from my reg so didn’t bump my hand, something that happens with my CCM karni pump kit. I’ll dive deeper into this once I do a pump kit shootout at some future date.

[glaman5266]

Thanks for posting this.

That sucks you didn't like it. I like a flat front on my pump handles so I can hold them in whatever way the situation demands. Looks comfy otherwise. I was thinking about one of these for my recently-acquired cocker, but after seeing Inception doesn't have one for pre-2Ks and seeing the prices CCM ones fetch, I went with a Slice kit. I'll get that in on Monday.

One thing that caught my eye was the lip on the bottom of the front block. That seems like a darn cool feature.

[Cdn_Cuda]

The lip definitely adds stability, but may be an issue on round-bodied or non-WGP cockers. I’ve never had an issue with my CCM kits twisting.

Which level Slice kit did you go for? I ordered the premium kit last week.

[glaman5266]

Premium as well. Gotta have those color accents.

[bassninja]

I have one of these kits too, and I agree, the pump handle isn't the best. However the way it rides on bushings means that it should be very easy to 3d print a different style handle, which I might try doing in the future.

[Cdn_Cuda]

They have open sourced files on their website for the handles so should be able to get one printed up.

[Cunha]

I really like the handle, but mine wasn't all scratched up, not that it matters.

What I don't like is that they use a large mounting block so that they can get away with only having 1 guide rod size which mounts like a standard autococker banjo bolt. On their mini and karni and rezzy kits there is no drawback but on the standard cocker kits I think its a downgrade from others that mount closer to flush.

[Cdn_Cuda]

Surprisingly my CCM kit’s front block is very close to the same length as the Drift Kit. The Drift Kit is much chunkier, but pretty close to the same length. New CCM kits have a small pump plate now than what I have on my Black Magic.

[Cunha]

CCM changed the guide rod to remove the tooling area and large alumimum base yours has and now have an allen head on the end of the rod instead.

The plate is the same though just the rod that adds all that meat to yours.

But that change has been since like 09 or earlier.

[Cdn_Cuda]

I was wondering about that because it's way nicer to have the allen head on the pump rod and seems like an easy fix for CCM. I haven't done a custom build since the early 2000s, so I'm more than a little behind the times. Fixing that this year though!