I bought the Rapid Fire Valve to use on my Emek or 3M in place of an electric gun. At $44.95, it is a little pricey for just a valve to make your Emek or 3M shoot full auto. Considering that you can cut an oring slightly and get the same effect, I wasn't convinced I needed a valve to do this. But I bought one to have and test out. I finally got to go play with it this weekend and really see what it would do.
And.....I hated it.
But that's not to say I won't keep it or use it again. I did swap back to the stock valve about half way through the day to go back to my favorite Emek. But I didn't like the valve or the way it performed for the most part. It's supposed to allow you to pull single pulls and get a semi shot. What I found was that it tends to shoot double shots more often than it does single shots. In fact, the only way I could get it to shoot single was to flick the trigger with my finger coming off the trigger completely. Anything other than a fast tap of the trigger releases more shots than you intend. I know you get one of these because you want to shoot faster. On my Emek with a Hair45 V1 and upgraded setup, it was shooting at 11bps. A little too fast for legal play. I was hoping for around 8-10 max. I played a game or two with it and no refs were screaming I was shooting too fast. But it was ripping paint out when you hold the trigger down, slightly faster than it should. Maybe with the stock valve and not the higher performance Hair45 it would have been slightly slower. My buddy Alex also bought one and he has a Emek with the PE 3way and secret pin along with a double trigger. His was even faster yet. It was outshooting the IR2 hopper when he was ripping on it. We both noticed it also seemed to make the single shots using the double trigger even faster. This was probably due to the valve allowing more shots and if the trigger was down and didn't come back up it was shooting auto, along with the extra shots being produced by the extra hits to the trigger since you are using both fingers. Whatever the reason, it was insanely fast. We both swapped back out by the halfway point of the day.
So why would I keep it? Why would I want to use this? The short answer is, it's way cheaper than an electric in my bag that only gets used out of guilt. I don't want to buy a marker that doesn't ever get used. At $45 it's way cheaper than getting a used marker that would likely cost $400+ just to sit unused the majority of it's life. Plus, there's not many times where I feel the need to shoot insane amounts of paint these days. I hit plenty of people Sunday with the stock valve, shooting one shot at a time. With the Rapid Fire, I wasted a lot more paint and hit less. I don't think the shot dropped the same shooting the Emek at a higher rate of speed. I think the shots were a little more inconsistent than I am used to. But, for those rare times where I want to blast paint down the field, this is a fast and easy fix. I put the valve in and shoot to my hearts content. Then I swap it back (about a 2 minute process) and I'm back to single shot bliss. I don't feel guilty with a $45 part that doesn't get used much. It sits in my gun bag, maybe forgotten, and it's ok. When or if I need it, I swap it out and go. I thought about putting it in my secondary gun to have for an even faster swap, but there's really no reason. The swap is fast and easy.
So the final verdict is it's ok. It does shoot auto when you hold the trigger down. I would say to use this on a stock Emek if you want something to shoot full auto and you don't care about wasting paint. The Emek itself is one of the best markers produced in the last 5+ years. It shoot fantastic, works like an old tractor and can be as fancy or plain as you like. But adding this valve will allow you to get electric like performance out of it. The downside is, you lose the finesse and refinement of the single shot Emek. You waste a lot more paint and you lose your ability to really single shot easily when the occasion calls for it.
Disclaimer, I do have a liquid paintball trigger shoe and about every other upgrade you can get for the Emek on my test gun. It's not stock by any means and maybe a stock setup would produce a better result for single shots, but most people that have Emeks have upgraded the valve, trigger, barrel and pops... Mine is no different and an average setup for Emeks. I didn't try it on my stock 3M, but I might try that next time to see how it handles single shots.
Quick video demo
And.....I hated it.
But that's not to say I won't keep it or use it again. I did swap back to the stock valve about half way through the day to go back to my favorite Emek. But I didn't like the valve or the way it performed for the most part. It's supposed to allow you to pull single pulls and get a semi shot. What I found was that it tends to shoot double shots more often than it does single shots. In fact, the only way I could get it to shoot single was to flick the trigger with my finger coming off the trigger completely. Anything other than a fast tap of the trigger releases more shots than you intend. I know you get one of these because you want to shoot faster. On my Emek with a Hair45 V1 and upgraded setup, it was shooting at 11bps. A little too fast for legal play. I was hoping for around 8-10 max. I played a game or two with it and no refs were screaming I was shooting too fast. But it was ripping paint out when you hold the trigger down, slightly faster than it should. Maybe with the stock valve and not the higher performance Hair45 it would have been slightly slower. My buddy Alex also bought one and he has a Emek with the PE 3way and secret pin along with a double trigger. His was even faster yet. It was outshooting the IR2 hopper when he was ripping on it. We both noticed it also seemed to make the single shots using the double trigger even faster. This was probably due to the valve allowing more shots and if the trigger was down and didn't come back up it was shooting auto, along with the extra shots being produced by the extra hits to the trigger since you are using both fingers. Whatever the reason, it was insanely fast. We both swapped back out by the halfway point of the day.
So why would I keep it? Why would I want to use this? The short answer is, it's way cheaper than an electric in my bag that only gets used out of guilt. I don't want to buy a marker that doesn't ever get used. At $45 it's way cheaper than getting a used marker that would likely cost $400+ just to sit unused the majority of it's life. Plus, there's not many times where I feel the need to shoot insane amounts of paint these days. I hit plenty of people Sunday with the stock valve, shooting one shot at a time. With the Rapid Fire, I wasted a lot more paint and hit less. I don't think the shot dropped the same shooting the Emek at a higher rate of speed. I think the shots were a little more inconsistent than I am used to. But, for those rare times where I want to blast paint down the field, this is a fast and easy fix. I put the valve in and shoot to my hearts content. Then I swap it back (about a 2 minute process) and I'm back to single shot bliss. I don't feel guilty with a $45 part that doesn't get used much. It sits in my gun bag, maybe forgotten, and it's ok. When or if I need it, I swap it out and go. I thought about putting it in my secondary gun to have for an even faster swap, but there's really no reason. The swap is fast and easy.
So the final verdict is it's ok. It does shoot auto when you hold the trigger down. I would say to use this on a stock Emek if you want something to shoot full auto and you don't care about wasting paint. The Emek itself is one of the best markers produced in the last 5+ years. It shoot fantastic, works like an old tractor and can be as fancy or plain as you like. But adding this valve will allow you to get electric like performance out of it. The downside is, you lose the finesse and refinement of the single shot Emek. You waste a lot more paint and you lose your ability to really single shot easily when the occasion calls for it.
Disclaimer, I do have a liquid paintball trigger shoe and about every other upgrade you can get for the Emek on my test gun. It's not stock by any means and maybe a stock setup would produce a better result for single shots, but most people that have Emeks have upgraded the valve, trigger, barrel and pops... Mine is no different and an average setup for Emeks. I didn't try it on my stock 3M, but I might try that next time to see how it handles single shots.
Quick video demo
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