Shortening a Feed Neck?

[JeepDVLZ45]

I’ve been looking at my open class body for my phantom. The feed neck seems freakishly long..Is there a reason for the giraffe-like design?

It seems like it’s about an inch longer then it needs to be.
I like my hoppers tight to my marker (I do have a SC body as well, but I’ll probably switch back and forth depending on where/who I’m playing with),

Can I just shorten it? I’m a little concerned since the inside is beveled and I won’t be able to replicate it.

Or is there some thing I’m missing and it NEEDS to be that long?

I know there are quite a few Phantom Gurus here....I need some educating.

Thanks

[Jordan]

Long feednecks are generally for a taller ball-stack... more paint ready to feed that way vs. waiting for the hopper to catch up. Probably not that important with a pump.

Cut it, and use a file to bevel the inside edge.

[Chuck E Ducky]

That’s an older style center feed body they came without a clamping feedneck. I would trim it down and bevel like Jordan suggested. Measure from the bottom of the feedneck to the black plastic piece and remove that amount off the top of the feed stack so it fits flush with the plastic beauty ring. Re attach your Lapco feedneck and you will be good to go.

You can buy a center feed clamping open class body but it won’t match you ano. I would modify the one you have because finding one that dose match would be close to impossible and it’s going to be a more costly option as well.

Another option is to purchase an open class adapter for your stock class body. It’s basically a “Spider” style feedneck that attaches with one screw to your stock class body. This would allow you to switch from open class to stock class by removing one feedneck screw. I like to put a lil blue lock tight on the single screw especially if you plan on running a larger hopper on it. They tend to loosen up if you don’t. They can also be difficult to find because it’s a popular mod to have.

I would just trim the one you got honestly like Jordan suggested. That Lapco feedneck is going to be more secure and it’s easy to swap bodies out for Stock Class when you want to run that.

[Grendel]

If you are a regular user of the auto-trigger and using a non-forcefeed/non-agitating hopper I would leave the tube alone that is why the ball stack is there. If you are not a heavy user of the auto-trigger trim it down is perfectly reasonable.

[Chuck E Ducky]

The long stack was a popular design before force fed loaders. The long stack took advantage of the weight of the paint and gravity to feed faster and more consistent. With today’s hopper technology it’s not necessary especially for pump. But back then it was a popular mod or design. It’s was also a lot cheaper to manufacture. Shorting it up won’t hurt how it feeds. Especially if you set the hopper up properly in the feedneck when you put it on. Even today’s shake and shoot hoppers feed better then the hoppers from back in the day. For instance I have a Paintball DNA 50 round hopper that will shoot almost as fast as my revvy and just as consistent and it’s a grav fed. I use the CCI adapter that bolts to the stock class body when I play open class with my phantom.

Key to a good consistent feed with gravity hopper is you want the last ball in the stack of the feedneck to be half in the hopper and half in the stack. This prevents paint from laying against each other requiring agitation (the shake). Some of the more modern hoppers use trays or dimples in the hopper to keep this from happening but sometimes it just takes lifting the hopper in the feedneck a lil to completely eliminate grav fed jams. It won’t be an issue with the phantom because the amount of pressure it takes to AT a Phantom is more then enough shake, you need to shoot. While a Phantom will AT, even if your really jamming on it it’s not a super fast shooter. It’s just not meant to be.

[JeepDVLZ45]

Thanks everyone. This is all good stuff! I assumed the length of the feed neck had something to do with the ball diameter and how they last ball in the stack "sat" in the hopper. I guess I was pretty close!

I will probably make the cut taking into account how the last ball will sit in the feed neck. My stock class body isn't the green/silver anno, nor are many of my parts. I've been collecting slowly This marker will be going to to anno once I finish hoarding the rest of what I want/need... I will probably wait until next winter for anno so I can play with it this season.

[Chuck E Ducky]

Throw that Sweet spring feed you just on it and call it a day. I love my apocalypse feed.

[JeepDVLZ45]

It’s not a spring feed.....yet. It’s just the GEN3 FastPheed gate for now with a standard CCI 15 round feed tube

I really like it and can’t wait to use it. There are some fitment issues I need to work through - which I expected being 3D printed- , but they are nothing Earth-shattering.

[Chuck E Ducky]

Oh I got yah I picked up one of the spring feeds and they are super cool. I really like the setup.

[JeepDVLZ45]

The springpheed is on the X-mas list! But it hit the list well after Apoc was out of them.

That and an ICD lever changer.

It was real hard NOT to order one (lever changer) as soon as they became available again (last month?)

I have tendency to buy what I want when I want it....making gift giving VERY difficult. I held off and expressed how time sensitive that particular gift was!

Fingers crossed for X-mas. 🤞🏻🤞🏻

[SignOfZeta]

The ones they sell today are slightly shorter but not a lot, probably by less than a ball.

I would leave it as it. One more ball in the stack is just going to make it feed that much better and it’s a somewhat unique item at this point.

[Cunha]

The best way to use those feednecks is to TAPE the neck of a split shell loader like a VL200

Then JAM that vl200 on top of the feed tube. Feed tube is male hopper is female.

It works best and is optimal for the setup you have here. Non split shell hoppers also work.

[JeepDVLZ45]

The inside bevel make a lot more sense.

I have an old W.P.G. Ammo Box (never used) I planned to run, but I’m surprised how small the feed neck on the loader is (doesn’t fit any of my feed elbows.)

I guess I’ll just pick up a 50 or 100 round split shell and see how it goes...much easier then cutting the neck down and it’ll still keep the hopper low.

[Grendel]

Ammo box hoppers are shite always were truly not worth the plastic they were made from, back when they were new most players just threw them away or stuck them in a box unused.

[chrislognshot]

do not cut down if you going to auto-trigger on that phantom. since made to have long neck to stop the double feed and chopping when pumping. if not going to auto trigger then cut down. long neck for faster rate of fire when you are shooting

[JeepDVLZ45]

I went with Cunha’s recommendation and picked up a 50 round split shell hopper.

I reamed out the neck of it a bit and then heated and stretched it a bit to fit snugly over the long feed neck. Small barrel clamp and it’s ready to rock.