The small questions you've never asked.

[The Inflicted]

Breech drop...? 1st time hearing this term lol
why the hell would you want the ball to be forced over a ledge like that???

It's not that you want the ledge to be there, it's that the stepdown from hammer/bolt size to the .68 inner diameter of the barrel is a vestigial design attribute from the original Nelspot. Guns that more closely follow the Nelspot pattern like the Phantom retain that original bolt design (and thus the breech drop "step") whereas arguably more "evolved" designs like the Line SI Bushmaster and Trracer go with the bore-drop pattern, which was indeed marketed as an improvement over the original breech-drop setup.

Two arguable drawbacks of a bore-drop design is that the longer bolt face necessitated by it makes the overall gun longer by nearly an inch, and that this also has a slightly detrimental effect on efficiency due to the longer powertube needed to deliver gas to the ball.

[Knuckle Dragger]

To buy more paint and squeegees...

[Knuckle Dragger]

I think there might be a psychological reason behind it. Possibly to draw men around the article of clothing and think about “hmmmm, how will that fit my wife/girlfriend?” Maybe it’s just my experience.

[Tarsun2]

Breech drop...? 1st time hearing this term lol
why the hell would you want the ball to be forced over a ledge like that???

[DocsMachine]

Why do mannequins have nipples?

-Gives you a place to hang your keys while trying on some pants.

Doc.

[The Inflicted]

What's the difference between bore-drop and breech-drop? I always wondered that but always forgot to look it up. And I just got done with work so right now I'm lazy, lol.

[glaman5266]

"The Viking just used the same body as the excal, which needed 3 tubes because it was closed bolt and thus used 2 rams. One ram to cycle the valve, one to cycle the bolt."

I never knew the Excal was closed bolt! Learn something new every day.

[glaman5266]

What's the difference between bore-drop and breech-drop? I always wondered that but always forgot to look it up. And I just got done with work so right now I'm lazy, lol.

[Cdn_Cuda]

There used to be a stripper’s clothing store near where I worked called Dare to Wear. It’s mannequins had huge breasts with very pointed nipples and I assume it was exactly as you mentioned, so you’d know how you would look bra-less in the outfits. I miss walking by that store....

[Jordan]

I'm guessing the mold material is cold?

[homerj]

Why do mannequins have nipples? Are there enough women that want to know what a particular shirt would look like on them if they didn’t wear a bra? And if that’s the case then why don’t they put....bulges....on male mannequins?

[The Inflicted]

-The rest have been answered, so I'll take this one. And it has to do mainly with part strength and wear. A standard end-on poppet valve like a Spyder, 'Cocker or PGP basically puts the bulk of the force in-line with the valve stem, it's strongest direction. The stem can be light, and the valve made of virtually anything, from aluminum to brass to stainless.The hammer, too, doesn't have to be anything particularly amazing- mild steel, stainess, brass, etc.

A vertical valve, like the ThunderCat (which I think was the only example) basically pushes the valve poppet down from the side. It "wedges" it down. As such, the stem has to be considerably thicker and stronger to resist the bending force, plus you have to have hardened elements both at the tip of the stem and the 'wedge face' of the hammer. That's because it's not just a push, it's also a "scrubbing" action- the tip of the stem has to slide down the 'ramp' of the hammer.

If both elements weren't hardened, they'd wear rapidly and eventually render the gun unworkable.

AND, it's really not worth it. There's no benefit to be had. Performance isn't improved, consistency isn't improved, gas efficiency is likely reduced, etc. So it costs more to produce, makes for a more complex- and thus expensive- body assembly, and offers no real benefits.

Doc.

The only real benefit I can think of is form-factor, which I assume is why the First Strike T15 uses the layout.

[dartamon]

To add to Doc's post - Spyder threads also became common among cheaper guns. LAPCO made their thread adapters to Spyder threads because it was very likely that someone with a Stingray or a Raptor would have access to Spyder-threaded guns, but not Cocker threaded ones.

[DavidBoren]

Thank you for the science.

I was just thinking that the vertical poppet offers different packaging solutions. And the use of a cam/lever seems like a way to reduce the wear associated with the configuration.

The ZAP ZXS600E is also a vertical poppet.

[DocsMachine]

Why weren't vertical poppet valves more popular?

-The rest have been answered, so I'll take this one. And it has to do mainly with part strength and wear. A standard end-on poppet valve like a Spyder, 'Cocker or PGP basically puts the bulk of the force in-line with the valve stem, it's strongest direction. The stem can be light, and the valve made of virtually anything, from aluminum to brass to stainless.The hammer, too, doesn't have to be anything particularly amazing- mild steel, stainess, brass, etc.

A vertical valve, like the ThunderCat (which I think was the only example) basically pushes the valve poppet down from the side. It "wedges" it down. As such, the stem has to be considerably thicker and stronger to resist the bending force, plus you have to have hardened elements both at the tip of the stem and the 'wedge face' of the hammer. That's because it's not just a push, it's also a "scrubbing" action- the tip of the stem has to slide down the 'ramp' of the hammer.

If both elements weren't hardened, they'd wear rapidly and eventually render the gun unworkable.

AND, it's really not worth it. There's no benefit to be had. Performance isn't improved, consistency isn't improved, gas efficiency is likely reduced, etc. So it costs more to produce, makes for a more complex- and thus expensive- body assembly, and offers no real benefits.

Doc.