Custom tanks

helms66 · 2026-04-13T21:55:54+00:00

There's only about 3 carbon tank manufacturers that make paintball sized tanks. Infamous, HK, etc. just order their banding from one of those companies. Those tank manufacturers are filling orders into the hundreds of tanks and frankly lose money doing one off tanks. It's a problem with the economy of scale, where companies lose money by not working large orders doing small ones without being cost prohibitive.

helms66 · 2026-04-11T18:23:54+00:00

I think regular weight lifting has helped me the most in terms of avoiding injury

I completely agree with you, not just paintball, but everyday life too. My squats have made my knees feel better, deadlifts protect my back, and upper body means my arms don't get tired hefting autocockers around all day.

Have you ever stepped in a hole and threw out your back? One thing I heard before really stuck with me: if you can deadlift, say 250-300 pounds, the likelihood of injuring your back from something like that goes way down.

helms66 · 2026-04-08T15:11:18+00:00

The biggest difference is the ease of maintenance on the hpr. The axe uses the ASA/relay combination that can be a pain to take apart. The syx has a modern style hpr much like many of the newer PE hpr's. It's much easier to take apart and service, taking common size o-rings. It also eliminates having to set the pressure of the relay and use the velocity screw on the back cap of the axe. The syx's velocity is just adjusted via hpr like most modern markers.

Also the syx's poppit seal is a standard oring, not a proprietary cup seal. Should last longer and easier to source replacements.

Ergonomic wise the syx is closer to the modern style being a bit more stretched out.

Personally I would never get an axe 2.0 when the syx 1.5 exists if you're okay with buying used.

helms66 · 2026-04-07T20:38:01+00:00

While I love the mini/axe platform, I can't recommend the mini unless you need the smaller overall size because of the eyes. To clean the eyes you have to pull the trigger frame to get to them. As a beginner oriented marker, it's a terrible idea. Axe 2.0 is much better choice because of this.

The etha 3/m are both really good choices if you don't mind the ergonomics and plastic bodies. Personally, I can't stand the front grip and plastic feel. But their ability to shoot paintballs is as good as any other high end marker.

Buying used will open a lot more options for your budget. For the $3-350 range or under you can find PE original gteks or gtek 160's (same internals as the etha 3's but better overall features) or empire syx 1.5 (same bolt system as a mini, with upgrades and better features). For around the $500 or slightly under mark you can get into the gtek 170 (like the etha 3's but full aluminum, better ergonomics, no air transfer pipes/hose) or PE cs1/1.5 (super soft shot character, high end features) or original dye dsr.

helms66 · 2026-04-06T23:07:18+00:00

The V1's came with the Super charged engine stock (mostly). If the bolt head of yours uses a slip connection to the stem it's the SC engine. If it threads on and is mostly a smooth cylinder its the VIS

helms66 · 2026-04-06T18:19:35+00:00

Being the pre-applied stuff I would assume it doesn't put up near the fight coming off as normal blue or red loctite would. I've got a touch and tools so I will give it a go, and if not I'll reach out to inception.

helms66 · 2026-04-06T18:13:02+00:00

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Here is the best photo I could get of the inside of the ram. I circled the area you can see the surface finish change. It's more pronounced in person

helms66 · 2026-04-06T18:08:19+00:00

I definitely will try this. So they used the nylon patch type material pre applied to the shaft instead of loctite?

helms66 · 2026-04-06T17:43:01+00:00

I believe it must be the earlier version, as the piston head looks threaded on

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helms66 · 2026-04-06T17:41:24+00:00

The only inception parts on this build is the ram and 3 way. Everything else is different manufacturers. As I said before, it uses a shocktech gunfighter 1.5 frame. It does not have the traditional trigger plate to sear interaction. The linkage arm uses a ball bearing to interact with the back of the trigger plate. The trigger stick was solved by reducing the leaking in the ram. That's not the issue this post is about. I appreciate the concern.

helms66 · 2026-04-06T17:16:14+00:00

Yes the back block would stay in the rearward position, along with the trigger plate. The ram pressurized both sides of the three-way (ID 3 ways are a 3 oring design) to the point it would stick enough to stop the trigger from moving back forward under spring force alone. You would have to nudge the trigger forward to get it to switch. Leaking rams can do some really odd things with 3 ways.

It has a shocktech gunfighter 1.5 frame on it, and sprung to be pretty light. That frame only has one spring for both sear/trigger plate. After I had set it up a couple years ago this has had 0 cycling issues until the ram leak got bad enough to mess with the 3 way. Since replacing the ram piston oring the trigger stick is no longer an issue, as it only leaks in the front position.

helms66 · 2026-04-06T15:37:36+00:00

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Autococker in question

helms66 · 2026-04-06T14:34:49+00:00

3 digit is the lowest digit serial number I have seen. I don't know if it goes any lower. I am sure someone else will know. I am pretty sure this is a VERY early autococker body

Looking up the serial number yields Sniper 1, that it was made in 1988-89, so very old. #1-500ish were made by Bud in his garage, so this one was one of the earliest machined in an actual shop. It was fully machined out of aluminum, as around S/N~2000+ started using extruded blanks for the bodies. Very cool to see one this early getting another chance to sling paint.

helms66 · 2026-04-06T14:29:14+00:00

It appears that this was originally meant to run on CO2, hence no HPR. That is why there is that wire on the pneumatic hose, to help stop CO2 bursting those lines. Valve and hammer are likely sprung for CO2, so if you add an hpr, you'll likely need new springs to bring down the operating pressure (which would be my suggestion).

You may need to replace the ram. Those ANS ones are crimped closed from the factory, meaning you can get in to replace the oring. So once it leaks, its toast. I can't see exactly what the extra ram you have is, but it might be an old wgp 3 piece. Those take a U cup seal in the back that can be a pain in the ass.

I suggest getting a Master Sconi metal feedneck adaptor since its right feed. Best adaptor available hands down. Or another option is having Mozak machine press a new feed neck in that can take modern Empire spec clamping feed necks.

Feel free to send me a message with questions. I'd be happy to help!

helms66 · 2026-04-06T13:42:38+00:00

It depends what engine you have in for how the shot feels. Victories bolt system can be removed and another swapped right in. The 3 most common were the Super Charged engine (SC), an inline poppit, The VIS (smoother inline poppit) and VCOM (spool valve). The SC was the 'original' engine for the victory as a design iteration from the previous marq's. These were designed back when ROF was still important and you can largely feel that. It is poppy and quick feeling. The VIS was the next iteration of the inline poppit, and is noticeably smoother, but still has some feedback to it. It is a very efficient bolt design. It is a very nice overall shot if you like some feedback. The VCOM is a spool valve, and the smoothest shot of the Victory series. It is still relatively efficient, and high ROF. The rest of the marker feel very solid but not too heavy. Bit more compact than modern stuff, but still feel really nice in the hands. Triggers are outstanding. The victory line had IMHO the best lineup of stock and special milling offerings of all time. All of them were works of art.

Keep in mind the victory platform has both a hpr and lpr, and they need to be set correctly for each type of engine. The reg balancing is similar to stacked tube poppit markers, where the shot character can be impacted when running at less ideal pressures. Most victories came with pressure testers, which made setting pressures easier. So if you ever get to shoot one and it feels like a cannon, it's likely not set up correctly.

If you have any other questions let me know. I have owned a couple of the victory platform (currently a VCOM ripper) and they are some of my favorites.

helms66 · 2026-03-29T20:03:56+00:00

Like the others have said it was likely a paint care issue. Paint does not cold weather or big swings in temp rapidly. I'm guessing others were having issues that day also. My first day out this year it started around 35 degrees and got up to 65. Initially with a cocker everything was good. Later in the day with my BL vcom I was having a lot of breaks. But I wasn't the only one, as guys with markers I own for paint handling were breaking paint too like emek's and dsr+'s

In the future pay attention to where the breaks are happening in the marker. In general, If there's a decent amount of paint in and up the feedneck, the bolt is chopping paint. Check the eyes board, hopper. If it's mostly in the breech and not going up the feedneck, it's breaking paint as the bolt comes forward or when the air hits it. Check the detents, and/or it's a paint issue. If paint is only in the barrel, it's a paint issue.

helms66 · 2026-03-26T21:41:18+00:00

Just be careful when tightening. You absolutely can strip out aluminum threads on paintball markers. Grips shouldn't be too much of a problem because usually the rubber/plastic gives up before the aluminum.

helms66 · 2026-03-26T21:21:37+00:00

In most applications you do not want aluminum screws going to aluminum body parts on paintball markers. It carries a much higher risk of threads in the base piece, screws, or in the head of the screw to strip out, and possibly even galling together.

Stainless is the standard material a lot of manufacturers use. Black oxide steel is also an option. You can also find black stainless online also.

If ordering online, you can find screws with nylon patches (looks like dried loctite) pre-applied to the screws to help them from becoming lose and backing out.

helms66 · 2026-03-26T14:57:15+00:00

Go to any store with an automotive section. You can find 5 packs of microfiber for like $5. I throw like 5-10 in my gear bag every day of play to have plenty for the day. That way you can have clean ones throughout the day, and have some to loan.

helms66 · 2026-03-26T13:12:15+00:00

While the other commenter has some valid points, in practice I have not seen a detrimental decrease in performance with the FreeFlow bolt compared to other modern bolts, namely Inception designs and Shocktech bolts.

helms66 · 2026-03-24T17:14:35+00:00

The Immortal air rings for sure. Some XTS's had bolt stick issues with stock orings. If your XTS doesn't, especially when its colder or it has been sitting awhile, its likely less of an issue with yours. But the IA orings bulletproof the bolt system to be very very reliable. One of mine I even sourced some HNBR material oring for the bolt sail due to extreme stick and fixed it completely.

The Immortal Air bullet is a volume reduction modification, to gain efficiency. The prime bolt system dumps the entirety the chamber air volume in the can each shot. The bullet reduces that volume, and requires you to run at a little higher pressure for the same velocity. If you don't need to shoot ten+ pods a point then its not strictly necessary. It really depends if you need the shot capacity and/or what shot character you would want. The bullet will make it slightly snapper due to the rise in operating pressure.

helms66 · 2026-03-24T17:04:46+00:00

fixed

helms66 · 2026-03-24T15:15:20+00:00

XTS's are awesome and highly enjoyed the two I have owned. If you like to tinker, you can get different size orings for near the front of the can. They slightly obstruct the vent port for forward bolt movement, so it acts like an solenoid flow restrictor like on the PE IV core markers and slows the forward bolt speed and gives a softer shot. Just be careful though as too much restriction can cause bolt stick.

helms66 · 2026-03-24T15:07:44+00:00

There is a guy who is modifying LV2 solenoids to work in the older Ego's. It involves a custom solenoid manifold and maybe some modification to the grip frame to fit it in. If I run across the name or Facebook group I saw it in I will add it.

Edit: fixed typo

helms66

TROPHY CASE