Another Alpha Black Tactical question

[eadricx]

OK, so I finally got to take my new gun to the local field and play a few games. Initial impression is pretty good.

After a few games I had the CO2 refilled. The next game the gun stopped firing, acted like it was out of air. After the game I noticed that the release valve was loose.

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f340/Eadricx/remoteline.jpg

So I tightened it up and had the tank refilled just in case.

The next game I received the same indications. I was able to fire several rounds, then the gun acted like it was out of air.

Any help on figuring this out will be greatly appreciated. I fully accept that I am a newbie as far as paintball is concerned and am probably just doing something wrong.

[tonycon]

it's the CO2. what was the outside temp when you were playing? at high rates of fire/when it's cold the co2 will actually freeze up and no fire! you should look into a good HPA tank...no freezing problems and the marker will shoot more consistently at the chrono.

[eadricx]

Not entirely sure on temp, but today is similar to yesterday and its about 69 degrees F now.

[Orpackrat]

If you tighten the valve on the remote line all the way, it cuts off the air supply to the gun. Screw the knob down on the remote line about 1/2 turn past when you hear the line pressurize.

[eadricx]

I'll give that a try Orpackrat.

Though, I'm pretty sure for the first couple games I played that the release valve was tightened all the way down, and it worked fine for those games. Maybe I was mistaken though.

[Corrupted355]

If you tighten the valve on the remote line all the way, it cuts off the air supply to the gun. Screw the knob down on the remote line about 1/2 turn past when you hear the line pressurize.
That's exactly what I was gonna say. The best way to test if this is the situation is to air up the gun and remote line just like you always have. Take a few shots until you start to get the shootdown you were talking about. Now wait 30 seconds to a minute and fire the marker again. If it fires normally, you've got that valve cranked down too hard, and you're only getting a tiny amount of airflow, so it will take a while to charge up to full pressure. If it doesn't shoot at all, it's because you've blocked air flow completely. Back off the valve 1/2 to 3/4 turn and go to town.

I ended up modifying my remote line to prevent this, but doing so takes an intimate knowledge of how it works. It's not difficult, it's just something you might not want to try until you know the part better.

[eadricx]

Thank you all for the advice, I will try the remote line valve thing first.

Quick question, if the valve is too loose, can that cause loss of air (or the tank emptying quicker)?

[Corrupted355]

You can only empty the tank as quickly as the gun can shoot. The position of that valve has nothing to do with how much air your marker can use, unless it's restricting air, which it's not supposed to do (and as appears to be your current issue).

But to answer your question, if the valve is too loose, you either won't get enough air, or you will fail to turn the air on at all.

If you look at the end of the tank, you will see a brass pin. This is the tank's valve. This valve operates on an open/close basis; it is not designed to throttle (ie: be used to control air flow). Pushing this pin in opens the valve and releases air (or CO2 in this case) from the tank.

The way your remote line works is simple. The remote fitting seals on the threads of the bottle, and that screw on the back essentially comes down and pushes the brass tank valve in. First, you screw the bottle into the fitting, and make sure that the screw on the back of the fitting is backed out all the way (or almost all the way, as some of these screws will come out if you unscrew the too far). When the tank is seated all the way, then you can start to tighten that screw on the back. At first, it will turn very easily, with little to no resistance. Then at some point, you will notice an increase in effort to keep turning. This means that you have started to open the tank valve. I used to only open the valve 2-3 turns, but you can also use the method mentioned above, where you keep opening the valve until it stops, then back it off.

[eadricx]

Thanks Corrupted355, a very informative answer.