Ok, i have heard of gold power tubes, red power tubes, DOP A5 Performance Tube, Is one better than the other or do they do different jobs, i was going to get a DOP Performance tube, but now im confused?
HELP

i read where someone took a few different 'tubes and chrono'd, checked for consistency and accuracy (measured by i believe shot grouping) at varying distances and the bottom line was that the difference in 'tubes over the stock tube was negligible. silly me, i didn't bookmark the page. i'm still annoyed about that because it was great data. ah well. are you running hpa? do you have a regulator of some sort other than the one on the bottle (if you're running hpa)? have you polished your internals (the marker body halves...there's an exceptional tutorial on how to do this on this site)? have you used paint with a good bore match to your barrel?

all these things will increase efficiency, ie., feet per second consistency and accuracy.

what kind of setup do you have?

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found it. compliments of this same site i think? same name different design........hmmmmmm?? well, compliments of a5ownersgroup.com and Telman2:

Scientific Side by side comparison of aftermarket power tubes and also of gun oils
Hey all. Sorry for the delay, but I was working 14-16 hour days 5-6 days a week this summer, and I bartended the on the ones I wasn't working there. So lets say I highly do not recommend it. With that aside, it looks like its time for a new addition of "Cavalry's Corner". Laugh.

Comparison of Aftermarket Power Tubes

The first test involves comparison of the aftermarket power tubes. I compared the stock bolt to the DOP silver power tube (with FVA), the JCS Red Power tube (with FVA), and the JCS Gold power tube (without FVA).

Testing was preformed at the University of Calgary Mechanical Engineering - Concrete Lab. The lab was closed for outside access, and as always, I have to send a special thank you out to Dr. S.

The same A-5 was used for all tests, and the marker was attached to a lab bench with vice-grips. The A-5 had a LPK, Modified Flatline barrel, CP Regulator (long bottom) (405-415 psi), e-grip (semi-auto with max ROF), STOCK FRONT BOLT, and a JCS trigger with permanent "q-tip" mod. The A-5 ran was also using HPA. The velocity was adjusted to be 285 feet/second (on single firing on manual mode) for every test (if needed).

All factors were kept constant (as constant as could be for all tests). The A-5 was secured to a lab so human errors could be eliminated.

The A-5 was aimed at a target 100 feet away. Accuracy, ROF, ball breakage, and volume were recorded. Each test consisted of the average of two trials of 200 shots each. I would like to thank the COPL and CTFo for donation of paintballs and their continued support of our sport.

A device to detect the exact amount of sound was placed 5 meters in front of the gun, and to the side (Cyclone side), 15 degrees. This would insure the volume changes (if any) would be taken into account as heard from the person you are shooting at, well getting the device out of the line of fire. The lab itself has dampeners built into the walls (for obvious reasons) and as such made a great environment for this test to be preformed in. No noticeable echoes were encountered, so this extraneous information was not included when reporting information from this test.

Now to the good stuff

Stock Power Tube

ROF: 14.34 bps
Diameter of Spread: 7.13"
Breakage: None
Volume Recorded: -35dB to -31 dB

DOP Silver Power Tube (with FVA)

ROF: 14.32 bps
Diameter of Spread: 7.11"
Breakage: None
Volume Recorded: -29dB to -21 dB

JCS Red Power Tube (with FVA)

ROF: 14.32 bps
Diameter of Spread: 7.15"
Breakage: None
Volume Recorded: -27dB to -19 dB

JCS Gold Power Tube (without FVA)
ROF: 14.32 bps
Diameter of Spread: 7.04"
Breakage: None
Volume Recorded: -31dB to -26 dB


I would like to point out I tried to get the FVA power tubes flush with the adjustment screw (as flush as possible). I took a great deal of time in trying to minimize the air resistance in these tubes, and used the RVA only for velocity adjustment in each test. Further, no velocity adjustments had to be made during this test. The initial velocity adjustment held for each power tube installed into the A-5.

My conclusion is that yes, the placement of a FVA into the power tube can disturb airflow enough to affect accuracy. The sacrifice made though is in stealth. People will know where you are, as your gun will produce significantly more noise.


Performance of Gun oils

I was curious about the debate over gun oils, so I decided to investigate. I compared air machine oil (no name), to Hoppes #9, and Shocktech paintball gun oil.

I used an analytical balance, regular o-rings (from my rear bolt of the a-5 (LPK)), and the three oils.

I left the o-rings submerged in the oils for 1 month, then fired 2000 shots with them (, and used the balance again. Now these balances can pick up the weight of a fingerprint, so I think they are more then sufficient for this test.

All 3 o-rings came from Tippmann, and were not used prior to this test.

Air Machine Oil

Change in weight after 2000 shots: -0.000171 g

Hoppes#9

Change in weight after 2000 shots: -0.000168 g

Shocktech Paintball Gun Oil

Change in weight after 2000 shots: -0.000163 g


The error is in the last unit of weight were rounding took place.


My conclusion is that all three oils worked at the same level, and same performance, and that the detergents in Hoppes#9 had no effect on the degradation of the 0-ring of the rear bolt. Any difference observed could be due likely to the unique characteristics of each of the initial o-rings.

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Ok, im new to the sport so bare with me. I have the A5, Flatline Barrel, Palmer Male Stabilizer,RVA,HPA,R/T and thinking of the vortex MOD,QEV,and as said the DOP Perfomance Tube.Anything esle that will make this marker work better, money is no object so tell me all...

ok, well if your making a mil-sim gun then you would want a good stock, maybe a barrel shroud, and other goodies, if you are makeing a PAINTBALL gun, then a good sized drop forward, on/off asa , and a LPK(low pressure kit) and ummmm, get a new front bolt, the DOP powertube is fine, but i prefer the JCS red hot, as that is what i have, get a shocktech supafly 2 front bolt( the white one) or if you get a JCS red hot or Gold power tube, then the JCS front hexagonial bolt comes with them, and it works just great...

have fun spending rediculously amounts of money on your A-5

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in terms of marker durability and performance, i'd go with the vortex mod for shooting with that r/t and high rates of fire. it's sturdier than the stock cyclone components.

you will increase your cyclone's cycle rate if you add the qev to your list of add-ons.

you should read the article about how to use a flatline if you're new to this. paint match is very important to maximizing the effectiveness of the flatline. you can check that out here.

i'm assuming by your choice of armament that you're a looking at playing woodsball/scenario games?

if that is the case, i would go with a tac cap since you're new to the sport. playing with a tac cap (it holds 50 rounds max and can be cut down to hold less) you will have to make sound tactical decisions since you won't be able to dump paint in sustained fire fights. once you have sound tactics, pop that 200 round hopper back on there and you're good to go.

also you might consider the t2 offset hopper (opsgear, and actionvillage.com sell it) or an offset or stovepipe to get that hopper further removed from your sight picture. specialopspaintball.com sells the stovepipe and you can find the offset at the two sites mentioned earlier. only caveat with the offset and stovepipe is that they increase your markers profile considerably imho.

again, being new, if you don't already have one i would suggest a good vest or harness with hydration or you could use a camelbak thermobak type rig.

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Thanks for all the advice guys, keep it coming

I use the Red Hot power tube from JCS. I liked this one because I do not use a RVA(rear velocity adj). I had problems w/ my stock velocity screw always moving and screwing up my velocity. This unit has a locking velocity screw and you can still use the cyclone feed. The gold tube is OK if you have a RVA and do not want to mess w/ the FVA(front velocity adj). Then you only use the RVA. They also have one if you want to not use the cyclone. i don't understand why? They are good uprade and easy to install. When you install take the time to polish the internals of the marker. If you need help you can pm me. Always enjoy helping an A5 brother.

I would not spend the money on a new powertube unless the stock one broke.

Vortex and QEV would be great, given the ammount of shooting your gun is capable of.

If you really want to spend money on an internal mod, save a little more and get the LP kit. They actually give you performance benefits over stock parts. The R/T may not like it much, but people have said it is possible to run both. An E-grip would solve the problem, along with giving you more sustainable, consistent rates of fire over the R/T. It does require a bettery every so often, and batteries can mess things up...

I like the Tac-cap idea... little late for me, but you should give it a try. I just limit the paint that I carry in some games to help re-inforce good shooting habits.

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I want your messed up A5 recievers! Shoot me a PM if you have some!