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Paintball Upgrades: AC Valves

Uprading A Favorite: Autococker Valves

One of the best ways to increase the efficiency of a marker is to smoothen and hone the inner air ways to allow for better air flow. Fortunetly for the public however you dont have to go to all the work of having to find the necessary maching tools just to increase the air flow and overall efficiency of a paintball marker, all we have to do is buy a replacement. Many markers can benefit from utilizing the massive aftermarket industry however none so much as the famous autococker design.

The autococker having been known for years as the most accurate marker and the only competition to the automag was loved and cherished for another characteristic of the autococker: replaceability. If you broke a 3-way or wore out your ram you could easily find replacements. Thats where many people found that the aftermarket can excel in improving the air economy of the autococker often times by as much as 40%. One outstanding valve is made by A.K.A.L.M.P. or AKA who produce the tornado valve and when combined with a nelson spring kit can produce a marker that can easily shoot more than a case of paint on one 68ci 4500psi fill. Other good autococker valves include the dye stainless steel model (like the one above), the (now defunct) FreeFlow valve, the Macdev series of autococker valves, the Shocktech Rat series and finally the Besales or Nexus valve.

Another thing to keep in mind is to have properly balanced springs, a good valve in an autococker with a bad combination of springs will only hurt a markers performance. Many autococker valves wont need to be totally open to allow air flow through to begin the cycle of firing a paintball and so a properly set up spring balance cant take advantage of this producing better results. A heavier main spring and slightly lighter valve spring will produce better results then the inverse conifguration. Many companies like Maddman and Chipley Custom Machine even include spring kits with their vavles. In terms of price the higher the price the better the performance in many cases. There are many ways to upgrade an autococker and the valve is just one part of the whole machine.