[dhill0413]

I have worked up the motivation to once again type my upgrade thread...and here goes...

For either the A-5 or the 98c, you'll need either Compressed Air(N2, CA, Hpa...all pretty much the same) or Co2. Co2 is what most people use, so I'll start there.

Co2:
To make Co2 as effective and frost free as possible, here are a few things youll want to get. An expansion chamber will give the Co2 more time and space to expand, thereby keeping liquid co2 out of the gun. For the 98c, you WILL NEED a vertical adapter to put on an expansion chamber, which cost about $20. A good X-chamber is the ACI 4 and 6 stage chambers,and beyond that i do not have any exceptional chambers to recommend. Regulators, like the Palmer's Stabilizer, will help regulate the pressure, but cost about $90 or so. The Palmers is the best regulator for co2 you can buy, and is worth it if you are serious about keeping your co2 under control. Anti-syphon tubes are one of the most effective ways of keeping liquid out of your gun. These can be installed at your local proshop(I dont recommend doing it yourself.) To save time, bring your gun setup to the shop with you, as they will need the ASA you use to figure out how to install the anti-syphon. Remote lines are another way of reducing liquid, but only if you are compfortable will the tank on your back or around your waist. If you dont want to buy any of these, simply running your tank at an angle(with the valve at the highest point) will help reduce liquid and spikes in velocity.

Compressed Air:
For Tippmann guns, you will need a red, or HIGH output tank for your tippmann. Some good, low-cost tanks are made by Crossfire and PMI. Make sure it is a HIGH pressure output tank. After that, thats all you need to run a nitro tank on your tippmann. A regulator will help with some efficiency, but is not in my opinion worth the money. If you are interested in increasing efficiency, a regulator could help. As with the co2, the Palmers Stabilizer is a good reg for nitro, but again is not necessary with tippmanns.

The Tippmann Low-Pressure Kit is a way to make your tippmann into a low pressure gun. The only real advantage to it is that you can use brittler paint, but other then that I advise against getting this upgrade, simply because it is a waste of money.

Barrels:
In my opinion, the first thing anyone that has recently bought a tippmann should do is buy a new barrel. Tippmann stock barrels are good for little more than a paperweight. Here are a few very good mid-priced barrels: Custom Products 1-piece, J&J ceramic, Lapco Bigshot, and the Smart Parts Teardrop. While the first three are just as good as barrels twice their price, the Teardrop is at the lower end of these, and i would personally recommend getting the CP or the Lapco barrel.
If you'd like to spend a little more, you can get a bigger name brand, but you wont get much better than a CP or Bigshot. Some upper range barrels that are worth the price are the Smart Parts All-American, along with the Dye Boomstick and Ultralite. Even higher prices can bring you a barrel kit, but for most of us, this isnt necessary. In case you plan on going pro with your tippmann, get an Evil pipe kit, Empire barrel kit, Smart Parts Freak Kit, or one of many other barrel kits available. Just remember this, it doesnt matter how much your barrel costs, what determines accuracy is paint to barrel match.
Some of the flatline fanatics probably noticed i didnt say a word about the flatline. That's because the Flatline is not like other barrels. It puts backspin on the paintballs, giving them a very flat trajectory and creating a much farther range than other paintballs. This is a very good choice if you play woodsball, but in speedball and more tournament oriented games, i would suggest against the flatline, simply because other barrels can give you better accuracy in those closer distances.


Drop Forwards:
There are an incredulous amount of drop forwards on the market right now, so i will address them in general. Since tippmanns are long guns, a drop forward is a nice thing to have on any tippmann. Now, for the 98c, you will need an additional elbow hose connection to make the drop forward work with your setup. With the A-5, you will need the Grip Adaptor Block($10-15) that is specifically for the A-5, and you will again need another elbow connection.


Hoppers:
This section is for the 98c only, because the A-5 comes with the Cyclone feeder which is as good a hopper as youll need for the A-5. Two good gravity hoppers are the Empire Reloader and the 12V Revolution. Both are capable of 11-12 bps sustained, and are similar in durability. The Empire is sound activated and rotates every time the gun is fired, whereas the Revolution has a sensor that senses when there is a gap in the feed neck, and will rotate accordingly. Maybe those 2 hoppers can't keep up with your 98c, in this case, you should look into a Egg hopper or a Halo B or an Empire Reloader B...all of which are capable of feeding over 17bps and some up to 21bps.


Firepower:
The easiest and cheapest way to get a few more bps out of your gun is to invest in a double trigger. They're only $20-25 and make your gun more compfortable and allow you to pull the trigger a little faster.

One of kits here is needed if you wish to make your Tippmann into a high firing machine. The Response Trigger is made for both the A-5 and 98c. This upgrade uses excess gas to reset the trigger, and when you sweetspot it, you can unleash full-auto bursts of 14-15bps.
The E-grip is an electronic sear-tripping upgrade for the A-5. It has an adjustable rate of fire(up to 15bps) and has different firing modes(Semi auto, 3shot burst, full-auto, response, and turbo)
The E-bolt is a fully electropneumatic upgrade for the 98c. It costs over $200 and you are better off spending the money elsewhere. However, if you are bent on buying one, the kit by Ballistic Sports is much better than the Tippmann e-bolt and i would suggest getting the BS E-bolt. The E-bolt has all the firing modes of the e-grip.


Well...thats it for now. There are always more upgrades, but i listed and explained the ones most people would like to get and the ones that are most beneficial. Stocks, sights, and other upgrades are available to those that want them, but in here is the crucial upgrades that anyone with a tippmann should consider.

I'll leave this thread open to questions...please no flaming, this is a safe haven for any/all newbie questions about upgrades, and im sure Brian(Lord Headley) will delete anyones posts that include flaming.

Ask away...

-Dan

[Mobie.Uk]

i have a 98c am going to buy a 14" Sniper Barrel(£37),Through Gas Expansion chamber,(£65),Stock (£75) And a Scope :-) but its pretty expensive in ukuf

[dhill0413]

get a cp one piece instead of the sniper barrel, and skip the scope and stock, use your tank as a stock. get adouble trigger and nitro instead

[TIPP_Flatliner]

all this stuff you mention like the double triggers and drop fowards...

are they available only in the 98 custom or in a old school model 98 as well???

[dhill0413]

double triggers you need to saw the trigger guard off the original 98

drop forwards can go right onto the m98 like the custom.

[paintthecatBLUE]

is it possible to put an expansion chamber and a drop forward on my custom 98 and still have room for a double trigger? just wanting to know before i buy all this stuff, only to find out there isnt enough room on my gun

[Ryan_Page]

oh yeah.

[Phuxeaou]

just wondering how hard is the r/t upgrade for a 98c?

edit: also, the bolt- i was wondering if mine will burn at high rates of fire with the r/t? my stock bolt on my excelerator 5.0 would smell of burning metal when i maxed out the speed and marked the internals no matter how much lube i used. anyways, will i ever encounter this prob with the 98c stock front or back bolt and if so what's a good replacement?

[paintthecatBLUE]

i dont know, ive never seen or used one myself but i think its just a matter of installing a new power tube (take out two screw and voila) and then putting in the response trigger, and a slot for this is already built into the 98c. in the old m98 you would have to drill out part of the reciever or something for the response trigger. but you said you had a 98c so it should be fairly easy. someone correct me if im wrong

[Smitty]

Installing the RT is a Snap. You have to drill one hole, get the valve out of the stock power tube and put it inside the RT powertube. The rest of the installation is total drop in. If anybody needs help drop me a PM and we'll get together on AIM and I will talk you thru it.

[Phuxeaou]

can you drill with a regular power drill?

[Smitty]

yup, look on the reciever half that the feed neck is on you will see a small circular indention right above the grip. That is where you will drill the hole. You can drill it out with any standard drill bit. Make sure you dont drill it out too big.

[nuke_the_whales]

In a thread b4, i said i was getting 300-400$ or so from my grandparents... well, they came and were REALLY generous and gave me 800$. Now, dont flame me if theres a thread about prices but how much is an EGG hopper thing and an expansion chamber thingy.

PLZ DONT FLAME ME, IM NOT TALKING ABOUT WHAT UPGRADES TO GET, I JUST NEED THE PRICE ON THOSE TWO THINGS!

thx

[dhill0413]

egg2's are around $60 or 65...depending on sites you see, pm me for agood one.

xchambers are around 30-40 depending on the type.

with 800 you should save it, or sell the tippy and buy a higher end gun

[n00bshooter]

you said the 98C needed a elbow hose connection to put a drop forward on. whats that?

[dhill0413]

its called the vertical adapter...available at just about any paintball website excluding xpaintball.com

its costs about 20 bucks.

[disazterbound]

do u really need the vert adapter? a friend has a tippy and he just added the drop to the asa, then put the drop on the gun.

[dhill0413]

vert adapter is only needed if you want an xchamber,reg, etc

drops dont need them

[disazterbound]

ok thats what i thought. just makin sure though. thanks

[EliteJAD]

I have the expansino chamaber on my gun, and I wanna throw on a drop forward too, will I need to buy a new hose to fit the new length from the tank to the chamber? Or can I just use the one i got with the chamber, or the default one on my tippy? It's a 98 custom. This is the drop forward... http://www.xpaintball.com/tip98dropfor.html