Battery compartment hopper mod

[East Milford]

Here is an idea id like to share incase anyone is interested in a way to increase there BB fill capacity.
You must have an external battery pack for this mid. Additionally this mod makes it possible to better seal your mag and barrel (such as a Ziatsev mod).
Its quite straightforward and can be improved upon.  Drill a hole so that BBs can fill from your unused battery compartment into your hopper magazine. You can go further and hone out the compartment to increase capacity. The best thing about this mod in my opinion, is that the breach connection can be securely fixed so that no air escapes and allignment stays perfect.

Also, another way of completing a better seal is to make an external fill assembly in the magazine bidy so that it doesn't need to be removed for re-filling. Thus allowing you to make a more securely sealed breach. Here are some pictures so you get the idea

[camracer]

Great Idea! That ought to double bb capacity. Have you counted capacity yet?

[East Milford]

Hello Cam, i bored out my battery compart (battery divider) and it held around 3000.
I really like the other approach i did, which was to add a fill adapter to the hopper directly. Easy re-fills without having to unscrew my barrel. i say unscrew because i made a closed mag-head to breach seal.

I tapped a tiny hole in the barrel beach nut arm (the side with the straight prong) and matched that hole on the valve body.  I insert a very small diameter screw, this allows the barrel to be tightened down aggressively against the mag face without pushing it out of allignment. 0 air leak with a gasket between.

With a 15 shot test i got an average of 57fps increased velocity.
1100 psi
500mm smooth bore barrel with a tight fitting Gletcher BB

VS un modded barrel to breach (stock config.)

[camracer]

Hello E.M.
Excellent on the bb capacity! That extra bb weight in the front of the gun would be a great counter-balance for batteries in the Blackbird's stock.

As for your breech mod, I am sure everyone will want to see what you did ( I sure do). "Zero air leak" is what we have all wished to have. I have designed a solution to this problem a while back also, but it involves redesigning the breech nut and I haven't gotten around to milling a prototype yet (someday...).
Can you post some photos of your solution?

Interesting on the fps increase. Keep on modding!

---Cam

[East Milford]

Hello Cam,
I will take some photos of the mods and get them posted!
You mentioned re designing the breach nut, id like to see that.
I have since done away with the breach nut all together.
I use one nut in housing, in the back against the plastic frame (where the breach nut would
sit against). It is a thin jam nut in the M8X.75 form. Additionally i welded another jam nut to the magazine face. So when the barrel is threaded up, it is secured additionally to the magazine directly.
There is no air leak with this option either. I pressure tested the connection at 1100 psi with no leak. i do use a little flat o ring on the end of the barrel so that its not metal on metal contact at theag face.
It feels much more secure with a 90ci tank hanging from the magazine now.
Forgot to mention that i remove a little material from the barrel so that it can be inserted further towards the mag face. As in further through the breach nut.
I'll post some pictures as soon as i can for you. I have a ton of these jam nuts if you want a couple to try it out. Have a ton of extra valve bodies too if you need one, no fee.
I've been reading your posts for years, years before i ever even decided to get one of these its the least i can do.

[camracer]

That's great! I look forward to seeing the photos and what you did.

Your mod is a "simple" way to fix the breech problem, but radical at the same time.
The alignment I have achieved is perfect on all my guns. I am happy with it. One of my mag head to breech alignment fixes and better seal mods was to do something sort of what you did. I also removed material from the barrel so that I could screw the barrel further through the breech nut. I could then hand tighten the barrel's breech in contact with the valve body's face. That mod eliminates the breech nut's gasket altogether. There are other things I did to help with the seal as well. When the barrel is hand tight, I cannot remove the magazine but it is easy to do by loosening the barrel. Again, I am happy with it.

As for prototype modding the breech as I have said in my previous post, it is involved and not something most would want to try to do themselves. It involves machine work and has to be pretty flawless.

Thanks for the offer on the nuts and valve bodies!  I am all set on that stuff though.

---Cam

[East Milford]

Here are some pictures of the different ways ive done it.

[camracer]

That's great E.M.
Thanks for the photos. I'm sure others will find them inspiring!

We have talked about the need to have another "claw" on the other side of the breech nut before in the old forum. I don't think anyone has done anything similar to what you did with the roll pin you used.
The whole breech to mag head design Baikal engineered is a poor one. The mag head and breech both need to be redesigned.
At least you came up some solutions. I like to see that ingenuity!
Sharing ideas has always lead to improvements, and we need to keep it up.