Having lived with this Jolt the longest I thought I would share what I've learned. It's a cpvc couplered one with Rogue's trigger chop from the Mega-Jolt thrown in. Most of the tweaks shown can be applied to most any Jolt though. Please share any tips or tricks you may have, but don't know where to post.
Performance:
First, lets look at springs and o-rings. I've tried everything I had handy and the best performer at 70'+ is the Berserker spring/BuzzBee S-n-i-p-e-Blast o-ring combo. The Berserker spring has not damaged the compact cpvc Jolt it has been tested with. For me the S-n-i-p-e Blast o-ring made the prime more difficult until it broke in. The Berserker spring now feels about 20% stronger than the Rouge's. The Rogue is next for me at 60'+, and much easier to prime. I also show some ideas for trimming the plunger rod here. I don't know if there's a real-world difference in performance, but it's possible, especially with the stock spring (ar removed). As far as spring additions, I only have one spring that works well when added to the stock spring: Tek-3. The prime on mine is slightly crunchy at the end and I will look into fixing this. It adds a good amount of power surprisingly.
I've noticed the "bumper" o-ring has come loose on my Jolt. I've glued a few in and tested. Mine has stayed in fine with light glue after 200 shots. The heavy glue has more shots and a stronger spring. Also note that it's wise to try to remove any excess glue(I used my thumbnail), and tear it down soon after and repeat this step. I will update this if there are changes
Examine your plunger skirt, and note any scratches. Sand these out carefully with a manicure style sanding sponge (or anything above 600 grit or so). These have very fine grit sandpaper and you should be able to get the skirt quite smooth. Only remove material from where you see scratches. Try the fit in your plunger tube, with a little silicone, and take more off if need be. You want to really get this friction free.
Plunger speed seems really important to how this blaster performs. A good lube will help tremendously. Usually, I will knock out the trigger pin and remove the trigger just to make this easier. I then disassemble & remove as much of the stock lube as possible with a clean towel. Then I use alcohol (or goo-gone) and a toothbrush and give the plunger tube a good scrub. Then a paper towel to dry it and remove whatever dirt is left. Then ANOTHER go with alcohol. I then dry fit the plunger assembly and work it in and out a few times. Remove it, clean that last bit of dirt that's now on the o-ring and polish the plunger tube with a fresh towel. I use an artist style paint brush to apply white lithium grease around the plunger's working area, o-ring and skirt. I then apply a very small amount of silicone and try to mix it a bit with the grease. Push the plunger into the shell carefully and work it around to be sure it's ok. Adjust the amount of lube if needed. Remove any excess that's accumulated around the skirt, top of the plunger and the funnel portion of the plunger tube (q-tips). Then reassemble. This is the best way I know how to do this and gives me the most consistent results. Tips in this area would be greatly appreciated.
A dart stop helps with accuracy and consistent ranges. My way is easy to see from the pic. Just hold down the trimmed copper wire in place with something like tweezers and apply heat at the other end with a soldering iron. Repeat and glue it in. Best barrel length so far for my darts is 2". I use a 2 1/4 barrel with stock darts (pictured standing vertically). Notice that the dart stop is sunk in further on that for stock darts. I found that gave stock darts a bit more oomph. A little style & function stuff thrown in with the bb sight or groove sight:
Finally I will have a go here at really killing the last of the deadspace. This is a couplered Jolt so I have some extra access. Anyway, I filled as much as I could, slowly at low heat (to avoid weakening the plastic), stopping about 4 times to let it cool. I then used a soldering iron to shape it, from the coupler side of course. As the hotglue was cooling, I shoved the barrel in. This is great for making sure you can't push your barrel in too much as well. I pulled the barrel out after a few seconds so as to not get it stuck. I went back over the shape a few times after removing the barrel, trying to imagine where the flow would be obstructed. Rinse and repeat as needed. Note that pushing the barrel in (temporarily) will make the deadspace shrink to almost nothing. You do make your coupler a bit more fragile this way though. There's both the potential for transmiting larger forces to the frame from the barrel and the barrel may go in less. I personally left a little wiggle room behind the barrel once I was done shaping. I strongly recommend being carefull if you go all out. I will likely glue in the barrel once I determine the best barrel length for me.
"Up and Down Manta" Test Rig. Excellent for testing mod effectiveness. I'll keep both blasters the same except for one change in the one with the plunger rod turned. Dead easy to build, just sand the tops flat and epoxy, easy linky triggery:
Ergonomics:
Here's the grip shape that works best for me. I plan to add some fairly hard foam to the space between the trigger braces. Note the removed trigger pin boss on this one side for comfort. That little nub was uncomfortable. I used a similar technique as shown below with the logo. With the whole shell, just grab it and chamfer anywhere it hurts. Then go back and chamfer more where you feel pressure in the grip on your hand, only as much as needed. Then if you want to muck about with moving things around for you.. Foam on the trigger, if it feels to far back.. Shave the trigger if the converse is true. Add some foam to the shell here and there.. That's what I still have to do so some suggestions (Pics Please) would be appreciated. Truthfully the mods shown will have a surprising effect on the feel of the blaster. My advice is to make yours as small as you feel comfortable with.
Here's my rough go at the fake screws from hell. Note that I have shaved the rear bottom plate bosses up the side of the shell (shown better in the above pic) as flat as I could without hurting it. This really slims down the back of the grip. Note the sanding where you're palm wraps around the frame as well:
The trigger just seems waaay too far forward for me. Here's a shaved trigger and a nano style trigger. I am going to try the nano trigger on a regular Jolt soon to see if that's better for me.
Bottom plates for the hell of it. No problems whatsoever so far with all the material removed. Chamfering the outer edges of the back of the plate helps with comfort too.
Darts & Accoutrements
Smaller, lighter darts seem to work better in my setups. The 2 sizes I am trying now are 5/8" and 7/8". My dart fit is a little looser than usual for springers. I add a smaller amount of hot glue to the dome and give it a rounder shape for aerodynamics. So far I've seen improved ranges and accuracy. Here's a quick, knock-up dart holder inspired in part by shmmee (The clip part. Thanks shmmee, didn't take me long to use that!). Note that dart weight and fit are important to play with for your setup.
Here's a quick, make-shift barrel plug to keep the dust out of your Jolt. This is an excellent safety measure if you pocket your blaster primed.
Style:
Arguably also ergo but what the hell. I just used some good masking tape to cover the logo. Then I sanded through the masking tape, down past the logo until I could feel the adhesive starting to poke through the sanded through paper. You can lift the masking tape a bit as you get close to look or try using your thumbnail against the logo to check your progress.
Assembly Tips:
This is how I get the plunger head secured when using heavy springs. Perhaps useful.
Bonus Thickness Pic:
Side-by-Side Nano with nested stock dart adapter:
Edited by iamthatcat, 29 November 2011 - 12:12 PM.
