| PCRI Tech
Tips
Welcome to "Tips from the Workbench". For this month's column we will be
looking at excerpts from the "Autococker Survival Guide" written at our very
own Editor, John Amodea. Here goes:
Autococker Tips
The Worr Games Products (WGP) Autococker is one of the most widely used paintguns
on the tournament circuit. There are many reasons for this. It's the most
upgradable paintgun on the market, it out-performs most other guns, and it's
design is intriguing. If you're the type of person that likes tinkering,
customizing, and generally spending quality time with your paintgun, this
one is probably for you.
How the Autococker Works: When you air-up the gun, the gas enters
the lower chamber. At the same time the gas flows through the regulator,
into the three-way, and then to the ram. At this joint the trigger
is in the forward position and the C02 is in the back part of the ram. This
keeps the back block forward (flush with the gun body). When the trigger
is pulled the C02 in the three-way to ram hose is vented (short front hose
on the three-way). At the same time the front three-way to ram hose is charged,
forcing the bolt/block assembly back which cocks the gun. The gun is now
ready to fire.
Tools You'll Need: To work on or adjust your Autococker you'll need
some tools. Here's a basic list of what you'll need to keep your gun operational:
1/8" allen wrench (grip-frame screws)
3/32" allen wrench (hand grips)
3/16" allen wrench (velocity adjuster)
bent-tip pick (remove o-rings, c-clips)
1/4 socket (vertical-bottle adapter)
0.05 allen wrench (trigger shoe)
You'll also need at least an adjustable wrench, Teflon tape, Q-Tips, alcohol,
paintgun oil, etc.
Maintenance: The key to keeping your Autococker shooting is proper
maintenance. A properly maintained Autococker is one of the best shooting
paintguns made. A poorly maintained 'Cocker will give you more trouble than
you could possibly imagine.
Lubrication: To keep your internal components operating smoothly,
place about four drops of oil in your gun's C02 adapter (ASA) and dry fire
(after removing the barrel) to spread the oil throughout the gun. Use oil
that is designed specifically for paintguns unless you know more about this
subject than I do. The Autococker's instruction manual states that you should
lubricate the threads and all moving parts with Vaseline. I would recommend
lubricating the threads with Vaseline but not all of the moving parts. Use
paintgun oil for that.
Cleaning: If you expect to get good performance from your Autococker,
you'll need to keep it clean internally and externally. The two external
areas you need to be the most careful with are the barrel and the power feed
tube. If you break a ball in the barrel, you will lose most of your accuracy
until you clean it completely. For a quick fix, remove the rear pull pin
and run a pull-through squeegee through the entire body and barrel. After
each time out to the Paintball field, you'll want to clean the barrel with
warm water and/or a barrel treatment (there are several available from the
various Paintball suppliers) and squeegee the barrel until it is dry. If
you break a ball in the breach, you can probably run the same squeegee through
the feed port and out the barrel.
 Timing
maintenance: Almost every problem related to a malfunctioning Autococker
stems from a mis-timed gun. To start, manually cock your gun without your
air attached and look in the feed tube. Can you see the bolt tip? It's okay
if you do. Now air-up the gun, squeeze the trigger and hold it in the rearward
position. Look into the feed tube again and now the bolt tip should be gone,
but not too far. If the bolt is too far back, your cocking rod is probably
out of adjustment. To adjust your cocking rod length, first unscrew it from
the gun. Remove the knob and bumper from the rod (it may be Loctited). Put
a few drops of Loctite on the rod threads. Screw the knob onto the rod, put
the bumper in place and insert the rod in the gun. Pull back on the cocking
rod until the gun cocks. Pull back on the block until it touches the bumper.
The bolt should now clear the feed tube (it may be sticking out slightly).
If it does not, unscrew the knob only until it does. Now let the Loctite
dry.
Next check to see if your gun fires during the first part of the trigger
pull. To do this, pull the trigger slowly--watch and listen. The cocking
lug (also known as the sear lug) is critical to the gun's timing. The adjustment
of the cocking lug determines when the hammer is released. The shorter the
length of the lug, the earlier the hammer will be released on your triger
pull.
Conversely the farther out the lug is, the later the hammer will be released.
Experiment here to find the setting that releases the hammer before the gun
is cocked. This will ensure that the bolt is in the fully closed position,
which is important to velocity consistency--there will be less C02 blowback
if this is done correctly.
Your Autococker's timing is also affected by the timing rod (also known as
trigger actuating rod). If you have the stock timing rod you shouldn't have
a problem here, but you have limited adjustability. The one problem to look
for is to see if the set-screws have loosened. If they have, slide the coupler
forward and tighten them down.
If you have an adjustable timing rod it could be out of adjustment. If the
rod is adjusted too "short", your three-way stem will be pulled out--which
is what happens when you pull the trigger. This may cause your block/bolt
assembly to be pulled back to the cocked position. If the rod is adjusted
too long it will force the trigger into the rearward position. Adjust your
rod to the right length and your gun should now be ready to use.
For 56 pages of Autococker information order your Autococker Survival Guide
today (703) 491-6199.
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