105
Gone is the ‘efficiency valve’ which
acted as a mechanical QEV in the
‘12 design. The bolt itself is supported on both ends by a cage that
encloses it, which ought to make
the ‘14 more reliable and easier
to maintain. At the tip of the bolt
system is the Poly Breech Insert
that has the gun’s detents and allows the eyes to look up into the
breech.
ous regulator. Drop off the cover
and use pliers to gently unscrew
the velocity adjuster from the reg’s
body to drop the internals out for
cleaning and lubing. Unlike the
2012 Vapor, the 2014 Vapor is designed to allow for high pressure
input from the air system. The
ASA looks similar to the previous
part, but appears to have heavier
duty internals and thicker o-rings.
Electronically the 2014 Vapor uses
a purpose built APE Gen 4 LED
board, which uses Focused Depth
Single Eye System mounted in the
bottom of the breech. The system started life in military applications, spending time on the front
of bombs as a sensor for a backup
detonator.
For this test, the lime green/black
2014 Vapor used an Immortal Air
68/4500 air system while I was
using it, and a Guerilla Air 45/4500
air system while my wife used it.
In deference to the various grades
of Valken paint we used for the
review, we used a DeadlyWind
Null barrel with a .689 bore. We
put a few shots through the stock
barrel, and it shot very nice, but it
was obvious the bore was too large
for the paint we were using. Paint
stuffing duties were handled by my
venerable DYE Rotor, which refuses
to die despite age and heavy use.
As noted earlier, we used various
grades of Valken paint, mainly
Echo and Graffiti.
The Focused Depth Single Eye System sits on a small board which
screws into the bottom of the gun’s
body. They are designed to counter breech bounce, and allow for
tighter control by the gun’s board
for the eye function. Since they’re
in the bottom of the breech, there
is no need for eye covers on the
side of the body, which goes to
keeping dirt and debris out of the
gun.
Looking around the rest of the ‘14
Vapor, the grips have a new look,
and are quite a bit thinner than
the ‘12 Vapor’s grips. Rather than
milling the body of the inline regulator, the part is a plain round
piece with a molded rubber grip
that slips over it. It appears to be
the same design as the ‘12 Vapor
internally, and maintaining it is
done the same way as the previWWW.PAINTBALLX3.COM