I know how they work I have fitted a few and still have one fitted to my orga barrel. But still disagree that they are anything special, yes results are good but no better than other good bucking nub combos. Its certainly nowhere near the hop miracle that people claim.
All the great results that people claim I am positive are the placebo effect.
Whenever I have tried different combos I have always locked them down in a vice in an indoor environment, so no human element and no wind to affect results.
I aso use a small bore mic when fitting an rhop so they are micron perfect.
At some point going to have to get a few different types of guns and film everything, do a proper experiment.
You can bring your guns along if you like and use them for it.
As for physics too many variables for it to be more than a guideline.
Until its its proven emphatically lets just agree to disagree.☺
So you're changing your mind now and they're not 'snake oil' but instead just aren't anything 'special'. Where do you actually sit on R-Hopping then? Just last page you were making it out like they're useless and now we're saying that good results can be had but equal results are also attainable from other buckings like I said just before? I'm genuinely confused as to what we're arguing about here. I don't know anyone sensible that holds R-Hops up as being a miracle solution to hopping.
And this is entirely about surface area when it's boiled down to what makes flat hops and R-Hops better than most conventional buckings: The variables in most HPA systems are negligible with the hop setups people have. An excellent example of this is the Daytona Gun community - same machine, identical hop units that have been around in their modern form for quite some years now, so a good test group yet many go with R-Hops over the bespoke buckings despite them being very good - it just comes down to consistency and air seal for most of these players. A properly installed R-Hop patch will last many years (even when being absolutely hammered by the break-in process) if you don't mess it up with lube and will continue to shoot the exact same as the material doesn't wear across one point like W-Holds or the Firefly 'ramp' design.
The point of contact for R-Hops and flat hops is much greater, and that's why the perform well. The complete air seal out of the box and flexible nature of being able to increase the hop window are why I think R-Hop gets the edge over flat hopping though.
Believe me, I'm one of the first people to bring into question any long-standing 'last guy told me this was right' type stuff that is so prevalent in airsoft when it comes to fiddling with internals, but the R-Hop has been around for a while now. Far from being 'snake oil', it's the best you can get alongside a well thinkered-with, quality bucking like you describe. I'm not saying it's the only option, but surprisingly for most it's the easiest, cheapest and gets immediate results if done right.
Here's a fairly comprehensive view on the subject:
http://www.airsoftcanada.com/showthread.php?t=152480 and
http://www.airsoftcanada.com/showpost.php?p=1777097&postcount=23
Edit:
Found the image I was after for anyone who has no idea what we're talking about. I should say, the flat hop obviously looks different to a normal one so this might not be the best picture ever.
