HPA Novice

[Phonesurgeon]

Long time lurker, first time poster.

Last Sunday I played for 1 game with an HPA sniper, and oh boy the difference with my own spring powered one was... like heaven and hearth.

So I've done some research and narrowed it down to 2 "engines"

Wolverine and Mancraft Sdik.

I would like to hear your suggestion on which of the 2?

Sniper is a Cyma 701.

 

[Shizbazki]

The Mancraft SDiKs upside is that it is a simpler design, no batteries or electrics. Its purely mechanical action from the bolt that cycles the HPA. Downsides is that it has to definitive way of internally regulating the air volume, its mostly stable but highly dependant upon the pre bolt regulator. It does work with CO2.

Wolverine has a HPA system yes but it requires a battery, it has a solenoid, electrical contacts and wires. However the upside is that the solenoid does allow for very precise air volume, hence why all the best HPA systems use Solenoids. 

Mancrafts simpler design also means its cheaper, but his quality of work is very good and has gotten better over the years. Plus they operate from Poland which means getting spares will be easier, quicker (if they have stock) and in Metric. It used to be a lot cheaper as the UK was in the EU so we didn't have to pay import taxes but now do. Currently the SDiK for the Cyma 701 is £132 for just the bolt and £176.73 for the high end regulator, these two are the minimum you'll need to run a Mancraft SDiK with CO2. they will ofcourse be subject to taxation (damned brexit).

Wolverine is from the States which will take longer and in Imperial measurements, try getting a 5/32 inch hex key, its not hard but in all likelihood most hex key sets you have will be in metric. Also if buy States side you will be subject to import taxes. In general the wolverine kit is about 1.3 to 1.5 times more expensive than the Mancraft stuff.

Stocks wise:

Mancraft - If it isn't in stock or you order an SDiK from him, likelihood you will have to wait a bit, he makes the product to order

Wolverine stuff is dependant upon US stocks and those being shipped to the UK.

Shops wise 

For Mancraft use the Mancraft store

For Wolverine use High Pressure Airsoft (UK) or Amped Airsoft (US).

Personally i would use the Mancraft stuff, i have used it before (Mancraft SDiK version 1 and CO2 regulator version 1). I found thee SDiK damned good, with a proper HPA tank (13CI tank) and decent regulator (Redline one) it was solidly consistent shot to shot and with a 13CI i never ran out, it was also quiet AF. The Version 1 Regulator using CO2 at that time was lacklustre, it never bedded in properly and always leaked CO2 liquid into the bolt chamber causing FPS fluctuations. I can only assume that the newer regulator has addressed those issues.

I also used his HPA pistol lanyard on TM pistols and whilst great as it was a savings to use HPA over Green Gas, mag changes took longer but also it meat I had to carry two 13CI tanks (one for rifle and one for pistol). Now he has an inline regulator where you can run both rifle and pistol from one tank. This means Primary Regulator on Tank stepping PSI down to 800PSI, then secondary regulator to say 120PSI for main rifle, with an inline regulator for the pistol to bring the PSI down further

 

[Impulse]

@Shizbazkihas gone over the fine details so I don't have much more to add on that, however I will give the other side and say I prefer the Wolverine Bolt to the Mancraft SDiK. The Mancraft kit is good and not needing any batteries is nice, but in a platform where consistency is key, the consistency of the solenoid-based Wolverine Bolt just wins out. Also, I've found the solenoid system is quieter than the mechanical system of the Mancraft. The Mancraft will be a lot quieter than a spring setup for sure, but the Wolverine will be even quieter than that, which for a sniper platform is also very important.

On the topic of tanks and stuff, a 13ci tank is all you will need for a HPA sniper or DMR setup. I get about 300 shots from my 10ci tank with my VSR setup with the Wolverine Bolt (out of production now, which makes me sad because I love it) and about 500 shots with my m21 setup with the Wolverine Hydra Gen2. The only time I need a larger tank is at events like AI500 or the NAF and that's mostly just for the m21 setup because semi-auto shots come out a lot more than bolt action shots, but at anything else, even a full weekend of harrassing GIs at Gunman's Namsoft events, a won't run out of shots. Personally, I'm not a fan of CO2 because while a tank will be consistent shot to shot, a CO2 bulb will be reliably inconsistent; the power will drop steadily until it starts to fall off a cliff towards the end. Yes, a CO2 regulator is smaller and can fit inside the stock, but it's not worth the inconsistency. I have a 10ci tank in a stock pouch (the regulator pokes out, but I'm not shooting from the left shoulder anyway so it's fine), but my friend runs a 13ci tank in an old mesh ghillie bag zip tied to his belt and it works really well. I just prefer not to have a line as I drag myself through bushes and along the ground a lot and don't want it getting caught on everything.

One thing you will need to consider is filling your bottle. Most people invest in a scuba tank and fill station, but if you're only using small tanks a hand pump is a viable and far cheaper option. You would need a proper airgun pump that will go up to 3000psi at least, but filling a 13ci tank will only take about 20 mins at most. I took my hand pump to last year's AI500 as I had to refill my tank a few times through the event and it was a quick 10 mins of pumping at respawn.