MILSIG magazine collar comparsion

I should note that the magazines I am using is an older gen 19 round magazine for both MILSIG and RAP4.     Since the release of the MILSIG Paradigm Pro’s new magazine system, the square head collars, many people have asked the question “What is the difference between the round collars and the square collars?” “How do they operate from each other? Pros and Cons”.

    Throughout the years before the Paradigm Pro square head magazines were introduced it is frequent that people did not really have a clear understanding what the differences are between the RAP4 magazines and the MILSIG magazines. At most people knew they are interchangeable and compatible with each others markers. Thus the question is, what really separates the three magazines in terms of operation mechanics.

    I will start with the new MILSIG Paradigm Pro. The current square head magazines is designed for the Paradigm Pro What is new about the square head collar is the head is constructed from polymer. The only metal parts is collar detent and the spring that holds the detent bar up. The MILSIG square head collar replaces the ball bearing round collar system. There is a bar that runs lengthwise across the farther side of the opening with both ends of the bar protruding out the sides of collar body a little bit. When the magazine is inserted into the magwell; there is a little ramp within that will push the bar down as the magazine is inserted. The balls than are clear to enter the chamber without being hindered by anything.

                                                                 
    In comparison to the round head feedneck collars; the round collars uses 3 ball bearings to hold the balls in place. When the collar is depressed it creates room for the ball bears to “roll back”. With the spring pushing the paintball rounds upwards , the paintballs squeeze through and then is chambered by the bolt. The problem with the ball bearing design is shooting low to mid-grade paintball or paintball that have not been storaged properly. These are the paintballs that are oblong, dimpled or a shape that is not spherical. The problem is non-uniform paintballs get stuck in the ball bearings which leads to either a misfeed or a ball chop. 

    The RAP4 magazine uses 6 ball bearings as opposed to the MILSIG’s 3 ball bearing collar. However, the RAP4 ball bearings are smaller than the MILSIG ball bearings and this leads to problems with smaller paintballs. In my personal experience when storing the magazines upside down (feedneck facing downwards) smaller paintballs in the 0.679 caliber region will roll out past the ball bearings. This is the main difference I have discovered between the MILSIG and the RAP4 round collar feedneck and can lead to problems for some users. The RAP4 has a shorter collar clip and the MILSIG round feed neck has a taller collar clip.

                                                                 
    I hope this helps clear up some confusion between the differences in the magazines. I often hear people wonder what the differences are between the RAP4 and the MILSIG magazines and excluding the internal mechanics, physical differences of the winder and what not, the feedneck ball bearings is the biggest difference.

In the next article I will talk about the MILSIG Paradigm Pro magazine in detail. Stay tuned and thank you for reading!. Visit www.magfedpb.com for more magazine-fed paintball information!

MILSIG Paradigm Pro - First Impressions

On Friday, 28th of September 2012, I picked up the Paradigm Pro from the MILSIG Canada office. I have been eagerly waiting for this ever since it was announced and after decisions and questions from announcement to release, it is now in my possession.

I should note I will be mostly writing this in comparison to my Paradigm 1. The K-Series is roughly the same size give or take.

This passing Saturday I brought it down to my local paintball field, North Shore Paintball where people were anxiously awaiting for me to show them this new toy. My initial impressions when I brought the Paradigm Pro home is the look and feel. The coating is a different from the Paradigm 1 nor the K-Series Mk II. It has a nice texture and feel to it in its own form. The platform has been working out and shedded some weight!. The Paradigm Pro is lighter than the Paradigm 1 and K-Series Mk 1 and features a brand new one piece, 400mm rifled barrel which has been rifled for First Strike rounds and of course, is First Strike round capable! The marker is also equipped with MILSIG’s new spool-valve blow forward internals known as the HEAT core.

Paradigm Pro @ North Shore Paintball , Vancouver, BC

The new square head magazines for the Paradigm Pro is a big improvement over the traditional round magazine heads. The traditional round collar heads have 3 ball bearings that retain the rounds and thus occasionally you could get oblong balls stuck in the bearings. This would result in either a misfeed or a chop. The new square head magazine collar uses a sliding bar so when the magazine enters the chamber; the bar is depressed allowing the rounds to be fed and chambered. This eliminates (I would hope so) a lot of misfeed issues. The user does not have to worry as much about oblong shaped balls getting stuck during feeding.

The Paradigm Pro features a nice egro grip handle and a smooth trigger pull. Although I think in the future having a switch safety will be pretty wicked. That just complicates the mechanical aspect of it. The trigger has a small amount of slack giving you ample amount of space to get to the razors edge and then a smooth pull to the rear to fire.

The weight of the Paradigm Pro has been reduced. I don’t have the exact numbers yet but reciever of the Paradigm Pro vrs the Paradigm 1 is noticable and feels ligther and more versatile. Not having that steel hammer in the action group probably helped reduced the weight too.

In the next part I will write about the magazines, the operations, advantages and disadvantages (that I have found so far, although so far I have not found any negatives yet).
I am looking forward to more games with the Paradigm Pro. Overall I am impressed at the overall build. It feels solid, balanced weight and operates quite smoothly. The sound report is also not as loud as the previous K and M series markers and does not blurp when the marker is out of air.

MILSIG Paradigm Pro "unboxing"

Here it is, everybody. The MILSIG Paradigm Pro. Although this is belated from the day I actually got it. I have no had a chance to do a video of it. Slowly starting to get into the whole video aspect of things.

I am eagerly waiting for this upcoming weekend to come up so I can play. :) Anyhow; through the series I will be doing videos of shooting, reloads, dry fire with reloads and anything else that I can come up with. Magazine overview and the marker overview itself. Some will be more in-depth and some videos will be just a video of me doing something.

MilSig M-Series Paradigm

This is a quick snapshot of the MilSig M-Series Paradigm Limited Edition Paintball marker.
It is a magazine fed paintball marker but can be converted to use a hopper within a few minutes.
It features a beautiful CNC body. Machined with 7-Series Aluminum and 6-series Aluminum it gives the body a strong body and rugged frame.


Specifications 

• Caliber: 0.68 Cal.
• Weight: 3.150kg (without Mag & 13CI HPA Cylinder)
• Fire Mode: Semi-Automatic
• Length: 39" Full Length / 33" Without Extension
• Power Source: HPA, Nitrogen, CO2
• Operating Pressure: 800psi
• Barrel Length: 18" Full Length / 12" Without Extension
• Velocity: 250-350 fps
• Stock: 13CI HPA Stock
• Construction: 7-Series Aluminum, 6-Series Aluminum, Polyethylene Plastic, ABS Plastic, Steel Nuts and Bolts

The Paradigm features Zinc Allow Open Style Front & Rear sights. The peep sight can be adjusted with 4 different peep hole settings on a rotating dial. 

A air-in stock (referred to as Moible Air Tank Stock (MATS ) houses a 13CI tank and has adjustable positions. Although the shortness of your adjustment comes down to how long your tank is.

The OEM MilSig tank is a about 20cm long.

The MATS allows mobility and no remote lines. 

So far I have been able to shoot off about 130 rounds.
Which is equivalent to 5-6 magazines.

The magazines themselves hold 19 rounds each. The ones I own
are in smoke color. These magazines use a winder and a spring to
feed the paintballs into the chamber. The winder pulls back the spring and a clam shell style nozzle with ball detentes in it keeps the paintballs from dropping out. When the clam shell is pushed down, it releases the detentes and allows the balls to be fed into the chamber. When the magazine is clipped into the marker, it presses a pin and releases the winder.

When I get the chance I will write up another post about the internals of the magazine and possibly the marker itself during a cleaning process.
The 557 Holosight is a separate purchase but once you have it dialed in, it shoots wonderfully and hits on target.

A bonus feature of the MilSig Magazine Feed System is that their markers can be easily converted to become a hopper based shooter within minutes.
All in all. It is a well built paintball marker. Durable and a great strong feeling to it. It fires well and is great for MilSim scenerios.
Also satisfies the need of a replica firearm. In later post I will write up about the MilSig Solid Gear product line tactical vests.

MilSig Paradigm Paintball Marker

About a week ago I decided that I will be attempting to take back up Paintballing and use it as a form of off-site exercise. I love paintballing and it is a great sport to enjoy. However, I didn't want to use rental stuff anymore and decided to research and invest into it.
Although it was not cheap I came across MilSig.
A Canadian company and there goods are manufactured in Taiwan. Being a local Vancouver person there distrubution office and warehouse is in Richmond. (They are not a retail store!).

However, there are places that do carry MilSig stuff and are their registered dealers.
Paradigm is one of their top of the line paintball markers and is also a limited edition series.
With that said. My serial number is 000137. They released the Paradigm last year in 2009.

I will have photos posted soon but at the moment I can say it is beautiful.
Most of the body and the shroud etc is CNC Machined Aircraft grade aluminum.
It is a magazine fed marker but can be converted to use a hopper (which is a simple conversion. Not hard to do at all, the marker includes the kit for it). But the main intent of MilSig Markers are that they are magazine fed which is great for those that love to run Mil Sim Scenario Paintball and just love Mag Fed stuff themselves.

Anyways, for now I will be back later.