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Piston head: are all the same?

871 Views 3 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  RonSwanson
Hi everybody :)

Sorry in advice for my dumb questions but as always I'm always here for learn new things and improve thanks to your skills ;)

This time I wonder to know more about piston heads, if there is a perfect shape for a piston head that helps to improve range and precision or if they are all of the same.

I found a lot of after-market piston heads that seem to give such supernatural powers to our replica but is this really true?

I found this from FPS that was used by NikkSakk (Nico Saccocci) in his replica and with it (with the replica) break a Guinness world record for the longest shot with an airsoft replica. By the way, this head, in particular, seems to give more constancy to our shots (FPS tells this in its description) and searching around the web its shape seems to convey the air at the center of the cylinder head and to the Oring.

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Another good example like the last one is this from DMAC: Venom .

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So, not considering now the material but only the shape of the piston's heads: does their shape really influences our replica's precision? I'm curious to know if anywhere there is a scheme or an explanation about how air move inside the cylinder.

Another important thing to consider are the o-rings and I hear somewhere in the web that X-Ring are good for sealing but they not give the same shoots consistency at our replicas as the classic O-Rings: is it true?

So trying to summarise my questions:
  1. Which piston's heads' shapes are the best for range and precision?
  2. How does air move in the cylinder?
  3. X-Rings are bad for achieving consistency of the shoots?

    Thanks in advice for the answers and for your time :)

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Hi, I am not necessarily the most experienced person here, but I think I can answer questions 1 and 2.

Starting with your second question, when the bolt is pulled, the piston is pulled back and the spring is compressed. When the trigger us pulled, the spring pushes the piston forward, compressing the air in the cylinder. That air is then forced through the nozzle and into the barrel.

To answer your first question, I would imagine that the shape wouldn't matter but rather how good the air seal is. The only difference time I can think of that the shape would matter would be if you use an airbrake. But again, I'm not necessarily the most experienced person here.

Ass for your third question, I've never heard of X-Rings before, so I have no clue.

Hope that something in there helped a little anyway, sorry for the long post.
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Starting with your second question, when the bolt is pulled, the piston is pulled back and the spring is compressed. When the trigger us pulled, the spring pushes the piston forward, compressing the air in the cylinder. That air is then forced
When air is compressed does it creates vortexs?

I read in some descriptions of some piston heads that they have that shapes for bring the air to do not create vortexs inside the cylinder when the air is compressed and in this way they give to our shoots more constancy.
disclaimer not a scientist and don't think anyone has tested this. But once the piston/spring start applying pressure to the air it would be logical for any disturbances in the air flow to be "squashed out".

Also I would imagine the BB blocking the barrel as it travels will help equalise any variation in air flow behind it as it provides a resistance against the air. (Heavier bb's likely do a better job)

With that said this is purely my way of thinking how it would work based upon my rather limited knowledge of physics.
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