Dye DAM

[DJmatt123]

Should be here Friday! Already stripping goodies off of my other markers to put on the DAM and have some extra mags on the way also, can't wait!

[avengingangel]

Nov 5, 2012 2:21:53 GMT -5 DJmatt123 said:

Ok, someone shot me....I just took the plunge and bought one of the demo's....should have it in a few days!!! Be on the lookout for my tiberius's to hit the market soon....

pix when it arrives? I think I'm compelled to touch one! Is it black?

[DJmatt123]

Damn FedEx guy didn't leave it yesterday because I hadn't made it home from work and my note to leave it wasn't good enough so here I sit today waiting on his *** to deliver it again while missing a good day for paintball.....

It is a black one, it was one of the demo's that had a scratch on the barrel (which will be immediately replaced with my deadly winds carbon barrel at least until I can figure out if I want to get a hammerhead riffled barrel to use with both FS's and regular balls...)

Also ordered up a pair of the 20 round and a pair of the 10 (really 12) round mags with one of the couplers but of course Hustle paintball called and said they were already out and they wouldn't ship out for a week or two.

Hoping to get to try it out at SC Village on Monday for Veterans day, I have to work down by there Tuesday so I booked an extra night so I could play there finally!

[DJmatt123]

I received my DAM on Saturday and it appears to be good as new. The scratch on the barrel isn't even really worth mentioning, just a hairline scratch. I put everything together and did some testing in my side yard and it worked great. I am not happy with the FS shots though with the barrels and inserts I've tried so far though, I'll have to do some more testing and also in a place with more room, my side yard is only 20 yards. I'm still figuring out the configuration I want to run. I played on Sunday with it and had both the scope with the eotech piggybacked on it with the stock attached and running a 13 ci tank with my 40 round stick feed. On Monday I made it to SC Village and started off with my scope removed and only using the eotech and using my rotor on top. I didn't like running with the extra weight of the rotor, the rest of the setup is heavy enough so I removed the rotor half way thru and put my stick feed back on. The efficiency is not great, although I haven't messed with the dwell or anything yet. I think I'm only getting around 80-100 shots on the 13 ci tank. I think I'm going to remove the stock and use my 22 ci tank. I'm also planning on removing the stick/hopper feed and running only mags as soon as I get the rest of the ones I've ordered.

I like how easy it is to work on so far, you can do most maintenance without tools and it can be almost completely taken appart with just one allen wrench.

On Sunday, I did have a problem with it feeding. I took it all apart and cleaned and lubed it and didn't notice any problems but it seemed to work fine afterwards. On monday, I had one ball break while using the mags, cleaned everything and everything worked fine the rest of the day. The paint I am using is fairly brittle (Nelson Anarchy).

It does seem a little louder than my DM6 but much quieter than my Tiberius. I've got it all painted now but haven't taken ics of it finished yet, here are the pics from the first day though....

[Allu]

Looks good. Gl with the testing, very intrested in the results.

[jjron99]

The paint job is on your optic, tank and barrel is amazing. That is on my to-do list for this summer.

[DJmatt123]

It is very easy to do. Just put a base layer of OD green and then a light coat of stone textured spray paint over it. It's not real durable but it is very easy to touch up and even with the places that it rubs thru, it won't make it stand out like a solid black marker would.

[trinity]

Thanks for the detailed report. While there is a lot out there on this rifle, it is nice to have a report from one of our own.

I have a couple of questions about some of the things in your review. First, you said you had some problems with first strike shots. What exactly did you mean? On this forum that may be one of the biggest questions of all. What size groups were you able to shoot at 20 yards. That Dye Ultralight barrel is nice but it is a smooth bore.

Second, can you say a bit more about the feeding problem you talk about.

Third, was the mag-fed break with first strike or round paint? Was it the last round in the mag? Did the ball break have anything to with switching from Magfed to stickfed?

I appreciate your work. This gun has attracted a lot of attention and I appreciate your post.

[DJmatt123]

I was trying to find an insert that would work good with both the paintballs I'm shooting which are smaller and the FS's. The FS's just didn't seem like they were stable when they came out of the barrel. I'm used to using the riffled HH barrel on my T9.1 so maybe I'm just used to that. I don't think it has anything to do with the marker, it's just the barrel/insert that is the variable. I have a HH Battle Stikxx on the way so hopefully it will work well with both FS's and paintballs. I haven't tried a grouping test yet, that will come soon.

The feed problem I was having was like the eye's weren't seeing the paintballs in the chamber or it was getting hung up in the feed neck or on the piping. After I disassembled and cleaned everything, it seems to be working good so far. It might have been the pipping off a tooth on the gear or something, I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary when I took it all apart.

The break was with round paintballs, which where brittle tournament type balls. I've shot quite a few mags testing it out and haven't had any other problems so far. I'm not sure if it was the last round or not, but it was not from switching feed sources. I also shoot slowly and usually only one or two shots at a time so I doubt it has to do with chopping from shooting to fast or an eye problem. I haven't been able to play with mags to much yet, hopefully I'll get my other mags in soon so I can take the feedneck off and play only mag. I should have a lot more and better data soon. This was a demo gun so who know's what it's been thru before I got it. I cleaned and lubed everything now so it should be good to go.

I'm currently trying to figure out the best way for me to carry the mags, I'm leaning towards a vest like a blackhawk or condor right now.

Here's the latest pic of it the way I'm currently running it....

[Wolfen]

I think you're correct in your observations that the first strikes aren't stable when they come out of the barrel. This is something that always happens when shooting first strikes through a smooth bore. This is because the first strikes needs to fly for abit before they get the right rotation and thus stabilizing. I've conducted quite abit of testing on this topic using bore sizes from .684 to .693 and my conclusion is that it takes between 10 to 25 meters for a first strike to stabilize (when using a rifled barrel this stabilization happens while the first strike still is in the barrel).

For this reason i'd suggest test shooting at further ranges then what Trinity suggested, Maybe around 40 meters (or yards) that way you can be sure that every shot has stabilized before hitting the target.

Damn I REALLY want one of these markers !

[DJmatt123]

I little update today. I got to play a couple games (in the rain) and only used the mags (only around 20-30 shots though) and had no breaks or load issues. I also came home to find my HH barrel had arrived so I promptly started playing around with it. I shot quite a few FS's along with regular PB's and was much happier with the FS performance. I was using the .686 fin for now and seemed to work good. I didn't break out my hand held chrono today, but just from feel, it seemed to be right in the 270-280 range.

As far as the 20 yards that Trinity had "suggested", I'm sure that was because I said my side yard was only that long.

[trinity]

What you're talking about is all, in my book, normal kinds of stuff with a new gun. My range request actually did take into account the shooting distance you have available. I, too, have done a lot of comparison shooting as of late using smooth-bore barrels and rifled barrels. I am convinced that there is a significant improvement in accuracy when shooting first strikes through a rifled barrel. I do, however, believe that you really don't need to shoot at much beyond 20 yards to determine just how accurate a rifle is going to be. Patterns don't get tighter as you move downrange. If a round is off-target because it was fired through a smooth-bore barrel and is unstable, it won't come back on target once it stabilizes. It may fly straighter once it stabilizes but its trajectory has already been established.

One more question. Does the Hammerhead for through the front shroud of the Dam?

[Allu]

Agree on trinitys accuracy concept, the accuracy difference Is greater at the further out ranges and thus easier to observe conclusively tho.
What I think wolfen was after is the visible difference when a round stabilizes in flight, something that wouldn't be seen at shorter ranges, also finding a uniform backdrop with the right color might be beneficial to better observe the shot, that however could be worthy of a own topic.

[trinity]

Nov 18, 2012 14:51:24 GMT -5 Allu said:

Agree on trinitys accuracy concept, the accuracy difference Is greater at the further out ranges and thus easier to observe conclusively tho.
What I think wolfen was after is the visible difference when a round stabilizes in flight, something that wouldn't be seen at shorter ranges, also finding a uniform backdrop with the right color might be beneficial to better observe the shot, that however could be worthy of a own topic.

Trust me on this, it seems like all I have been doing the last few weeks is test shooting various gun an barrel configurations with first strikes. I have shot hundreds of rounds at 20 yards. If you are using a scope with at least a 4x magnification at 20 yards you can quite clearly see the rounds cork screwing around when they come out if a smooth bore barrel. Once they are off course, things only get worse as the range to target increases. I am retiring my older Tiberius smooth bores. The accuracy differences are just too great. I will be picking up a new platform to replace my T9.1 as an assault rifle and continue to use it as a pistol to replace my T8 and T9. That's how certain I am after my tests. I don't really want to spend the money but I can't ignore what I am seeing. I have known for quite some time that the rifled barrels were more accurate, I just didn't know how pronounced the differences actually were.

At this point, the Dye is looking like the most likely replacement.

[DJmatt123]

I took it back out again today. Mostly still using my stick feed since I'm still waiting on the clips. The HH fits fine thru the shroud, same as my deadly winds with freak inserts. I can't see any barrel being a problem to fit thru it. Everything worked great today although I forgot to grab my FS's when heading out to the field so I shot reg pb's all day. I did end up getting shot square in the replica eotech today and it broke one of the lenses, thankfully I had a back up and was able to switch, I'm not sure if I can take it apart enough to fit a replacement lens in it yet, I'm hoping so.

My theory on the smooth bore problem is that the air coming out of the marker is able to spin the FS's in the wrong direction and then once it leaves the barrel, it has to reverse it's rotation as it flies thru the air in front of the marker. I was getting about a 3-4" pattern at 20 yards with the hammrhead and was shoting off-hand without chronoing, mainly just getting the sight zeroed in a little, I removed my scope for the time being until I get rid of the stick feed. The placement of the feed neck still interferes with the scope and hopper fitting on top, you can figure out ways to make some work, but not all will.

[trinity]

Thanks for info about the barrel and shroud. That's good to know. A 3"- 4" pattern shot offhand at 20 yards tells me a lot. Setting aside questions about accuracy (and a broken sight) how do you like just using the gun on the field? Does it feel you hoped it would?

[DJmatt123]

So far I'm pretty happy with it. It might be a hair heavier than my DM6 I've been using mainly but the small amount of added weight is well worth the ability to effectively use FS's. Once I finally get the rest of the mags I've ordered and can take off the stick feed and get used to working with the mags, I think it should work out perfect for the way I play. I'm curious still about how well the HH redirects the sound with the reverse porting, it still sounds a little louder than I would like but It might be just the sound being reversed towards me and might be a lot quieter downrange. I'm also really hoping that they come out with the air-in-stock soon.

I wish they would of added the ability to adjust the amount of time before it shuts off which is set at 10 minutes of inactivity. A lot of the time, I'm still waiting to take my first shot after 10 minutes and I have to take time to turn off and back on the marker so it is ready when needed. Alot of people probably wouldn't have a problem with this, but I wish it was an option.

A couple of nice things I've found are that I can fit 12 FS's in a 10 round tube which is perfect for filling up the "10" round mags and I'm trying to come up the the best way to attach a rod to the marker that can be used to depress the spring follower down in the mags until the latch at the bottom and then you are able to carefully open the feed door a little and pour in PB's from the 10 round tubes quickly. Just make sure you practice so you don't open it to far and release the spring.

I've ordered a condor chest rig with a couple double mag pouches that should allow me to carry up to 10 mags if I need to.

[chicago]

IMO, the reverse porting does not significantly reduce the sound (in fact - hardly at all). I've tested it. Was very disappointed and have since seen the same experience reported by others. Don't waste your money!

[skullcandy1993]

Oct 18, 2012 23:04:46 GMT -5 gubment said:

Rap4 has said they will release a after market bolt that fits the FSRs better with the Dmags. I think they will be making a announcement on the release date in the next few weeks.

yay! companies being intelligent and listening to customers.

[Allu]

I agree that the automatic shutdown is a problem (I recognize the problem from other markers), it's a nice feature, but it wouldn't hurt to be in the ballpark of 2-3 hours...

As for the reverse porting, thread a tube over it with the front end blocked and some medium inside to dampen the sound, a silencer/suppressor is the way to go. Unless illegal at your location ofc, in that case a barrel with long porting portion would be the way to go I guess, I have a 20' sp tactical that has a really long porting on my SP-1 and it really made a big difference. Nowadays I'v added a silencer, so now its real quiet, but nevertheless. I also know that wolfen has a set of J&J that work well, he might be able to give more detail about those, also the ones that came with the DM8, I believe it was, are quite quiet too, don't know witch barrel it was, (wolfen help me out on that one pls.)