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Jason Fearing hat sich für 68cailber.com mal genauer mit dem JAM Bolt R.A.S. für Angels befasst. Im sehr ausführlichen Review erfahrt ihr einiges über die Probleme die damit gelöst werdensollen. Stichworte sind Rollback und Chops:JAM Bolt R.A.S. for AngelsBy Jason FearingIntroduction:Unfortunately, the anti-chop eye system was not around in 1997 when the Angel was unveiled to the tournament scene. Even more unfortunate, was the lack of anti-chop technology found in high-end electronic markers until late 1998-1999. Markers came standard with single or dual-ball detents but in the end it was about loader speed exceeding marker speed. Should that partnership reverse itself, your marker became a mobile can of spray paint.JAM Enterprises has been making their ‘anti-chop’ bolt for quite a while and among Autococker owners it was quite the popular upgrade, even after the E-blade upgrade kit. Why? Because upgrading a bolt at $40-$50 is a whole lot cheaper than completely “re-wiring” your marker at almost $500. Design Theory:The basis for the JAM bolt is a spring located within the bolt that works with the cycling pressure of the marker. Current logic is as follows:The bolt is attached to the ram via the bolt pin, which rests on the hammer. The hammer sits on the front of the ram and is shuttled forward and back on the ram rod. As air cycles through the ram it moves forward and backwards, when the hammer hits the valve the ‘jolt’ of air powers the paintball out of the firing chamber and down the barrel. From start to finish this process occurs in about 10ms (less or more based on dwell time, or the time in which the hammer keeps the valve open). The process is repeated each time you pull the trigger. As the bolt moves to strike the balls in the breech it will either fire the chambered ball or chop a ball if it’s miss-fed.The spring inside the bolt will neutralize the pressure that is powering the bolt forward if a ball is miss-fed and prevent the ball from being chopped. The bolt will stop, bounce off the ball and return to the neutral position as though it had completed a full cycle. This will allow the miss-fed ball to completely chamber and be ready for the next shot. The process repeats itself each time a ball is miss-fed. For Autococker owners it’ll be a familiar sound, as it’ll sound like a ball being pinched and you’ll notice blowback through the feed neck. This is due to the fact that the air which was “scheduled” to fire the ball is being dissipated after not being used to power the ball.One thing to keep in mind is the bolt is not perfect. If the ball being miss-fed is oblong, misshapen or extremely brittle the bolt may still break the ball. However, I’ve yet to come across a scenario where that was the case during my testing trials. Couple this bolt with the Angel Eye-Q system and there’s a good chance that you may never need a squeegee again.Roll back:The bolt was also designed to eliminate another potential problem, roll back. What is roll back? Due to the roto-breech design of the Angel, the bolt (in the rest position) is not completely flush with rear of the firing chamber. The bolt is approximately 5mm behind the firing chamber, due to the design of the roto-breech. This causes the chambered ball to slightly roll back to meet the bolt face, allowing for the first ball in the feed tube to possibly enter into the path of the bolt. Some Angel users believe that this roll back is the primary problem of their chopping issue, especially with force-feed loaders like the Halo B and Reloader B. The ball that is partially entering the chamber is being ‘sliced’ by the bolt as it travels forward, breaking the ball that is chambered and the partially fed ball. In other words, causing a serious mess. Vs. The RAS bolt was designed to eliminate this as the rear of the bolt was designed with an aluminum spacer to prevent this roll back. The bolt now sits flush at the rear of the firing chamber.Although I’ve yet to experience excessive paint breakage due to roll back, this bolt may be the answer to your problems if you believe that roll back is the source of your problems. For upcoming G7 owners, the marker has been redesigned to eliminate all potential rollback as the bolt is now locked forward into place when the breech is closed.Installation:The packaging for the bolt carries some brief instructions for getting the bolt setup and to ensure optimal performance. I consulted JAM on how to adjust the ram stroke and found that it’s best to follow these steps:1.) Adjust the ram stroke as you normally would for the stock bolt, ensuring that the bolt ‘clicks’ when the breech door is closed. Remember to adjust your ram stroke when the marker is gassed up and to only adjust the ram stroke forward.1a.) The next option, which was equally as effective, is to lock the bolt into the breech and adjust the ram as far forward as possible. Then drop a ball into the feed neck, you’ll notice that the bolt is protruding into the firing chamber and preventing the ball from entering. Slowly back the ram out until the ball chambers, then a ¼ turn further for good measure. This method should be done with the marker de-gassed2.) After the ram stroke is adjusted to the furthest point forward (where you can still open the breech) then remove the stock bolt.3.) Insert the JAM bolt and lightly depress the spring so that you can close the breech door. The bolt will now be set as far forward as possible while allowing paintballs to cleanly enter the firing chamber.4.) The directions for the bolt are to dry fire the marker approximately 1,000 times with a squeegee in the firing chamber. This squeegee will simulate a chamber ball and allow the pressure behind the bolt to ‘break in’ the spring. This will ensure that the spring within the bolt is broken in while still providing adequate kick back on a miss-fed ball.Initially the spring within the bolt is fairly stiff, thus the reason for breaking in the bolt. While you can do this with or without paint, it is recommended that you use a squeegee per the guidelines on the packaging. I filled my tank to 4500psi, set the dwell to 8ms and dry fired the marker with the squeegee in the firing chamber until the tank was empty. Although I did not count exactly how many shots were fired I estimate the shots fired at somewhere between 2,500 and 3,000 shots; as air is hardly expended during this break-in process.Afterwards, you’ll notice that the spring is much gentler and doesn’t feel as stiff. After approximately 25,000 cycles on my test bolt I did not notice the spring losing any of its firmness to the point where the design theory was compromised. Performance Feedback:The website that sells the bolt advertises an average 30 FPS increase when you insert the new bolt into your marker. I found an approximate increase of 15 FPS; however this was with a good (at best) paint-to-barrel match. I was purposely using old and unwanted paint to test the true capabilities of the bolt.I paid $51.51 for the bolt which included shipping (first class mail), I ordered the bolt on a Sunday morning and it arrived the following Monday in the mail. Packaging was adequate; it’d be pretty difficult to crush a delrin bolt within a plastic casing, so no complaints there on shipping and TLC.Setting up the bolt for the marker is easy and straightforward; I went the route of adjusting the ram stroke per the stock bolt and then inserting the JAM bolt. Considering it is recommended that the ram stroke be set to the optimal position during use, this made the bolt a ‘drop in’ accessory. I’ve had very good luck with my test marker (a ’05 Speed) and paint breakage has never been a problem or a hassle, to the point where I felt concerned. However, I had read very favorable reviews on this product and wanted to give it a shot.I had three complaints with the product, one of which is unpreventable due to the design nature of the bolt:1.) The inability to open the breech door at will.2.) Excessive wear from the bolt pin on the rear of the bolt pin guide path3.) The lack of COPS channel of the COPS sensor rod for IR3s, A4s and first generation Speeds.Due to how the bolt sits in the breech it locks forward and will prevent you from opening the breech when the bolt is locked forward. In order to open the breech you’ll need to push the bolt back into the breech door and then open the breech. That can be a bit of a hassle with a barrel screwed into your marker and your loader on top. However, I don’t know many people that sling open their breech door with paint in the feed tube.Another concern area I found is excessive wear on the rear of the bolt pin guide path. Over time my bolt pin has caused light wear on the rear of this guide path, but I was very surprised to see how much wear was caused after only approximately 25,000 cycles. I noticed no wear on the hammer or the actual pin and it’s been my experience with my older LCD that this ‘divot’ caused by the pin does not effect performance. Still though, it took me by surprise.Lastly is the lack of channel for the COPS rod. Because of the way the bolt is designed it was not possible to accommodate the channel in the bolt. This is quite unfortunate as I could see this bolt being a very popular seller with A4 and first generation Speed owners. I’d imagine that JAM is working on a method to accommodate these marker owners; however I can’t speak for their plans.So, does the bolt work as advertised? Yes! The bolt works exactly as advertised, preventing any potential roll back and pinching miss-fed balls. That’s right, pinching. Installation is quick and simple! Other reviews online and from bolt owners have been positive as well.While WDP has not endorsed or commented on this aftermarket bolt, it’s an excellent aftermarket accessory for any Angel owner that isn’t fortunate enough to own a G7.Want one? Check out Jam’s website at http://www.jambolts.com. About the Author:Jason Fearing is an active member in all the various WDP/Angel forums attended the April 2004 tech class for the Fly, Speed and A4. He’s been an exclusive Angel owner since November of 1999 and has owned every generation of Angel, except the V6. Currently he owns a first generation LCD, A4 Fly, ’05 Speed and a G7.He is the co-founder of Angel-Owners.com and has written numerous Angel related articles, reviews and FAQs. He can be reached at jason_fearing@msn.com.