Skooch
02-03-2008, 07:57 PM
Qloader SSI™ Test Range Performance
Recently I was given the opportunity to look over the new Qloader SSI™ paintball marker and felt that “looking over” was not limited to just visually inspecting the marker. I decided that a good field test was in order so that I didn’t lay awake at night saying “I wonder how well it performs?” Now not wanting to just throw some paint around a local field, I thought I would do a structured test on the SSI™ so that others may copy my test parameters and compare their findings to mine.
Now unfortunately the day I chose to test the SSI™ I only had a two hour window, so the test was a bit limited. Hopefully in the future I will have some more time to fully put the marker through its paces.
With that said let’s see how the SSI™ performed –
Test Venue - Indoor paintball field, indoor temp of 68 degrees +/- 2 degrees.
Marker Setup - Qloader SSI™ with E-Trigger; Standard 16” barrel with internal diameter of 0.698; Trigger set to semi-auto fire mode.
Accessory Items Added - 4 position CAR style stock – added for stability while shooting; BSA 30mm Red Dot Sight – added for targeting reference, sight was set on JCS 3” sight offset set to the left of marker.
Propellant Used - CO2 via 32 degrees coiled remote line
Marker Velocity - 270 to 280 fps – averaged 275 fps
Pod Prewind Setting - 8 Prewinds
Paint Used - Procaps - Field paint with decent bore to paint match
Target Size - 12.5 inches wide by 18.5 inches tall
Test Range - 25 ft, 50 ft, 75 ft, 100 ft
Rounds Per Target - 25 rounds each target range
I chose this target size as this represented the chest and abdominal area of a 6’1” tall player (from the bottom of the neck to the top of the pants, and between the armpits.) I also chose to have a smaller area of the target which was centered in the overall target size and was 3 inches tall by 3 inches wide. This would help demonstrate “grouping” of rounds. The very center of the target was marked and this is what I trained the red dot sight in on. Prior to testing, I mounted a laser sight on the lower forward rail to act as a bore sight for adjusting the red dot. Once the red dot and laser were aimed to the same spot, the laser was removed from the marker.
You may have also noted that the prewinds were dropped to 8 for this test, and are wondering why. In conversations with Steve Schmidt at Qloader about this marker, he stated that it’s important to have prewinds set to a range of 8 to 10 for the SSI™ as it is a direct feed system.
So, what did I find?
100 ft range - 10 of 25 rounds within the 12.5” by 18.5” target area for a 40% accuracy rate. 1 of 25 rounds within the 3” by 3” center square area for a 4% accuracy rate.
75 ft range - 18 of 25 rounds within the 12.5” by 18.5” target area for a 72% accuracy rate. 3 of 25 rounds within the 3” by 3” center square area for a 12% accuracy rate.
50 ft range - 25 of 25 rounds within the 12.5” by 18.5” target area for a 100% accuracy rate. 12 of 25 rounds within the 3” by 3” center square area for a 48% accuracy rate.
25 ft range - 25 of 25 rounds within the 12.5” by 18.5” target area for a 100% accuracy rate. 23 of 25 rounds within the 3” by 3” center square area for a 92% accuracy rate.
I would like to point out that this was the first time I fired this marker, and was trying to get a feel for it. I began the test at the 100 ft range and while conducting this test, I noticed that the SSI™ fired down and to the right. I did not begin to compensate for this until after the first five rounds had been fired as I wanted to ensure that I did not have a paint issue. Since I was a bit limited for time, I decided to continue with the test and compensate for the drop for the remainder of all the testing assuming that a readjustment of the red dot would correct this drop in future tests.
Obviously the 25 ft range is getting close to that grey area of offering a surrender to opposing players, therefore I did not want to test at closer than this range. Along with that I did not test at greater than 100 ft as I felt the 75 to 100 ft mark was the average engagement distance for woods play. This in no way reflects that I felt the marker was not capable of these ranges. I feel that any player who purchases the SSI™ and becomes accustom to it will be able to adjust and recognize their particular markers peculiarities.
Some other information that may be helpful is that I fired a total of 500 rounds through this marker on the day of the test. I used 100 rounds for the range testing, and another 400 rounds after the range testing so I could test other aspects of the marker, at no time did I have a barrel / breach break, nor did I have any double / multiple feeds. Also on average there were 2 to 3 paintballs left in the pod before the pod was “empty.”
Over all I was excited about the SSI™, yet disappointed that I did not have more time to test it. I would have tested it all day if given the chance (and more targets.) To say the least, this limited test gave me an idea of what to expect for future testing which I intend to do and am looking forward to using it for “live action” play.
Recently I was given the opportunity to look over the new Qloader SSI™ paintball marker and felt that “looking over” was not limited to just visually inspecting the marker. I decided that a good field test was in order so that I didn’t lay awake at night saying “I wonder how well it performs?” Now not wanting to just throw some paint around a local field, I thought I would do a structured test on the SSI™ so that others may copy my test parameters and compare their findings to mine.
Now unfortunately the day I chose to test the SSI™ I only had a two hour window, so the test was a bit limited. Hopefully in the future I will have some more time to fully put the marker through its paces.
With that said let’s see how the SSI™ performed –
Test Venue - Indoor paintball field, indoor temp of 68 degrees +/- 2 degrees.
Marker Setup - Qloader SSI™ with E-Trigger; Standard 16” barrel with internal diameter of 0.698; Trigger set to semi-auto fire mode.
Accessory Items Added - 4 position CAR style stock – added for stability while shooting; BSA 30mm Red Dot Sight – added for targeting reference, sight was set on JCS 3” sight offset set to the left of marker.
Propellant Used - CO2 via 32 degrees coiled remote line
Marker Velocity - 270 to 280 fps – averaged 275 fps
Pod Prewind Setting - 8 Prewinds
Paint Used - Procaps - Field paint with decent bore to paint match
Target Size - 12.5 inches wide by 18.5 inches tall
Test Range - 25 ft, 50 ft, 75 ft, 100 ft
Rounds Per Target - 25 rounds each target range
I chose this target size as this represented the chest and abdominal area of a 6’1” tall player (from the bottom of the neck to the top of the pants, and between the armpits.) I also chose to have a smaller area of the target which was centered in the overall target size and was 3 inches tall by 3 inches wide. This would help demonstrate “grouping” of rounds. The very center of the target was marked and this is what I trained the red dot sight in on. Prior to testing, I mounted a laser sight on the lower forward rail to act as a bore sight for adjusting the red dot. Once the red dot and laser were aimed to the same spot, the laser was removed from the marker.
You may have also noted that the prewinds were dropped to 8 for this test, and are wondering why. In conversations with Steve Schmidt at Qloader about this marker, he stated that it’s important to have prewinds set to a range of 8 to 10 for the SSI™ as it is a direct feed system.
So, what did I find?
100 ft range - 10 of 25 rounds within the 12.5” by 18.5” target area for a 40% accuracy rate. 1 of 25 rounds within the 3” by 3” center square area for a 4% accuracy rate.
75 ft range - 18 of 25 rounds within the 12.5” by 18.5” target area for a 72% accuracy rate. 3 of 25 rounds within the 3” by 3” center square area for a 12% accuracy rate.
50 ft range - 25 of 25 rounds within the 12.5” by 18.5” target area for a 100% accuracy rate. 12 of 25 rounds within the 3” by 3” center square area for a 48% accuracy rate.
25 ft range - 25 of 25 rounds within the 12.5” by 18.5” target area for a 100% accuracy rate. 23 of 25 rounds within the 3” by 3” center square area for a 92% accuracy rate.
I would like to point out that this was the first time I fired this marker, and was trying to get a feel for it. I began the test at the 100 ft range and while conducting this test, I noticed that the SSI™ fired down and to the right. I did not begin to compensate for this until after the first five rounds had been fired as I wanted to ensure that I did not have a paint issue. Since I was a bit limited for time, I decided to continue with the test and compensate for the drop for the remainder of all the testing assuming that a readjustment of the red dot would correct this drop in future tests.
Obviously the 25 ft range is getting close to that grey area of offering a surrender to opposing players, therefore I did not want to test at closer than this range. Along with that I did not test at greater than 100 ft as I felt the 75 to 100 ft mark was the average engagement distance for woods play. This in no way reflects that I felt the marker was not capable of these ranges. I feel that any player who purchases the SSI™ and becomes accustom to it will be able to adjust and recognize their particular markers peculiarities.
Some other information that may be helpful is that I fired a total of 500 rounds through this marker on the day of the test. I used 100 rounds for the range testing, and another 400 rounds after the range testing so I could test other aspects of the marker, at no time did I have a barrel / breach break, nor did I have any double / multiple feeds. Also on average there were 2 to 3 paintballs left in the pod before the pod was “empty.”
Over all I was excited about the SSI™, yet disappointed that I did not have more time to test it. I would have tested it all day if given the chance (and more targets.) To say the least, this limited test gave me an idea of what to expect for future testing which I intend to do and am looking forward to using it for “live action” play.