Kingman Group

Kingman Group
Founded Baldwin Park, CA (1992)
Headquarters Baldwin Park, CA, United States
Products Spyder brand
Website www.kingman.com

Kingman Group is a manufacturer of paintball markers; including the line of Spyder, Raven, and Java brands, all of which (except for Java) produce markers and apparel for paintball players.


Markers

Method of operation

The parts that make up the stacked tube blowback are the body, trigger sear, bolt, striker/hammer, valve, valve pin, cup seal, main spring, and valve spring.

When cocked, in the bottom tube, the main spring exerts forward pressure on the striker, which in turn is held in place by the trigger sear, the valve spring exerts backwards pressure on the valve pin which closes the valve with the cup seal, thus holding back the air/CO2. In the top tube sits the bolt which is connected by a rod to the striker and the paintball which sits in the chamber held in place by a detent.

When the trigger is pulled the sear releases the striker, which flies forward being pushed by the main spring. When it reaches its forward limit of travel it impacts the valve spring, thus pushing back the cupseal and opening the valve. The air/CO2 is released, part of its volume is sent upwards into the bolt, which by this time has pushed the paintball into the barrel. This volume propels the paintball through the air. The remainder of the gas pressure forces itself against the striker, pushing it against the mainspring and all the way back past the sear resetting the striker to its resting position, at the same time the valve spring pushes the pin and cupseal forward closing off the valve and resetting the system for its next shot.

The trigger sear can be released by either mechanical force, in so-called mechanical markers, or by an electro-magnetic solenoid in electronic markers.

Clones

The Stacked-tubed blowback system was first created by PMI for their PMI-III, later renamed as the VM-68.

Due to the popularity of the Spyders and the availability of their parts many manufacturers have produced products similar to the Spyders. These use practically the same internals and parts of the Spyders. Some of these clones may even be of higher quality/performance to the Spyder, while some may be cheaper or of less quality.

This mechanism is used by most low-end mechanical and electronic markers and can be easily identified by the double stacked tube body.

Current Models

Classic Series

New Gen Electra & Pilot The new generation Electra and Pilot electric markers were introduced into the Spyder community in 2008. They were designed with a shorter body reverting to the old style valve and striker system of the past, replacing the gen II balance valve system used in the RS & VS markers. They are equipped with a regulator and run at a relative 300psi low pressure from the box. This generation Spyder is a streamlined version that is short and comfortable, light, fast with advanced electronics and has about every upgrade of the past including a metal locking feedneck.

Spyder MR series

Spyder MR2

The MR series markers are geared towards woodsball or scenario players, and feature mil-sim style bodies with a choice of matte black or a matte olive green finish. The Spyder MR1 is the basic MR marker and features a detachable stock and completely mechanical (although there is an electronic version) action similar to most mechanical Spyders.

The Spyder MR2 is an electronic marker, and is the first military-style electronic marker designed by Kingman Group.[1] Much like the mechanical Spyder MR1, it has an offset feed neck for rifle-like sighting, a 12 inch muzzle brake barrel, an anti-double feed detent to prevent misloading and a matte black finish. Unlike the MR1, however, the MR2 has a raised sight rail for easing mounting of a scope or sight, an ACS 2.0 second but generation anti-chop bolt and a snap grip bolt that eliminates the outside movement of the bolt during firing.

Being an electronic paintball marker, the MR2 uses a 9.6 V rechargeable battery that is included with purchase. It features automatic, semi-automatic, and burst fire modes that can easily be changed at any time using a rate of fire activator in the back of the pistol grip. It can fire at 25 balls per second in semi-automatic firing mode. It also has a two finger trigger (or double trigger) for fast firing in semi-automatic.

Older markers

A modified Spyder VS1

The VS series was released in 2006 and was geared towards new tournament speedball players or intermediate recreational players. The Spyder VS1 is an electronic marker with eyes, featuring semi-automatic and 3-round burst modes as standard.


The Spyder VS2 is a stacked tube blowback marker - featuring a 12 inch ported Spyder barrel, an infinity trigger system with Spyder's "3G" technology,[2] and a valve that allows the marker to operate as a LP (low pressure) system. In addition, it includes anti-chop eyes, an on/off, and a membrane pad mode selector on the grip frame of the marker. The marker is capable of firing 25 balls per second. Body kits are available for the VS2 in red, blue, green, and yellow. Scenario Dreams, Tadao, and Virtue all make boards compatible with the VS2, the latter being a universal Spyder board.

The Spyder VS3 improves on the VS2 with a "Rocking Trigger". The Spyder VS series is available in many colors, and allows the user to purchase body kits that are interchangeable between the VS2 and VS3.

The Spyder RS line, used their "SE Technology" (Synergy Engineered Technology), which they claim can reduce barrel breaks. There are were two models, the RS, and the RSX. The RS is the less expensive of the two and can operate on CO2 or HPA at approximately 300 PSI. The RSX is the higher end of the two, and according to Kingman's claims, it can only operate on HPA at a pressure of 250 PSI. In addition, they both include membrane buttons, and the RSX contains a Tadao Technologies circuit board which is normally an aftermarket upgrade for other markers.

References

  1. ↑ "Kingman Spyder MR2 Reviews". Retrieved 21 April 2010.
  2. ↑ http://www.spyder.tv/section/products/vs_series/vs2.html Kingman Website - Spyder VS2 Paintball Marker

External links