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RECONNAISSANCE
Information: Pix: Performance:
Mechanics   
Big Loader   
Review by Rocky 

Updated: February 14, 2000

Welcome to the reconnaissance page. I will try to display the information in a cohesive format that will allow easy printing. The following information has been compiled by me during my gun review for APG and through email and discussions conducted at the newsgroup rec.sport.paintball

First off I will have to state that the gun has been on the market for about a year now. It was offered up to the public in the early part of 1996. Although the gun is well designed and Tagline has tried to make it the best product that they can, there are a few areas of improvement/refinement that needs to be done. The following info should be used as a resource for players when they have questions regarding this gun and what its current limitations are. 

If you have anything to contribute to this forum please contact lum@earthlink.net. I will try to place as much information, time permitting, to help fellow players. 
   

Cost

    The gun retails at $519.00 U.S. for just the body only (no clip), and it is manufactured and distributed through ATS.   A bit steep for a paintgun, but worth it for what it can do. Check out their pricing page.
Where can I get this paintgun?
Contact ATS directly or check your local paintball store to order one for you. Check my Resource Page for phone numbers. ATS should be able to get you a gun pretty fast due to their highly efficient production assembly plant. Skanline and I&I do have inventory of the guns if you prefer to order through them. But one of the most knowledgeable dealers out there where you can purchase a gun and get very good tech advice is through F.U.N. Supply. 
 
Contact Numbers 
For general listing of pertinent phone numbers and addresses to purchase the TS1 or Aftermarket Products.
 
Specifications
General listing of parts are located on the Parts List

Weight: 2 lbs. 5 oz. without tank 

Length: 21 5/8" from end of barrel to the standard back bottle ASA, 33" with tank attached 

ASA with integral filter assembly

Firing mechanism: closed bolt, nelson based 

Internals: non ferrous stainless and brass 

Regulator: internal 

Designed Cycling Speeds: 12 rounds per second (rps) at full auto utilizing co2 - factory set, 14-15 rps with N2/HPA 

Designed Working Temperature Range: 30-80 degrees 

Designed Working Pressures for N2/HPA: 700-900 psi input pressure (adjust the gun's regulator for optimal performance) 

Barrel: 13 ½" without breech sizer, 14 5/16" with breech sizer
Material: Black anodized aluminum
Muzzle break: 2"
Spiral porting: 1 ¼"


Manufacturing: 4 step process where the barrel is first honed, then burnished, anodized, and honed a second time . 

Breech Sizer Quantity: 4 sizes provided (Spares cost $10 each, through ATS)
Material: clear anodized aluminum (7/8" long)


Shroud: 8" in length 

Frame Length: 9 ¼" long
MATERIAL: 65% Ceramic/Glass fiber reinforced nylon resin composite
Material Manufacturer: Thermofil, Inc.
Material Name: NSC Esbrid Ceramic Fiber / Glass Fiber Reinforced Nylon (NSG-730A)
Specific Gravity: 1.81
Hardness: R 120/M97
Tensile Strength: 24,000 psi
Tensile Elongation: 3%
Flexural Strength: 38,000 psi
Flexural Modulus: 2,100,000 psi


Sight: Removable and adjustable to 4 distances (10, 15, 20, and 25 meters) 

Front Loader Capacity: 60 rounds (1 loader is supplied in the package but if you want to purchase more, they can be bought for $16.99 US each, through Tagline/ATS) 

Clip Magazine Capacity: 25 rounds max., 20 rounds functional capacity (Extra clips may be purchased through Tagline/ATS and are retailing for $39.99 US). New clips are being designed and its public release will be June 1, 1997. New clips will have stronger impact-resistant frames; a heat-treated surgical stainless steel chain drive (blue in color from the heat treating); an improved chain retaining guide to prevent the unit's chain from hopping off the spokes and becoming out of time; improved guide rollers at the top of the chain drive; and last but not least, a deflector wheel at the base of the chain drive to prevent balls from bottle-necking and jamming the chain drive mechanism. 

Bolt: diffuser style. Current bolts are heat treated for durability due to contact with the sear latch. The color of the current bolts are GREEN from the heat treating.
.
Velocity Adjustment: down the barrel with supplied adjustment tool
Rear assembly removal by unscrewing 4 machine screws
Integrated Air Filter located at the ASA, and an internal filter inside the gun to prevent debris from entering the regulator assembly
Custom designed black hard-shell carrying case
12 ounce chrome moly tank (Approximately 800 shots)
Bottle of gun oil
30 Minute Instructional Video
90 day warranty on parts and labor - You can also send in your gun for upgrades during the warranty period.
Player Q & A
The FAQ page is now up and running!
THINGS NOT TO DO
  • Try not to use the back bottle connection and connect that 12 oz bottle to it. If you do connect the bottle to the gun directly, you will probably freeze up the gun. This gun hates liquid. Another thing that connecting the bottle in this fashion will do, is make it harder to sight down the gun. You will end up hitting that bottle with your face mask every time.


    • SUGGESTION: Get a bottom line (use a Traccer type of external hose bottom line. It should fit the TS-1) A second thing you might try is run the gun with a remote setup. You could also change your grip with a 45 grip and then attach anything you want on your 'gun.
     

    • Do not gas up the gun with the clip magazine engaged in the gun. If you do this, the gun will misindex the chain drive in the clip and could cause a "crash" in the feeding system. Hint - watch the video that comes with the gun first, before you gas up the paintgun.


    THINGS TO REMEMBER

    • Remember to shake the gun. This will help to get the rounds in the front loader to feed into the clip magazine. Tagline recommends a gentle rocking motion to help the balls feed.
    • Make sure that you do not overfill the front loaders. Overfilling will make it very difficult to have the balls roll out of the loader and feed into the clip.
    • Use the correct breech sizer on your barrel. A sizer that is too small will not allow balls through and could end up breaking paint. A sizer that is too big will not hold onto the balls, and you will end up having them roll out of your barrel. Remember to carefully screw on the breech sizers, the threads are very thin and you could end up cross threading them. Spare sizers cost $10 each through ATS.
     
    INCREASING THE SPEED OF THE GUN
    • You can polish the face of the sear that latches onto the back lip of the bolt assembly. By doing so, there will be less friction where these two pieces of metal come into contact. But just remember that it is a hell of a lot easier to remove metal than to replace it. So just polish the sear sparingly first. A dremel with a polishing tip and a light touch should do the trick.
    • If you take a trigger apart (by tapping the horizontal stainless pin out) and study it for a while (see the cad image first)  you will understand this possible mod.  At the rear of the trigger piece is a vertical spring that pushes the trigger forward.  You could theoretically put some spacers directly under the rear end of the trigger piece so that it will fire with very little pull of the trigger. The spacers will actually be pulling the trigger backward due to their position. Just a little spacer should shorten the trigger pull.  I haven't tried this mod yet because the trigger I have is already light enough. If you do want to experiment you could glue a piece of sheet plastic to the bottom of the trigger piece and then try it out. If the spacer is too big then the trigger pull will be too light. Sand it down with a fine grit sandpaper just a hair and try it again until your trigger is the way you like it.
    • For some reason or another, if you increase the pressure in the regulator a bit, the velocity also increases as well. I can only hypothesize about the reason why that would be and can only speculate that when you increase the pressure in the gun's regulator, the gun is able to recharge faster and thus allowing a higher cycling factor. I do not know how much you can increase the cycling rate this way, since I do not own a shot counter.
    • Cut the trigger guard and install a two finger trigger. You can buy one of those bolt on triggers to fit. You may also have to shave off a bit of the trigger material to fit the new trigger though. The factory trigger is a bit wide and the trigger shoes on the market would probably not fit on them anyway. From my experience, the two finger trigger increases the cyclic rate due to an easier pull from the torque while using a two finger trigger. The TS1 utilizes a pivot type of trigger, so when you install a longer two finger trigger, you use less force to pull the trigger (due to lever action) but more movement (in the arc of travel) to fire the gun. I have one installed on my gun, and it simply makes all the difference in firing in semi mode. Who cares how easy it is to fire if you are going full auto.
Upgrades & Modifications
CHECK OUT MY HYPER MODIFIED GUN AT THE
Customization Page -  You will get a sneak peak on what a heavily modified gun can look like.  Depending on what your specifications are, you can customize it fit your needs.
GUN UPGRADES:
There have been players who have found out that their 'guns were the older models that didn't have all the current upgrades. If you fall under this category, go to the Resources Page and give Tagline or ATS a call. They can help you with all of your upgrade questions and decide whether to send you player-installable parts or give you procedures for sending your gun for upgrades. Upgrades should be free if the gun is still under warranty (Current warranty times are 90 days for ATS produced guns). Trust me, Tagline is more than accommodating and they will help you in any way so that your gun performs to current specifications.
CURRENT PRODUCTS:
Lock out devices so you can only fire in semi mode (Very helpful for fields that ban full automatics). Lock outs are standard on all new guns. To remove the lock out device, just unscrew it with an allen wrench. Now you can flip up the selector switch up and rock and roll in full auto!


Barrels - B.O.A. (Barrels of America), known for their internal finishes of immaculate quality, currently manufactures barrels on a special order basis. They just do not have enough demand to begin full production of barrels for the TS-1. Although the barrels are custom made to your specifications, the prices are quite reasonable. Here are the prices I got from BOA when I called them (330) 878-6309 on 4/7/97. 

First of all you can get this barrel in what ever material you want, so long as it is not stainless steel. They have brass, industrial hard-chrome, and nickel plated versions. And you can also get them in ported or non ported versions.
$49 - Brass
$79 - Hard Chrome or Nickel plated
$70 - Concealer barrel (new design helps to quiet the gun down and suppresses visual co2 vapor from exiting the barrel)
$100 - Concealer barrel in nickel finish
 
J&J Performance also manufacture barrels for the TS-1. They can be contacted at (330) 567-2455. Like BOA, you will also have to special order them straight from the factory. Available materials are brass, industrial hard-chrome, and stainless steel too! You can also ask for it to be ported/non-ported, muzzle breaked, and rifled. 
Prices as of 4/7/97 are:
$79.95 for stainless steel
$65.00 for hard chrome
 
Palmer's Pursuit Shop now produces barrels to fit the gun as one player remarked in rec.sport.paintball.  They are also a good manufacturer of air regulators that perform and reasonably priced as well.

New Grips - The TS-1 utilizes a Eurogrip that bolts onto an M16 style mounting lug which is connected to the receiver body of the 'gun. Some players have remarked that the Eurogrip is too small for their hands. Since the TS-1 has the M16 mounting lug, there are many aftermarket grips that can fit the 'gun. Indian Creek makes a 45 grip.  You could also purchase M16 Lonestar grips, although I kind of hate the feel of them (they are made of hard plastic and don't feel that comfortable). I tend to lean towards the Hogue grips. When you start changing grips, you can really customize your 'gun by attaching a whole slew of aftermarket products such as N2/HPA cradles, gas through stocks, bottom line adaptors, and what ever is out there. Just check your local store and bring in your gun to see if their available grips feels and looks the way you like.
 

FUTURE PRODUCTS:

 

    Integrated Bottom Line Setups (This is a must if you want to maintain the sleekness of the gun without having to deal with an external hose connecting to the bottom line. And bottom lines will allow you to sight down the gun.) If you cannot wait to get the integrated bottom line, then I suggest that you try the external bottom line that fits the Tracer pump gun. The Tracer was also designed by Tagline and they both utilize the same Euro grips. So far this piece of equipment never surfaced on the market.  Rumors have it that the tube restricted the required flow rate that the gun required. 

    Big Loaders - Viewloader is working with Tagline to create a new mechanized version of the Big Loader, it has been named the Magnum Loader. It will run off of two 9-volt batteries. Current demo models have the loader feeding balls into the clip at rates of 12 rounds per second. The motor for the Big Loader has to be different than those found in the VL2000 models due to the requirements that are necessary in feeding rounds into the TS1. The current extent of Viewloader's involvement is the use of their electronic sensors for the Magnum. ATS will be manufacturing and selling the Magnum Loader with anticipated public release in early 1998. 

    Slings - Okay, so there are no manufacturers that are making it for the 'gun, but I think it would look cool if you could fashion some webbing together and have it easily carryable.