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paintballimpact.com / Parts & Accessories / Open Bolt
Closed Bolt vs. Open Bolt
Your marker will either have a closed bolt or open bolt system. A bolt inside a paintball gun moves a paintball to a point where it loads into the chamber to the bore of the barrel and helps it transfer gas from the markers valve to the paintball. A marker's bolt typically uses an O-ring at its front end to act as a seal between the bolt and the inner wall of the barrel when the bolt is forward. A marker uses three different types of bolt systems: a closed bolt design, an open bolt design, and a venture bolt design. In a closed bolt system, when the marker is ready to be fired, the bolt is in the full forward position with the O-ring sealing against the inner wall of the barrel. With the open bolt design, when the marker is ready to be fired, the bolt is in the full rear position behind the feed nipple port. The feed nipple port is the port that allows paintballs to flow into the marker. In a venture bolt system, the bolt has a concave face and multiple holes, known as thrust ports.
When choosing between a closed bolt vs. open bolt system, you must consider the performance requirements for your marker system. Some players choose closed bolt systems because they find them to shoot faster and be more reliable. There are positions and negatives to both systems. The bolt system refers to the position of the marker's bolt when it is not being fired, when it is in the rest position. In a paintball gun that features a closed-bolt system, the bolt remains forward when at rest, sealing off the breech or the back section of your barrel until you pull the trigger. After you pull the trigger, the bolt opens, allowing a paintball to drop into the breech, and the bolt slides forward and you are once again ready to fire. Some markers that use closed bolt technology are the , the , and the .
In markers that use open bolt technology, the bolt remains open at the back of the breech until you pull the trigger. When the trigger is compressed, the bolt slams forward to shoot the paintball and then pops back to the back of the breech, it is ready to fire again. The PMI Piranha and WDP are two semi-automatic markers that are built with an open bolt design.
Which design offers players a better performance. There is no unanimous opinion on this subject, and there are many fans of both systems. Some paintballs find the closed-bolt system to be faster because in an open bolt system, the ball may roll around a little in that fraction of a second before you shoot, and since the bolt may begin opening again before the fired ball has left the end of the barrel, an open bolt marker cannot shoot with the same sped and accuracy as a more stable closed bolt system. When a player is rapid firing, or shooting as fast as he can, the bolt may still be moving while the next paintball is dropping into the breech before the player pulls the trigger again. Recently, researches at Warpig.com tested markers from both systems with the hypothesis that a closed bolt system is much more stable than an open bolt system. Using both marker systems, they fired on small targets from 25 yards away. After firing markers from both systems, they found no difference in firing rates, disproving their own hypothesis.
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Paintball Guns 
