Brass Eagle gets a lot of flak from a the majority of the paintball community.  That always seems to be the case of and maker of mass market or economy goods.  It's easy to poke fun at the guys who make low budget merchandise.  Heck, I think I was the first one to start.  As much maligned as Brass Eagle is, for the money, they make good gear.   That's hard to imagine for people who teethed themselves on $150-$200 dollar semi-autos.   But for someone who in 1984 considered himself lucky to be able to drive 150 miles to buy a lowly Splatmaster for $90.  I find that for the $20 and the trip to Wal-Mart a Brass Eagle Talon is a pretty good deal.  The Talon, as lowly as it is, will run circles around my old Splatmaster on the field.  And I could have bought 4 Talons for what I paid for that Splatmaster. 

      I recently attended a Police Auction on the hunch that I could find a bargain on paintball guns there.  The theory bore out and there was one paintball gun to be had.  A Brass Eagle Tigershark.  I think of it as the 'Forgotten' Brass Eagle gun.   Most buyers either go cheap with the Talon or jump past the Tigershark and go with the Stingray.  I stood around for two hours in the blazing sun and paid an unreasonable sum for the Tigershark.  I think the heat had gotten to me. My advice is, don't bother with Police Auctions if you are looking for cheap paintball guns.  Odds are you are one of about 50 persons there doing the same thing. 

      Getting the old beast home I tore into it and saw just exactly what I had expected to see.  A nelson-based operating system with very crudely cast and finished parts.  The hammer and power tube were MASSIVE.   Much bigger than a Bushmaster or other nelson based gun.  So much for putting high performance guts in it.   That plan blown I began to examine other options.  I tested the beast out and discovered that velocity was a bit to the low side. I had been told this about Brass Eagle markers.  I guess it's some kind of safety thing.   The factory springs were so stiff that the marker was difficult to pump as well. 

     I began working on the valve. A careful examination of its function demonstrated to me that even when fully opened, the ports in the powertube were only fractionally exposed.  This greatly reduced the volume of gas that could fire the marker.  Only by increasing the stroke of the power tube could I improve gas flow.  The Tigersharks valve cap was, like it's powertube, fairly massive.  Solid brass, it is also a fairly simple metal to work with.   Examining it, I determined that it would be possible to bore out its face such that the anvil surface of the powertube could slip into a recess.  Giving a longer stroke.  Using a drill bit slightly larger than the anvil of the power tube I bored a hole 3/16ths of an inch deep into the face of the valve cap.   Then I flattened the bottom of this hole using a dremel tool and a milling bit.  The operation was fairly simple and gave clean results. 

     Because the hammer has a recessed striking surface, it became necessary to modify it as well.  I removed 1/8th inch from the back face of the hammer using a bench top grinder.  Then a 5/16ths fender washer was soldered in place there.   The fender washer would serve as the new striking surface that would allow the power tube to travel into the newly created recess in the valve face.  I finished the valve operation by mirror polishing all parts internally and externally and by installing a set of lighter weight Nelson springs.  After some swapping of springs I was able to obtain velocities consistently falling in the range of 285 fps.