Skout Skout Epoch Share and Discussion

[Lewis]

I would like for this thread to serve as an owner's and inquiry page.

I'll start with a basic parts strip.
I received mine on Friday and had a chance to disassemble/reassemble today.
I placed a 700cc tank on it and shot a string of 130 rounds of JSB 44.75 in .30 cal. at 900fps from 4000 psi (275 Bar) down to 1400 psi (89 Bar). using 1.4 bar per shot.
LPR set at 130 HPR set at 1400 Dwell at 16. ES 40 and SD of 7. I expect those numbers to improve with time and tuning.

Installed the 895mm barrel and 700cc tank.
Topped it off with a Vector Optics Continental 5-30x56 FFP 34mm scope. LOVE this scope!
Added a UTG recon flex two piece M-lok bipod.

Stuck on a couple of labels to remind me which gauge shows what.

The first thing I wanted to add was a Sekhmet digital gauge but the ones on the Skout are NPT - no go.
Also the hole for the gauge is on the edge so it can't be sealed with the delrin washer.

The regulators are held in with a wire retainer which I really like.

The regulators are very well constructed.

HPR

LPR

Robust pin probe with the seals on the pin instead of inside the barrel!

But plate adjustments all have captured ball detents.

 

[Lewis]

The valve dwarfs the one from my Impact.

The air passage is angled nicely.

All the electrical contacts are pogo pins at detachable points.

The trigger rides on bearings and uses an adjustable magnet as a return spring. I set mine to a 5 oz pull with almost no post travel LOVE IT!

Only broken down to the basic components. All in all, very impressive.

 

[Motorhead]

A thought had early on, that is showing to be true and may not be ideal for every location ?
Polyurethane O-rings
While there the toughest of all the materials, there one of the worst to take a shape set having poor shape retention elasticity.
In DYNAMIC locations absolutely, Static locations far better served with a Buna/N IMO

Looking at above pics, one can already detect flat siding of some and pressure side shape shift on others.

This has NOTHING to do with the design or engineering ... Just that they have chosen to use pretty white / opaque Poly o-rings threw out that IMO are not the ideal choice for many of the locations.

 

[Lewis]

Good to know. I'm sure many will convert to the Buna/N 90s as we go.

 

[Keyman62421]

I'd like a little more detail!

 

[Long_Gun_Dallas]

If I was in the market for a new rifle, this would be it. Very cool.

 

[Cloudrider]

A thought had early on, that is showing to be true and may not be ideal for every location ?
Polyurethane O-rings
While there the toughest of all the materials, there one of the worst to take a shape set having poor shape retention elasticity.
In DYNAMIC locations absolutely, Static locations far better served with a Buna/N IMO

Looking at above pics, one can already detect flat siding of some and pressure side shape shift on others.

This has NOTHING to do with the design or engineering ... Just that they have chosen to use pretty white / opaque Poly o-rings threw out that IMO are not the ideal choice for many of the locations.

Their use of non Buna material derives from their 30+ years experience with paintball markers. Spool valve designs tend to eat orings and they prefer the higher durometer materials. It's not uncommon for a typical tournament player to shoot over 20,000 balls on a weekend. With that many cycles Buna don't last ....

 

[Motorhead]

Their use of non Buna material derives from their 30+ years experience with paintball markers. Spool valve designs tend to eat orings and they prefer the higher durometer materials. It's not uncommon for a typical tournament player to shoot over 20,000 balls on a weekend. With that many cycles Buna don't last ....

A spool valve ( Cyclic loading plunger ) paintball type has a lot more DYNAMIC & Long stroke positions to seal than the valve shown in there PCP ... FYI

 

[Cloudrider]

A spool valve ( Cyclic loading plunger ) paintball type has a lot more DYNAMIC & Long stroke positions to seal than the valve shown in there PCP ... FYI

No need to explain, I've got 20 plus years on the National Paintball circuit, besides being a competitor, I've repaired and serviced thousands of Paintball markers.

 

[yenniedn]

Impressive, Lewis...not referring to the rifle itself as much as you literally breaking it down completely as soon as you get it! I'd be deathly afraid that I wouldn't ever be able to put it all back together to do that to a brand new $3k rifle.

Looks very different than the Impacts that I've gotten to know so I'm suffering a little bit from the "change is bad" knee jerk reaction but the electronics do put me off a bit. I've built my own custom PC's for years so am not adverse to playing with stuff like that but just not sure I want them in my PCP rifle. All in all though, it the chunky/bulky looks of this gun that kill it for me. I'll wait until gen 2 or 3 before I look at any Skouts.

Great work on the tear down and write up though!

 

[Lewis]

yenniedn​

Thank you for the vote of confidence. It really is a pretty intuitive gun to work on. The chunky/bulky looks are not my favorite but they contain sturdy/robust components, so I guess it's a case of having to take the bad with the good. There will be a new learning curve for sure but I'm looking forward to it.
I feel like the efficiency could be further improved with adjustments to the dwell and/or low pressure regulator (LPR). I have adjusted the LPR down until the action won't cycle at about 100 PSI with little or no change to the velocity, same with the dwell. I would imagine one or both of these serve to limit the distance of valve opening or the duration of time it is held open. In the Impact for example the reg pressure is set then the hammer tension is used to meter the amount of air consumed.

I would love to see Skout or others in the aftermarket, make adapters to use the many liners in multiple lengths and calibers already thoroughly tested. Since the liners in the Skout are larger in diameter it should be a solvable issue. Similarly FX or other aftermarket magazines should be able to be adapted to fit in the space available. I would love to move forward with the Skout and still use all my current mags and liners.

 

[Lewis]

I also made a thin washer to take up much of the side to side motion in the trigger. It may be my favorite trigger now. Light and silky smooth.

 

[Cloudrider]

Impressive, Lewis...not referring to the rifle itself as much as you literally breaking it down completely as soon as you get it! I'd be deathly afraid that I wouldn't ever be able to put it all back together to do that to a brand new $3k rifle.

Looks very different than the Impacts that I've gotten to know so I'm suffering a little bit from the "change is bad" knee jerk reaction but the electronics do put me off a bit. I've built my own custom PC's for years so am not adverse to playing with stuff like that but just not sure I want them in my PCP rifle. All in all though, it the chunky/bulky looks of this gun that kill it for me. I'll wait until gen 2 or 3 before I look at any Skouts.

Great work on the tear down and write up though!

The electronics package is sound and well thought out, they've excelled in that regard with Paintball markers. I also feel its way too on the heavy and bulky side. Dont care for the limited options for bipod mounting too.
My only concern is that Skout felt the need to add a (First Shot Drop Off) feature in its software. Spool valve Paintball markers occasionally suffer from bolt stick. After a certain amount of rest, the spool valve orings tend to settle and will require some extra dwell by the solenoid to initiate its cycle. This doesn't give me a lot of cold bore shot confidence if I have to toggle that feature..

 

[Motorhead]

No need to explain, I've got 20 plus years on the National Paintball circuit, besides being a competitor, I've repaired and serviced thousands of Paintball markers.

It is not a paintball marker ... MFG states poppet travel or SPOOL is something like .050" .... a paintball marker spool closer to 3/4" .. HUGE difference.
Along with some NOT READING that dynamic locations are best served by poly and not what was the bulk of original statement made, that of static locations.

 

[Cloudrider]

It is not a paintball marker ... MFG states poppet travel or SPOOL is something like .050" .... a paintball marker spool closer to 3/4" .. HUGE difference.
Along with some NOT READING that dynamic locations are best served by poly and not what was the bulk of original statement made, that of static locations.

yep it doesn't shoot .68 caliber gelatin capsules at consistent 300fps. Length of travel and size of valve operation has little to do with their choice of oring material. They want to ensure reliability and hope their buyer appreciate going an extra mile for the 3k they're asking.

 

[Motorhead]

yep it doesn't shoot .68 caliber gelatin capsules at consistent 300fps. Length of travel and size of valve operation has little to do with their choice of oring material. They want to ensure reliability and hope their buyer appreciate going an extra mile for the 3k they're asking.

Well as a service mechanic for near 50 years now, we'll leave our educated opinion as it best suits us.

 

[Cloudrider]

Lot of paintball makes no sense, reason why it will always be a fringe sport. Tech hasn't evolved in a decade.

 

[Airfuture]

I would like you to measure the plenum in the Epoch, what is the diameter of the valve neck and what is the area of the air inlet to the barrel?

 

[Lewis]

I would like you to measure the plenum in the Epoch, what is the diameter of the valve neck and what is the area of the air inlet to the barrel?

Because the valve rod is in the plenum it would require filling with liquid and measuring to get an accurate measurement of the plenum. there may be better methods but that's what I would try. Similar to combustion chamber measurement. This might be a question for Skout. The area of the inlet to the barrel will be limited by the transfer port on the barrel itself. I can check the orifice size next time I have the barrel out.

 

[Lewis]

I'd like a little more detail!

What detail are you looking for? I wanted to show the basic components but not overshare since this is a new rifle to market and additional information is probably proprietary.