The A-5 is a semi-automatic pneumatic marker made by Tippmann for playing paintball. It is inspired by the look and feel of the Heckler & Koch MP5K submachine gun. It was first produced in 2002 in the United States. The A-5 utilizes a loading concept called the "Cyclone Feed System", which links the feeder sprocket to the air system for synchronized ball feed for reduced breakage and jamming. The Tippman A5 is the fully loaded model in the Tippman arsenal and costs more due to its built in features. Features The standard A5 is a semi-automatic, open bolt blow-back operated, sear-trigger paintball marker. Its inline blowback gas system can utilize both CO2 and HPA propellants. The standard marker includes a single-finger trigger, 8.5 in (216 mm) ported barrel, front and rear sights, tournament-legal velocity adjuster, opaque black 200-round wide-mouth hopper and Cyclone Feed System. Caliber: 0.68 Action: Semi-automatic, or automatic (A-5 with E-Grip only) Power: CO2, compressed air, and nitrogen Feed rate: 15 bit/s (up to 30 bit/s with certain Cyclone upgrades) Firing rate: 1-15 bit/s (Tippmann E-Grip ROF 8-30 bit/s auto) Trigger: Standard Barrel length: 8.5 inches Length: 20 inches (with stock barrel on) Weight: 3.5 lbs. (without tank) Effective Range: 150+ ft Cyclone Feed System Tippmann A-5s use a special paintball feed mechanism called the Cyclone Feed System. It is similar to electric loaders in that it increases the rate at which the paintball marker can feed balls into the chamber. Whereas most markers have a feed tube attached to a hopper/loader that either drops paintballs one-by-one or force-feeds (in the case of some loaders) into the chamber, the Cyclone Feed System is a housing on the right side of the marker. Contained within the housing are two star-shaped sprockets. Paintballs fall from a wide mouth hopper into the gaps between the spokes. As the operator fires, excess gas from the firing cycle is routed to a cylinder, which holds a piston. Gas pressure pushes the piston forward, also compressing a spring which will return the piston when the gas pressure in the cylinder drops; at far end of its travel, the piston is connected to a ratchet which interacts with a toothed gear, the advancement of which on the piston's return stroke (important because it regulates the force with which the paintballs are struck by the spokes) rotates the position of the spokes counter-clockwise and feeds a