While the TS-1's lack of a protruding hopper has captivated many paintballers, the limited capacity of the 80 round forestock loaders has been a hindrance to the serious player. In response, in 1996, Tagline developed, but did not release the "Big Loader", which featured a flip top lid to allow bulk quantities of paint to be loaded quickly.
While the Big Loader did see field use in the 1996 NPPL World Cup, it was not perfect. "It wasn't just enough to hold a lot of paint." said Tagline president Brian Sullivan. The Big Loader's shortcoming stemmed from its dependance on gravity. Balls fed from the bottom of the Big Loader into the TS-1's indexed feed cassette. If the marker was tipped forward, the balls didn't feed, and firing full-automatic at 10 balls per second, the TS-1 could empty the cassette in two seconds.
Tagline tossed aside the investment in dies and tooling for the Big Loader and began development of the Magnum Loader.
The Magnum Loader was designed in concert with Dave Bell of Viewloader. Powered by two 9 volt batteries wired in series, the Magnum Loader uses a chain drive, to deliver paintballs into the top of the cassette. In addition, the Magnum Loader's agitator assures that paintballs will reach the supply chain.
If the Mega Loader ran continuously, it would quickly overfill the cassette resulting in a jam. To prevent this it utilizes infrared sensor and control technology licensed from and manufactured by Viewloader. The sensor module mounts on the TS-1 and activates the Magnum Loader's feed system only when it is needed.
Slated for release at tournaments in the month of May 1997, the Magnum Loader, like the TS-1 is being manufactured by Tagline's partner ATS Incorporated of Minnesota.
For more information on the manufacturing arrangements with ATS and the Magnum Loader, see the latest News at Tagline's web page.