Recommend A Paintball Gun

[BruiseLee]

Anyone here seriously into paintball?

I used to play a lot - I have an old Nelspot 007 I upgraded to constant air and put a stock, sights, and a hopper on.

But all my friends got so out of shape I couldn't find anyone to play with anymore. I finally met some younger people that want me to take them paintballing. But, I want a newer gun cause I can't talk them into a stock game and I'll be at a big disadvantage with my old pump gun.

I mainly play in the woods, although I love to play in indoor fields and faux urban settings whenever I can.

I don't want to spend more than $200 if I can help it. I heard the Smart Parts Ion is good, and that the Spyder Imagine and Pilot are good for the money. One guy I'm going with got a used Tippman 68C for $50.

I've already got my mask, squegee, web gear, barrel plug, and all the other assorted crap you need to play the sport so I guess I'm fairly serious. I just haven't played for a couple of years.

I guess the #1 priority I have in a gun is reliablity. I broke a ton of balls in my Nelspot, and had to field strip the thing under fire at least twice a day. I remember one of my buddies made a sweet move on an enemy position. When he came up to fire his rental gun it literally came apart and he got smoked. LOL.

I prefer a shorter, compact gun because I had a long ass barrel on my Nelspot that was a real disadvantage at close quarters in "urban" settings. I'm not too concerned about bps because anything I get has to have a higher rate of fire than my Nelspot.

 

[knoxx45]

in my younger days.

I highly recomend the Auto-Cockers. Get a good one, spend the money, and you will never be sorry. My $300.00 Cocker with about an extra hundred or so into it out shoots all but the very best paintball guns out there, and by best we are talking about $1k+ guns. You can get a stripped down version for about $225, and while it's more than you want to spend, for the little extra, you will get a whole lot more. For instance, I think (though I might be wrong) that nost models still come with Dye barrels. Check out Cabela's, I know that they carry them pretty cheap, but I bet if you look around, you can find them for less. Plus the Cockers are easy to modify.

Just my $.02

Knoxx

 

[knoxx45]

oh yea, almost forgot

If you do break a ball, you pull one detent pin and you can slide the whole bolt right out from the rear, then just squegee from back to front, right out the front of the barrel. One swipe, done. Reinsert the bolt, put the pin back. Lock and load, you are ready to rock and roll.

 

[BrennanKG]

BruiseLee,

I used to play tournament paintball, and still play recreational paintball, as well as occasional scenario games.

For woods play I'd suggest looking into a Tippmann A5. It's amazingly durable , low-maintenance and reasonably priced.

Autocockers, although no longer the kings of the tournament scene they once were, continue to be excellent markers. They are once of the few closed-bolt designs and due to this, feel different than most of the other options. I have an "old" autococker, circa 2000 that I use for recball and I love it.

I used AKA markers for a number of seasons and they are built like tanks, but even in the used market they will fall outside of your price range. I disapprove of Smart Parts' business practices/ethics but you can't argue with their popularity.

B.

 

[hub]

200 bucks you cant beat a smart parts ion. thats what i have. 17 balls a sec out of the box, add a blackheart board and somewhere around 21 bps. check out action village.com they tons of stuff. i'll agree the ion is not the best marker in the world but think its the best in that price range. don't forget you also need to buy a fast hopper, egg 2, or halo b, and a n2 tank. if your not looking for something that shoots fast or is more rugged the tipman 98 is pretty solid and not too expensive.

 

['Card]

Is it just me, or was paintball a hell of a lot more fun back in the days when pump guns were the norm? (I'm talking mid-to-late 80's here)

Seems like tactics, movement, sneakiness, coordination, teamwork, camouflage and aim were a lot more important back then. It became a completely different sport once everyone on the field could spew out a metric ton of paint in a matter of seconds. I've tried playing several times over the last few years, but somehow I just can't get into it anymore. I guess maybe the game changed and I didn't.

 

[Tacticaldude]

+1 on Tippmann A5 but change the barrel to a flatline barrel(and watch that ball go flying)you'll also learn some techniques with this barrel..I love mine..no batteries to worry and very reliable.

 

[BrennanKG]

'Card,

It's definitely a whole different game. I still have my old SplatMaster.

I enjoy both "arenas" paintball has to offer, the woods games requiring stealth and strategy, but also the tournament/speedball play which is faster paced.

Back to marker selection. The A5 has an advantage over some of the other options in that it has its own hopper which requires no batteries (runs off redirected CO2/compressed air) from the marker. This means one less thing to buy.

B.

 

[Jackal]

The A5 is OK, But i much prefer my Diablo Wrath. I have NEVER chopped a ball with the electronic eyes on. Zero maintenance. I have over 10,000 balls through it and i have not even stripped it for cleaning.


DIABLO WRATH !!!:D

 

[stillamarine]

I have a tippman A-5 with response trigger, drop forward, 12" werks barrel and 4 position CAR still stock that I have been trying to get rid off. 200 is a little lower than what I am looking for but pm me and maybe we can figure something out

 

[Ricebrnr]

For under $200 new, you could possibly go with an A5 or an newer model 98. Both are great woodsball markers, built like tanks. In gunspeak some call them the Ak's of the pb world. You could go with an ION which I've also heard some good things about. It all depends on your preferred playing style.

Of the 2 that I own, I'd recommend the A5 for ease of maintenance, and adaptability to varying play style, but I play with my 98 more.

Come check out www.undergroundmodshop.com if you'd like a similar forum and some ideas on markers.

 

[Glock_10mm]

I love the old school guns like the VM68 magnum and VM68 sniper. They are the heaviest ones on the field (but they offer realism for the weight a real assult rifle would weigh). I've had both since around 1993/94 and they are solid as a tank and ultra accurate. They do need some care/tweaking, but all of them do. You can only get these used but you can get them on ebay pretty reasonably $50-200!

My automag is also running strong and smooth, but I like the VM68's better

They are not as fast as the new ones, but I train one shot one kill, not stand and spray tactics. It will shoot about 5rds a second max.

 

[knoxx45]

Glock 10mm

Good call on the VM's. They are great. Only one thing... They hate the cold.

 

[steveracer]

You guys need to come play with my team.

Team Calamari, an all-Navy PB team, has taken Most Valuable Team at five out of five 24-hour scenarios. Our team put up 2700 of the total 5100 points for our side in the last event. (300+ total players)

There are four of us. Total.

What do we use?
Each of us has a holstered PGP pump. (ten-shot rock&cock)
Two guys have Tippman 98s, the other two have A-5s.
None of us has any mods or anything other than simple changes to suit taste, nobody has more than $400 total in our guns. My partner, Chaps, had more kills than any single player on the field at the last event. He used his PGP exclusively. He shot a total of 240 balls in 24 hours. He used six CO2 cartridges. He scored more than 50 kills that I saw. It was a little funny, but he never shot at someone out of range, so that many hits makes sense.

Almost every PB marker available today will shoot about a 6" group at 25 yards. That's handgun range for all intents and purposes, right? Really good barrels extend that out to about 50 yards, but that's pushing it.
In Paintball, volume doesn't equal victory. You can't shoot through cover or concealment, you can't break contact closer than 30 yards or so, and you can't hit that guy no matter how many times you shoot the wall he's behind.
For 60 dollars, the PGP will do everything that all the other markers do, and you will have the satisfaction of hitting the kid with the $1500 Angel in the goggles and watching him walk off with the barrel plug in.

 

[colt.45]

the ion is a wicked fast gun! 17 rounds a SECOND! thats faster than an M-P5. if you get one, people will expect you to be the fire support. but personally i find it fun to be known as god. if you get the ion though, you NEED nitrogen. if you get an imagine (wich i have) you can run it on co2. its a pretty good gun for the money. good luck! and remember, be as aggressive as possible and just go nuts, it works for me.

 

[10-Ring]

My son & I got into it last year. I bought a couple of Spyder Pilots & have really enjoyed mine...so has my son. There are many others out there w/ more bells & whistles (the Ion is one of them), but our Spyders where inexpensive, reliable & lots of fun.

 

[BrennanKG]

Ricebrnr, Welcome!

I haven't been over to the UMS for a bit.

Good to see you here!


Bruise,

Regardless of what you choose, just get out there and play!



B.
(Arawn from A5OG and UMS)

 

[jerkyman45]

get a Tippmann, American made, durable, the price is good, its the best gun for woodsball. An A5 is great, a 98c is good too. Either or your getting a good gun that'll give you years of service without loads of money in repairs.

 

[Ricebrnr]

Thanks for the welcome BrennanKG, aka Arawn!

And you are right, just get out and play!

 

[MrCoffee]

Suggestions...

Markers are all a matter of choice these days. Even the top guns out there are only a few balls per second (BPS) apart. Ego's seems to rank #1 with true Speedball/Xball tourny level players, with the Shocker, DM/PM and Intiminator following closely behind.

The Ion: Great for entry level tourny play. Light, fast, pretty easy to fix. I currently use one for my rec level play days, and backup for Tourny play. $199-209. Tons of Upgrades. But mostly Plastic.

JT Quadra: A Spyder Clone, fast, light, easy to fix and work on. $169+/-

ICD ProMaster: My Personal choice for a sub $300 marker. VaporWorks has them currently for $250 and they are well worth the cash.

Wrath: Fast, light, good all around choice. $200 or so. (The AR-1 is a clone of sorts).

All of the above have "eyes" or some sort of system to "see" if there is a paintball properly loaded so chopping paint doesnt happen (as much). You can spend a lot less and get a "blind" marker. All top out around 20 BPS or so, and have several firing modes.

For Non Electro's (Mechanical Trigger) You can't go wrong with just about any Tippmann. In the woods I use a Older ProLite I picked up used for $50. Never let me down. Old School Cockers are a solid choice, and Automags are as well.

If you are serious about playing, then hit www.pbnation.com and check there FIRST before you buy anything. Not only can you find just about any information you might want/need before you buy, but you will find great deals on markers. Right at the moment with lots of people heading back to school and such, you can pick up most anything CHEAP. It is a buyers market.

It really depends on your playing style and what you think are important features. Some people feel that bright, colorful markers that fire a huge volume of paint are the way to go, while others are really into how "real" the marker looks (Mil-Sim). Check out PBN and get out there and PLAY!

MrC

 

[ZeroCool]

For $100, you could get the spyder MR1. It has a mechanical (semi-auto) trigger.

For $200, you could get the spyder MR2. It has the electronic (semi-burst-auto) trigger.

Two of the guys I play with have these guns. They are AWESOME for the money. I would recommend them without hesitation.

Me? I have a cheapie spyder victor. It works beautifully, but there is definitely nothing fancy about it. It's bright and loud, but reliable.

See reviews of the MR1 and MR2 here:

http://www.pbreview.com/products/reviews/4229/

http://www.pbreview.com/products/reviews/4226/

Oh yeah, the cheapest place I've found them is at Bass Pro. For some reason they are cheaper in stores than online.

 

[Roadwild17]

Just a note about pbnation.com, they are rude and will often rather insult you before help you. Nothing at all like THR.

Now for woods and just rec play I would go with something like an A5 with RT trigger& cycone feeder. It would we wicked fast and a tank. A sypder isnt exactly a bad choice eather, if your thinking your just going to play 4 or 5 times then drop it again, that may be the choice. The Ion (my gun) is a fine choice also but geared more towards speedball type of play inwhich you throw vase amounts of paint in under a few min.

 

[steveracer]

PBnation=ARFCOM

Basically the same attitude on these two forums. I used to ask questions there, but not any more. Now you should go to PBjunkie. Much more mature site.

 

[BrennanKG]

steveracer,

Nice comparison!


Dead-on.

The problem with pbN is the same as the problem with arF: too many folks.
There is a direct correlation between the forum population and the amount asshattery.

Paintball forums tend to be the worst offender in this regard, due to the demographic of the sport. All these young kids in color-matched gear trying to out-eCool everyone around them.

If your focus is woodsball, I'd suggest http://undergroundmodshop.com/. Their forum is an offshoot from the old A5 ownersgroup forum, which was the best paintball forum I'd ever seen.


B.

 

[cvb]

PB markers

Tippmans/ BT4s for scenario woodsball and Ion for airball.
A5 is an airhog and hates the cold, my experience.