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Paintball, played with work group, now I want to get back into it...


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Thinking of picking up a gun and all that jazz, really dug the refs project salvo gun and saw this one.

 

any thoughts?

 

want something that reaches more.

 

I was thinking of getting a Tippmann X7 and upgrading.

 

forgot how much fun this was

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I was into paintball for many years when I was younger. Tippmann's are great guns as are smart parts guns and autocockers. I personally own a tippmann 98 custom and I consider this gun to be the AK of paintball guns. You can throw the thing in your dishwasher to clean it.

 

As for distance you can get that with almost all guns with the right barrel. I know tippmann has the flat-line barrel system which is supposed to be great for long range shooting. Otherwise, JT performance makes nice barrels some even with rifling, smart parts has a barrel set with interchangable diameter inserts to match the paint your shooting.

 

Anymore there are so many options and upgrades it makes me nuts! Btw, compressed air shoots better than Co2 if you can get a gun thats set up for it. It all depends on how "pro" you wanna go.

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I've owned and shot a few paintball guns over the years including a tippmann 98, tippmann A5(mocked up for scenario), Dye DM4, PT Extreme pistol.

 

I had a flatline barrel for the 98, and it was an inaccurate piece of shit that broke balls non-stop. It puts backspin on the ball which actually causes it to dramatically slow down at distance, and tends to curve the ball to the left or right. I had guys that could actually see and dodge long shots coming at them, LOL.

 

The paintball pistols are also pieces of shit.

 

The Dye Dm4 was the only gun I owned that performed near flawless. I haven't played in 7 years, so I'm sure they've gotten even better since then.

 

Tippmann 98s are great if you want a cheap beat around gun that you don't really have to care about too much. But, they can chop the hell out of balls too.

 

Do yourself a favor and pick up a decent used tourney gun off ebay like an older bob long, shocker, or Dye Matrix with a compressed air tank, barrel set, and motorized hopper. I still have my DM4(bought used at the time), and it came with a full parts kit, so it's still going strong. I've seen some used older DM4 setups for as cheap as $350 now. The equipment value depreciates very quickly. That's at least what I would do instead of dropping $400-$500 upgrading a tippmann "scenario" gun that doesn't perform anywhere near as well as a good used tourney gun. The tourney guns have a photogenic eye in them that sense when a ball in loaded in the chamber before it will fire, so it essencially elminates balls being chopped by the bolt.

 

Co2 tanks are cheap, but you can't play in cold weather with them and they vary in pressure from shot to shot so you get alot of inaccuracy and alot of ball breakage. If you get a tourny gun, you'll have to get compressed air. They have regulated air flow, aren't affected by cold temps, have less breakage and consistent shot to shot placement. It's night and day difference.

 

If you buy a used compressed air tank, you might have to get it hydro tested if it's been beyond the 3 or 4 years of manufacture date, which usually runs about 25 bucks, but something to consider when pricing. Co2 tanks also have to be hydro tested.

 

In my opinion, if you are looking for better long distance shots, get a decent multi-length, two piece barrel set (should be micro-honed mirror smooth finish inside). This cuts down on ball breakage, improves accuracy, and sometimes lets you shoot a ball break clean from the barrel. In combination with a tourney gun running compressed air, you should be able to accurately upwards lob shots at great distance on open fields. Overhanging tree cover might be a problem for distance shots, which the flatline was supposed to be good for, but with all the crazy ass shots you get out of it, you can't even hit someone at close range. At least that was my experience with it.

 

Hope that helps,

 

Sharkbit

Edited by sharkbit
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Back in the late 80s-very early 90s, I had a mail order paintball business. Granted, semi autos were relatively new then. More than a few shots per second was considered crazy. LOL. Tippmanns are hard to beat for durability though.

 

I still have my Autococker, which continues to run like a sewing machine. It started out as a pump, but got converted later. Have a Sterling pump too, from England, if I remember. Very accurate, but slow.

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Corbin, we probably crossed paths back in the day. As for the OP, I'm years out of it but had a 10 year run for a sponsored team-buy a decent electo pneumatic with a nitrogen/compressed air tank and a good hopper that can keep up with the guns r.o.f. Distance isn't as important as accuracy, consistant velocity, and rate of fire. Buy quality fresh paint. If you can find a electro pneumatic marker in your price range with an anti chop eye it's a bonus. Learn how to snap shoot and bunker...great fun.

 

Edit-almost forgot, paintball guns values drop like a rock as new stuff comes out unlike real firearms. As posted, plenty of great deals out there on the paintball sites and Ebay as Tourney players upgrade or people once interested sell off their stuff.

Edited by 6500rpm
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If you want a tippmann, go with an A5 off of ebay without a bunch of crap on it. x7 has very little better on it and some things worse.

Do not spend money upgrading a tippmann It is basically the bullet hose worn out AK. It will always work, but will never be a top performer. They don't have a valve system that is conducive to consistent gas regulation, which is a critical component of accuracy. They are rough tolerances with lots of sloppy forces and extra drag. There are so many variables of changing forces on moving parts, that consistency is not really going to happen. They are great for a simple gun that will work pretty well for an occasional player with a minimum of fuss. The integrated feed system is great on those. The piston from the X7 is the only real improvement, and you can just buy those for about $15 and stick them onto an A5 for a cleaner lighter gun with the same moving parts.

 

I would buy an 15 over a 98. The built in forcefeed is huge boost in reliability. Any paintball gun should have agitated feed as a minimum. Once you buy a 98 and a hopper to make it reliable, you have spent the same money as an A5 on a gun that is longer, harder to strip, worth less and more of a pain.

 

If you want better range, spend your money on better paint. That is the single best and also the cheapest thing you can do for accuracy.

 

I suggest underboring by 2-4 thousanths with a barrel such as the freak kit. You can get an apex tip for those too, if you want backspin for a wierd trajectory. You get more range, but not necessarily more usable range as the spin costs accuracy. Also just because you can lob paint a long way doesn't mean it will hit or break.

 

If you want performance, there are many decent entry-mid guns out there. I think the invert mini is a great gun for most purposes. I don't usually go for the spool type guns, but some of the newer dangerous power guns are very well made for the money.

 

If you are interested in an autococker, pm me and we'll talk in detail. I'll advise, and probably try to sell you one of mine. I love them a bit too much. I have sold a couple and am down to 25 now, I think.

 

I used to take jobs as an airsmith and have helped my friend run a pb shop, I think I can confidently give you extremely informed advise on almost any brand. I won't know much about models from the last 2 years, but the changes are really cosmetic, so I can find out the minor changes and give you tips on those too.

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Really your order of purchase should be:

~~~~~~~~~ spend $45 -50/case on decent fresh paint. you use less because it shoots straighter, keeps longer, breaks on the badguy not in your gun

 

1) very good thermal mask. Not anti-fog.

2) depending on where you play, a mid size air tank or 20oz C02 and the plumbing to do an anti siphon tube.

3) A decent hopper-- please ask me about this-- probably the biggest source of problems is bad feed systems, and there is crap out there

3) a mid range used gun ~ 2 years old with factory parts

 

 

 

4) a barrel or kit 12-14" or less with constriction .685 or smaller. (to supppliment your factory barrel) A fancy barrel cannot make up for terrible paint. Most will do almost nothing for your accuracy beyond placebo effect, but a good barrel properly matched to good paint with consistent gas regulation will deliver substantially better accuracy, and break less paint.

 

Corbin, we probably crossed paths back in the day. As for the OP, I'm years out of it but had a 10 year run for a sponsored team-buy a decent electo pneumatic with a nitrogen/compressed air tank and a good hopper that can keep up with the guns r.o.f. Distance isn't as important as accuracy, consistant velocity, and rate of fire. Buy quality fresh paint. If you can find a electro pneumatic marker in your price range with an anti chop eye it's a bonus. Learn how to snap shoot and bunker...great fun.

 

Edit-almost forgot, paintball guns values drop like a rock as new stuff comes out unlike real firearms. As posted, plenty of great deals out there on the paintball sites and Ebay as Tourney players upgrade or people once interested sell off their stuff.

 

Buy any mid range or high end gun 2005 or newer and it will come with good eyes. Older ones had iffy eyes. break beam is best. I guarantee he can get a great little electro for ~$150 that will shoot ropes and be better in every way (except finish) than a $2000 gun from 2004.

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smart parts what? That's like saying ford. It could be an ancient impulse, a 4x4 shocker, an ion, a shoebox shocker, a nerve, an octate shocker, new style impulse one of those tactical ion things, or half a dozen other models.

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I use planet eclipse markers. My current one is a GEO, but if you want to spend a little les look at a used etek. They are basically older models of the top model EGO's. The parts don't change much and they run like a top. Stay away from CO2. It's outdated and any paintball field nowdays has changed to HPA (high pressure air). If you get a decent marker (p.c. term for paintball gun) buy a good loader. Anything with anti chop eyes will run like crap if it isn't fed properly. Look for a Dye Rotor.

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I use planet eclipse markers. My current one is a GEO, but if you want to spend a little les look at a used etek. They are basically older models of the top model EGO's. The parts don't change much and they run like a top. Stay away from CO2. It's outdated and any paintball field nowdays has changed to HPA (high pressure air). If you get a decent marker (p.c. term for paintball gun) buy a good loader. Anything with anti chop eyes will run like crap if it isn't fed properly. Look for a Dye Rotor.

 

my thoughts as altered above. The rotor is a great hopper. I love my prophesy too, but for more casual players, the rotor is probably a better choice. Even an old VL Revolution will keep most guns in the game though.

 

Also while HPA is clearly superior, there are many places that don't have good access to HPA filling. If he is playing "outlaw" matches out in the woods or something, he needs access to a gun that can run on whatever is available to him. In a lot of places that is only Co2. His OP kind of implied that he was playing at a friend's place so that is a factor. If his friends play casual recball, and they have a way to fill Co2 onsite, it is probably simplest to go with that, provided he is running a low end gun, or something with a main reg that can handle liquid co2, such as the OEM autococker reg, or a palmers's reg. In any case an anti-siphon tube is rediculously easy and cheap to make and will be an enourmous improvement in consistency, and get a lot more shots out of the tank, and eliminate liquid freeze up & cold weather problems.

 

I solved this one personally by picking up a few scuba tanks whenever I could get a deal and have around 14 HPA tanks. I find I can keep about 15 players going for a long day off of 2 scuba tanks which cost about $10 each to fill. We are topping off about every game toward the end though.

 

If he plays at an established feild, a good 68/4500 HPA tank is the obvious no-brainer choice. I personally like to run a 45/5000, and find the compact size and weight is worth having to top off more often. However I do run pretty efficient guns.

 

Etek is a good gun for sure. I tend to prefer poppet valve guns to spoolies like the geo, for reasons of feel and simplicity. I can easily understand loving the feel of the spool valve guns as well as the low sound signature. I just see too many people have to grab the backup gun or whatever because one of the 150000000000000 fragile O-rings in those suckers has gone out. Obviously using good non-petroleum lube and cleaning often without doing unnecessary disassembly helps. If he does get a spool gun, he ought to invest in a rebuild kit with many spares of all the O-rings and make sure he doesn't get the crummy generic orings. I'd honestly do the same for any gun, and get a good allen wrench kit for the gear bag too.

 

SmartParts guns can be ok, or kind of a hassle. Most of them are air hogs, and their spoolies are pretty quiet. I also prefer guns with independant LPRs for several reasons, which smartparts has never done, except as an upgrade to a couple of models.

I would still be avoiding an ION and related models unless I got to give it a test run, and the price was very low. It isn't a bad gun, but there are many nicer guns in the price range now. Also many ION owners have screwed them up, so it can be a riskier buy. They suck to tear down due to that hose placement.

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oh snap, I can get a 2nd nitro tank and run that, just thought of this a family friend owns a scuba shop!

 

Pick up a used scuba tank so you can fill up. Make sure they fill it in a water bath & top the tank back off after the fill cools a bit. Otherwise you will get home and found that 3000 psi has become 2500-2700 psi.

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