[OT] Paintball

[Airwolf]

Greetings all,

I was just wondering if anyone on the boards plays paintball and owns a paintball marker?

I am thinking about buying a marker in the next week or so and would love to get input about which brands and models are high quality.

Now I don't want to spend big $$ on my first gun. I am looking to spend about $250-300.

I have played in the past. Friends of mine organize games with a commercial field in Marana, AZ 5-6 times a year. We have been doing this for several years now. I have always used rental guns, but decided its time to upgrade.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

BTW: If anyone in AZ wants to play we are going again on Feb 1. I think lots of you should come; I will need lots of targets to try my marker out on.

 

[Skullfyre]

I have an old marker
and haven't played in about 2 years and I wish I was in ARizona at that time would love to play

I have a tippman 68 (10 years old) and it still works and keeps up with the new guns out there.

I have found the tippman model to be a nice series.
check this link out
http://paintball.com/reviews/sectionmfg.cfm?sectionid=55

 

[JDragon]

Airwolf,

I have been playing paintball for about 7 years now.

Check out my team/groups website www.teamlockdown.com

There are some message boards there, and you should get some feed back from the others on the team.

Another great P-Ball site is www.Warpig.com, way to much p-ball info to list.

As far as equip goes the first thing you will want to get is a good mask (if you don't already have one) because if you can't see you can't shoot people.

When you are buying a marker don't forget you will also need a Co2 tank, hopper, and something to carry extra paint with.

For a starting marker I would start with a Spyder (by Kingman) of some kind, they have 10 plus models out currently. They are easy to maintain and can take a beating. Plus you have a lot of options for upgrades.

Post if you have more ?'s, I'll keep an eye on the thread.

JDragon

 

[maddman75]

ANother paintballer here. I second the motion to get a spyder. They are solid markers and have a TON of upgrade options. And admit it, half the fun of pointball is talking about all the stuff you put on your gun .

 

[MidKnight]

Good to see that there are at least several other masochists out there!

I will also chime in in favor of the Spyder series of markers. I have been forced to strip down my gun on the field to remove a jammed ball once. It was a fairly easy thing to do. Several of my friends have Tippman markers and while they perform just fine, taking one apart is NOT something I would want to do in the heat of battle.

Besides, Maddman75 got it right, half the fun is showing off all the neat things you have added to your marker. And Spyders have more stuff out there than anyother marker that I can think of.

Another site you could try is PBReview. This site has reviews made by players of most everything out on the market.

Ditto the sentiment that I wish I was in AZ to play as well. WI gets a little cold around this time of the year...

MidKnight

 

[The Lemon Merchant]

I'm particularly fond of my Tippman Custom 98. Everyone on my team of rec players (Sage Weasels) uses the same model (customized to taste) and we've all had nothing but good things to say about it. In fact, one of the guys fell in the river in one game and he came out firing with no problems. We've taken to calling it the AK-47 of paintball markers due to its ability to handle the harsh conditions that rec play can induce.

 

[Maldur]

Laymans question: Why are they called markers and not guns?

 

[Airwolf]

Thanks for all the input, everyone!

Skullfyre:
Thanks for the site. I looked at it and it had tones of good info. The rental equipment I have used in the past has always been Tippman. The makers have always worked well, they don't shoot very far with any accuracy, but they keep shooting. I am sure this is because they are the cheapest ones the field could buy.

JDragon:
Nice site! Is that really your team in the pictures? I'd love to have you guys at one of our games, you look like easy targets.
I will check out the warpig site later.
I have to agree about the goggles. I played once when it was humid and they kept fogging up.
About half of the group own their own markers and most have Spyders. We have one Piranha (sp) and one F4 Illustrator.

maddman75:
Yep and the other half of the fun is trash talking in between the games.

MidKnight:
Thanks for the site, I will take a look later today.
You might think AZ sounds nice now but you should play here in June.
Edit: I checked out pbreview. The reviews were really helpful. Lots of good feedback from people who have used the guns. Thanks.

DiamondB:
I completely agree. I am amazed at how much abuse the Tippman rentals take and keep on going.

Maldur:
Well, to answer your question I will have to tell a story. Don't worry it is short.
Long long ago,
In a cow pasture far far away
They used to use air guns to shoot paint pellets at cows to identify them. They called the air guns, markers. They used real paint then, so it wouldn't wash off quickly.
Well, one day cowpoke Joe decided that it would be funny to see cowpoke Mike with a little paint on his butt.
And so a new sport was invented. It has retained the old term of marker, even though many of the players refer to them as guns.

 

[Maldur]

Thx for the heads up. I only played once, and mnot really planning on doing it again in he near future but that always made me wonder.

Good luck, and happy huntin!

 

[JDragon]

Maldur,

Airwolf has the orgin of marker right the only other reason that is used vs gun as it is a little more PC and doesn't cause as many problems for the younger players with their parents.

Airwolf,

Yeah thats part of our team, its about 25 strong now. As I said its a team / group. We do events about once a month and as many people as possible go. On occassion some of us will get togther and play in a local tourny.

Also the only thing more customizable than a Spyder is an Autococker, but they are not a good first marker. Thats why it was my second after keeoing up with the Spyder for 2 years.

JDragon