Things that aren’t painful to buy online.

• Barrels.You cant lose here, if you can find a good deal on a barrel or barrel kit go for it. As long as you know what threading you need, how many backs you want, stainless or aluminium and what colour you need you really cant lose. Related to barrels, here’s something I wrote on the Magnus Effect.
• Soft Goods.These include jerseys, pants, vests, pads, sandanas, bandanas, vests, pods, pod packs, swabs, military surplus. Really anything you wear while paintballing. If you know your measurements and the website is clear on sizing and colour availability, go for it. You can save a ton of money buying online and skipping the retail markup. Here are two tactical paintball vests I’ve previously reviewed.
• Air Systems, including remote lines. HPA & CO2 tanks kind of almost break my golden “do not buy online” rule, which ill get to later, but the money you can save by buying online VS. local retail places air systems on the green light list. I’ve already written a series of articles on HPA & CO2 that you may want to check up on as well.
• Hoppers, Loaders and Electronic Agitators. Although a high end loader will contain a little battery powered motor with spring loaded guts, the only way I’ve seen some of these things die is end user abuse. Either souping up some old paint inside like a blender, or landing on them while superman-ing over, or into, a bunker. These will rarely show up on your doorstep D.O.A. if ordered online.

Things that will kick you in the ass later because you thought you could save a few bucks now by buying it online.

Anything with a moving part, O-ring or gasket inside it. Admittedly that is a very general and broad statement, but I honestly think it’s sound advice. Although it does slightly conflict with what’s on the thumbs up list I’ll clarify now.

Paintball markers are an often confusing jumble of parts if you haven’t ever taken a marker apart or you have no brand specific airsmithing certification. If the marker you buy online shows up, for any reason, D.O.A. the only person who will repair it under warranty is the person you purchased it from. In the case of online shopping if you’re in Alberta and you bought something from lets say Ontario, that’s an approximate 8 business days of ground shipping + the time to repair the marker + the cost of shipping. You could be out of commission for two weekends and out of pocket an unknown amount of money.

Anti fog lenses should also be purchased where you can physically see the merchandise before buying it. A well sealed gasket between lenses is key for them to do what they are meant to do, which is ANTI-FOG. Doing what I have done and buying 3 replacement lenses sight unseen only to have them show up all seperated is vein poppingly aggrivating. Again the online retailers response will be, and sure was, “ship them back to us and we will replace them”.

All this can easily be avoided by buying the gear that is prone to break down the most frequently by someone you can 5 minute drive to. Everyone who runs an online store will, I’m sure, whole heartedly disagree with me but this has been my unfortunate experience.

 Now that my rant is over, here are the people in Canada who run websites that I WOULD buy from again.

• PaintballGear.ca
• TacticalPaintball.ca
• GlobalArmySurplus.com
• MyDogTag.ca - Email him first and tell him I sent you
• KJ Sales - Canadas nicest NCStar distributor!

If they aren’t on this list you should wonder why as I’ve bought from many many online sources.

Always phone ahead to see if what’s on the website is actually in stock. Try to avoid at all times cross border shipping, or shipping period! buy locally.

Not included in the linked article :

• Tim Kretschmer, 17, was in therapy
• Tim Kretschmer had potential access to approximately 15 firearms, but no mention of paintball markers?
• Tim Kretschmer was alleged to have disclosed his plan previous to the attack
• Tim Kretschmer had a specific grudge and the attack wasn’t random

 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/5291891/Germany-to-ban-paintball-in-wake-of-high-school-shooting.html

So since paintball has no link to the mentioned attack in March, why ban it? Nowhere have I read that the shooter, Tim Kretschmer, had an interest in or even played paintball.

Paintball gets the ban, but firearms stay legal? OH MEIN GOTT

Suppressive fire isn’t a new or revolutionary concept, but its surprising to see many new or relatively inexperienced woodsballers using it haphazardly without control or team coordination. I cant deny that there isn’t a slight satisfaction to raining paint down on someone, but you need to learn when to stop shooting as not to bonus ball anyone and how to time your barrages to help in team movement.

It’s quite simple really, while one person in the squad is laying it down on the opfor everyone else should be moving into a different position to try and build an angle on the target. After a lot of practice this isn’t even something that needs to be discussed before hand, if you hear a teammate shooting at someone that’s your signal to move and to try and flank them. The whole practice of shooting and moving is what makes paintball .  .  . paintball! Speedball or woodsball, it doesn’t matter, this is how the game universally works.

Unless you’re a full fledged noobinator, then the correct thing to do is to stay in one spot with your finger on the trigger and after 2 minutes when your rain of paint terror is over and you’ve accomplished nothing, quickly call yourself out and walk off the field.

Just as a paintball marker is only as good as the person using it, having full auto capabilities in your squad is only as useful as the squad itself. Practice and team coordination make full auto useful, not the individual or their marker.

I can’t endorse this site & their service enough. If you’re in Canada and you or your milsim team are in the market for custom dog tags there’s no reason you shouldn’t already be at mydogtag.ca

Every step of dog tag customization is present in an easy to use and understand format. Enter the text for each dog tag, choose the actual material for the dog tag and then choose what flavour of silencer you want ( I of course went with woodland camouflage ) . For under $10 CDN funds you really cant go wrong.

The setup and order process was painless, shipping was fast and the dog tags hold up to some intense woodsball. Thumbs up all around!

Google it, and read safety bulletins.

What I can believe is that regardless of the sport there are risk factors inherit to each sport that will ultimately lead to someone becoming a statistic. Here are a few reasons why paintball is safer then other sports.

•  Wearing protection, like a mask,  is mandatory.
• There is no physical contact in paintball, unless accidental.
• We aren’t sitting on anything motorized, with or without a seat belt.
• We don’t carry a stick, bat or racket.

So whats my point? Well I think paintball is too safe, so safe that its not playing to our natural morbid interests. Take NASCAR for example, have you ever watched a race for the race or are you watching for the 200mph flaming pile up!

I think we as paintballers need to man up and pad our stats some more to be more in line with the popular mainstream sports of today. I propose we all ride quad ATV’s, in two man teams, and everyone has a cricket bat for melee combat as a backup in case their marker goes down. Bunkers will be abolished as the entire field will be a motocross track, the objective of the match will be to be the last two man team still on their ATV.

Now who wouldn’t watch that on FOX sports.

The sole purpose of camouflage is to break up and conceal the recognizable geometric shape of an object with its surrounding environment. Camouflage makes an object difficult to detect by emulating the immediate visual background. The colouring, size and distribution of pattern elements must necessarily be in aspects pertinent to the visual system of the observer.

So literally the best camouflage is one that looks as similar as possible in all aspects to your immediate surroundings in both colour and pattern.

There are all kinds of terrains and climates with their own flora and fauna, it will be nearly impossible for you to own the perfect camouflage for every event and locale. Even if you do own a pattern that matches the surroundings that you normally play on, are you using your camouflage in such a way that it breaks up the recognizable geometric outline of the human body? Regardless of your body being covered in a sufficient visually disruptive pattern, what about your mask and marker? If anything is going to give you away while playing woodsball its going to be thundering around like a fool, the silhouette of the visor on your mask, the mask itself or the silhouette of your marker.

Movement, or lack of movement, is very much a part of effective camouflage. You’ve most likely seen pictures that demonstrate a particular camouflage patterns capabilities and there’s one thing that all these pictures have in common. The concealed subject isn’t moving! On top of a still picture not recreating the movement of a natural environment the concealed subject in the demonstration pictures is, 90% of the time, not carrying any paintball gear! As long as you remain motionless, theres less of a chance your mask or marker will give you concealed position away, but as soon as you raise your marker to take aim, or poke your head up to see whats going on, its pretty much all over.

There is one expensive solution that might be practical depending on your style of play, the ghillie suit, aka the ‘yowie suit’. This form of camouflage first made an appearance in 1916 during the second Boer War and is named after a type of tree spirit that is supposed to disguise itself in leaves and vegetation. A ghillie suit is often comprised of several pounds of jute thread, and is incredibly hot to wear. Since these suits take a considerable amount of time to manufacture, they are often also expensive. Although highly effective, the ghillie is only as capable as its wearer, again movement will give you away even if you are head to toe looking like a mossy swamp thing.

So which easily available camouflage pattern is the best? How much do I have to pay and who do I have to go to, to get the best camouflage?

It’s been my experience that as long as you are wearing a natural and abundant colour, like the very common olive drab, and you pay attention to how you move and your position in your surroundings in relation to potential objectives you’ll regularly surprise people. Stay low, move cautiously and with intent, crawl often as people aren’t expecting that. Don’t second guess yourself, once you’ve decided to move, commit to the movement. Use brush as cover, as long as there is 2 or 3 inches of foliage between you and a potential hotspot you are less likely to be seen, natural cover is the best!

Sound is also an integral part to camouflage, shut the hell up and remember to practice and use your hand signals or invest in some radios and headset / mic combos. Combat boots are nice, I wear them, but running shoes are quieter and should be considered as an alternative.

In the end the camouflage is only as good as the person wearing it, very much like a paintball marker is only as good as the person operating it.

If you’ve ever played a large enough game to warrant the use of radios you already know how just plain awesome and genuinely useful they can be. Just as anything else in paintball, or any other hobby actually, there are a few expensive mistakes you can make a long the way before you find the perfect practical working combination between cost and functionality. The radios featured in this article are admittedly a couple years old, but no less effective or relevant.

The Motorola T6500 FRS/GMRS radios have stood up well to plenty of outdoor abuse. I’ve used these in all weather conditions and only once when there was 4 inches of snow on the ground and it was raining and muddy did they have a hiccup, but that very well could have been the headset getting damp. A rugged radio like this model is ideal for the beating that comes with playing woodsball. The T6500’s come with rechargeable battery packs and a charging stand, but I would ditch the battery packs and go straight to consuming straight up AA’s. Each T6500 takes 3 AA batteries and battery life is quite good, I’ve never had to panic and swap out during a days play. The complete list of features is quite impressive: 22 channels, PTT, VOX, pad lockout, etc. check out the main product page here. They’ve been shot, dived on, dropped and stepped on and Motorola T6500’s get an overwhelming thumbs up.

A good radio in pair with a good headset & microphone combo increase the advantage you have over your opponents. If you have only 2 radios in a squad of 8, you can maneuver 2 groups of 4 people in and out of danger without the other team knowing what really just happened. At the end of the day they will most definitely be asking themselves how you always seemed to pop up out of nowhere with such a showing of force.

More importantly then what brand I would recommend is of course the technical information. The most important tidbit is the difference between FRS and GMRS.

FRS stands for Family Radio Service. Radios that are only FRS compatible will be limited to 500 milliwatts of power. Unfortunately for Americans the FCC has regulated that to use anything more powerful you have to pay a licensing fee, currently at $85USD. FRS radios are just fine for short range use and are very often affordable to anyone!

GMRS stands for General Mobile Radio Service. In the United States, licensed GMRS operators are permitted to transmit at up to 50 Watts of power It’s more likely that the GMRS radios you buy will be powered at the same level as my T6500 radios, outputting a blistering 1 watt and providing you with ample range in which to communicate with.

PTT stands for Push To Talk. Either the button on the body of the radio or the button on the cable that leads to the plugged in microphone can be pushed to initiate a transmission. Having a boom mic under your mask is an enormous advantage, you can literally whisper and be heard by the person on the other end. Excellent for directing movement or fire from a concealed position.

VOX stands for Voice Operated Transmission/Transmitter. So why isn’t the acronym VOT? I have no idea. Although I HIGHLY recommend you don’t use this feature. With all the running, gunning and shouting you’re going to be doing it will sound more like a violent obscene phone call then anything tactically useful.

VOX = *pant*pant*pant*oh crap*pop*pop*pant*pop*IM HIT IM HIT*

I’ve been holding back my review on this NcStar red dot sight until I had sufficient time to actually use it, after 6 days of use ( approx 24 hours of play ) I can confidently say that it’s FAR superior to a standard single point red dot sight. I was admittedly slightly skeptical as to how the quality of the video game crosshairs would be in real life, but once again the Canadian distributor for NcStar products, KJ Sales, has delivered a fantastic functional tactical upgrade for my T9 MilSim paintball marker.

This red dot sight is several kinds of awesome and I have nothing bad to say about it. The rheostat for adjusting the brightness has 7 different levels of output and even on the lowest setting is powerful enough to be seen in broad daylight, I find the highest setting actually too bright! The construction is all aluminum and the entire unit is quite hefty weighing in at 4+ ounces. Windage and elevation are easily adjustable with the included allen key.

The only potential downside to this NcStar red dot sight is that the lens is not protected in any way, unlike the 42mm NcStar red dot sight. I haven’t taken a direct hit to the glass and although these units have come down in price substantially they still aren’t cheap enough to shoot it on purpose for testing sake. Since the lens is held in by an all aluminum shroud, and the lens is fairly thick, I would surmise that the lens would pop out instead of shatter. In either case with a broken lens or a missing lens the D4C would cease to function.

The Custom Random Digitalesque Camouflage Generator or C.R.D.C.G for short, is as far as I know, the worlds first online camouflage generator wherein you can pick which colours you’d like to use in your pattern. The option for squares ( digitalesque ) or circles ( *tarnesque ) are available, as is the option to have between one and four layers of colour.

The math behind the creation of a randomized pattern like this isn’t that hard, but it is a little mind bending and I wont get into it. Oh yes, it is randomly generated, every time you view the image it will be a distinctly new random pattern made from either the default colours I’ve preselected or the custom colours you choose.

 So why is it really really really cool? I can use the script I wrote to generate an image of potentially any size. So for instance you’ve probably seen people who hunt a lot with camouflage everything, even their vehicles ( pickups & ATV’s ) are done in some sort of RealTree or disruptive pattern. The patterns on these vehicles all suffer from what I think is a major functional and aesthetic flaw, the pattern most often painted or vinyled on these vehicles has a visible repetition in the pattern and it looks horrible and not natural in a random true to nature sort of way.

The C.R.D.C.G solves this problem, now not only can you have a completely distinct non repetitive pattern on an object of any size. The colours of the pattern can be chosen to specifically match your surrounding environment and even if you pick the same colours as your friend it would be nearly impossible for the patterns to be identical in any way.

If yould like your own pattern to be generated for use on your vehicle or as a template for airbrushing, email me for a quote on image generation to your specific size.

1. Your safety, the safety of those around you and the potential risk of injury to all persons involved will undoubtedly be the primary concern of every parent. Although all paintball gear seems to come with the same set of standard warnings there is no system of legal punishment for disobeying common sense, unlike seatbelt laws where you can be fined for not buckling up.

Parents should know : If you are playing on a legitimate field where you are required to pay field fees, you will be policed and require to follow quite a few safety rules. The only injuries you will come home with are the welts left from the paintballs themselves as paintball is statistically one of the safest sports around.

2. General hooliganism. Are you going to go around making youtube videos of yourself shooting your dumb friend who volunteered to be the guinea pig? Are you going to run rampant around the neighbourhood shooting road signs, cars and other peoples houses at random? I think here you will have the greatest time convincing them, as you might very well be a little jerk who shouldn’t be playing paintball. But this is where compromise in your negotiations can be played up.

Parents should know : There is something you  may or may not have heard of, its called the fire triangle. Imagine a triangle; on one side you have oxygen, on another side you have fuel and on the last side you have the source of ignition. Creating fire is impossible if you take away one of these three elements. Now imagine the paintball triangle; on one side you have the paintball marker, on another side you have paintballs and on the last side you have the markers propellant source. Playing paintball and causing damage through hooliganism isn’t possible if you take away one of the three elements needed to play paintball. If you lock up the marker in a safe place, as you would a real firearm when its not in use, you eliminate any chance of wrong doing on your child’s part.

3. Paintball is expensive. There is no argument on that one, paintball can be expensive. If you don’t already, putting in extra chore time around the house will be required. Pushing a lawn mower around for a couple hours a week or doing more dishes is really a fair trade off to be able to play paintball regularly though. If your parents are going to buy your gear for you initially don’t make a rushed decision. Buy something practical that will require the least amount of upgrading and maintenance. Tippmann 98’s, BT4’s and a few of the lower end Smart Parts markers may suit you well and be more gentle on your parents pockets.

Parents should know :  There are always deals to be had, and when shopping in a retail paintball store don’t be afraid to haggle or ask for a deal when making a large purchase. If you are going to buy an entire setup for your child ( marker, mask, c02 tank, pod pack, pods ) simply suggesting “Hey, since I’m buying all this you can cut me a deal right” there’s a very high chance you can get something, anything, taken off the bottom line. Shop around, look online, there’s no rush. When taking your child to a local field often you’ll find they have membership packages with an array of benefits, again lowering your overall costs. An average day at an expensive field can run up to $90, which is really a high estimate, anything you can do to lower the initial and overall costs will bring harmony to the balance of you wanting your child to have fun and your child getting what they want.

Kids, paintball is fun, you know this. If concessions are required in order for you to be allowed to play or if your parents are going to buy your gear for you, you have to be willing to make sacrifices.

Parents, your child’s interest in paintball shouldn’t frighten or alarm you, they aren’t recruited militants. You should really give this a try yourself, you might surprised and also get hooked. If you have any other questions or concerns, or you’d like guidance in making a purchase for your child, feel free to email me chris@chrisschneck.com I’m not selling anything nor am I a commissioned sales person.

Say hello to U.S. Army Paintball and all its cheesy glory.

Ill start off by saying that I am Canadian and I have nothing against the USA or the U.S. Army.  But as an avid paintball player I am against anything that might expedite the regulation of use and or sale of paintball equipment, or tarnish the already somewhat poor image of paintball. The only press paintball seems to receive is when a bunch of idiots do a drive-by shooting using paintball markers or when property is vandalized. I cant see slapping a military endorsement on a paintball marker helping our games chances of establishing itself as a competitive sport.

If anything, introducing military endorsed paintball markers could turn fields across north america into recruiting grounds and training centres for future candidates. For those who aren’t organized or motivated enough to join a scout troop or cadets, you can skip all the valuable training and grooming to be a responsible citizen and jump into commando mode with your army endorsed marker and be one smaller step away from picking up the real thing.

Currently there are few regulations or laws denying minors access to paintball markers, rules are somewhat relaxed about how paintball gear is transported  and where it is used. Is this new union between paintball and military a step away from our current freedom? Will the U.S. Armies endorsement confirm what our sports antagonists have been arguing?

I cant say I’m a saint in this regard, I go into the woods with my camouflage and T9, but I’m also 30 and know the difference between a game and a lifestyle. For the most part I think the minors who aren’t eligible to join the armed forces know this difference as well, but its the unknowable margin of those who cant differentiate who concern me. Those affluent north american children who’s parents don’t pay enough attention and just buy their children off on their birthdays and Christmas. It’s the people who don’t really want to play paintball, don’t respect paintball as a sport and ultimately have no respect for others who will be our downfall.

Now put a product made by the largest name in paintball and endorsed by the largest name in conquest into the hands of that minority of people who aren’t wanted by our sport and the buzzards start to circle around the corpse that was our freedom.

Also read : Anti-Syphon Tubes and c02

So if c02 is so temperamental why do so many people use it?

It’s cheap and easily available. Every paintball store carries and fills c02 tanks, all paintball fields offer c02 fills and smaller sized c02 tanks have an infinite working life. For the volume or size you can expect to get far more shots from a c02 tank then a HPA tank of comparable physical size.

Also read : How many shots will I get out of my tank?

I’ve never noticed a problem with my paintball marker before, can I really improve any aspect of my paintball markers performance or reliability?

Absolutely, as long as you stick to the smart upgrades and not something that just looks good. Which brings me to the massive and very essential difference between regulators & expansion chambers and pressure & volume.

A regulators primary function is to regulate pressure. I personally run a Palmers Pursuit stabilizer on my Tippmann A5 and with the turn of an allen key I can increase or decrease the pressure I want to operate my paintball marker at to anywhere from 0psi - 900psi. The normal operating pressure of a Tippmann A5 is approximately 800psi, but with lots of love and care ( and upgrades ) I can run at 400psi.

Why is a consistent pressure desirable?

The velocity at which the paintball leaves your marker will be more consistent. How the paintball travels down the barrel of your marker and travels in flight will also be more consistent. I didn’t say accurate there, because accuracy is a combination of mechanics and skill, consistency is purely mechanical.

Why is a lower pressure desirable?

Lower operating pressure :

• will reduces the kick back of your marker, making it easier to place paint on paint
• is more gentle on the orings, springs and other internals of your marker. Elongating the life of your marker and its precious internals
• in some cases can reduces the audible report of your marker

Are there any drawbacks to a lower operating pressure?

Not really, but you have to consider that you still need to apply the same amount of force to a paintball to get it to travel at an optimal 300fps. So when you reduce the pressure of the propellant you have to increase the volume of the propellant. This now will introduce you to a new term known as dwell. Dwell is the length of time your markers valve will stay open, an open valve releases a volume of air. On lower end mechanical markers, like Tippmann and BT markers, there is no way to adjust the dwell without buying aftermarket parts or manually modifying the rear hammer spring. Tweaking your operating pressure in conjunction with your dwell will produce the highest efficiency possible.

An expansion chambers primary function is to provide liquid c02 with extra space in which to expand into a gas state. Expansion chambers are especially useful in colder climates or on c02 powered markers that need to sustain a higher rate of fire.

Also read : Winter performance with c02 powered markers

Unfortunately although expansion chambers will provide a high volume of propellant, they have no form of regulating your operating pressure, you will still be at the mercy of c02’s temperamental nature.

Unless you are a proficient airsmith, please take your tank to a pro shop to have an anti-syphon installed as a mistake here can be fatal.

It is apparently acceptable to spell it both ways, syphon or siphon. I chose syphon becuase it looks cooler

What I think : Because of the ingredients that go into making paintballs, I don’t think they will freeze and become hard as rock. I think they will shrink, become dimpled & deformed and will overall be very useless. 

Make sure to read : Paintballs - A tasty treat

I’m going to prove how freezing paintballs will effect them by sacrificing a bag of paint and putting it in the freezer over the weekend. The paint is new, non winter formula and in an airtight sealed bag.

The paint was put into the freezer on Friday, February the 1st @ 1pm.

Ready for a surprise? The paintballs were NOT rock hard, they were in fact a little squishy-er and extremely brittle. So brittle in fact I’d say they would be near impossible to use, even in the most gentle of paintball markers. The shell was not hard, and the fill was still very much a fluid. I would not be afraid of playing against someone who said they had frozen their paintballs, in fact, id encourage them to use them as I don’t see how their marker will function for very long with all the broken paint in their breach.

I will admit, there might have been a time when paintballs could have been freezable, but the general recipe for modern paintballs doesn’t seem to contain enough water to make them dangerous or near lethal. So the next time some one starts going off about how they froze some balls and it was rad, you can call them out and get everyone to laugh at them for being a big fat liar.

1. Split Receiver - Why. Why should I have to take new marker apart in quarters, why cant I just remove the end cap and have everything slide out the back? Oh wait, they already did that with the A5/X7. Granted this will make maintaining the 98 much easier, its just my opinion that they should have applied all this engineering time to a truly new marker or at least have upgraded the A5/X7 which are already superior in many ways.

2. Easy to remove power tube- Easy to remove? is it going to break? are you selling me an already defective marker? here’s an idea, why not help the consumer out and put an ALUMINUM power tube in there for me so I don’t have to buy an aftermarket power tube to replace the vulnerable or cracked plastic one. Better yet, if you want easy, why not make it so that there’s some sort of tombstone adapter that I can pull out, and then remove an end cap and everything slides out the back . . . . oh wait that’s right, you did that already with the A5/X7.

3. Full depth pockets for ASA- This sort of seems unnecessary if the receiver half comes off in quarters, I shouldn’t have to undo the ASA bolts. Unless they HAD to add this feature to accommodate the receiver mod.

4. Re-Designed front vertical grip - Thank you. Thank you for updating something that ill have to remove if I want to add an expansion chamber or regulator by using a vertical adapter. Or will the traditional vertical adapter even work with this line of custom 98’s?

5. Secured front sight spring- OK, ill give you this one, I hate re installing this thing when it wont seat properly. But ill bring the same point up again, this feature wont be useful if I dont have to remove that half of the receiver. Its like you just added a feature that was made obsolete by another feature you just added.

6. New porting on the barrel to improve air efficiency, and an all new matte finish- Reflective glare has finally been eliminated? thank the gods. I cant tell you how many times I’ve been hit because the reflective glare from my barrel and ASA gave my position away. I cant comment on the *new* barrel porting because from what little ive seen it just looks like they’ve removed the porting that was mid barrel on the older 98 models.

7. Picatinny Rail - Hello, welcome to several years ago. Meet my friend the BT4, oh but hes got one up on you, hes got a rail on the bottom for grips as well as one on top for sights.

8. Re-Designed sling-mount end cap - Thank you! Finally a built in place to attach a sling. Longer games demand such a feature, as even 6lbs. feels like a ton after cradling a marker for long periods of time.

It might seem like I’m against Tippmann, but that’s far from the truth. I’m scared that recently they’ve been invaded by gremlins, gremlins who make funny decisions, take cosmetic guidance from short bus operations paintballers and love a good tailgate BBQ.

I think ideally they should try and combine the best of all the 98 and the A5 and the X7. Make something easy to disassemble, with fewer problem parts and make it affordable for the common player.

Oh look! I found it!

The design of a speedball marker normally factors in having your tank always attached to your paintball marker, so ergonomically it will feel more natural to not use a remote line. That’s not to say you can’t use a remote line when playing speedball, it’s just not very common to do so.

Milsim and aftermarket customized woodsball markers, like the Tippmann A5, can benefit greatly from the implementation of a remote line system.

• The weight of your paintball marker will be reduced, making it easier to carry the marker in a ‘ready to fire’ position for longer periods of time
• When in a prone or crouching position, the lack of a tank on your ASA will allow you to reduce your paintball markers overall visible profile and allow you to get closer to the ground
• Having no tank on your ASA will interfere less with having a stock, which is more common on paintball markers designed for realism
• A remote line will act somewhat as an expansion chamber allowing more room for c02 to turn from a liquid into a gas

There’s really not a lot you need to know about actually using a remote line, they’re very simple. There are 2 physical parts to a remote line, the smaller threaded piece with a nipple on it, the actual coiled hose where on one end your tank will screw into and on the other end there will be a quick disconnect which is the female end that you attach to the the nipple on the smaller threaded piece. Optionally, near the quick disconnect, there may be what is called a slide check. A slide check will allow you to de-pressurize your marker with potentially less stress on your o-rings.

The PMI coiled remote line I own has a rating of 3000psi painted right onto the hose, now I’m not foolish enough to test this limit out myself but I will believe it. My remote line sometimes does snag or get entangled on brush and other woodland entities, but I’ve never had it pulled on so hard that it disconnects from the paintball marker. I’ve done no testing as to a remote lines effectiveness as a source of expansion for c02, but I’ve no doubt it does contribute in that manner.

When purchasing a remote line, there are a few things to consider. I highly recommend a slide check, this will make depressurizing your paintball marker infinitely easier. The hose should be rated to a certain PSI, unless the manufacturer puts this right on the remote line itself you can’t be sure what you’re getting. The part that you screw your tank into should be sturdy and if screwed out all the way, shouldn’t come apart. I’ve seen cheap remote lines where this essential piece comes apart when screwed out, or doesn’t function when screwed all the way in.

Bottom line is, you get what you pay for, I paid over $60 Canadian a couple years ago. That price may have come down slightly, but if your thinking of cheaping out just remember that if you customize your setup to run using a remote line, your day will be cut short without a working one.

Not long after I bought a Tac 9 Covert rifle package I wanted to add a nice sized red dot sight. The only thing I found that had a large enough field of view AND had see through flip up lens covers was an OpsGear 42mm red dot sight. Not only does it look just badass on top of the weaver sight riser that comes with the Tac 9 Covert, it really helps placing that first shot.

So the time came that one of the flip up lense covers for my 42mm red dot needed to be replaced. I contacted OpsGear directly and to my dismay they don’t carry replacement see through flip up lens covers, they instead recommended that I get in touch with a local sporting goods store. Well, honestly, that’s no help.

With a little searching I discovered that a company named NcStar manufactures an identical 42mm red dot sight, complete with the flip up lens covers that I was looking for. Again there was a catch, they were in the USA, and I hate shipping from the USA. The email I sent to NcStar asking for the location of a Canadian distributor was promptly answered and they handed me over to a fellow in Ontario by the name of James McKay.

Not only was James sympathetic to my situation, he even called his rep at NcStar on my behalf to see if there was anything they could do about my situation. Within 2 weeks James had my replacement flip up lens covers in Canada and on their way to me. The cost of the replacement flip up lens covers was reasonable, the shipping costs were reasonable and James even phoned me to keep me up to date on the status of things.

If youre in Canada don’t hesitate to check out NcStar’s Online Catalogue and Contact James McKay to order. They have quite the selection of optics and accessories for milsim paintballers.

James “Jim” McKay
www.riflescope-shop.com
KJ Sales
255 Pigeon Creek Road
Janetville, Ontario
L0B 1K0

I had such high hopes for this marker. An electropnuematic milsim marker that can run on c02, is easy to maintain and looks fantastic. Out of the box this marker is nice and light and was very comfortable to hold. Its covered in rails to mount all the bi-pods, red dot sights and lasers you could ever want. All for under $180 Canadian, was this too good to be true?

Yes.

I admit its first use was on a cold December day, but this marker is supposed to be able to run at <= 180psi. Its not that it didn’t work at all, its just that it didn’t work enough to use to play. The marker would turn on and appear to be functioning, it just wouldn’t fire all the time which is pretty essential to play paintball. Someone else in our group who had also bought an SP1 on boxing day was having the same problem so I’m confident I didn’t get a lemon.

Aside from the disappointing winter performance of this marker it is impressive, in concept. Maintenance was too easy, 2 Phillips screws on the back remove a plate and another hex key removes a bolt and everything falls out the back for cleaning. The Smart Parts SP1 comes stock as a true semi auto electropnuematic but can take a black heart board as an upgrade later on. The clamping feedneck was nice and sturdy and held a full VL Revolution nicely. I cant comment on the regulator and how it performed, since it really didn’t, but it is there.

All in all if you like to play paintball year round, and are using strictly c02, im going to recommend you pass on this marker. I ended up trading in my Smart Parts SP1 straight across for a Tippmann Custom 98 w/a.c.t. go figure that id choose a marker that’s about a decade old over something that just came out.

Polyurethane o-rings will range in colour from a translucent white to a yellow.

Nitrile o-rings are softer and commonly black in colour.

The o-rings that are in the moving parts of your paintball marker ( hammers, bolts & tank o-rings ) are a harder polyurethane. They need to stand up to the constant abrasion of movement, no matter how smooth you think the interior of your marker is there’s always an infinitesimal measurement of friction.

You might also see o-rings noted with a D, as in 70D. The D notes the Shore Durometer rating, which is typically used as a measure of hardness in polymers, elastomers and rubbers. There are several scales of durometer, used for materials with different properties. The two most common scales, using slightly different measurement systems, are the A and D scales. The A scale is for softer plastics, while the D scale is for harder ones.

Unfortunately you cannot simply replace any o-ring in your paintball marker with another o-ring that just happens to be the same diameter. The thickness and composition of the o-ring is essential to the pantball markers functionality. Having one or two complete sets of replacement o-rings specifically designed for your paintball marker on hand is the only way to be safe.

So which lubricants can I use in my paintball marker?

Only use lubricants that are non petroleum based!

Do Use :

1. Silicone Grease
2. Lithium Grease
3. Oil bought from your local paintball store
4. Air Tool Oil ( if you’re in a pinch )

Do NOT Use :

1. WD-40
2. Motor oil
3. Petroleum based grease
4. Anything you would use on a vehicle

The funny version can be found here.

Its best to designate your own set of hand signals, as using a standardized set that is available to everyone will make it possible for players on other teams to also interpret what you are trying to communicate. Dont try and overcomplicate it, unless you play with the same group of people all the time you will again run into the problem of not being understood or miscommunicating your intentions.

Keep the series of hand signals brief, make all hand movements below your shoulders to reduce the chance of being spotted. Here is quick run through of how you might organize a chain of thought :

1. Get your teammate(s) attention - Normally I would just hold my hand about chest height and wave hello until my teamate(s) knew I was trying to say something
2. Outline the situation - Point to an area of interest and describe what it is that is in that direction that everyone should be paying attention to
3. Describe what you intend to do - Pointing again to yourself and where you intend to go, or what you intend to do to address what you pointed out in step #2
4. Describe what you want your teammate(s) to do - Pointing to your teammate(s) and tell them where to go or what you need them to do to back you up in step #3
5. Get confirmation that everything was understood - Make sure everyone is nodding in agreement or gives a thumbs up
6. Take action - Dont hesitate, you probably spent a few precious moments getting this all out, just do it at this point

As long as your entire group is on the same page to what all your hand gestures mean, you should be good to go. If you manage to get the drop on another group of paintballers and they dont see or hear you before you make your move, you have a much greater chance of success.

http://www.snopi.com/FreeTime/assault.swf

http://www.arcadevault.com/paintball_2.html

http://www.mousebreaker.com/games/paintball/play.php

http://www.paintballguns.net/game.php

http://www.miniclip.com/games/presidential-paintball/en/

The one universal standard for safety amongst all paintball players is the 300 feet per second velocity limit which we set our markers to before each time we play. There are many valid reasons for this limit but foremost is safety. Even well below this upper limit of 300fps being hit with a paintball can be very painful, more-so depending on where you’re hit.

There is no practical advantage for shooting above 300fps, at speeds of 300fps+ your shots will become more inaccurate, you increase your chance of destroying a paintball in the breach or barrel due to increased stress applied to the paintball, you could be removed from the field of play indefinitely and worst of all you could seriously injure someone.

The one thing you have to protect most is what you need to play paintball in the first place, your eyes. Masks and the lens in your mask are able to take quite a bit of punishment but in no way should be solely relied upon to protect your eyes from harm. Its time to get a new lens or mask if ;

• The mask you own doesn’t fit you well, covering your ears and jawline well
• The strap on your mask has lost its elasticity or is damaged
• Your lens is showing signs of fatigue like chips and cracks
• Your lens wont seat into the frame of  your mask properly
• You have been shot in the lens at a distance of 10′ or closer

Below is a picture of how to properly hold a handheld chronograph holding the marker straight and keeping the back of the chrono free from obstruction.

For those of us who use c02 as a propellant, its even more important that we take care. c02 is prone to being inconsistent and your velocity might fluctuate greatly throughout the day to such degrees as 20fps+/- Even though I have a Palmers Stabilizer on my Tippmann A5, I usually chrono to around 260fps - 270fps. Partially because I use a BT Apex barrel but also because the extra 20fps or so velocity I might be able to achieve really wont make that much of a difference and I’m out to have fun, not to hurt people.

Make sure you have a good mask with a lens thats also in good condition, chrono your gun before you use it, use a barrel condom when your at the field but not playing, chrono your gun some more and have fun its just a game!

A well constructed and functional offering from RAP4, although I’m not 100% impressed. Don’t take my opinion as fact, a lot of people wear RAP4 gear and seem to like it, I’m just not convinced this vest was specifically manufactured for a Tac 8 pistol like their site would have you believe. The same Tac 8 magazine pockets are sold with their vest designed for airsoft and MP5 clips, so the Tac 8 clips don’t exactly fit where they’re supposed to, although they are very secure. The holster for the Tac 8 is also not to ideal size, but it works. An additional clip can be stored on the holster side of the vest, but again I don’t think it was specifically designed for the Tac 8 and the clip falls into where it could go, far enough down that its irretrievable.

Overview of this tactical vest :

• pod placement on the RAP4 vest isnt ideal for crawling -1
• RAP4 vest doesn’t have an internal elastic waistband to help secure your load -1
• radio pocket is a tad too small -1
• RAP4 vest comes with 2! internal zippered pockets +1
• RAP4 constructs their vests from the a durable mesh +1
• top right utility pocket has a velcro’d 12gr c02 holder +1
• RAP4 vest is highly modular and affordable +1

This line of vests from RAP4 are highly customizable and even though you might buy one configuration, later on you can just buy alternative components individually and change the vest entirely. It really is a tough choice if youre choosing between Special Ops Paintball and RAP4. With Special Ops they make a different vest for every style of play but RAP4 makes one vest that you can customize depending on your mood. Special Ops Paintball gear is indeed high quality and has a price tag to go with it. RAP4 gear is very near the same level of quality but impressively more affordable.

Your choice in the end should come down to how well the vest fits you, and does it carry everything you need comfortably. RAP4 loses out slightly in this department, in my opinion. Having my pods and air source on my back and having an internal elastic waist band makes my Special Ops tactical vest feels far more secure then a RAP4 vest with a lighter load.

With vests though, seriously, try before you buy!

A high end revolutionary pistol that ended the spyder clone side arm era. By now there’s no reason you shouldn’t have heard of, or seen in person, the wonder that is a Tiberius Arms Tac 8 paintball pistol. They are as accurate as they are beautiful and using one as your primary marker is very much an option.

The Tiberius Arms T8 and its newer relative the T9 rifle are unique in that your paintballs and air source are both in the well constructed magazine. A 12gr c02 cartridge and 8 paintballs are held in the magazine and fed into the grip frame, replicating the functionality of a real firearm. With the push of a button the magazine in the grip frame falls out and a fresh magazine can be slapped in, making the reloading process near instantaneous. The Tiberius Arms T8 runs at, or less than, 300psi and I’ve found that I can get around 22 shots from a 12gr c02 cartridge before I notice a drop in velocity.

General cleaning and maintenance is pretty easy, but care should be taken when disassembling the marker as there are things that shouldnt be taken apart ( refer to your manual ). Since the nature of the magazine system is to be constantly inserting and removing a clip very near to the internal essentials of the marker, it has happened to me once that a piece of bark got inside and prevented my marker from re-cocking. So the lesson there is always check your magazine before cramming it back in

Chopping paint is a nightmare, paintball shell fragments and fill will really mess up the overall performance of your pistol. Worst case scenario is that your T8 will stop working completely and have to be taken apart and cleaned, yes that happened to me. Barrel breaks are bad, but not so bad that your day will be ruined. The barrel on both the T8 and T9 are easily removed with a push-twist-pull action, because of the larger bore of the T8 and T9 barrel breaks aren’t too common. The magazines seem gentle on paint and I’ve yet to have an issue, that I can prove, that was the fault of the magazine crushing paint.

The Tiberius Arms T8 gets an enthusiastic endorsement from me. If you’re in the marker for a sidearm or want a challenging new primary marker, you shouldn’t overlook this marker. If you want the best of both worlds, go for a T9 rifle, you wont be disappointed either way.

I’m biased here, because I absolutely love this vest. Ive used mine since the 6 model came out and I don’t regret the purchase one bit. If you have the chance, I highly recommend picking one up. This tactical vest is everything they advertise it to be, its absolutely designed for woodsball play and I have no fear of it standing up to whatever I dish out. After more then a year of beating on it, it is a tiny bit frayed in spots but I feel like this will last me the rest of my paintball career.

I chose the woodland camouflage pattern, but it is also available in olive drab, black, omnipat, acu digital and their own special ops digital. Ive never worn a vest that isn’t all mesh, so I cant imagine being any hotter then I already am on a summers day. I’m not saying this vest is particularly hot, I actually hardly notice I’m wearing it, but vests that aren’t all mesh must be devastating. The horizontal tank holder on the back is rock solid, once you double Velcro and double strap your tank down there’s no need to check through the day, its not going anywhere. The 6+2 pod pack is again solid, plenty of Velcro to hold the pod flaps shut and with all my jumping, sliding and diving ive never had one come open unexpectedly. The pod pack is actually supported internally by a Velcro waist band like you’d see on a speedball pod pack, so your vest and its contents are held to your body and don’t shift around as you play.

I don’t clean my vest anymore, I kind of like to retain the smell of the forest floor, its like a giant air freshener. But when I did clean it, id just take it into the shower and rinse it with warm water and hang it to dry. Good as new.

My only problem with the vest is pictured below, the main flip down id pocket came from the factory less than perfect. With me being in Canada there’s no way to affordably ship it back for a little sewing.

Another essential paintball item I cant recommend enough. If you need to carry paint and c02, a tactical vest from special ops paintball is something you should give thought to. If the broadsword vest looks a little overkill, they do make vest with smaller loadouts for different styles of play.

The overall shell of a mask will generally have two variations, soft or hard. The soft masks are very flexible and will warp and bend to the unique shape of your face more easily. Soft masks are also supposed to help in effectively bouncing a paintball off your cheek or visor where a hard mask would instead allow the paintball to break on contact. In cases of a dead on hit however, the soft mask will do less to absorb or deaden the kinetic energy, and youll feel more of a slap on the face opposed to a hard mask where you would just hear the loud stunning crack.

Inside the mask, between your face and the shell, there is something manufacturers often refer to as “comfort foam”, and to me this is more important then the shell or the look of the mask itself. Often the more pricey the mask, the nicer the foam feels on your face, which is very important if you are going to be wearing it for a long time. When you try on masks before you buy, how the foam feels will definitely be huge deciding factor to your purchase.

Lenses come in two main configurations single pane and dual pane, both of which can have a factory applied anti fog coating to the interior of the lense. Dual pane lenses generally seem to be more effective in combating fog from forming on the inside of your mask. With dual pane lenses the two lenses are sealed together with a sort of gasket between them, forming an air tight seal with “neutral air” between the the lens surface closest to your face and the surface which is exposed to the elements. This gradient of temperature helps prevent condensation from forming on the inside of your mask, and you might find you can keep your paintball mask on for longer periods of time. Regardless of which configuration of lens you choose, make sure the lens is “Thermal Cured”.

Lenses also come in a variety of colours and finishes: yellow, amber, blue, mirrored, smoke and a variety of fades and gradients. It’s definitely worth taking a look at an upgraded lens, depending on your playing conditions they can be of great benefit.

So which masks have I owned and used?

V Force Armour - 5/10 - not terribly comfortable but i feel safe wearing them. Single pane, hard shell, hard interior foam but very cheap! If youre in a pinch theres nothing wrong with this mask.

Proto Switch EL - 6/10 - comfy, hard shell, single pane, nice foam. This is the low end version of the FS which I like very much.

Proto Switch FS - 8/10 - very comfortable, soft shell, dual pane, excellent foam. I feel like I’m very protected in these and they work well against condensation.

Empire Avatars - 9/10 - so comfortable you don’t even know you’re wearing them, very smooshy soft shell, dual THICK pane lenses, excellent foam. So far the nicest mask I’ve owned, and also the most effective for keeping fog away.

The first and only pump I own, and what a deal! The pump marker itself is less than $150, thrown on a $6 50 round hopper and a $30 3.5oz c02 tank and you now own an extremely light, small profile and lethal recreational marker. The freedom you feel when you run around with no vest and no podpack. Just you, your mask and your maverick.

The primitive mechanical clunky feel of the pump handle isnt as fluid as a phantom or a pump kitted series 5, but its no less effective. The marker is completely field strippable with no tools required as everything is basically held together with 4 thumb screws ( 2 on the pump handle and 2 on the grip frame ). Internally there are only 4 parts: the ASA ( air source adapter) & valve, a spring, the sear tripped bolt and a front bolt attached to the pump handle.

The stock barrel is a large .692 caliber with NO porting. This marker has a very distinct FART!! sound and isn’t at all ideal for being covert. Another comical feature is the lack of any sort of ball retention in the chamber, no detents, if you cock it and point the marker downwards your paintball will roll out the end. This is no fun for shooting downhill

Even though this is an older model marker, parts for repair arent too hard to find, they are out there. As for upgrades J&J still makes Trracer threaded barrels and I highly recommend a newer quieter barrel to try and deaden the FART!! The only other upgrade / modification I’ve seen is a bottom line adapter kit that connects from where the ASA is now to a new ASA on the bottom of the grip with some macroline or steel braid.

If your budget is tight, and you want to try pump play, I cant recommend the ACI Maverick / PMI Trracer enough.

Modern paintballs may contain polyethylene glycol, gelatin, sorbitol ( an osmotic laxative ), glucose, wax and food colouring. Paintballs are water soluble, non toxic and relatively safe to eat. However because of the sorbitol content, eating a few paintballs can have a laxative effect. My friends cat can attest to this, after a quick snack of a handful of paintballs. I can’t understand how any animal could eat more then one, since paintballs are the most vile tasting thing ive ever had the misfortune of sampling.

Now publicly available are a plastic shelled, pepper spray like filled, paintball simply called a pepperball. Meant as a way for law enforcement to incapacitate someone, these pepperballs are carried by some paintball retailers and major big box outlets.

When possible buy locally, better yet go to your local paintball store to see if theres anything on consignment.

If you have to pay for a marker first, try to avoid direct depositing money to the sellers account. If you have to mail your cheque or money order first, send it by certified mail that requires a signature, that way you can prove to the local law enforcement where the money was sent and who received it.

Never ship to a P.O. box.

Always require a signature upon delivery when shipping anything.

Always insure your packages for an accurate amount.

Always fill out customs forms accurately.

Never ship anything across the border as a ‘gift’. If you try to complain to Canadian or American law enforcement about a cross border scam and you have marked it as a ‘gift’ you’re S.O.L.

When possible, involve a reputable paintball store before you finalize the purchase. Have the retailer check over the sellers goods ( at your cost ) to verify that they are what the seller says they are and that everything is in the state that the seller claims it to be. This might cost a little more $, but it would be worth it.

If someone sends you a cheque or money order for MORE then the agreed upon selling price, contact the local police immediately. This is a well known scam where the ‘buyer’ wants you to take your cut and send him the difference with the goods you’re selling. You’ll find out later that his money is no good, and you’re out you’re paintball gear and whatever surplus money you mail him.

Before buying or selling online call your local Better Business Bureau or local law enforcement for additional tips on protecting yourself.

This phenomenon is known as the Magnus effect, whereby a spinning object creates a whirlpool of rotating air or liquid about itself. On one side of the object, the motion of the whirlpool will be in the same direction as the windstream that the object is exposed to. On this side the velocity will be increased. On the other side, the motion of the whirlpool is in the opposite direction of the windstream and the velocity will be decreased. The pressure in the air is reduced from atmospheric pressure by an amount proportional to the square of the velocity, so the pressure will be lower on one side than the other causing an unbalanced force at right angles to the wind. The overall behaviour is similar to that around an aerofoil with a circulation which is generated by the mechanical rotation, rather than by aerofoil action.

A seemingly mystical defiance of gravity is the result, with paintballs traveling in a relatively flat line instead of a traditional arc. As explained above, this is becuase the direction of the spin placed on the paintball creates a lifting force. The solid ( paintball ), spinning backwards through the fluid ( air ).

Ive personally had a chance to use both the BT Apex barrel and the Tippmann Flatline barrel, on both Tippmann 98’s and Tippmann A5’s, and im truly torn between the two. They are both excellent choices, they both do as they claim, but in the end i think the BT Apex barrel is the better choice.

I currently own a BT Apex Barrel on my Tippmann A5. The older models like mine have a .692calibre bore size, however recently BT has changed the Apex to be a slightly smaller .689 - .69calibre. Mimicking Flatline performance is quite easy with the sliding switch on top of the barrel end ( I use setting 4 or 5 ). Drop shots work amazingly! hook shots left to right arent so hot, but it still works. It installs like a regular barrel, cleans like a regular barrel and isnt at all picky about what paint you use. However the more brittle the paint, the more you should ease the slider on the top back, as too much pressure from the rubber paddle inside will liquify paint thats too brittle.

The Tippmann Flatline barrel is no less formidable. Like my older BT Apex, the Tippmann Flatline is a .692calibre. There nothing fancy going on here and as soon as you’ve installed it correctly you’re ready for long shots. It can be a pain to install, its definitely a pain to clean and there’s definitely no adjusting the amount of spin you want to put on the ball. It looks just as bad ass as the apex, I personally think more-so on the Tippmann 98, and the distance for straight out long shots is just as good.

For optimal performance out of either of these barrels, remember to chrono your marker to around a stable 260fps.

Kinetic energy is the energy of motion. An object which has motion, whether it be vertical or horizontal motion, has kinetic energy.

So how many joules of kinetic energy does a paintball have in flight?

E_k = (1/2)*(mass)*(velocity)²

The mass of an average paintball is 2.84g, which is .00284Kg

The maximum safe measured velocity of a paintball is 300ft per second  OR 91.44m per second

E_k = .5*.00284*91.44²

So in case anyone every asks, now you know a paintball in flight contains a potential 11.87 joules of kinetic energy.

But they look cool don’t they! Ive secretly always wanted one of those Smart Parts 20″ tacticals for my A5, but i just cant justify it. Instead I own an Apex barrel, which in fact does increase my range quite a bit, but not so much the accuracy. The best way to be as accurate as possible and to achieve optimal range is to buy a barrel kit with multiple bore sizes and learn to arc your shots for distance.

Do longer barrels use more propellant?

Technically, Yes.

The wording of that statement should be revised to be more accurate however. It isn’t the barrel itself that consumes the propellant, it’s the force required to get the velocity of the paintball up to leave the barrel at a healthy 270+ feet per second that consumes more air or c02. As the ball travels through the barrel, its introduced to friction from the interior walls of the barrel. This friction will slow the paintball, however slightly, requiring you to use more force to achieve the same effect as a shorter barrel.

Paintballs tend to be a larger .691 calibre to a smaller .682 calibre. The calibre of the paintball will not effect its performance, however the match between the calibre of your barrel to the calibre of the paintball will effect both performance and efficiency of the marker and the accuracy of the paintballs.

Having a barrel calibre larger then the calibre of the paintball allows for air or evaporated c02 to move around the paintball instead of getting directly behind it. This means it requires more propellant to get a paintball to reach the desired velocity as it leaves your barrel.

Having a barrel calibre smaller then the calibre of the paintball is potentially much worse. Imagine trying to push an egg through a garden hose, yeah you get the idea.

Ideally having a barrel kit, with multiple choices for which calibre to use, is the best solution. Most kits come with a bore sizer, so you can check your paint before you play, and choose your barrel back or insert depending on whats needed.

Here is an old paintball bore / calibre size chart. Keep in mind the calibre of a paintball might change from batch to batch, and this chart shouldn’t be relied upon.

An improved design to the already capable Tac 8 pistol. There are no markers that come close to the T9 in the looks department, in any of the T9 variations.

Basic, Pro, Covert and Elite were the original line up for the T9, which now includes the CQB and M16 variations. All 6 are stunning visually and vary little in performance, ranging from $300+ for the Basic to $500+ for the Elite model, no matter which you choose you will not be disappointed.

With a full body length picatinny rail on the top, a 3/4 body length picatinny rail on the bottom and two optional short picatinny rails on the side you can add all the optional scopes, bi pods, fore-grips and lasers you’d want.

All T9 variations come with a remote line adapter and hopper adapter, so when you want to switch from being strictly clip fed with 12 gram c02 cartridges you can convert to hopper fed and run off a remote line in a matter of minutes.

I personally chose the T9 Covert, it looks menacing enough and I didn’t really need a scope for magnification or a flashlight. Afterwards I purchased a 42mm NCStar red dot sight, and mounted it on the included picatinny sight riser. I have no regrets about getting this marker, its bang on accurate and a fun challenge when using only 8 shots in a clip. Converting a T9 from its rifle form down to a pistol can be done, no exaggeration, in under a minute, with no tools.

I never feel at a disadvantage using the T9 Covert, even with only 8 shots I never feel outgunned. With a good red dot to help with targeting, good paint to help with accuracy and lots of practice, I think this is as close to a “sniper” in paintball I’ve ever felt. Please don’t email me because I used the “S” word, its not up for debate

So what can you upgrade on the T9 series of paintball markers? Nothing. There’s nothing to upgrade. That I know of, there’s only one “upgraded” barrel available from Lapco, but starting at $100 its not something I’m willing to just buy for the hell of it. The stock barrel works fantastically, although its a tad on the large bore size. The beauty of that T9 is its near perfection out of the box.

You can however shop around for any number of picatinny attachments: fore-grips, bi-pods, tripods, green lasers, red lasers, scopes, red dot sights and grenade launchers. There’s an unlimited number of configurations that are all entirely up to you.

c02 is a liquid, that boils and evaporates at a low temperature, providing a cheap, easily available and relatively safe non flammable propellant for paintball. c02 works best at warmer temperatures and with ample space to expand into a gas form.

During the winter months, c02 is more inclined to remain in its liquid state. Although it still does evaporate, it does so at a much slower rate then in the spring or summer. Often with higher rates of fire this mean that liquid c02 can and will get into your marker, freezing and binding the internals and reducing the overall pressure supplied to your marker.

That “snow” you might see coming out the end of your barrel is actually dry ice, the same stuff you can use to make fog and the same stuff they use to pack frozen food products in during transport.

If your c02 tank is attached directly to your ASA ( air source adapter ) you will definately notice the winter affects of c02 moreso then someone running a remote line to a tank on their pod pack or tactical vest. This is becuase a remote line provides more space for the liquid c02 to vaporize and turn into a usefull propellant. Additionally, if you have a remote line and an expansion chamber on your marker, youre then providing maximum space for vaporization.

The paint you use during the cold season will also have a huge impact on your game. The same brand or formula you used in the summer, might turn to soup in your hopper when exposed to colder temperatures. Contrary to popular belief, cold paintballs are not harder paintballs. Cold paintballs are extremely britlle and more prone to being destroyed before they can get out of your barrel. Cold paintballs will also develope dimples and be far less accurate. Its important to consider a paintball that has been formulated specifically for winter use, this might be a touch more expensive depending on the brand of paintballs, but its definately better then the soupy alternative.

The Tippmann A5 is several years old at this point and there are too many visual and performance modifications to list. There are almost no parts on this marker that cant be upgraded.

The Tippmann A5 is very easy to disassemble and clean, is very comfortable to hold and remains reliable under heavy use.

It’s unfortunately very common for people to spend money on the cosmetic upgrades, which effectively do nothing to improve the performance or reliability of this marker. I’m very much all in favour of a sweet looking milsim marker, but there’s so much more you can do with your money to make an A5 a powerhouse of muppet mowing.

The stock barrel on an A5 is much like the stock barrel on any other Tippmann marker, good but not great. Being a larger bore size, you wont have any problems with barrel breaks, but you wont have the increased accuracy you could gain from having a variety of bore sizes to choose from. To replace the stock Tippmann A5 barrel I almost always recommend a J&J barrel kit, even their high end Elite kit is affordable and comes with 5 back sizes (.682, .685, .688, .691, .693) and 3 fronts ranging from 8″ to 16″. If however you’ve been sold on the concept of a Flatline or Apex barrel, id go with the Apex barrel. The Apex barrel works just as well as the Flatline barrel, the Apex is less picky on which paint you use and in the case of a barrel break the Apex is infinitely easier to clean.

There aren’t many internal parts to this in-line blow-back marker, and 2 of the 3 major parts inside should be considered for upgrading. Stock, the powertube and frontbolt for the Tippmann A5 are a basic black plastic. The only real concern you should have about that fact is if your powertube cracks from the stress of use, which it very well might, you cant play again until you replace the powertube. Dead on Paintball makes a very popular upgrade consisting of an aluminum powertube and delrin front bolt, for approximately $60. With this, you will never ever have to worry about the need to replace your powertube in your lifetime.

The cyclone feed is very much the reason you should be looking at a Tippmann A5 or its newer relative the X7. Stock, the parts that make the cyclone work its magic are also basic plastic. After about 1 & 1/2 years of use, the internals to my cyclone were mangled. Fortunately the pioneers at TechT have made replacement parts for all 3 areas on the cyclone that could use improvement. The Vortex Mod, The Lightning Rod and The Quick Exhaust Piston Housing. The only upgrade you can justify through wear and tear is the Vortex Mod, which consists of teflon coated aluminum parts for smoother lower pressure operation. I have yet to buy the piston or the q.e.p.h. so i cannot testify to their greatness.

Here is an excellent resource for A5 owners http://www.a5-tippmann.com/

There are two numbers to take into account: the size of the HPA tank normally measured in CU and the pressure of the HPA tank 3000 / 4500 / 5000

3000 = 10
4500 = 15
5000 = 17

CU * PSI = shots per fill

So, a common HPA size is 38/4500 which translates to 38*15 = 570 shots per fill.

c02 tanks are a little more hit and miss, since c02 is affected by temperature. On a hot day you can expect to get more out of your c02 then on a cold day.

20oz c02 = 700 - 1000
16oz c02 = 480 - 800
12oz c02 = 360 - 600
9oz c02 = 270 - 450
3.5oz c02 = 105 - 175

All the above figures are absolute guesses as there are too many factors that contribute to marker efficiency and propellant usage.

Rule #1 :  Keep your mask on at all times.

Before you play, make sure to chrono your gun to a speed below 300fps. If you’re using c02 its a good idea to go even lower then that, as through the day your velocity might change.

When playing Rec ball, if you ever come with 15 feet or less of a player on another team, you should offer them a surrender. If you come up close enough to someone to physically touch them, they are automatically out.

Avoid aggressive physical contact, this can result in your removal from the field, permanently.

Never take your mask off. If you’re fogged, call for a ref to get you out of play to defog. If you’re already marked out, it doesn’t mean you wont catch a few stray balls. It’s the #1 rule.

No blind shooting. If you’re pinned behind a bunker/tree and cant stick your head up to see anything, DO NOT just stick your gun around a corner and randomly start shooting. You could end someones day badly, and not even see it.

Some fields follow a 3 break rule. Where if you mark someone out, but they have more then 3 of your paintballs on them, you are also out. This is to try and help prevent overshooting and keep unnecessary welts to a minimum.

Don’t pick up paint off the ground. You never know what you’ll end up putting in your marker. A pebble or a little bark could not only damage the internals of your marker but seriously wound whoever your shooting at.