Paintball Laser Sight

As with about everything made by man, some of the components for the paintball marker may have to be replaced. Either from normal wear and tear or user abuse. From time to time you might wish to modify out some of the accessories. The special thing is most of the superior manufactures make this an simple process. From including the tools with the purchase of the gun, to selling them separate, also the substitute upgrades, accessories and parts can be purchased. The exciting part is about all of us would upgrade. That is one way to step the game up the next level. 

The gun barrels are a wonderful means to exchange a accessory and alter the complete nature of the gun. For example, the A-5™ manufactured by Tippmann. The basic barrel length is 8.5 inches. That might be exchanged with a A-5 Flatline™ Barrel. This upgrade is designed to increase distance and accuracy, but stops the need of arching the shot. This patented technology from Tippmann creates a backspin for the level and precise shot all paintballers strive for, while that increases distance by 100 feet. There is also the A-5 Sniper 14 inch gun barrel. Fashioned for greater accuracy with longer distance compared to the regular gun barrels. Also there is the A-5 Sniper 16 inch barrel too. That is simply to present you an idea of how numerous parts will be acquirable. The A-5™ has a great option of gun barrels, and we haven’t even discussed the selections of different tanks, shrouds, triggers, and all of the smaller parts like o-rings. 

Although the various smaller accessories of the paintball marker are way to many to mention in this segment, it is all-important to acknowledge that these casual and nearly all of the time affordable accessories and pieces are accessible. The paintball marker designers might not be pleased if you was not playing with a paintball marker just because of a little accessory that cost less then a cup of coffee was preventing you from playing the sport but even worse yet, bad mouthing their merchandise. How well can you talk the merchandise if there was no substitute components or upgrade accessories? 

The paintball gun package could be of real great aid to the buying of paintball equipment and accessories. Most of the packages would be fantastic for the novice or the beginner. Each of the packages can and will vary. With the addition of a mask and a gas canisters, this is essential for the beginner. But, numerous of the packages select a marker and put some of the accessories which a more advanced participant could discover very attractive. 

About all paintball gun accessories for your marker will have to be exchanged. But this is a fantastic reason to perform many of the exciting upgrades on the equipment. Nearly all of a parts of the gun might be upgraded with paintball gun accessories. This would allow you to upgrade the game as well, perhaps switch to one of the gun barrels to role play with the sniper paintball gun. Several of the paintball gun accessories could be very smaller but inexpensive. Almost all stores that sell the marker would maintain a wide selection of the paintball gun accessories.

The paintball hopper, or loader, is the part of the gun that stores the ammo and feeds it into the chamber. The hopper type will greatly affect the speed, reliability and weight of the marker. Although there is a wide variety of paintball hoppers available on the market, they fall broadly into four main categories: force fed, agitating, gravity fed and stick fed.This article will highlight the differences between the types.

1. The Force- Feed Paint Hopper

These mechanized hoppers use a sophisticated spring-loaded or belt powered system to force the paintballs into the gun. They are mostly used by professional players because these innovative systems can keep up with the speed of play at this level.

Some have digital displays to show how many paintballs are left in the hopper. Others use wireless systems to continue feeding the paintballs before the gun’s pneumatic system has begun the next shot cycle. This system increases the loader’s speed and virtually eliminates misfeeds. Battery life is, therefore, extended as the gun doesn’t have to work so hard.

 2. The Agitating Paintball Hopper

These hoppers have a propeller inside the container and the small fan blades stop the ammo from blocking the neck of the gun. As with the force-feed hopper, the agitating hopper has a quicker firing pace than a gravity hopper. However, if these loaders come into contact with moisture, their more sophisticated systems can falter and fail to perform properly.

 3. The Gravity-Feed Paintball Hopper

These hoppers are ideal for someone wanting a cheap, easy to use hopper for their gun. They have a large container as well as a feed tube. They are able to feed more than eight balls per second, but not necessarily reliably or consistently. They can jam up markers and cause paintballs to pile up above the feed tube, which is placed at the bottom.

4. The Stick-Feed Loader

These are generally used on pump action guns. Their simple tubes can hold about 24 paintballs and run parallel to the gun barrel. You load the paintball by rocking the marker forward. Some stick feeds are vertical to enable gravity feeding, but due to their unreliability, the horizontal types are more popular with stock paintball players.

The paintball hopper is continually evolving and advancing, particularly the more complex types favoured by tournament playing paintballers. Anything from 40 to 300 paintballs can be held by different loaders. There is a hopper out there for every type of player at any level of paintball.

Hawksbill Paintball Hawksbill Sports was established by players, for players. Our goal is to give you the products you need to enjoy the sport of paintball. We have low prices and fast shipping and promise the best customer service you can find anywhere. For further information about different paintball gun types, features and options, go to: Paintball Hopper

Paintball guns are the primary equipment in paintball game. This is also called paintball marker and they generally use compressed air or carbon dioxide to release paintballs through the barrel. Most of the paintball guns have 4 main parts that includes the body, gas system, hopper and barrel. All these come in a package, you may also buy separate. Paintball guns are usually known as paintball marker as people often think it as a deadly sport.

Description of the Paintball guns:

Most of the paintball guns have a body made of aluminum as this metal significantly lowers the weight of the marker. The body comprises of all the main parts essential for firing, like trigger frame, loaders, valve and bolt.

Trigger frames – are an integral feature of these paintball guns. One can achieve high firing rates depending on the force required to fire from the marker and also the space the trigger moves before the action takes place. Electronic trigger frames are expensive and have different advantages like sensing abilities. It affects the rate of firing and records a very high rate. There are also non-electric guns that use mechanical trigger frame and uses a number of levers and springs.

Valve and bolt – this combination assists to fire the gun or marker. The valve and the bolt control firing and direct airflow allowing the paintballs enter the chamber.

Hoppers or loaders:

These are responsible to hold paintballs before they are fired from the gun. These are several types – force feed, agitating, gravity speed and stick feed. The first three are quite popular and stick feeds are generally used for pump paintball guns. Gravity feed is cheaper and also simpler form of hopper. Agitating feeds use propeller that spins inside the container and agitate the paintballs. Stick feeds are positioned parallel to the barrel and in order to load the next paintball, the marker ahs to be tipped.

Propellers:

The tank consists of carbon dioxide or compressed gas that dismisses the paintballs through the barrel. Carbon dioxide is mostly used in cheap paintball guns. Whereas, compressed air is stored in tanks under high pressure, so it is suitable for expensive markers.

Barrels:

Barrels control the airflow and direct the paintballs out of it. These are generally in three types of configuration – one-piece, two-piece, and three- piece. Barrels are mostly 21 inches long but you can also get custom made barrels of 48 inches as well. These longer barrels are quieter than the shorter ones as they let extra gas pass out slowly. The interior diameter of the barrel is called a bore and it should match the paint otherwise it will give incorrect results.

Trigger mode:

There are different types of triggering modes available, some are pump action markers and some fully automatic. Pump paintball guns are like pump action shotguns that need to be manually re-cocked after every shot. This is a slower version among all the paintball guns and often players choose it for effective shots. It can fire in extremely steady rate if adapted properly. Semi-automatic trigger versions are also equally common for different purposes.

Yes, the venerable Autococker. In the world of paintball, few other guns have the same level of legacy that the Autococker has. As a marker, it has spanned all eras of paintball history. Starting out as a pump gun in the form of the Sniper, and evolving all the way up to a a high end, tournament grade gun with todays high precision electronic versions. In this article, I will outline the basic steps on how this transformation occurred, and how it has changed the game of paintball.
In the beginning, there were pump guns. One of the most well respect of these pump guns was Bud Orr’s Sniper. With it solid, robust design, the Sniper proved to be a force to be reckoned with. Even in the pump gun days, the Sniper developed a reputation for accuracy and reliability.
Of course, the era of pump guns didn’t last forever. With the advent of semi automatic paintball guns such as the VM-68 and the Automag, it was clear that the days of pump guns in the mainstream of paintball were numbered. Bud Orr, ever inventive, set to tinkering. Since he already had a solid design with his Sniper, he set out to convert the design to a semi automatic.
To accomplish this, Orr devised an ingenious pneumatic system that would automatically actuate the pump on the Sniper when the trigger was pulled. It was this system that gives the Autococker its name, as it is simply an automatically pumped pump gun. Orr refined his design, and put it into production.
When the Autococker was first released, it quickly developed a reputation for being unreliable. This was due mainly to the complexity of the pneumatic system, which required a skill mechanic to set up properly. Also, many of the stock parts weren’t of extremely high quality, leading them to be replaced by aftermarket pieces. However, all this made the Autococker amazingly popular with tinkers, who took the gun as a platform for their own custom creations.
It was the aftermarket that really helped the Autococker take off. After a few modifications were made, the Autococker became a fast, accurate, and decently reliable paintball gun.
This helped it pick up momentum among paintball enthusiasts. Worr Games noted this popularity, and quickly began to improve the quality of the stock Autococker, which helped boost the guns popularity among recreational players. The Autococker had secured its niche in the paintball world.
However, things were changing in the paintball world. With guns such as the Angel, it became clear that electronic markers offered a serious speed advantage to serious players. The Autococker was slow in comparison, and began to loose ground among professional players. Of course, the tinkers weren’t unauware of this problem, and began to create electronic triggering systems for the Autococker. At first, these systems were plagued by ball chopping problems, but with the advent of electronic anti chop eyes and high speed loader systems, these problems were quickly solved. Electronic Autocockers became a common site in the professional circuit.
As time went on, simpler electronic markers began to dominate in many areas. However, the Autococker is still used by many who enjoy its unique feel, sound, and limitless configurability. It should be interesting to see what the future holds for this venerable marker.

Of course, as a paintball enthusiast, you are always looking for expert advice on which paintball markers they use themselves and why. Unfortunately, the answer is neither consistent, nor simple because the paintball marker you choose is completely subjective to your tastes, needs and play strengths. What a great paintball player loves in a marker, may end up epitomizing everything you hate!

So let’s break down paintball markers in a different way.

· How much do you actually need to spend to stay competitive in the game?

· How much you can afford?

· How often do you play?

· Are you involved in paintball tournaments?

You may think that your level of play will be the same as the level of money you spend on a cool new paintball marker, but that is actually not the case. Although there is always peer pressure to get the latest and greatest, you can still be an awesome player without the 07 Ego or the DM7.

If you are a smart player, you’ll want to look for a marker that has great performance and features for better prices. As in all technology, bleeding edge may be cool, but it always costs a premium, so a lot of the features that were crazy a year or two ago are now consistently included in well made paintball markers. For instance, the Smart Parts Ion can fire more than 15 paintballs per second and it’s also efficient and accurate and retails for less than $200.00. This is a marker that is competitive in features and in price.

Paintball manufacturers have listened to the marketplace demand for feature rich and affordable markers and the market has undergone a shift in the last two years. There is now a mid level price point for those ready to spend a bit more money – the Smart Parts Epiphany and Invert mini cost around $400 and incorporate the features to go along with that price including a higher level of efficiency, firing rate, improved components and better software.

The next group of paintball markers, including names like the Proto Matrix, ETek Ego and Bob Long Intimidator jump to around $700 in price. Better quality materials and aftermarket quality stock barrels are frequently see in these models and most experts agree that anyone playing at a high level of competition should be using this level of marker at the very least.

If you have the money to invest, there are paintball markers out there at $1000 and up. The Angel One, Marq 6 and the Eclipse Ego are three top names and any of these are designed to come out of the packaging ready for high level paintball play. They are incredibly lightweight and efficient, have multiple firing modes, high quality components and they shoot the brittle paint. These are the markers most often used by professional level players and there is a reason for it!

Remember that the paintball marker right for you doesn’t have to cost $1000 and that you need to make the smartest decision based on affordability, feature set and individual taste to your needs and no one else’s! Take the time and do your research and you’ll end up with a great marker that will help you become the paintball player you want to be!

The Paintball marker of today has definitely come a long way since the introduction of the Splat Master years ago. The term itself “paintball marker” is relatively new. It tends to be more marketable then the words “paintball gun” to parents who have teenagers begging to get started in the sport.
Funny though true, the first paintball markers where used on cattle ranches. In a large herd of cattle where cows all bare very similar markings, it can be very hard to single one out of the herd. This is where the paintball marker proved to be a valuable tool. This was done usually to separate a sick animal from the herd. Once a cow had been marked, it was easily picked out of the herd.
From cattle ranches to playing fields, the sport of paintball evolved and continues to do so.
The Splat Master was one of the first markers available. It was a pistol made totally out of plastic. It was powered by small 12 gram Co2 cylinders and could only hold ten paintballs at a time. The rate of fire was also slow due to the fact the marker first had to be tilted back so a paintball would drop into the firing chamber. It then had to be cocked by pushing a button on the back of the handle.
Although even playing the game with this type of marker was extremely fun, it wasn’t long before players wanted something better, and they got it with the creation of the pump action paintball marker. The pump marker had a much faster rate of fire and could be modified with upgrades to improve performance.
Another great change that came with the pump marker was the introduction of metal parts that could be replaced. With older plastic markers, when parts wore out, a new marker was needed. Also the upgrade of “constant air” came about. Instead of using the 12gram Co2 cylinder, which was good for about 15 shots, the gun was equipped with a bracket that held a 12 ounce Co2 tank which was good for about 200 shots.
Constant air was a real breakthrough for the sport and was no doubt a huge stepping stone for the next step in the paintball marker evolution, which was the semi-automatic marker. Compared to the pump markers, these guns had an incredible rate of fire. A player with a good trigger finger could pull off nine shots a second! With fire power like that, the invention of large capacity electric hoppers came onto the scene. These hoppers were mounted on the top of the guns and could hold up to 250 paintballs. They also were equipped with a small rotating arm inside the hopper which helped feed the paintballs to keep up with the much faster rate of fire.
The semi-automatic marker was truly a groundbreaking event for the sport, but the question still hung in the air would there ever be full auto?
That was question was soon answered with a paintball marker called The Angel, but what made the Angel a real marvel is that is was computerized. It was equipped with a small motherboard inside the handle of the gun. This allowed the user to select several modes of fire, including fully automatic.
Today’s markers have followed the same road map that the Angel laid out, and we can only wait to see what the next generation of paintball markers will bring.

One of the terms you may run into early on while getting involved in the adrenaline pumping sport of paintball is “paintball marker.” So what is a paintball marker? To put it really simply, it’s the paintball guns. Many players refer to them as “markers” because the paint balls the guns shoots “marks” the target. A paintball marker might also be called a paintball gun or just a paint gun. After the safety mask, which is always the most important piece of equipment, the paintball marker is the next most important since there can not be a game without it.
The first paintball game was played in 1981 in Henniker, New Hampshire. Nine players took part, and the sport of paintball was born. The earliest models of paintball markers were uniform (after all, this was just the beginning of the sport). Now there are literally hundreds of choices between various makes and models of paintball markers. Some are very cheap, some are extremely expensive. No one could have imagined the huge variety in choices.
One of the first decisions you’ll want to make when using paintball markers is to decide what type of action you want from your paintball marker. By action, this refers to the way that an individual paintball marker fires. There are three types of actions that cover most of the cheaper and basic lines of paintball markers: pump action, semi-automatic blow back, and hybrid blow back. Each type of action makes a paintball gun work very differently, so think about how quickly you want your marker to shoot and how much work you want to do to make it fire. Obviously the pump action is the slowest, while the other methods offer better rates of fire.
The other factor to think about with paintball markers is performance. Performance is one word that covers many several factors including good rate of fire, accuracy, range, durability, and reliability. Some cheap paintball guns will perform like clockwork one day, but then not at all the next. This is why early homework is important: to learn first hand the reputation one model of paint marker has compared to another.
Buying the right paintball marker can be difficult. Do your homework ahead of time, and don’t rely on price alone. There are higher priced paintball markers that are extremely unpopular with players because of obvious deficiencies. A $500 paintball marker is not always guaranteed to be bigger and better than a cheaper $200 one.
Appearance is also a factor. Just because a gun “looks cool” means that it is a good buy. Do your research on paintball markers and buy the one that works for you and you’ll be much happier than you would have been otherwise.