Posted: 3/25/2015 9:06:04 PM EDT
| Anyone here into it? I just played for a few hours on Saturday in North East, MD and had a great time. I played twice before but that was about 15 years ago. Me and my brothers are thinking about getting out own gear and I was just looking to see what some other people were using. What guns do you own? Price? How much can I expect to pay for a middle of the road gun? Anything to avoid? Any other input would be great too. Thanks. |
| Played for 3 summers about 10 years ago. Had a Tippman 98 custom. If you are in the woods camo everything you wear, including camo tape on your gun, camo paint faceshield, etc. They will never see you coming! It was great practice for the upcoming hunting season! Snuck up on many of the opposition who grew up in a city or had a shiny barrel on their gun. Good times............................. |
Do yourself a favor while you can and get into a less addicting hobby line cocaine or a cheaper one like restoring classic Italian sports cars  The last gun I bought was a DM8 way, way, way back when, when I was still serious about it. Just like shooting, your gear selection depends on what you want to do. Do you want to just play out in the woods a few times a year or do you want to get into speedball? |
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I played a lot 2005-2008 but hung it up when the local scene took a dump.
Get the best you can afford. A mid end electro, compressed air and a force fed loader will at least keep you from being at a significant firepower disadvantage to those that have them. I always preferred spooler type guns (dye/proto matrix, shocker, ion) to poppet style guns (egos, timmys, Angels, and basically every other low end guns including spiders and tippmans) A comfy pack is a must. As is a good thermal mask and elbow/knee pads. The only thing I kept jic I ever play again is my masks....as I can deal with a shitty tippman as long as I can see. |
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Love it, but I haven't played in far too long. I got my first taste of paintball at a very young age during a Cub Scout outing and was immediately hooked. I spent many hours poring through magazines and lusting after the high-end markers of the time (mostly Autocockers and Automags). My first "big" purchase I remember after I started working was a Kingman Spyder, which I traded for a Tippmann Prolite. For a while (middle school / high school) the vast majority of my disposable income went towards paint and, when our renegade venues weren't available, field fees. I saved up enough from my dishwasher / line cook gig to buy an ICD Bushmaster shortly after they were released and started playing on the local Pro Shop's team. That progressed to different teams and increasingly competitive levels. I would never claim to have been a "Pro" player, but I reached a point where I wasn't paying for paint or tournament entry fees and getting most of my gear for free or at a dealer cost. For practice we would scrimmage against the Smart Parts All Americans II and occasionally the actual All As. I went off to college and took a distance and financially-inspired hiatus. As soon as I graduated, got a real job and started earning a real paycheck I bought basically every marker I ever wanted as a kid and then some. I've been out to play a handful of times in the last few years to do some scenario games, paintball forum (MCarterBrown) gatherings and occasionally wreck a birthday party or two (jkjk - I've always been an ambassador for the game and try to make sure first time/inexperienced players want to come back). I would love to get a reliable group together for some weekend play. Unfortunately, everyone I used to play with has moved away or moved on and heading to the local field solo is a crap shoot at best. And now, for your viewing pleasure, a few highlights from my maker collection:                       |
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I still have my Spyder bottom line with the expansion chamber and 14" Dye barrel. Remote 20oz CO2 tank with 4 100 pods. Ooooold. I could wear those gear queers out with my cheap ass marker.
Hell, I won a speed ball game against a tourney player with my Stingray. Big balls won that game. I pinned him with suppressive fire, ran post his bunker and slid into the one behind him, rolled over and one shot him in the throat. He was pissed. Thought my dad was gonna kick his ass....I was like 11... Miss playing. Now my oldest son is 10. Time to introduce him. |
Back in my prime:
Paintball is a money pit and that's why most of the people that play(at least regularly) are younger. It's a fun game but it just gets too expensive once you turn it into a regularly hobby and play often. I think the last time I played was back in 2009 or 2010 when I was in high school and I assume things haven't changed much. What are you looking to get into, OP? Scenario games, xball, or recball just to have fun on the weekends with your buddies? I've done all 3. Scenarios are fun but a little expensive. They can be 1 or 2 day games(some even play at night). The registration fee can be 20-60, paint is usually on the higher end around 45+ a case and depending on how you like to play, you'll generally use a 1-1.5 cases a day. A scenario game is where there are objectives, missions and such for each team to earn points. They're fun because there are more than a hundred people on each side and you can play when you want, take a breather when you want, etc. and the game is still going. Xball/NPPL/7man are the most expensive but they're the most fun to me. They use the blow up bunkers and are on a small field which are what the tournaments are played on. |
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I played for the first time in over a decade a few weeks back, was great fun even using the fields crappy rentals, managed to school a few of the regulars who had never played against a tournament player before :-)
ps. I was a Autococker guy too, there was just something satisfying about the P-block sliding back/forth right next to your nose. |
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I played since I was 16 until two years ago
played every weekend at a junk yard went to a few fields in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois If you are interested in a setup for relativity cheap I have my paintball stuff I want to get rid of paintball package for cheap! |