I have been invited to get involved in the game of paintball.  Which paintball gun would be a good sound purchase.  Some in the group have your local Wal-Mart specials, but one guy has an older Tippman with the Flatline barrel.  If I do buy a paintball gun, I want something that will last a good long time and be accurate.  Is there any certain options that one should get at the time of buying a new one?  Any and all info on the do's and don'ts when getting into this sport is appreciated.

Scooter

Buy a cheap Spyder and use it until you really get into the game. Then you can buy an Automag or some other high speed gun. The first upgrade should be a barrel. I like the All American barrell best. Good luck, you will love it.

Check out ebay for a used Autococker. There are tons of aftermarket parts for them and they are very accurate. Since you are used to shooting real firearms the autococker is an easy transition due to the way it fires the paintball. Autocockers have an extremly flat trajectory where as the automag and most others really lob the ball in an arc. Automags also do not operate as well on Co2 which is the cheapest form of propulsion. Automags work much better on HPA but the setup is more than your gun would cost. This is due to what's called shoot down, when you fire a rapid string of shots the gun cannot recharge quick enough and every following shot get's less gas to the ball. A couple of years ago I played on a sponsored team and it was a blast, just remember to play fair and have fun.

idaho-ar15

I have a Tippmann 98 custom.  It is a great gun.  It handles well and is completely reliable.  The flat line is a little pricey for my tastes so I just put a 16 inch barrel on it.  It has good range and is more than adequate for the close in fighting style I use.

AAAGHHHHHH. dont blow sevral hundred on a automag or cocker. go tippmann 98. tuff as hell, and will always fire. dosent require a lot of maintnance, unlike some OTHER over rated guns. the tipmanns also are easy to fix, have simple parts, cost 124$ online. they are real accurate with a good barrel.  shoots pretty fast, (you cant pull the trigger 15 times a second anyway, or even 10) the tipman 98 is upreadable to full auto. and to N2. for my money the 98 custom is the BEST marker out thier. for any price. its also is most like a real gun, well reasonably. and if you really get into it, you can put a telestock on it,  one just like your AR! go tippmann mod 98 custom and DONT be dissapointed

Scooter, let me add some more to my previous post. If you are going to just play informal paintball then don't spend much. But like firearms, paintball is adictive and you will be playing in tourneys and will be upgrading to a competition gun, skip the entry level gun and get one that will last you. Autocockers can be had on ebay for as little as $250 and are as easy and cheap to repair as a tippman. Let me put it this way, showing up at a tourney with a tippman is the same as showing up to a trap shoot with a $79 kmart single shot. They both go bang but from there it is two different worlds. Do you want to play or do you want to win??!!

idaho-ar15

Painball cost a shit load of money to play if you go  very often back when i played i had a stock spider rifle with a 200 ball hopper and a 10 oz C02 tank it was costing me about $40 every time i went between paint and cover costs its not cheap its alot of fun tho and things are alot cheaper now than it used to be i paid 200 for my spyder they are cheaper now I would say if your planning on playing for fun get a tippman or spyder first get your basic stuff and hasve a good time once you get good at it the gun really isnt that much of a factor i know guys who play comps whip ass over others who have $2000 FA guns and all they had were Tracer pumps which is a nice gun in its own right and if you end up needing a faster more accurate gun you willbe in with people who can hook you up with stuff real cheap

I have been playing for several years...that said...you cannot go wrong with a tippman or a spyder. 90% of what you see out there are these two manufacturers. They are the Glock 17 and Colt 1911 of Paintball guns (tried and true). I see guys with $2000 rigs standing on the sidelines watching the rest of a match because they got painted with a $ 180 spyder. I own a 8 year old spyder that has ZERO defects and alot of the guys I play with have tippmans. Spend your upgrade dollars on a 12-14 inch barrel.

hope that helps

BTW...best prices for a new tippmann or spyder on-line is www.800paintball.com or www.888paintball.com

Total package: thermal mask, 12-20oz bottle, marker, hopper, squeegee should be around $200 dollars

If you prefer a more rifle type weapon(which I do), get a tippman pro-carbine. You can even get a AR type stock for it! Its what I use, and I love it.

Hey, I bought that brass eagle commando kit a while back, and since I got into airsoft, I dont need it, its a stingray 2 with everything you may need.  I wont lie, its not the best gun, but it shoots as fast as I can, and is about as accurate as a paintball gun gets.  I dont use it, so if you want it cheap, just to try out and see if you like paintball, email me about it.  I am not asking much, and I really want to get rid of it.