newbie addicted to paintball! some ???'s

**28Marcos** · 01-27-2009, 03:07 PM

what are the benefits of running nitrogen instead of co2?
any info or recommendations to marker upgrades for me? As of now my plan is to slowly upgrade my current alpha black as needed. so far all i've done is replace the barrel with an 18 inch barrel. How can i make it more accurate? it has a good 40ft distance but not accurate, would changing air help out? i am using a cheap 9oz tank from accademy... next i would like to upgrade my loader but was told instead of using a battery powered loader there is a way to install a gas fed loader??? anyone know what that is? they said i would have to take it to a shop. what would the pro's and cons be of that. so far the worst i've been hit is being pegged on the side of my throat which left a little mark, had to explain that one to my gf lol and on a cold day shot right on my left ring finger nail! lol. thanks for the info

**Hi-Po** · 01-27-2009, 03:21 PM

Well, I used to be bigtime into PB. That is one costly hobby no doubt. Get a battery powered loader..... ONLY if you have a gun that will fire fast enough. Full auto needs a feeder, just no way around it. But you have to buy a good one or you will break paint everywhere. Then you will get shot in the throat again while cleaning your barrel.

I used to play hardcore close up match's. Semi auto mixed full auto. Great time, scary when you saw full auto spraying at you running house to house yes... but damn... was it ever fun rnning up behind someone and blasting them 10 feet away in the neck.

First thing you need.... Get a belt CO2 feeder. Get that damn weight off you gun as soon as possible. It will come with a hose the goes to your waist... then up to your gun. Makes your gun sooooo much lighter.

Make sure you have plenty of cleaning kits. I have a 18 " sniper barrel on mine... Used to break shit all the time with the double trigger.

**Hi-Po** · 01-27-2009, 03:26 PM

Also, I never dabbled with the nitrogen... Co2 always worked fine. Buth this was a while ago. Might be beneficial now. But I think CO2 will work.

What kind of matchs are you doing?

I have done all kinds of match's. Swamp's, open fields, close quarter housing, mid range "capture the flag", shit... I really need to get back into it. PB is probably the most fun you can have on a Sunday. I just love shooting people and them not having to die!

What gun do you have?

**ztrouble** · 01-27-2009, 03:34 PM

there should be a little screw on the right side of the gun... turn it up all the way and adjust back down so you arent breaking the balls in the barrel. Go out and make people bleed

**28Marcos** · 01-27-2009, 03:36 PM

I have a tippman alpha black, looks like an assault rifle, it is not an automatic. I play at my local paintball feilds that have capture the flag, regenerate, hyperball etc. but you can't shoot someone who is 20ft or closer. would switching from a $20 tank to a higher end $100 egg shaped tank with a larger psi make my gun more persistant?

**28Marcos** · 01-27-2009, 03:37 PM

Originally Posted by ztrouble

there should be a little screw on the right side of the gun... turn it up all the way and adjust back down so you arent breaking the balls in the barrel. Go out and make people bleed

lol i know at the fields i play at 270fpi is the maximum allowable pressure

**Nhra Firebird** · 01-27-2009, 03:37 PM

freeze your paint balls

**TempleU_WS6** · 01-27-2009, 03:42 PM

Good sport! I used to play all the time but everyone got out of it cause its so expensive.

I have a Tippmann A5 that has a C02 mechanical feeder and havnt had any problems with it. I played the D-Day scenario at Skirmish in Pa in 2006. Every year they set the record for the most amount of people in a game at one time.

As for nitrogen, I think you'll be fine with C02. Get some more info on it but C02 is cheaper anyway.

**Hi-Po** · 01-27-2009, 03:44 PM

Of course there is a "max" allowable PSI.... turn that shit up until the paint starts breaking. Then turn it down a little. The place I used to play at " Hell survivors" had referee's EVERYWHERE! They would sometimes check your PSI if people where complaining. Usually just in the house to house matches

**Zboner** · 01-27-2009, 07:22 PM

dude believe it or not my fav gun is an old PMI pump I have, talk about some fucking power that thing hurts like hell to get shot with it. its been at least 5 years since I have played though

**DUBB** · 01-27-2009, 10:59 PM

Originally Posted by Zboner

dude believe it or not my fav gun is an old PMI pump I have, talk about some fucking power that thing hurts like hell to get shot with it.

lol i hear ya, i still have two of those things in the garage they rule,

all i have now is a Spyder mr1 with a nice barrel and a drop forward, thing rules for bushball as long as everyone else isnt goin apeshit with the paintwasters, works perfect for the 3-4 times a year i use it.

**2fast2blegal** · 01-28-2009, 07:55 AM

Anyone want to buy my angel?

**GhostofKrypton** · 01-28-2009, 08:24 AM

Originally Posted by 28Marcos

what are the benefits of running nitrogen instead of co2?
any info or recommendations to marker upgrades for me? As of now my plan is to slowly upgrade my current alpha black as needed. so far all i've done is replace the barrel with an 18 inch barrel. How can i make it more accurate? it has a good 40ft distance but not accurate, would changing air help out? i am using a cheap 9oz tank from accademy... next i would like to upgrade my loader but was told instead of using a battery powered loader there is a way to install a gas fed loader??? anyone know what that is? they said i would have to take it to a shop. what would the pro's and cons be of that. so far the worst i've been hit is being pegged on the side of my throat which left a little mark, had to explain that one to my gf lol and on a cold day shot right on my left ring finger nail! lol. thanks for the info

It's all about preference. Nitrogen in the long run is cheaper, most fields have pay 5 dollars and fill up your tank all day, but the down side is the tank is hella expensive. Co2 is good for what gun you are using., i would recomend a belt for pods, and tank. Like Hi-Po said the air tank with the line is great to get the weight off the gun, and it allows you to tuck closer to the gun. With a tippman I would try the flatline barrel, and try not to go as big as a 18 inch barrel. 16 should be plenty. and unlike a real rifle, the longer the barrel does not make it better. Definetley get a battery power hopper. like an evo or rikochet (sp) Gas fed loader is a wast of money IMO. Unless you get into competition, then you would have to upgrae your whole system. to like an angel or timmy, I heard the new impulse is amazing.

**Zboner** · 01-28-2009, 09:36 AM

Originally Posted by DUBB

lol i hear ya, i still have two of those things in the garage they rule,

all i have now is a Spyder mr1 with a nice barrel and a drop forward, thing rules for bushball as long as everyone else isnt goin apeshit with the paintwasters, works perfect for the 3-4 times a year i use it.

ah I do love that gun i honestly dont like to play with anything else

**Hi-Po** · 01-28-2009, 01:38 PM

Tippman Carbine.

**C&Cbird** · 01-28-2009, 02:33 PM

I always used nitrogen b/c it was cheaper in the long run and the psi stayed way more consistent than co2.

**Zapper2003** · 01-28-2009, 04:08 PM

fuckin dammit, i watched that video, now i want a paintball gun. The normandy scenario looks badass, i see they do a LOT of that stuff on their site.

**28Marcos** · 01-29-2009, 10:05 PM

Originally Posted by GhostofKrypton

It's all about preference. Nitrogen in the long run is cheaper, most fields have pay 5 dollars and fill up your tank all day, but the down side is the tank is hella expensive. Co2 is good for what gun you are using., i would recomend a belt for pods, and tank. Like Hi-Po said the air tank with the line is great to get the weight off the gun, and it allows you to tuck closer to the gun. With a tippman I would try the flatline barrel, and try not to go as big as a 18 inch barrel. 16 should be plenty. and unlike a real rifle, the longer the barrel does not make it better. Definetley get a battery power hopper. like an evo or rikochet (sp) Gas fed loader is a wast of money IMO. Unless you get into competition, then you would have to upgrae your whole system. to like an angel or timmy, I heard the new impulse is amazing.

i was thinking about getting the cyclone hopper for my gun, i believe it is gas fed, its the one for the x7, you advise against that? also what else can i add to this gun (alpha black with upgraded 16inch barrel that would make it more accurate from a distance?

**pjeff7** · 01-30-2009, 01:56 AM

For what it is worth here is my 2 cents...

It boils down to what kind of paintball you want to play and how much money you want to spend. To Answer your first question, A CO2 tank (in general) weights more than a compressed air tank. This is due to the fact that most CO2 tanks are made from aluminum where alot of higher end compressed air tanks are made from Carbon Fiber. Also CO2 is less consistent (from my experience) is shot pressure, due to the change of tempeture of the CO2 gas, in both the tank and marker, when the marker is fired at a high rate of speed. Where as compressed air is alot more consistent (again from my exerience). Most fields will have an 'All day air' for 5 bucks or air included in their field fee's, including both CO2 and compressed air. So on a user level it boils down to the cost of the tank after that. CO2 runs 20 bucks for a 20 oz tank (just did a quick internet search, not up todate with current paintball prices). And a decent compressed air tank would run you 150 (again quick internet search, prices arnt exact). To sum up tanks, If you are going to be playing alot of quick games with alot of shots (ie; speed ball or X ball) with fast shootings guns I would say go with compressed air. If you are playing more of a woods ball/scenario game and you want to keep your wallet alittle fatter, stay with the co2.

As for the barrel I suggest an ultra light or something along those lines (sorry I am a Dye guy). The super long 18' 20' barrels look cool and all that, but when it comes to playing in the woods with those things, it just gets annoying bumping into trees and bushes with that thing on. As for the flatline barrel.....I had one on my OLD old old tippmann sniper I got back in highschool. And I will admit when put on correctly the paintball did go alot farther. But in doing so it also slows the paintball down, giving the other guy a chance to dodge it. I also noticed with my flatline is that if you bump it too hard or the barrel gets turned alittle bit, the paintballs will come out with a corkscrew effect on them. Or they will simply break in the barrel. But to be fair to the tippmann fans out there, I do admit that WHEN it worked on my 98 it worked really well. And I also admit that I got one of the first gen flatlines. So it is possible that Tippmann imporved on the design and they nolonger have those problems.

Now about your loader...If you arnt shooting an electric marker, you dont need an electric hopper. Simple as that. Yeah there will be a few times that you might out shoot your hopper or you might need to shake the hopper to get the paintballs unstuck, but thats no reason to drop 80 bucks (Again quick search) on a Halo hopper when a 5 buck hopper from walmart will work good enough for woods ball game with 98s.

Sure you can get all these crazy tanks and hoppers and barrels and remotes for your tippmann and be all cool. But at the end of the day its still an entry level marker. If you are playing the sport to have fun in the woods and shoot some friends everyother weekend stick with the stock tippmann. Having those nice things on your marker is just that, nice. They wont make you some awsome player, they wont turn you into oliver lang or anything. But if you think its something you would want to play on a more competitive level, then you need to go electric. Electric marker and loader and a compressed air tank is a good start. For an electric marker (to start off) I would recommend an ION, they are cheap and they do a decent job for what they are. They will also give you a good feel on how electric markers work. Better to spend alittle on an ION than drop 1500+ on a DM9 just to find out you dont like to play speed ball.