Question about a gun

o oh

 

First off you dont need all that stuff. If you want to be a sniper I say you want a gun that is light weight. I suggest getting an A-5 of course but please dont get a humgo barrel. Any barrel that is 14'' is the best. You might consider a flatline. They are excellent for woodsball. I have one on my custom pro.  You want a light gun. All the sights and long barrels are a gimic. Do your research.

I'll probably get a normal A-5 and put a stock on it but what barrel would you suggest? I've heard that flatlines are a little too hard to maintain and are too picky on paint, Is that true?

ROFL... oh boy, he said the "s" word. 

prepare to get flammed.

Mr. Spiffy wrote: There's another post in here that did a great job of defining what a true "sniper" is. Just remember to say "covert marksman" next time...

That thread is by SR_Crewchief...
Ill post it up, if this thing gets any worse. Instead of covert marksman, how about you are doing the same thing any other player does.

If you do get a flatline. GET A REGULATOR!!!!!!!!!!!

Alright.

That package is a rip-off designed to entice new players to spend lots of money on upgrades that might look cool but don't help performance.

The barrel is insanly long. It'd get in the way in cover and wouldn't provide any better accuracy than a shorter barrel. Length of barrel does not equal longer range or better accuracy.

Get a stock A-5 if that's the gun you want, then upgrade it as you see fit. Get a LAPCO Bigshot if you want good accuracy(I have a jnj ceramic also, the bigshot is more than worth the extra $10)

The standard preception of what a sniper does in the military can not be effectivly employed in paintball. All pb guns have about the same effective range, and since engagement distances are less than 50m with effective ranges of pb guns being about 30m tops, you're going to have lots of difficulty being able to shoot accuratly from a concealed position and get out without getting light up. Go ahead and try to play that way, you wont be doing your team any good, and even if you do manage that one shot elimination you waited half an hour to get, so you plinked one guy? Great, since your team mates who play an assault role probably have taken out way more players each. Kids who want to play a sniper role usually just want to avoid getting hit. Either because they think not getting hit means they're a better player, or because they think it hurts. Everybody gets hit in paintball, if you're never getting hit you're probably playing too conservativly.


However, I'm going to throw the pb sniper wannabees a bone here. I know OS voiced this concept a while back, but it's certainly still relavant. The US military is reviving the concept of a designated rifleman. The designated rifleman is not a sniper in the normal sence of the word. He is an infantryman who is a better than average shot, using a weapon effective to a longer range than the standard. Usually an M-14, or SR-25 type rifle. The rifle isn't as accurate as a normal sniper rifle, but is almost always semi-automatic for engaging targets where the normal infantryman can't. He provides long range suppressive fire, and there is usually one per squad. The Russians have been using this concept instead of the normal western version of the sniper since at least the adoption of the Dragunov rifle, the US used this earlier on in vietnam with the M21 type rifle system. The way we normally think of a sniper is a more modern trend.



Now we come to paintball. If you want to try this in paintball, here's what I beleive you should have. A semi-automatic marker with a longer effective range than a standard paintgun. This means a flatline or apex barrel.
Now thats reall all that's absolutly necassary besides a slightly different playing style, but to improve on what you're doing, I'd suggest the following.

HPA or N2 system for better consistancy.

A remote and a stock if that's what floats your boat. Personally I hate remotes and stocks usually interfere with your mask.

Some type of aiming device. That way you can adjust the sights to correspond to the center of your shot group and have a better chance of hitting the target with your first series of shots(screw the one-shot-one kill thing and double or triple-tap your target)Since theoretically you will be using a barrel that provides a very flat trajectory, the drop of the ball wont make this a total hinderance.

Red dot sights are a good bet since you use them with both eyes open. You'll be able to get on target fast. You don't need an expensive one for paintball. ADCO sights are garunteed against paintball damage, so they're a good bet. BSA and Tasco types are better built.

A normal riflescope has limited use. At such a short range found in paintball, you're not going to have a very wide field of veiw, so tunnel vision is a problem. With higher magnification, this is worse. It also can be difficult to get on your target fast. The only advantage is being able to pick out a target farther away and identify it. Is that a bush or some tool in a ghille suit? Are those red players or blue players? Are they wokring on a mission you can go disrupt?

I'm going to throw in a third type of scope that I don't think I've ever seen used in paintball, but definatly think is a good idea. Long eye releif pistol scopes. These scopes are intended for use on pistols for hunting and target shooting and are usually low-powered and designed for short range use. An added benifit is that they're mounted far foreward from your eye, allowing you to shoot with both eyes open. This gets you on target almost as fast as a red dot but with the added benifit of being able to identify targets provided with a normal scope. If anybody tried one of these on a paintball gun, let me know.

Also food for though: The XM-8 program has a heavy barreled variant meant to be used as either a designated marksmans rifle, or with larger magazines, a squad automatic weapon. So consider an RT for providing suppressive fire.

Snake6 wrote: Mr. Spiffy wrote: There's another post in here that did a great job of defining what a true "sniper" is. Just remember to say "covert marksman" next time... That thread is by SR_Crewchief...Ill post it up, if this thing gets any worse. Instead of covert marksman, how about you are doing the same thing any other player does.

That's those of us on the forum who seem to have the inherent need to label these people as different from all us ignorant loud-mouthed giants crashing through the woods .

I agree with everything brihard said, with a few notes: 

One advantage of the A-5 over the 98 is that the A-5 Flatline is superior for ease of use and cleaning.  Unlike the 98 Flatline, the A-5 Flatline can be cleaning well in the field, and can also be changed out for another barrel between games if you choose.

Another advantage of the A-5 is the Cyclone, which gives the gun a lower profile, which is good in the woods.  There is a Cyclone available for the 98, but that point you might as well buy the A-5 to begin with.

In addition to the Flatline you might also consider the Apex, which will work on either the 98 or A-5.  It is relatively new, but appears to do everything the Flatline does and more.

A-5, Barrel, regulator or HPA with reg in tank, RT or E-grip with WAS board and JCS Double Trigger, lots of paint and time on the field.