Recommended Mods to gun?

I got in paintball about 4 months ago now. I originally had a spyder t.s., but i traded it in for a tippmann 98 after i got pissed that the spyder's "low pressure chamber " was just causing the gun to be inaccurate and weak. I bought a 12 inch carbon fiber barrel for my tippmann, and i'm looking at getting the flatline barrel and an agitating hopper. I do not know anything else really about paintball, so i don't know whether or not the flatline is worth it completely, or many other things to get. I have also been looking at other guns, and I really like the Epiphany, but it doesn't use co2 like the norma guns, but electropneumatic crap, and i don't know how that would measure up to other guns.

 

Advice/suggestions please ?

Dont get the flatline, here are three reasons why NOT to buy it.

1) Its overpriced ($100)

2) You'll be buying a metal barrel but the cover is cheesy plastic

3) It reduces accuracy

If you want range go with the Apex barrel.  You can get it for like $50 online and the range is ajustable.

where can i buy that online ?

the 2 inch ums adaptor would be compatible w/ the apex ?

i got the feeling about the low pressure chamber because i originally first purchased a spyder TS, and it had a low pressure chamber. i bought it the day before i went up into north michigan for a weekend of paintball woodsball with a lot of kids. i shot it at my house before i left and it was all good. but once i got up there and got into the heat of the battle, it would just not aim straight. it was hooking shots, the ball never got much distance compared to the tippmanns out there. so i got fed up w/ the poor accuracy and lame distance, and traded it in for a tippmann 98. I wouldn't know much about the epiphany, so thanks for that. I was kind of just wandering around looking for high end guns, not that i plan on buying one anytime soon. I just wanted to get a good idea of what a top line gun consists of and what manufacturers i should be looking at for one of those. i do want to mod my gun a lot more before i go looking at another.

high pressure air vs. co2, air is better ? why's that ??

 

i do want maybe an agitating hopper, but my friend i go with told me maybe to get a drop forward and e trigger before looking at a hopper like that because the hopper would be useless unless i have the other means to fire the gun faster.

idk exactly what eletropneumatic is either haha. i was on Smart parts paintball store site online, and they're the ones who are selling the epiphany and w/e. and the tagline was that the guns run on this revolutionized electropneumatic air system. i guess it combines electricity w/ compressed air to produce a low pressure paintball gun. here's the link for it http://www.smartparts.com/Store/ProductMarker.aspx?id=epipha ny

Okay, I'll do my best to answer this logically.

I don't know about the UMS or Apex. I've never had experience with any.

The volume chamber had nothing to do with accuracy. What a volume chamber does is increase the internal volume of your marker, and with all gases, more volume equates to lower pressure. Low pressure is more or less a paintball fad. I haven't been able to find an advantage with it. Your accuracy was probably caused by a ball that was broken or chopped in your barrel, or bad paint. I'd have to know the symptoms to be sure.

Air is superior to CO2, mainly for consistency, and consistency equals improved accuracy. CO2 spikes when liquid gets into your marker, velocity is constantly changing with the temperature, and liquid CO2 can ruin electronics and blow solenoids (electronic air valves) in high-end markers. High pressure air (HPA) is not affected noticeably by weather, doesn't create condensation on your marker and barrel, will not blow out solenoids and electronics and does not spike as there is no liquid to enter your marker from compressed air.

The Epiphany is by no means a top-end gun, though I would rate it as "high-end." The Epiphany is also by no means "revolutionary." It uses a valve design that's been around for years, and the electronics are about the same as every other high-end out there. In fact, stay away from Smart Parts period. They are masters of deception, claiming many things are the latest and greatest that simply are not. My favorite example is Smart Part's "state-of-the-art" Seal Forward Technology. What that is is an "advanced" design that seals the bolt forward into the barrel before the gun fires. You want to know what almost every paintball gun's bolt does before it fires? That's right, seals forward into the barrel. Smart Parts just put a fancy name on it and called it a feature. Long story short, Smart Parts = bad.

There are 4 types of semiautomatic paintball guns. Pneumatic (operates by air actuating the hammer/valves/internal gizmos. VERY few examples of these, none currently mass produced [G-Force's pneumatic marker, ICE Epic]), mechanical (sear-released hammer or bolt [mechanical Spyder]), electromechanical (electronic solenoid used to trip a sear which releases a hammer [e-gripped Spyder or Tippmann] and electropneumatic. Electropneumatic markers use a solenoid to redirect air to a ram, which opens and closes spool valves, or actuates a hammer to strike poppet valves. These are your high-end guns; Angels, Shockers, Epiphanies, Egos, Matrices and all those other fancy guns.

I hope that helps.


Edited by DeTrevni - 07 January 2008 at 4:46am