As a general rule, a sig should be less than 150 pixels high and 350 pixels wide. 50k should be considered a "hard cap" for signature file size. Of course, the smaller the file size the better.

Please try and adhere to this standard.  Thanks! (Rock Slide)

=================================================

_TT_ Moderator Group OLD but not DEAD yet! Joined: 10 June 2002 Location: United States Posts: 2220

Posted: 20 October 2003 at 2:16pm I would like to add that the same goes with your Avatar. Your Avatar shouldn't be over 15, to 20k. So if you have an animated Avatar, check it for size because we will be checking it. About 20% of our members still have dial up connections and large signatures or avatars will really slow down their load time. If you need to check the size, right click your mouse on your signature or avatar and then select Properties and it will tell you the size.

Here are two Links to Threads that explain Sigs and Avatars and Photos: <<Links being updated since they no longer work after the switchover. ~Reb>>

       http://www.tippmann.com/players/forum/wwf77a/registration_ru les.asp?FID=0

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By: RebCPL and *Stealth *

Excellent Post Bug!

You will not be Deleted!

I am Posting here, to "Reserve" a spot for Mods or whatever, in the Future...

Ya junky, yours is almost two times the size of me and rebs, and ours looks to be the second biggest.

I cant imagine how long that took you, I bow down.

Bug, you have a reserved spot for a reason, not to make any more replies

What is the difference between a scope and a sight?

A scope is something attached to the top of a rifle or marker....it's an optical tool that is used to ENHANCE your target, to better your visual acquisition.

A SIGHT, is one of two things.

A. It's either what is already mounted on the marker, essential for aiming, you line up the rear sight and the front sight, and you should be able to hit what's in front of you if you did it right. 

It can also refer to something like a red dot sight, which is also mounted to a gun or marker. It does the work of both the front and rear sight, you look at it, and all it does is show you the target and where you're aiming. Theres no enhancement or magnification involved.

HOW TO POLISH YOUR STOCK BARREL

Parts required:

• 1/4 inch wooden dowel about 16 inches long
• Electric drill
• Something to hold the barrel (vice with wood blocks)
• 0000 steel wool
• Brasso or Mothers Mag Polish
• Rags
• Rain-X

1. Clamp the barrel in the vice using the wood blocks so you won’t scratch it. Don’t clamp it too tight, just enough to hold it.
2. Take and cut a 2-inch slit down one end of the wooden dowel. Insert the other end in the drill.
3. Wrap some 0000 steel wool around the end of the dowel and put it inside the stock barrel. Fire it up and run it in and out of the barrel. You’ll spend a good 15-minutes doing this part. Don’t cheat on the time… Try and not let the barrel get too hot either. If it heats up bad, stop and let it cool some.
4. Take and rinse out the barrel and dry it inside and out.
5. Put a rag in the slit you cut in the dowel. Then load it up with Brasso or the Mag polish.
6. Put it inside the barrel and fire up the drill again. Run it in and out for a good 5 minutes.
7. Replace the rag with a clean one and repeat the above step. You’ll need to do this at least 6 times. That's 6 rags loaded with polish for 5 minutes each, a 1/2-hour total.
8. After the 6th time, let the polish dry inside the barrel. Go get the beverage of your choice and take a break. Watch some cartoons…
9. After your done with the beverage of your choice, put a clean rag on the end of the dowel and run it through the barrel for 5 minutes. No polishing compounds this time.
10. Replace the rag and run another clean one through the barrel for another 5 minutes.
11. Take the barrel out of the vice and wash it out with some dish soap and dry it inside and out.
12. Put the barrel back in the vice and put a clean rag on the dowel. This time squirt some Rain-X on the rag and run it though the barrel for a couple of minutes.
13. Let it dry for a good 10 minutes and then add more Rain-X to the rag, running it through the barrel for a couple of minutes again.
14. Let it dry again (10 minutes or so) and replace the rag on the dowel with a clean one. This will be your final buffing.
15. Run the clean rag through the barrel for a good 5 minutes.

You’re done. Get another beverage of your choice and admire your work… Check out the shine by looking through it at a light.

===================================================

There is always a post (ten a day it seems) of “What upgrade should I do to my new marker?”. The replies always range from barrels to drop forwards to expansion chambers and hoppers. That’s all fine and dandy, but it isn’t the first upgrade you should do to your gun.

The first upgrade needs to be in your head. Knowledge. You need to learn how your gun works. Nothing is more annoying to other players than somebody who always plays but never works on their own gun. They always ask others to fix their problems for them, having never taken the time to learn how it works.

One of the best ways to learn how your new gun works, and to actually make a BIG improvement in how well it shoots, is to polish the internals. This should be the VERY FIRST STEP to any other upgrades you may do in the future.

HOW TO POLISH THE INTERNALS

Parts required:

• You’ll need a hard, fine sharpening stone and some honing oil (used to sharpen knives).
• A Dremel Tool with a polishing wheel or buffing wheel is nice. If not, you’ll have to polish by hand which takes a hell of a lot longer. Invest in a Dremel or know a friend who has one…
• Lots of rags!
• Some Mothers Mag Polish found at auto parts stores or K-Mart / Wal-Mart.
• Jeweler’s rouges is handy also. Comes with some Dremel polishing kits.
• 0000 Steel Wool

Polishing the trigger:

The trigger has a flat spot where the trigger sear sits on it. When you squeeze the trigger, it raises one end of the sear, which lowers the other end of the sear and the rear bolt is released. You want to polish this flat spot of the trigger. On most of the Model-98's and on the A-5's, the trigger is plastic with a metal cap for this flat spot. Don't bother doing anything to these types of triggers except the polishing described below.

1. Put some of the honing oil on the sharpening stone and lightly rub the flat of the trigger on the stone. You’re making it nice and smooth and flat. Don’t tilt the trigger so you get an uneven edge. Keep it flat.
2. Once you have done the flat of the trigger that the sear rides on, do the perpendicular edge. Same thing, polish it smooth and even. When you’re done, you should have a nice crisp edge for the sear to drop off of when you shoot. Remember, you don’t want any round edges. Keep everything nice and sharp.
3. Now that you have the edge, take the Dremel tool with a buffing wheel and polish it up using the mag polish. This will shine it up. Jewel’s rouges also works really well on these parts. Don’t dull the edge you just made.
4. Clean with some soapy water, rinse, and put one drop of Hoppes-9 on the flat you just polished and a drop in the hole where the dowel pin goes. Rub it all around the trigger with your fingers.

Note: When you put everything back together, check to see if the trigger flops from side to side. If it does, make a small shim/washer out of the aluminum from a pop can and put it between the trigger and the lower receiver (over the dowel pins the trigger sits on). You may need a couple to get rid of the slop but don’t put too many in so things bind.

Carbine owners can replace their stock trigger spring with a trigger spring from a 98 or the SL-68II. This will reduce your pull from about 9 lbs. to around 3 lbs.

Polishing the trigger sear:

One end of the trigger sear rides on the flat of the trigger you just polished up. The other end is against the rear bolt. These ends need to be polished up too using the same method.

1. Take the stone and honing oil and rub the flat ends of the trigger sear. Get a good crisp edge on them.
2. Then rub the bottom of the sear that rides on the trigger. You should end up with a sharp edge on the sear that goes against the trigger. Again, don’t round any edges and don’t change the angle of the edges!
3. Then sharpen the top of the sear that slides against the rear bolt. Get that good crisp, sharp edge.
4. Once the edges are sharp, polish them using the Dremel tool (buffing wheel) with the mag polish or jeweler’s rouges so that they are nice and shinny. Don’t round the edges you just sharpened. Get it nice and shinny too.
5. Clean with some soapy water, rinse, and put one drop of Hoppes-9 on the flats you just polished and a drop in the hole where the dowel pin goes. Rub that drop all over the sear.

Note: When you put everything back together, check to see if the sear flops from side to side. If it does, make another small shim/washer and put it between the sear and the lower receiver (over the dowel pins the sear sits on). You may need a couple to get rid of the slop but don’t put too many in so things bind. This is easier to check on the Carbine series of guns since the lower receiver is separate from the upper receiver. On the Model-98 it’s more of a guess. A-5's seldom need any shimming. Keep your stock sear spring in place…

Polishing the rear bolt:

The trigger sear holds the rear bolt back until you pull the trigger. When you pull it, the sear will slid off a ramp on the bottom of the rear bolt and let it fly. You want this to be a nice smooth, crisp release.

1. Take the honing oil and stone to the ramps on the bottom of the rear bolt. Don’t change the angle of anything; you’re again just getting a nice crisp, sharp edge where the sear meets the rear bolt. Make sure the flats of the rear bolt stay on the stone while you’re sharpening it.
2. Then get out the Dremel and buffing wheel again and make it all shinny. Again, don’t round off any of the edges you just got done sharpening!
3. Clean with some soapy water, rinse, and put a couple drops of Hoppes-9 on your fingers and rub the rear bolt down (around the o-ring and on the flats). That’s all you need.

If you’re so inclined and have a few bucks lying around, replace the rear bolt on your Carbine series gun with an Air-Tipps rear bolt. No polishing is necessary and they are 30% lighter than stock. Improves the cycling of the gun a lot.

Polishing the upper receiver:

• For the Carbine series of guns, which has a single piece upper receiver, take everything out of it. Take a wooden dowel and put a small slit about 2 inches down the center of one end. Put the other end of the dowel in the end of a drill. Wrap some 0000 steel wool on the dowel and run it through the upper receiver for 5-minutes or so. Rinse it out and dry the part. Put a rag on the end of the wooden dowel (in the slit) and coat it in Mothers Mag Polish. Stick the coated rag in the upper receiver and let the drill fly. Polish until it’s shinny. A good 20-minutes will be nice. Keep the rag coated with the polish and change it when it turns black.
• For the Model-98 and A-5, the receiver has two halves. Take everything out of them and lay them on a flat surface. Use the small wire wheel that comes with the Dremel polishing kit and take all the paint off the inside of the receiver. Once that is done, take the buffing wheel with some Mothers Mag Polish or jeweler’s rouges and go over the parts. Another good Dremel bit to use while polishing is the hard rubber emery wheel. Get them all shinny...

With both types of receivers, clean it all with soapy water and rinse good. Put one drop of oil on each receiver half and rub it around with your finger.

After all this polishing (which will take a while to do right… A nice weekend project), go ahead and put it back together. This would be a good time to replace the end cap with an Air-Tipps RVA (my favorite). If you do this, back out the front stock velocity adjuster so it doesn’t block any air but is still securely in place. Some people take and cut the velocity screw to size so when it is inserted all the way in, it doesn’t block any air. On the Carbines, please keep any tension springs installed on the front velocity adjuster though. This is what keeps the power tube centered. Now you can use the RVA for adjusting your velocity.

Once you’ve assembled the gun, don’t put the barrel on. Put three to five drops of Hoppes-9 in the ASA and put your air on the gun. Shoot about 20 some times to work that oil through the gun then reattach the barrel.

That’s it! You’re going to see a smoother cycling gun, a crisper, smoother trigger release, and some increased air efficiency (especially if you installed the RVA). You’re also going to have to check your velocity with a chrono. Even without doing the RVA install or changing the rear bolt, you’ll probably see your velocity jump a bit after the polishing. If you did add the RVA and the new rear bolt, your velocity will be way off of what it was before.

===================================================

ADJUSTING VELOCITY WITH A REGULATOR AND RVA

If I mention something you have or don’t have, I’m just referencing what I had on the Weed a few years ago while running Co2. It should also work with HPA. Here’s how I had it set up…

First, Take off the gas tank and barrel. Look down the breach at the power tube. Back out the front velocity adjuster so it isn’t blocking the power tube. Stick the barrel back on.

Back out the RVA almost all the way. We’re going for the low end first since that’s where it’s hard to adjust. At this point, it’s also a good idea to replace the drive spring with a fresh one.

Replace any expansion chamber you have on the vertical adapter with a gas-thru fore grip. It’s basically a hollow tube to store regulated gas (acts like an LP chamber). I got mine from Dash and he probably got it from Mike at County. Don’t know for sure…

You don’t need the gas-thru fore grip if you don’t plan on periods of fast shooting. All it does is keep you from getting “shoot down”. That’s where the regulator can’t keep up with your trigger finger and the balls start dropping shorter and shorter.

The gas-thru is connected to the valve via hose or macroline. Don’t use microline, it’s too narrow and will starve your gun.

The other end of the gas-thru fore grip is connected to the output of your regulator, again with hose or macroline. Mine was a WGP in-line and screwed into the ASA adapter. So the gas-thru fore grip was connected to the ASA adapter, which has the regulator, screwed into it.

Off the backside of the regulator was the connection to the remote (the nipple the QD connects to).

So now we know how the plumbing is run from the valve to the remote hose. It goes:

Valve---hose---Gas-thru fore grip---hose---ASA---Regulator---Remote Hose---Tank

Attach a fresh tank to the remote and turn on the gas. Check and fix any leaks.

Now comes chrono and tuning time and it takes a while. Patience… Once it’s done though, chronoing will be easy. This comes from Dash and it worked out pretty good for me.

Start with the regulator most of the way in (decrease pressure). Verify that RVA is most the way out. Take some blank shots (no paint in the gun for this part) and adjust the regulator out (increase pressure) so that the gun just operates correctly. You’ll probably start too low and it will sputter and not re-cock. Increase pressure until it just cycles ok. Use small turns when changing.

Go chrono the gun. You’re trying for around 250 with the RVA most the way out. If you’re way above 250, you’ll need to trim the drive spring some. Trim a quarter turn to a half turn of the spring at a time depending on how high you are is all you’ll need to trim. If you’re below 250, slowly turn in the RVA to increase the velocity a little at a time taking a 5 shot average. Like I said, you’re trying for 250 with the RVA most the way out.

If you reach the bottom of the RVA base and haven’t got to 250 (or the gun still sputters), then back the RVA screw out most the way again, and increase the pressure at the regulator a little bit (out to increase pressure). Just tweak it about ¼ turn and try and chrono again for 250.

This will take some trial and error. Keep increasing the pressure until you can shoot 250 with the RVA backed most the way out. Once you’re done and shooting 250 with the RVA out, you are running at the minimum pressure for the gun.

Once you have that working, chrono for 290 or so by slowly turning in the RVA. You should have no problems getting to this point. If you have the RVA all the way in and can’t reach 290 or so, back it out half way and increase pressure on the regulator again (remember, turn out ¼ turn to increase pressure) and chrono again. Slowly turn in the RVA to get to 290 or so.

By the time you’re done, you should have the regulator set and not have to touch it again. The adjustment on the RVA should get you to the high side (290 or so) for day play when it’s screwed in, and to the low side (250 or so) for night play when it’s screwed out.

i got these links frowm a action pursuit games magazine, and figured i would post this so people can buy stuff, find feilds and information.

Equipment & Supplies

http://www.a-1paintballstore.com/ - A-1PaintballStore
5 dollar shipping per order no matter what you buy!
http://www.actionsportssystems.com/ - Action Sports Software Systems
Provides software solutions for you field admissions and retail shops. We provide membership tracking, rental tracking, and easy access to waiver information.
http://americanpb.com/ - American Paintball Supply
A Name you can trust!!! Find Tippmann, KAPP, 32 Degrees, Kingman, and more
http://www.madcocker.com/ - Autococker Online
First online store totally dedicated to the Autococker.
http://www.bandaenterprises.com/ - B and A Enterprises Paintball Suppliers
We Offer Paintball merchandise at great prices!
http://www.battlepaint.com/ - Battlepaint, Inc.
Provider of technologies and solutions for the paintball industry.
http://www.blowgunsnw.com/ - Blowguns Northwest, Inc.
Featuring, .40 caliber, .50 caliber and .62 caliber paintballs and equipment
http://www.bunkerspaintball.com/ - Bunkers Paintball
Everything you need to get into the Game...Canadian Distributor for Nelson Paintballs...Indoor/Outdoor Paintball Fields...Tournaments.
http://centerflagproducts.com/ - Centerflag Paintball
Manufacturers of the HyperFrame Electronic Trigger and HyperFlow Gas Regulators.
http://www.criticalpaintball.com/ - Critical Paintball
Online store offering paintballs, guns, parts, exclusive video and much more.
http://www.dropzonearmynavy.com/ - Drop Zone Army Navy
Your headquarters for Army Pants, Coats, T-Shirts, Coveralls, Boots, Bags, and Caps, and Paintball Supplies! We offer group discounts and free shipping on orders over $100.
http://www.easternpaintball.com/ - Eastern Paintball Supplies, LLC
The place to order your paintball supplies. New products entering daily
http://www.qksrv.net/click-1191062-5463217?loc=http%3A//listings.ebay.com/aw/plistings/list/all/category16045/index.html - Ebay Marketplace
Online auction for Paintball Markers and Accesories.
http://www.firstcallpaintball.com/ - First Call Paintball
Gear for the absolute lowest price online!. Guaranteed Paint Shipments set us apart from the rest of the pack.
http://www.gforcepb.com/ - G-Force Paintball Products
Manufacturers of Remote Docker, EZ-Switch for Shocker, Cocker upgrade like delrin ball detent, mini rock knob, MightyLite Bolt Pin, 45 Frame trigger stop, MegaLine kits.
http://www.ghilliesuits.com/ - Ghillie Suits.com
Camouflage. Full suits, or kits to build your own. We have all the supplies.
http://www.globalpaintball.com/ - Global Paintball Inc.
Pro Shop and Playing Fields. Informaion, Products, Tips, Paintball Forum.
http://www.headshotpaintball.com/ - Headshot Paintball
Cheap paintball sales
http://www.iisports.com/ - I&I Sports - Paintball Supply Company
The largest retail supplier in the sport of paintball!
http://www.islandpaintball.net/intro.html - Island Paintball Supplies
Long Island, New York's largest full service paintball store
http://www.jimbopaintball.8m.com/ - Jimbo's Electronic Paintball
Custom Paintball Description: This site is full of info about my electro cocker project, some unique and new ideas. I also offer a starting kit for anyone who want to make an electro gun.
http://home.earthlink.net/~kbsrackattack - KB's Paintball
General info to reach our store
http://www.kercon.com/ - KC TroubleFree Oil
The very best PAINTBALL GUN Lubricant for Products including WDP Angels, autocockers, Nitro systems and automags
http://www.kingmanusa.com/ - Kingman
Resetting the standards for the new millennium
http://www.lctpaintball.com/ - LCT Paintball
Don't throw away your old Squadbusters, refill them for pennies.
http://www.mantisgear.com/ - Mantis Gear
Offers superior paintball gear and clothing. Backpacks, harnesses, travel bags, hats, etc.
http://www.nelsonpaintballs.com/ - Nelson Paint Company
The original and still the best.
http://www.ontoppaintball.com/ - On Top Paintball
Lowest prices on the net for your paintball needs. Monthly specials
http://www.paintballgear.ca/ - Paintball Gear Canada
Paintball Gear Canada is a Canadian paintball supplier of paintball guns/markers like autococker, automag, and much more.
http://www.paintballmaxx.com/ - Paintball Maxx
Houston Retail Supplier. Home of the Super High Output Sniper. Custom machining, repairs, tweaking.
http://www.thepaintjug.com/ - The Paint Jug
Are you tired off dropping paintballs? It's easy to carry, store and protect your paint with "The Paint Jug"
http://www.pdpaintball.com/ - PDpaintball
Located in Canada, full online ordering system, we also offer custom products and sevices.
http://www.precision-paintball.com/ - Precision-Paintball.com
Southwest Virginia's #1 source for paintball! Custom paintball accessories made to order by a Master Machinist with over 25 years experience! CO2 and Nitrogen Tanks filled and serviced! All major paintball brands available!
http://www.proteamdirect.com/ - Pro-Team Products
One of the leading innovators in paintball for over 10 years. We design, develop, and build the best quality paintguns and accessories in paintball today!
http://pminetwork.com/ - Pursuit Marketing Inc.
Dedicated to the manufacture/distribution of the highest quality paintball products and to fast and friendly service.
http://www.purepaintball.com/ - Rottenpaintball.com
Extreme paintball supplies at an affordable price!!!
http://www.skanline.com/ - Skan-Line Sports
The worlds leading On-Line Paintball Catalog. Tons of products, pictures, info, links, all for the game of Paintball.
http://www.tacticalmarkers.com/ - tacticalmarkers.com
Authorized Armotech Dealer
http://www.torresdelpaintball.com/ - Torres Del Paintball
Regional advisor and supplier of paintball equipment to spanish area fields and retail locations in Spain.
http://www.tracerpaintball.com/ - Tracerpaintball.com
Online and Retail Store located in Northern California. Full service facility.
http://www.tristatepaintball.com/ - Tri-State Paintball
Great Place for All Paintball Guns and Gear
http://www.theairsmith.com/ - Turtles ToyBox
What's up at Turtles ToyBox? Check out our custom guns and the places we like to play
http://www.unlikelyheroes.ca/ - Unlikely Heroes
CANADA's premium paintball store. Widest selection at the best prices
http://www.vspaintball.com/ - Vs Paintball
We sell all sorts of decals and Paintball Stuff. We even make Custom decals that you design! Great Prices!
http://www.warpedsportz.com/ - Warped Sportz
Home to the Dark Angel LCD, Dark Cocker & Dark Halo

     Fan Sites & Galleries

http://www.geocities.com/evanchance/bcpb.html - Baldwin County Paintball Brigade
South Alabama Scenario Group. Page has picture page, news, links to BCPB units and more!!!
http://www.geocities.com/bigdawg0paintball - Big Dawg Paintball
Reviews, Links, and stuff for Sale!
http://dfwpaintball.cjb.net/ - DFW Paintballers Anonymous
A place for all the paintballers in the DFW area to meet other paintballers,use the paintball classified ads, and more!
http://www.geocities.com/drcpaintball - DRC Paintball
Pictures, paintball gun information, masks, paintballs, links, etc.
http://fade.to/jayde - Jayded Paintball
A smalltime page with a lot of quality photos of custom guns. Also, links to popular paintball sites.
http://www.geocities.com/model98backplayer13 - Model98backplayer's Personal page
A site about me and my favorite paintball field
http://www.mymagpage.homestead.com/magpage.html - My Mag Page
Pics and info on my mag
http://www.geocities.com/p8ntballr592 - Psycho's Paintball Homepage
Ddedicated to paintball in the Tampa, Florida area. Site has pictures, polls, field listings, upcoming events and more.
http://www.ronnstern.com/ - Ronn's Paintball Art
Website showcasing artwork from Paintball's Favorite Artist - Ronn Stern
http://smg60user.homestead.com/ - smg60users
Texas paintballer since '88. Pics of my guns, old pics soon

     Fields

http://www.cableone.net/abbeys - Abbey's Paintball
We offer Speedball, Woods play and scenarios. Walk-ons and parties welcome. Large spectator area. We have concessions available. Located in Southwest Mississippi where the weather is always great for Paintball.
http://www.adrenalinrushpb.50megs.com/ - Adrenalin Rush Paintball
A netted speedball field supervised and staffed on weekends. Located just minutes from Columbia, SC in Leesville.
http://www.thaipaintball.com/ - Ao Nang Krabi Splat Zone
Thailand's number one paintball experience. Tropical environment field, stealth games and speedball, friendly English speaking staff, coffee corner and beer bar. On the beach at Ao Nang in Krabi Southern Thailand.
http://www.area-51.on.ca/ - Area 51 Paintball Sportsfield
From our fast-paced speedball field to our intense scenario field, AREA 51 offers a variety of paintball games for the novice or the advanced player.
http://www.blastfactory.net/ - Blast Factory
Big open indoor 100 x 200' indoor paintball field. Overheaad observation deck. Reserved times on Fri, Sat, open shoot on Sundays and Wed. Group rates for birthdays and other special events. $20 fee includes rental equipement. Field paint only.
http://brushyacres.tripod.com/ - Brushy Acres
Paintball field with photos, map, guestbook and links. Home of the field rats paintball team
http://www.capaintball.on.ca/ - CA Paintball
CA Paintball Games consist of A Village, The Hill, Speedball, Center Flag, and Capture The Flag set in the awesome landscape of Westport, Canada.
http://www.coastalpaintball.com/ - Coastal Paintball
Located in Jacksonville, NC. Five fields plus on-site store. Home of COASTAL BREAKERS teams and Atlantic Coast Tournament Series (ACTS) events.
http://www.bates.edu/~tblake/FlyingMonkiesWebPage.html - Flying Monkies Paintball
We specialize in scenario games but we also provide walk-on rec play and theme tournaments. Very nice field features! Come on over and check us out!!
http://friendlyfire.tv/ - Friendly Fire Paintball Adventure Games
We are located near Kirkland in North-Central Illinois. We feature 17 great outdoor fields including woods and speedball. All Facilities!
http://www.paintball.hu/ - Hungarian Paintball Mission
The first paintball company in Hungary. We have different fields, equipments, etc.
http://www.jrvp.com/ - James River Valley Paintball
We believe we offer the premier paintball field in our area and we strive to maintain that standing by continually working to improve our facility and services.
http://www.krazykrispaintball.com/ - Krazy Kris' Paintball
Kansas' Leading paintball field
http://www.offlimitspaintball.com/ - OffLimitsPaintball
Large pro-shop, 10+ playing fields, tounaments, Big Games. Camping, Consessions, Showers, Indoor resrrooms, Electrical hookups. Open year round. Located in North Louisiana.
http://www.rebelhome.net/reb.html - Rebel Ridge Paintball Park
Welcome to Rebel Ridge Paintball Park in south, central Kentucky. Paintball games and supplies - fun for the entire family.
http://riverside.lookscool.com/ - Riverside Premiere Paintball
Features the coolest private playing field in the SW Ohio area. Offers woods, speedball, and 'sup air!
http://www.roguepaintball.com/ - Rogue Paintball
Open year 'round, with fields in Standish and Limington, Maine. Member of the Maine Recreational Paintball League. Semi-auto rentals and BYOP or purchase with us.
http://www.skylinepaintball.com/ - Skyline Paintball
Paintball Field & Pro Shop Description: Field and Pro Shop Located In Strasburg, Virginia.
http://www.spacecoastpaintball.com/ - SpaceCoast Paintball
Florida's largest paintball field & proshop. Sup'Air, Hyperball & a huge recball field.
http://www.sgpaintball.com/ - Splatter Gulch Paintball
Paintball field
http://www.thepaintballzone.com/ - thepaintballzone.com
Field 23 mi. E of Modesto, CA has gun tower, bridge, abandoned mobiles and rv's, sniper trails, bunkers, western town, supp~air field on lawn, covered staging area with picnic tables, small pro shop, flush toilets, food and drinks available, camping area etc.
http://www.woodlandpaintball.com/ - Woodland Paintball
Located in Belding, MI with 4 different fields. Open play Sundays private games can be scheduled anytime. BYOP allowed when using your own equipment.

     Information/ Resource Sites

http://www.a-1paintball.com/ - A-1Paintball
A-1Paintball has classifieds, full product directory, chat room, articles, tons of links, monthly contests and more.
http://www.cincinnatipaintball.com/ - Cincinnati Paintball.com
Cincinnati Paintball links local players to the action.
http://www.colvillepaintball.com/ - Colville Paintball
Offers stick paintball movies, product reviews, links, and hundreds of pictures.
http://www.cometzone.com/ - Comet Zone
Free paintball cursors for websites, blogs and home computers.
http://www.customcocker.com/ - CustomCocker
An Autococker info site.
http://gotpaintball.4t.com/ - Gotpaintball.com
Information on pratically everything paintball, sites, links, tournaments and information
http://www.guerillapictures.com/ - Guerilla Pictures
Scenario paintball videos
http://www.geocities.com/stalker217/ghillie/ - How to make a Ghillie Suit
Extensive, step-by-step instructions on how to build a Ghillie suit for camouflage needs.
http://www.kansascitypaintballpage.homestead.com/ - Kansas City Paintball Page
All the info you need to play paintball in Kansas City
http://www.mxsportz.com/ - Mackz Xtreme Sportz
Producers of the first nationwide 24-hour paintball scenario event series, "Prophecies 2000." Coming in 2001: "Legends."
http://www.angelfire.com/tx4/millennium - Millennium Owners Organization II
An owners organization for anyone who owns a Bob Long Millennium and would like a useful resource to learn more about their gun.
http://www.mnpig.com/ - Minnesota Paintball Internet Guide
Great for info. on Tournaments, playing fields, teams and big games in Minnesota
http://www.mypb.fetchmy.tv/ - my pb
We are here to help other paintball playa's find the marker right for them at the best price. An also to help with there quetions about there markers.
http://newbiespaintball.tripod.com/home.htm - Newbiespaintball.com
The information source for new players
http://neopaintball.netfirms.com/ - Northeast Ohio Paintball Directory
One stop shopping directory of Cleveland/Northeast Ohio area paintball resources
http://groups.msn.com/NOVASCOTIAPAINTBALLPLAYERSConTACTZonE/_whatsnew.msnw - Nova Scotia Paintball Players Contact Zone
The oldest paintball site in the Atlantic region with over 100 members.
http://pub89.ezboard.com/bplaypaintballcoloradoalsohomeofthecoloradopaintballclub - Paintball Colorado
An independent source for information on local events, useful links, and a place to be a part of the Colorado paintball community. We're your one stop shop to find all things paintball in the state of Colorado.
http://www.paintball.com/ - Paintball.com
Internet's leading information site for the sport of paintball. Updated daily with the latest news, gear reviews, events, tips, field listings, player profiles and more! Check it out!
http://www.paintballremix.tk/ - Paintball Remix
Hot Guns- Orracles, Angels, Smart parts,Spyder,Tippmann. Reviews on all guns!
http://www.phatziggys.com/ - PhatZiggys.com
Your #1 online source for paintball!
http://www.planetpaintball.net/ - Planet Paintball
The best all paintball search engine. This site will satisfy all your paintball needs and questions.
http://home.tiscali.nl/shockersport - Ron's Shocker Page
Everything there is to know about the Smart Parts Shocker Sport
http://www.sacpaintball.com/ - Sacramento Paintballers
Sacpaintball is your #1 information site for Sacramento and Northern California
http://www.geocities.com/lilcode - San Antonio online paintball info.
Local information on fields, stores, events, tournaments, and more
http://www.sargefiles.8m.com/ - The Sarge Files
A collection of newspaper and magazine articles written or coauthored by Bob "Sarge" Shano, the creator and producer of the award-winning public access television show "Paintball Gladiators", and founder of the "Paintball Safety Talks" program.
http://www.stockclasspaintball.com/ - The Stock Class Paintball Network
The worlds largest Stock Class paintball information resource, run by players, for players.

     Manufacturers     

http://www.adcosales.com/ - ADCO
Sights and more.
http://www.airgunuk.demon.co.uk/ - Air America UK

http://www.airgun.com/ - Airgun Designs
Manufacturer of the Flatline HPA system.    
http://www.airconcepts.com/ - Air Concepts Industries (ACI)
Manufacturer of tons of upgrades for many guns.     
http://www.akalmp.com/ - AKA
Marker manufacturer of the Excalibur and more.
http://www.battlepaint.com/ - Battlepaint, Inc.
Battlepaint, Inc. is the provider of technologies and solutions for the fields of tomorrow.
http://www.benchmark-man.com/ - Benchmark
Aftermarket grips and accessories.
http://www.brasseagle.com/ - Brass Eagle, Inc.
Markers, paintballs, accessories.    
http://www.checkitproducts.com/ - Check-it Products
Aftermarket accessories
http://www.phantomonline.com/ - Component Concepts, Inc.
Marker manufacturer: Phantom pump and stock class markers
http://www.diggthis.com/ - Diggers
Paintball shoes.
http://www.dyeprecision.com/ - Dye Precision
Marker, barrel and accessory manufacturer.
http://www.icdpaintball.com/ - Indian Creek Designs
Markers and accessories    
http://www.jjperformance.com/ - J&J Performance
Barrels and custom parts.
http://www.jtusa.com/ - JT USA
Goggle systems, markers, jerseys & accessories.    
http://www.kickasspaintball.com/ - KAPP
Accessories and custom markers.    
http://www.kingmanusa.com/ - Kingman International
Markers and accessories    
http://www.lapcopaintball.com/ - LAPCO
Colin Thompson's custom barrels and accessories.
http://www.nelsonpaintball.com/ - Nelson Paint Company
Paintball manufacturer
http://www.nitroduck.com/ - Paintball Mania Supplies
Air systems, accessories.
http://www.palmer-pursuit.com/ - Palmer's Pursuit Shop
Custom markers, accessories and upgrades and custom airsmithing.
http://www.proteamdirect.com/ - Pro-Team Products (PTP)
Markers, accessories, and Armson sights.
http://www.ravenusa.com/ - Raven Paintball Gear
Paintball uniforms, goggle systems.
http://www.redzcomfort.com/ - Redz Comfort Gear
Harnesses and accessories.
http://www.rps-paintball.com/ - RP Scherer
Paintball manufacturer
http://www.severepaintball.com/ - Severe Paintball
Paintballs.
http://www.sheridanusa.com/ - Sheridan, division of Crosman Corporation
Markers and accessories
http://www.smartparts.com/ - Smart Parts
Markers, barrels, uniforms, accessories
http://www.tippmann.com/ - Tippmann Pneumatics
Markers and accessories.
http://www.usapaintball.com/ - USA Performance Products
Markers and accessories
http://www.warriorsportsgear.com/ - Warrior Sports Gear
Accessories, netting, cases, shirts
http://www.wdp-paintball.co.uk/ - WDP
Markers and accessories.
http://www.worr.com/ - Worr Game Products
Marker and accessory manufacturer   

     Organizations

http://filebox.vt.edu/org/paintball/msindex.html - The Paintball Club of Virginia Tech
The offical website of the Paintball CLub of Virginia Tech!
http://www.paintballassociation.com/ - Paintball Products Manufacturers Association (PPMA)
A trade association for the sport. Services and features include a Paintball news bureau, Reward Fund, and general business information about the sport.
http://www.paintballrefs.com/ - Paintball Referee Organization
The Paintball Referee Organization is puting together referees that are unafiliated with the teams that play withing the league and training them to be Profesional Referees
http://www.spplat.com/ - Society of Paintball Players and Teams
Offering value to members while growing the game!

     Team Sites

http://www.geocities.com/acidrain62_43326 - 1st Kenton Commandos
Information, teams, markers, photos, graphics
http://www.angelfire.com/amiga/aceshigh - Aces High
http://www.agencypaintball.com/ - The Agency
"You can run, but you'll only die tired! - Agents
http://www.backyard-paintball.de.vu/ - Backyard Paintball Germany
This is an amateur website from a German paintball team. It's still under construction but everything's up to date!
http://www.bugsandfish.com/ - Bugs and Fish Team Page
New team based out of St. Louis
http://www.bunkerbabes.net/ - Bunker Babes
All Girl paintball Team from Northern, California
http://www.geocities.com/aight_77/bmpaintball.html - Bunker Monkey's Paintball
Based out of Fredericton, NB, Canada. We compete in three man events in Atlantic Canada. We always place minimum in the top ten.
http://www.go.to/CIApaintball - Childhood Issues Anonymous,Tournament Paintball Team
An overview of this New Orleans based tournament team, their views, equipment, sponsors, history, schedule, and links.
http://www.theedgepaintball.cjb.net/ - The Edge
A rec/am team from Jacksonville, Florida
http://www.geocities.com/wildcards_hq/ - 58th Pioneer Battalion: The Wildcards
A Scenario/Big-Game team from Louisville, Kentucky. Founded in the Summer of 2001. Our website is constantly growing and changing
http://www.bates.edu/~tblake/FlyingMonkiesWebPage.html - Flying Monkies Paintball
Paintball team in central Maine with member information, marker pictures, team info, field pictures, and some great links. We play competition and recreational paintball here in central Maine.
http://www.geocities.com/genocide_bros/genocide.html - Genocide Bros
A locally challenged Kentucky paintball team that is sponsored by South Park Paintball ands home field is Asylum Paintball.
http://www.gdstpaintball.20m.com/ - G.D.S.T
G.D.S.T is an Ameuter A Division Paintball Team with a very high respect for fair play, honor, and friendly competion. We invite all teams to a friendly team skirmish.
http://www.hiredgunz.net/ - Hired Gunz Paintball Network
Scenario team based in Southern Louisiana. Scenario Game Company also.
http://www.geocities.com/johnnyknowskarate - Johnny Knows Karate
The official Johhny Knows Karate team website!
http://www.kryptonitepaintball.com/ - Kryptonite Paintball Team
Local paintball team from the Lake Cumberland Ky. area.
http://www.legionofdoom.us/ - Legion of Doom
A scenario paintball team that spans from South Louisiana to Texas
http://www.nydogs.homestead.com/home.html - New York Dogs
Competition team playing top amateur events across North America
http://www.gladiators.8m.com/ - Paintball Gladiators
Official website of the Gladiators, stars of the award-winning public access T.V. program "Paintball Gladiators".
http://paintballjunki.cjb.net/ - Paintball Junki
This site is for the players, and fans of Charleston, South Carolina area Paintball
http://www.geocities.com/scoper_pod - P.O.D.S. Paintball Team
Young paintballers dedicated to having a good time.
http://www.geocities.com/predpball/ - Predator Paintball Team
A Christian Rec team in Meigs Co. Ohio.
http://www.angelfire.com/ny4/teamregulators - Regulators Paintball
Team Regulators "Hudson Valley Scenario Paintball at its Finest"
http://www.angelfire.com/ny4/DrKAnGeL42 - Roc City Silent Assault
A rookie team out of Rochester, N.Y. Includes pics, bios, equipment lists, links and a quotes page. Constantly updating
http://hometown.aol.com/bookerjf/index.html - Rogue 5 Paintball Team
Rec-Ball / Mil-Sim Team based in NYC, NY
http://entrigme0.tripod.com/section8main/ - Section 8 Paintball
Section 8 paintball tournament and scenario team out of Jacksonville Florida
http://www.geocities.com/southernsoldierz - Southern Soldierz Speedball Team
3-5 man team from South Louisiana. Site includes pictures, videos, and links.
http://sunyjim.tripod.com/SunyJims_Paintball_Club/id7.html - SunyJim's Paintball Club
We are a local group of Paintball players from London, Ontario. If you have your own equipment it's FREE TO PLAY the first two weekends. Membership is just $25 a year.
http://teamarchangel.50megs.com/ - Team Arch Angel
A Novice level Christian team from Ft.Rucker,AL
http://www.geocities.com/twiste2/ - Team Diablos Devils
A great up and coming team in the Kansas City area!
http://thenezbit.tripod.com/mysite - Team Evolution
This is Team Evolution's site. As mentioned in an APG. We are a devoted team in mid-Georgia
http://www.geocities.com/highroller6253/index.html - Team Highrollers
about our team in Maryland that includes bios, pics, shirts, and tips.
http://www.angelfire.com/il3/Impact - Team Imapct
Team Impact site with infosheets, articles, pictures, and links
http://members.fortunecity.com/def1ones2001/teamkrazyballz/ - Team Krazy Ballz
Team wanting recognition and stuff to say
http://madjakkal.tripod.com/madjackal/ - Team Mad Jackal
Based in Iowa, we play in a lot of tournaments and recreation games. We are slowly getting bigger and unstoppable.
http://www.geocities.com/teammalice - Team Malice/Adventure Spot
Team Malice's website, located out of Muskogee, OK
http://www.freewebs.com/teammisplaced - Team Misplaced
A competition paintball team located in Eastern Iowa. Check our site out and contact us if you want to scrimmage or tell us about a tournament.
http://www.geocities.com/T_nobility - Team Nobility
A new squad in Indiana.
http://www.angelfire.com/ny4/teamregulators - Team Regulators
A Scenario/Competition paintball team based out of Kingston, NY
http://schizo.4t.com/ - Team Schizo
The fat man friendly team! Members and game pictures, telling about history and awards!
http://home.kc.rr.com/shadowmen - Team Shadow Men
Team pics, sponsors, awards, chat room and more!
http://solidwaste.coms.ph/ - Team Solid Waste
3-man Rookie Team in Las Vegas, Nevada. We have team photos, info, and more to come.
http://teamsplatpaintball.tripod.com/ - Team Splat Paintball and League
Amateur team looking for individuals and 5 man teams to play league and or recreation near Allentown to Jim Thorpe area.
http://teamsteelballz.homestead.com/webpage.html - Team Steel Ballz
Describes our team and has our favorite links and sites
http://www.geocities.com/paintballkc - Team Voodoo
This is the internet home of Team Voodoo, a competition paintball team from Kansas City, MO.
http://jump.to/teamwiseguys - Team Wiseguys
Team Wiseguys are the 2000 Indiana State Novice Champions, Come see why!!
http://www.totalgreif.com/ - totalgreif.com
This is the internet home of Total Greif Paintball Team. We are Action Pursuit Games Magazine's "test team."
http://www.angelfire.com/ri2/warhounds - War Hounds
My friend and I put this site together because we are really into paintball and we wanted to show our other friends how serious we are about it.
http://www.geocities.com/wolvespaint/WelcomePaintballFans.html - WelcomePaintballFans
Paintball team in southern PA
http://www.angelfire.com/mi2/xsquadron - The X Squadron Home Page
Home page for SE Michigan paintball team, including tactics, Michigan info, and so much more!

some additional links...

http://www.paintballgear.com - www.paintballgear.com

http://www.countypaintball.com - www.countypaintball.com

http://www.armotech.com - www.armotech.com

United States Marine Corps

Semper Fi!

What am I doing here? I don't even play paintball anymore!

Some of this post may have been more applicable to the old forum, but I'm too lazy to edit it out. :-)

Guys, I have a problem. Or, rather, we have a problem. I've seen cock fights that were more tame that these forums. Now, before you hit that beloved "back" button, or stick the goose on me (whale), hear me out on this. You see, everyone has been addressing the issue of this forum going in the pooper as a whole, yet they never try to resolve it. And, in order to resolve an issue, you need to break it down. This is what I'm attempting to do. I do not intent for this thread to get locked anytime soon so please keep the replies tame and use the PM system if you feel the need to drive home that fact that "U R A TOOL!"

flaming- I put this as the first point as it seems to be the most common. I've seen everybody from mods to guests do it. Ever heard of "constructive criticism?" Just because someone disagrees with you or points out a flaw in your theory (as I'm sure I will see), take it as a good thing. It is not an attack on you personally. Most flaming originates when people take it as such. Remember when you first came here? Remember your first flame? I got mine courtesy of Enos_Shenk on my first post, first reply, in T&O. I know everyone remembers because it is a form of wakeup call. It lets you know the high horse has gotten sick and it's time to get off. Now put yourself in a new forumer's shoes. They post thinking they made a good point, then here comes Johnny-hates-you and decides that he needs to treat them as someone who just graduated with a major in paintball physics and theories. Flaming not only starts fights, but it makes you look bad as a person. It makes you look like the bully on the playground, and it opens up a challenge to anyone willing to vie for your position. Flaming leads to more flaming, leads to more flaming, leads to meltdown. It's like when you hit someone in the shoulder, then they hit you back a little harder, then you throw an elbow, then it escalates into one big mess that results in guesting-which starts even more arguments which starts more flaming which spawns further guesting... it's a cycle. Let's stop it.

language- despite popular belief, this is a family forum. We make fun of people being 10 or 12 yet that is a large percent of the forum population. People are complaining about the language speed ballers use, and yet we use it too? Cursing makes you sound stupid. I cannot believe that a 4-letter word is the most explanatory one you know. You think you are driving you point home by emphasizing a sentence or two with choice words yet your point would be taken much more serious if you actually use normal English. (see Webster's Dictionary for the correct definition of *ing) Not only do you avoid the flaming for it (see above) but you look incredibly more "uber" by using phrases such as SebastianBlack's "fewer fingers than are necessary for a peace sign."

save the forum- This forum is free. I repeat, free. There is nothing forcing the mods to moderate the tippmann forum and tippmann doesn't need it. It's not like they have the ideas forum so they can see their "untapped resources." This is a free service, meaning it can be shut down at any time. I'm afraid that, with the way it's going, it may be. If you want to have a tippmann forum, keep it to a respectable level of sanity. I cannot emphasize that enough. This is our forum to keep running and this is our forum to lose.  

general behavior- If you have to think for longer than 5 seconds on the appropriateness of something, it probably isn't something you should be saying. In regards to arguments- they are fun. A good debate is always something fun to participate, just make sure it isn't a debate on the "gayness" or someone. It's OK to agree and disagree, that's what makes the world go 'round. Also, please help out. There is nothing shameful about raiding the new player forum. I plan on starting one soon and I'll lead a group if anyone wants to join. Help out. That's what started this forum and that is what can save it. We want people with questions and we want to answer them in a respectful manner. If you want to go up a rank, help out. It was no coincidence that about a week after I raided the new player forum I got a gold star. There are benefits for helping out. Please do so. This forum is what brought me into, and helped me through, the game of paintball. Let's share our knowledge and help those that are in the same position that we were in in the not-so-distant past.

In short- keep it sane. If you want this forum to improve, do it yourself. It is hypocritical to complain about this forum "going downhill" and not doing anything yourself. So please, help solve my problem. Help solve your problem. Let's make this thing right again. Let's bring it back to the glory days!  *runs off holding hand in the air, cheering, in triumph*

This right here is courtesy of Evil Elvis and i belive it belongs here

Security Patrols

   These can be used in large games, Scenarios or the timeless "Seize the Flag" Games.  Security patrols are made my favorite kind of defense: a strong offence.

   Security patrols should be stealthy as possible.  Unlike Combat Patrols you do not know were you will find your opponent.  Stealth also will protect your headquarters or flag station since you tromping around the woods will attack all kinds of unwanted attentions.  You should designate a route, which will give you quick access to your base in case you need to boogie back. A route with plenty of Cover & concealment is a must.  Here are some key elements.

• Stop every few meters and get down and listen. DO NOT CAMP.  But stop every so often so that you can get acquainted with the natural sounds and can pick up your opponent.
• Stay Alert your vulnerable while you are still.  Keep a sharp look out for things that do not look right (sixteen guys with A-5's, a bush that moved, fresh tracks...)
• Keep your marker ready to fire.
• Engage the enemy by using the following tactics: Run & Gun and Ambushes.

Team Movement

Got your squad and Team all pumped up and ready to roll?  Here are a few tips on movement.  To do so I will go over some Patrols.

• Combat Patrol AKA Movement to contact.  When you employ this movement technique you should have a definite objective for example Red Hill were the "Bush babies" team likes to camp out at.  You then determine the fastest, most efficient way to get your team there. Along the way establish a Rally Point were your team will meet after the attack or if your patrol comes against a larger more prepared force to retreat to and regroup.

In this kind of patrol there are as with every patrol 3 very important elements;

• Command- The leader must be able to control formation and control the pace of the fight.  You Should NEVER let you opponent dictate the tempo of the fight.
• Assault Force- These is your shooters these should be concern with their mission, in this case to eliminate all the opposition.
• Security- this can be done by having 4 of your team members assigned this detail.  One should walk point ahead (at least ten to twenty yards depending on terrain.  He should always be watching but as far as you can maintain visual contact with him) of the rest of the formation and the other two should be to either flank the last is tail end Charlie his job is to designate fall back positions and guard against a rear attack.

The Pointman should be the first with "Eyes on Objective" he would then signal a halt.  At this time the patrol should face outboard (away from the middle) and get down on a knee.  Find Good cover.  The Patrol Leader should come up and have a look at the objective.  The Patrol Commander should exploit any weaknesses in their defenses.  Then the Patrol leader would go back and get the assault force and by using the Run & Gun Method or a counter ambush (using the Rabbit trick to lure them into an ambush) eliminate the opposing force.

Run & Gun

  The most effective way to use a team in Paintball to me is to use Hit & Run tactics.  This will allow you to set the pace of any battle.  I will go into how you can develop your teams Hit & Run tactics

• Develop Drills: By this I mean, get your team or yourself work on your movement to an Objective (place of Battle, Or a Key Location). Then start a fast paced fire fight. After thirty seconds have some of the team members find a good cover position behind your lines.  AT this time you must pic up the Slack from the other members now retrograding to the cover position.  When you either hear them picking up the cover position or you hear the radio command that their in place.  Rush back to a Position behind them.  Make sure you do not run into their lines of fire and if your shooting and see your team members stray into your lane of fire CHECK YOUR FIRE. Now step up on a cover position and have them fall back AT this time they should gather and decide either to continue the retrograde if their still being perused by fire or if their not being perused to break bush to a predetermined Rally Point. (Rally points are easy to find places were your team can meet up if you become separated)
• Develop Codes & Signals: This way your opponents will not be able to know your intentions.  Developing individual team codes & signals is paramount.  Practice these.
• Stay aggressive:  After you break contact one rush to attack that same team from another angle Hit Hard and Fast then retrograde.  But remember before returning to attack set up a quick security circle while your members Reload, Air up and Hydrate (Hydration is a necessary part of the game.  Don’t be foolish Coke & Mt dew will not hydrate you.  A critical piece of equipment are Canteens or Carmel back water Bladders). After everybody is good to go then get out on your attack.
• Repeat until your enemy has been slowly dismantled by your Hit & Run tactics.

Originally posted this on the Old Forum.  I am reposting it so that newer members can pick up a few pointers.  WE have to remember these will be our future team mates and competition.  The level of help we give them will determine the level of competition on the sport of paintball in years to come. I invite others to post HELFUL post so that newer players can benefit from this.

   The first thing a new player or a novice player must do is Master his marker.  You should know your gun better than anybody.  You should know disassembly, cleaning & oiling, cleaning out ball breakages, reloading and the most important your weapons safety features.  To many newcomers are more worried about Paintjobs and the latest "Upgrade" that they start to dump all their money into their guns which cuts into their playing money.  Then you have a Clone of the most popular trend gun and no money to play with.  Work with your gun use it stock until you get to know how it handles during different situations such as rapid exchange of paint or those slow well aimed shots.  Get to see about how many shoots you are getting from your tank and how easy is for you to reload.

    In between your field trigger time practice what we Marines call IA Drills. Immediate Action Drills are drills you practice over and over. Some of these should include how to clear a breakage of balls in your chamber or barrel. Others should be reloading drills. In these drills the first step should be SEEK COVER after that you can go about what you need to do. Reloading, Clearing out a Jam should not take more than 10 seconds. Here it sounds a short time but when under fire, it's an eternity. These drills will make you a better player. IA drills can be done anywhere from a field area, to your room, remember practice makes perfect.

    Work on getting your marksmanship up. Set up static firing ranges. Static means you stand and shoot at a target at different ranges. See how your shot groups are at different ranges. After that you might work on a movement fire range. Do this over and over until you are confident on your shooting.  Sandman has some excellent ranges on his page.

   On this one I will go over how to minimize your Target Profile. Your Target profile is how much of a target of a target you make your self to your enemies. Let's start by this when you are engaging people you should always seek cover. Here is where many go wrong, Cover and Concealment are two different things. Cover is an object which will provide you with protection from enemy fire. Such as a Tree, a Ditch, Wall or a bunker. All the above will stop paintballs from nailing you. Which is why Cover is so important. Concealment is something which will hide you from enemies, Bush, Shadows, Branches, ect ect. Concealment doesn’t have to be cover and most of the time it's not. Concealment is just a way to hide from your enemies but it doesn’t necessarily protect you from enemy fire. So make sure you understand this. I will go further into this when i go into camo later on.

   The nest thing in minimizing your Target Profile is your shooting posture. Yes the smaller a target you make yourself the better off you are. About a month ago I played against this played who had been playing about 6-7 months of woodsball. He was quite a marksman and knew his marker. We were battling in medium woods. he kept placing about 10-12 balls at the tree I was in while i would return fire with my double taps. We went like this for about 2 minutes each moving toward a better cover & shooting position. We must have beet about ten yards away when I stopped re-acting to what he did and really looked at him and I spotted his flaw and raised my Tippmann as he gave the tree a new paintjob. I exhaled and on the natural breathing pause i squeezed off another set of double taps ... he was out seconds later. He held his hands up and said " Out.. great shoot" now you say did I "snipe" him ... no .. did i had a extremely lucky shoot .. no. I spotted his flaw he fired his Tippmann Right handed so his right elbow was sticking out horizontally. It was a nice target and from ten yards an easy target. I shoot with my elbows tucked in. I also shoot in the kneeling position making me a smaller target. Now after years in the grunts I recommend kneepads.  Whatever bit of ease I can bring to my knees it's worth the money.

You should only shoot from the standing in paintball if you can't see your target in the kneeling. The kneeling should be your standard firing position since it's more stable than the standing. Shooting from the standing causes you to muscle the weapon into your target. Which will make your natural point of aim off. In the kneeling your arms are better-supported ad makes a heck of lot harder to shoot than a standing man. Then prone position (laying down flat on the ground) I use if my first couple of double taps didn't hit my target and I am on a open area (how ever unlikely). The disadvantage of the prone is that it's harder to get up and break contact once your position has been compromised. That why I prefer the kneeling after you eliminate your opponent you can then regroup and get the heck outta dodge (of course in a tactical manner don't break bush unless you are ambushed by a overwhelming force)

My next post will speak about Fire & Movement. The game of paintball is a combat simulation, we must admit this the point of the game is to eliminate your opponent with a paint filled projectile.  We can all agree on that.  The key to doing this is Fire & Movement.

   Old Soldier preaches about the stale paint trade fad which seems to be spreading across the nation.  Paintball Markers with high ROF's had moved the less experienced crowd to find cover and shoot at anything that moves or resembles a human being. Oldsoldier is right the only way you win games is by taking ground and eliminating your opponent.  Sitting there hoping for that lucky shot out your 8+1 paintball load is not going to get you anywhere.

   In order to win you must make an opportunity, which means you have to take that first aggressive movement.  Now let's not confuse aggressiveness with stupidity.  Move only when you have cover fire (that means that your team mates will shoot at your opponents position to get their heads down or their attention on them) and have already selected a destination with good solid cover.  You must not hesitate, you must reach in you and get there as fast as you can. This will minimize your exposure to enemy fire & save your teammates on how much paint they spend.  Take a quick second to orient yourself, know were your teammates are and more important were your opponent are.  Now you have closed the distance between you and your enemy will greatly increase the chance of you hitting your target.  Now you start to engage and cover for your Teammates who count on you to cover for them as they move up.  This is what we call in the Marine's Fire Team Rushes. This takes practice it will not come overnight but it will pay off.

    Let's review that in a simple terms; when are in a battle look ahead of you for better firing positions on your enemy.  Look for better cover to protect yourself. Look for height over your enemies it's harder to shoot a target uphill than it is to shoot downhill.  Look for an angle on your opponent Most Bunkers only provide front protection.  Try to get around them for the easy elimination.  Pick a new position before you stand and rush, believe ten seconds is an eternity when paint is flying all around you.  Keep the Momentum, do not allow the enemy to bog you down can't move forward this way ....? Well Break Contact ( Stop the battle by fighting by Rushing away from your enemy keep the discipline of cover fire and rushes to new cover set up to cover buddy)  Do not allow your opponent to dictate the Tempo of the Game.  you must be in control of when and who you engage. Once you have some distance decide were to set up a hasty ambush or maneuver around their sides and hit them again or a always effective Hit & Run or as we call it in my unit "Run & Gun".  As with all my post these things must be Practiced over and over to get the team chemistry working...

Cover & Concealment

Forbearing

  Cover & Concealment are two different things that will greatly improve your game.

   Cover is anything that will stop a paintball.  It doesn’t have to hide you but it will definitely protect you from paintballs.  Fallen Logs, Bunkers, Thick Trees and even dirt.  Cover is your best friend...it will keep you safe as long as you us it wisely.  If you just camp there your cover will become the noose you hang yourself with.  Cover should be used to protect you while you fire and pick your next location.

    Concealment  concealment is something which will hide you from your enemies but not necessary stop paintballs.  Bushes, Tall Grass, Shrubs ect are examples of Concealment.  Concealment is best used for ambushes and Observing your enemy.  Make sure that when using Concealment you pick a few "Fall back" positions incase your discovered and the paint start flying.

    Ok in an ideal world the best position would be a mix of Cover & Concealment.  That way you can be both unseen & protected.  Now the minute you stop moving in a paintball game and wait for someone to walk up so you can ambush them and don't move ... then read my Fire & Movement post to see what you'll be facing. 

   My advise to you is "Adapt Overcome & Improvise"

Ambushes and Counter Ambush Reactions

A part of woods play revolve around the ever effective Ambush.  The purpose of an Ambush to inflict the maximum level of eliminations to the enemy team in the fastest possible time.  The success of an Ambush revolve around the following factors;

• Surprise-  This is the primary factor in an ambush with out it there's no ambush.
• Concentration of Fire- focus your ambush element's fire power on the other edges of the group your ambushing.  then work your way toward the middle that way you eliminate the possibility of the far edge people maneuvering and flanking you.
• Control and Discipline- Ambushes are boring, and a dangerous position to place your team in.  Even with security elements you a very vulnerable and non mobile target. all fire must start when the Ambush leader fires and will seize when he calls it.  Discipline will keep you quiet and concentrated on your surroundings.
• Location- Since paintball ambushes should not last more than ten minutes you must place the ambush were your enemies are bound to cross and were the terrain gives yoiu Cover and a Covered escape route.
• Security-   plop down with out setting up rear and flank security and you will find youir position overun and you walking to the dead zone.

Ok how do you react to an ambush?  theres two ways to do this.

• When in doubt.... Attack-  If your so close to your oponents that you can tell who manufactures his goggle system then you in what's known as a Close Ambush.  At time the Murphy Meter has hit critical and it's time to be Agressive & Decisive.  You have to attack moving from cover to cover untill you either eliminate your oponent or he takes you out.  When in a close ambush it's Do or Die.  Better to take a few of them to the dead zone with you.
• Flank or Break Contact- If their so far away that they miss and splatter is flying arround the trees.  Then I suggest you fond some of that Cover we talked about earlier.  Once there you must make a decition you can Break Contact or Flank them.  Both start the same way while soem lay down cover fire you seek an good fall back position.  Once there you have to decide to moev to an alternate position or to manuver toward the ambush team's side.

Once again Terrain and Number of remaining team members will dictate what other course to take

Now for whats mine. Upgrading and Customizing.

This may have been kinda posted before here but I'll give me take on it.

When it comes to upgrading and customizing the longer i keep playing the more I notice a trend. Players just starting out want to buy a list of upgrades so long they could put santa to shame. When i started out i was this way too. I heard this and that about all these upgrades and bought my first gun with a Response Trigger. Though by no means is the r/t a bad upgrade but after a month of two of playing I learned that the r/t wasnt what I needed. I developed a much more paint conservative game. The r/t was basically useless to me and I had wasted $100.

So on to my advice. To most new players i would say buy your first gun stock and leave it that way for at least 3 months or more. Thats a time when a new player starts developing their style of play. You will spend your first couple of months watching others, taking advice and orders and making mistakes. During then you will start leaning toward a certain style of play. Thats why you should wait to upgrade.  If you upgrade before you get to know your gun and your style of play you will end up with alot of $50-$100 dollar do dads that you have no use for. The only thing you should spend a signifacant amount of money on after your gun (assuming you have played once or twice with a rental to make sure paintball is really for you) is your mask, no see= no fun

While playing you might decide you play best when taking a lower profile. flanking the enemy being sneaky. So what good would a $100  r/t and loader that feeds 50bps do you then? just ur money wasted.

Or you might be more of a  head on kinda guy were a high rof and loader would be exactly what you need.

and even a new barrel shouldnt be bought immediatly. Because when it comes to barrels there is the flatline, and there is everything else. I also came extremely close to buying a flatline. I was at the point of ordering when a friend pointed out to me that my style of play didnt need a flatline.

So just remember, buy stock, Develop your style, upgrade to compliment

Hey What about the Good Old Search Button? http://www.tippmann.com/players/forum/wwf77a/forum_images/search.gif - http://www.tippmann.com/players/forum/wwf77a/forum_images/se arch.gif

Here are a bunch of things that are usful in woodsball. I am creating a running list. If you have somthing to add that is relevent to this post PM it to me! I am open to your suggestions.

1. Stealth- Is the to any woodsball game. Without stealth you are nothing but a target.

-Move slowly. dont make yourself readily visible. crouch walking or crawling maybe nessary wear you gear accordingly.

-Remember stealth is an art. Practice your movements at home to get better.

-If you see a enemy STOP, get down, then think of you next move. 

2.Movement- Make choice keep moving or stand still. Remember that the human eye tracks in on movement. When you move know where your going and your route to get there.

-Avoid heavily traveled trails, they are where ambushes are made. When abushing stay still, when you move, move fast. If you move and stop that makes you a target. A moving target is harder to hit then a non-moving one. 

-If you are trying to be stealthy look on the ground in front of you PLAN EACH STEP dont step on twigs dry leaves or anything esle that will make unnessesary noise.

3. Ambushes-

-When laying an ambush lay it across well traveled trails and in choke points.

-Place your forces on only one side of the trail, by placing forces on both sides of a trail you run the risk of shooting your own man. Also besure to protact you flanks.

-When ambushing if possible wait for the first target or lead man to get to the last postition ambusher that way usually you will engage the whole group from point to rear gaurd in the kill zone.

-To avoid an ambush think like the enemy. Avoid choke points and well traveled trails look for anything suspisious(spl). 

4. Flanking

-Cover your flanks well. Any smart enemy will flank. Use the point and rear guard system.

- When flanking use stealth. Dont fire until your sure you will hit the target.      

5. Communication. Comms is the key to wining any battle. The team with the best comms will win. Use call signs and location names so the enemy will not know what you are doing if you are using an unencryped radio.

*EDIT* I moved most of the comms stuff to the "teams/Experianced Players" area.

come up with yuor own stuff and use em i find that it works well 

6. Camoflage-wear camo that suits the invroment(spl)

-If there is grass everywhere dont wear realtree, or leaf style camo, wear woodland. If there are lots of leaves wear a camo like advantage or mosssy oak.

-Ghillie suits. Many people ask me what is my optinion of ghillie suits. well here it is. Ghillie suits where designed by the scottish for thier game wardens to hide and stop poachers wtih. They where adopted in the early 1980's my the USMC, well there is you history.

- When buying a ghillie suit remeber two things
1. There are two types of ghillie suits(A) military style. and(B) Civilain style.

The difference is (A) military style is for crawling only. It overlaps your boots, so if you try to run wtih it you will fall.(b) civilian style is for standing only. the ghillie suit itself does not go down much farther than your knees.

-Ghillie suits were made for the military, made for use by people who had had extensive trainging in thier use. I dont suggest anyone to buy a ghillie suit unless they have been properly trained, other wise you will screw it up.

-Arrange your gear so it will be comfortable in any position, crawling included, dont put anything  in hte front of your gearbecause if you have to drop quickly, you will braek anything that is in the front of you. 

Remember all plans fall apart in the heat of battle. Good Luck  

(Disclaimer: I am not responsibly for you stupidity! By doing anything in this post you do so at your own risk. By doing anything in this post you have agrred automaticlly to the Snake6 terms and agreements.)

(Terms and Agreements.(A.) Snake6 is the woodsball king.(B.) you will pay money to Snake6 every time you use one if his ideas.(C.) Above all Have Fun!)

-------Stuff for more experianced Players/Teams.---------

-Call signs. Every man (or team) should have its own call sign. mine is SNAKE6. The word snake is just my name on the radio, the 6 stands that i am in a leadership postion

here are some others

5-Means Executive Officer, this guy is second in command. EX: Bravo5

4-Squad leader. Leads a single squad. EX: Bravo4

3-This man is just a normal member of the squad nothing special about him.Ex: Bravo3

2-Designates a heavy weapons person. Machine gun, gernade luancher, ETC. EX: Bravo2

1-Point man the lead man in a specfic group.(some times call on the radio as point.)  

As for squad names I use the callsign of the leader to designate his squad EX: "Snake squad move to location delta, over."

-Radio Prowords- These are the words that explain you situation on the radio, the bueatiful thing about these is if the enemy does not know your proword they will not understand you.

-if you have an encrypted radio then you woulnt have to worry about interception.

Common prowords and explanations are shown below.

Proword Explanation
AFFIRMATIVE You are correct, OR, what you have transmitted is correct. Yes.
BREAK I hereby indicate the separation of the text from all other portions of this message.
CORRECT You are correct. That is correct.
CORRECTION An error has been made in this transmission. Transmission will continue with the last word correctly transmitted.
DISREGARD THIS TRANSMISSION, OUT This transmission is in error. Disregard it. (This proword will not be used to cancel a message that has been transmitted and receipted for by the receiving station.)
DO NOT TRANSMIT, OUT Stations called will not answer this call, receipt for this message, or otherwise transmit regarding this transmission. (When this proword is used, the transmission will always end with the proword “OUT”.)
FLASH This message has a precedence of FLASH.
FROM The originator of the message immediately follows.
IMMEDIATE This message has a precedence of IMMEDIATE.
INFO The addressees immediately following are addressed for information only. No action is required of them.
I READ BACK The following is in response to your request to read back.
I SAY AGAIN I am repeating the transmission, or the portion you need repeated.
I SPELL I will spell the next word phonetically.
I VERIFY That which follows has been verified per your request (to be used only as a reply to a VERIFY request).
LOCATION These are places on the field that your team leader designates as important places. by using these names instead of saying the actual naem of the place you reduce the risk of the enemy hearing then understanding your transmission. Location names are designated from Alpha to Zulu using the phonentic alphabet.        &am p;am p;am p;nb sp;         &am p;am p;am p;nb sp;         &am p;am p;am p;nb sp;         &am p;am p;am p;nb sp;         &am p;am p;am p;nb sp;         &am p;am p;am p;nb sp;         &am p;am p;am p;nb sp;   MESSAGE FOLLOWS A message that requires recording follows.
MORE TO FOLLOW I have more messages, traffic, or information for you.
NEGATIVE Not received. No.
NOTHING HEARD To be used when no reply is received from a call.
OUT This is the end of my transmission to you and no answer or reply is required or expected.
OVER This is the end of my transmission to you and an answer is required or expected.
PRIORITY This message has a precedence of PRIORITY.
READ BACK Repeat this transmission back to me exactly as received.
RELAY (TO) Transmit this message to all addressees immediately following this proword.
RELAY THROUGH Relay your message through _____.
ROGER I have received and understand you last message. (Does NOT mean yes or permission granted.)
SAY AGAIN Repeat the portions of your last transmission I am indicating.
SPEAK SLOWER Your transmission is too fast. Reduce speed.
THIS IS This transmission is from the station whose call sign immediately follows.
TIME The figures that follow are the Date/Time Group (DTG) of this message.
TO The addressee(s) who are to take action, and to whom this message is to be delivered are as follows.
UNKNOWN STATION The identity of the station I am trying to contact is unknown (used in place of that station’s call sign).
VERIFY Verify entire message (or portion indicated) with the originator and send the verified version (used by receiving station).
WAIT I must pause for a few seconds. Standby. Do not transmit. Wait for me to continue with my transmission (the proword OUT is not used).
WAIT OUT I must pause for more than a few seconds. This contact is terminated until I call you again. The net can continue.
WILCO I have received, and understood, and will comply. (Note: Since the meaning of the proword ROGER is included, the two prowords are not used together.)
WORD AFTER The word to which I have reference is that which follows ______.
WORD BEFORE The word to which I have reference is that which precedes ______.
WORDS TWICE Communication is difficult. Transmit each word or phrase twice (may be used as a request or a statement of intent).
WRONG Your last transmission was incorrect. The correct version is ______.

-Some of these will not be used yery often but are good to know. These prowords are use most often within teams.

- If the other team doesnt know your prowords then you haqve 100% secure comunications.

-Using prowords.

To call another team/person. Say the team/persons name twice them say "this is" and your name then say "over."(every transmission should end with over.) The team/person should respond with "go ahead" your name and ten "over."

To say your information. After the other person/team is call as explained in the above paragraph, use the correct prowords to say what you need to tell them. Then end the transmission with "over."

Ending communications. after you have made your last transmission to the ther person/team say "thsi is" your name,then "out." 

-Using locations. Locations are named from Alpha to Zulu using the ponetic alphabet. Your team leader desides on location names before the game begins and all the team members write them down or memerize them. 

EX:"Snake6 move to location Charlie, over" unless the enemy knows your code words then you dont have to worry about them knowing what your doing. Its that simple.

For Comms i use an uniden GMRS radio with a lapel mic and earbud headphone.

come up with yuor own stuff and use em i find that it works well.

 Hand signals. Hand signals are useful when you are using a squad formation or when the members of you team are close by.

Examples of a few basic signals are :

[Point to yourself]
        I will move /shoot / etc.
[Point to your eyes,(usually index and middle in a 'v')]
        I see
[Point to your ears]
        I hear
[Point to one of your players]
        You will move/shoot etc.
[Thumb Up]
        OK/I understand/Ready/Reloaded etc.
[Thumb Down]
        Down/Bad/Negative
[Hold up a closed fist]
        Stop dead in your tracks and don't move.
[Flat opened hand, palm down, and arm extended at a 45 degree angle above your head, then lowered to the ground]
        Get down, don't move.
[Pat top Of Your Head]
        Head count.
[Raise fist to shoulder, thrust fist up/down above shoulder several times]
        Rush, Increase Speed, Double Time
[Point In Direction]
        Move/shoot/enemy etc. in that direction.
[Make a 'gun' with index finger and thumb]
        Can then be used for shoot in that direction.
[Draw finger across throat]
        Enemy /opposition / the bad guys / danger area.
[Point to person(s), beckon by holding arm horizontally to the front, palm up, and motion toward body]
        Join me, Follow me, Come to me.
[ Extend arm vertically overhead and wave arm and hand to front, left, right, and rear with palm toward direction of each movement]
        Disperse
[Raise fist to ear with thumb and little finger extended]

• I have a problem
• I need help with this
• I have this great idea
• What do you think about this?
• What happened?
• Can you help me?

• Type of marker (i.e. A-5)
• The Problem (i.e. gas leak, double firing, breaking paint, ...)

• Type of product (i.e. marker, barrel, trigger, hopper, air source, vendor, ...)
• What marker you are using (if appropriate - i.e. if you aren't looking for a marker)
• If looking for multiple upgrades, at least include the marker & what you want it for (tournament {and position}, wood ball, scenario, ...)

• The idea or the issue obviously

• The name of the event
• The date of the event
• The location

• Your name (or its name if you named it - LOL)
• Type of marker (i.e. A-5)

HOW TO PULL OFF THE PERFECT TAPE BUNKERING MOVE

1) shoot a lot of paint down the tape b/c most likely some back player will be covering him.

2)Run for his/her bunker give him/her a couple of love taps and stay in their bunker.

It is simple if you have the guts to make the move

This gos against many of your posts, but this is true for real gun fights, and it is a proven way to lessen the chance of getting hit.

R-U-N, do not camp, camping only increases the chaces of one thing: getting hit!. While you are running the chance of getting hit is 4/100, not too likely, huh??? (Remember that those statistics are for REAL guns, so with paintball guns the odds are even better. )

Hope that helps!

~DAN~

*Erased Information*

Sorry.

But I will Leave Safety Statistics.

Please only go to this site is you have ISDN,Cable,DSL,T1-0C Connections or higher due to packet loss.

I recommend sateillite viewers do not go to the link.

---------------------------------------------------

This site will teach you new comers everything you need to know aobut paintball.

http://www.webdogradio.us/ - www.webdogradio.us

PS: MODS YOU MAY UNSTICKY THIS IF YOU WANT TOO!

If anyone else has anymore useful information not found in the uber thread and such . Please post it here

Some other Video sites.

http://www.pbvids.com - www.pbvids.com

www.smacktalkpaintball.com - www.smacktalkpaintball.com

www.forceofnature.com - www.forceofnature.com

Written by Large Unit All Credit Goes to his post only. None of this has been edited by me in anyway shape or form!

*Newer Version he asked me to post.*

!!!!!!Choosing a barrel!!!!!!

We are all sick of this question being asked, hopefully with this guide those of you looking for a new barrel won't have to ask the dreaded question.

:::Good Barrels:::

Their are single barrels and Barrel Kits, the barrel kits have different bore sizes and will match to your paint giving you better accuracy, but at a higher price. If you cant choose still just use choose a random one because all the listed are great.

-Barrel Kits-
Evil Pipe
Custom Products 2-piece
Lapco Snapshot
Smart Parts freak
Powerlyte Scepter
Empire 2-piece
St!ff!

-Single Barrels-
Lapco Barrels
Dye barrels
Evil Driver
Smart Parts barrels
J&J Ceramic
Custom Products 1-piece

-The Flatline-
The Tippmann flatline is so unique it deserves its own explanation. The barrel is curved which creates a backspin giving you an advertised 100 feet extra range and a flat trajectory (no other barrel does this!!!) If your into long balling in the woods this is for you.

:::Barrel accuracy factors:::

-Barrel quality-
You want  a barrel that is very smooth on the inside and micro honed so their are no bumps on the inside.

-Paint quality-
Helps just as much as a new barrel, you want perfectly round paint without any dimples.

-Paint to barrel match-
Paint to barrel match means a lot for both accuracy and air efficiency. You want paint that wont roll down your barrel if you drop it in, but that will come out with a blow of your breath.

:::Myths:::

Longer barrels: Despite what you hear from some people, longer barrels do nothing but hurt, 8"-16" are the best lengths and all perform the same.

Rifled barrels: Every year or so a company comes out with a rifled barrel and everyone makes a big deal of it, they do nothing to help and if they did work your paintballs would just curve to the side.

!!!Have fun and good luck!!!

The mutated/reincarnated forum dictionary:

Uber- good, great, cool, as in "thats the uber(barrel, gun, etc.)"

tool- a not nice thing, an annoying person, or a suck-up, generally an insult

1337- leet, derived from elite, spelled in "1337 text" an internet created artificial language, translations here= http://spins.us/tools/l33t.asp - http://spins.us/tools/l33t.asp

guested- had their account taken away, they cannot post using it.

IP ban- their IP address has been banned from the tippmann website, they cannot post on the forum with any name, unless they buy a different IP from their service provider

Roxorz (also roxors and Roxcorsz)- good, cool, "thats t(he, eh) roxorz!)

<KRL>- the name of a mod who made his name by cracking down on swearing, this symol/word is often used instead of a curse word.

pwned- used as a spin-off of owned, used when someone has been reprimanded and/or insulted.

Sniper- a pseudo curse word around here, dont say it, it may result in flaming(see next)

flame- an insulting post

n00b (also spelled, newb newbie newbzorz)- One that is new to something. For the forum it is mostlikely a new, un-informed paintballer.

thread- either the end of a barrel where it screws into the marker, or a topic of discussion on this, or other, forums.

sticky- a thread (see above) which has been made so that it stays at the top of a page.

PM- Private Message, a private post to another member

sig - a forumers signature (picture or word appearing in every one of their posts)

avatar- the thingy under your name.

bump- move thread up(by posting).

IMO- in my opinion.

PM for any more.

So the time has come for your first game? Here is a quick summary of what you need to know/bring.

What to wear?

Mask- you absolutely need to wear a mask if you play paintball!! Not safety glasses, not sun glasses, a mask made for paintball!

Shirt- Dress in layers, it all depends on where you live and how cold it is, but I recommend wearing one shirt with a jacket over it.

Loose Fitting Pants- Trust me on this one, Not only does a pair of loose jeans cause alot of paintballs to bounce off you and not break, but it provides pretty good protection too

Shoes- You are going to want shoes with a good amount of traction, fields can get really slippery (especially indoor fields). They have shoes made just for paintball which I'm sure work great, but I just wear hiking shoes.

Gloves- I recommend wearing a pair of gloves, they don't have to be made for paintball any pair will work (even though paintball gloves look cooler ), Hand shots hurt pretty bad but with gloves its just like any other hit, also you wont get your hand dirty so if you have to open your gun you wont get oil/dirt in it.

Neck Guard/Cup- Everyone will agree that getting shot in the neck or the *ahem* hurts.. BAD! Using a neck guard or a cup makes it so you wont be keeled over in pain, but at the price of comfort, you don't have to wear these but some would recommend it, its all up to you.

Does it hurt?
This question is asked by many players before their first game so I figure ill clear it up for you all, Most shots don't hurt at all, it just stings for a second or two then goes away, just enough for you too know you got hit really. Sometimes you will get hit from very close or in a certain spot that hurts more than others and those sting worse, but still not to bad.

What to bring
Paintball Marker- unless you plan on throwing the paintballs at them..

Paintballs- pretty self explanatory if you ask me

O-rings- Be sure to bring at-least 1 spair o-ring, o-rings on your co2 tank break, ALOT, and if you have no way to replace it your out of luck.

Allen Wrenches- Be sure to bring the Allen wrenches that came with your gun, You will need them to set your velocity to your fields regulations and you will know when you have you take your gun apart.

Q-tips- You don't have to bring these to the field but they are good for cleaning small areas on your gun or the little holes in your mask if it gets hit.

Duct Tape- Tape can fix anything

Swab/Squeegee- If a paintball breaks in your barrel your gun will start shooting everywhere but where your aiming, and more will start breaking untill it is cleaned. So be sure to clean it up with a swab or squeegee before you start shooting again.

Spare Clothes- I don't know about you guys but I'm not allowed back in the car unless I change into clothes that aren't covered in paint.

Barrel Plug- All fields require you put a barrel plug on your gun when your not on the field, your gun should of came with one but if not be sure to buy one before you go play

Paper Towels- You will need these to clean paint/fog off your mask, DO NOT take your mask off to wipe it off on the field!!!! This is how almost all paintball injures are caused!! Go to the safe zone where barrel plugs are required first.

A couple things to know
Wiping your mask- if you get hit in the mask you will need to wipe it off, also if it fogs you will need to wipe it off. I cannot stress enough to wait until you are in the safe zone! If you go to wipe your mask while you are playing there is a chance you will get shot in the face or eye!!

Communicate- when your waiting for the ref to start the game ask your team where they are going, try to plan out what everyone is going to do. If you see an enemy pop out yell out his location, if your held down by enemy fire call for help.. you get the idea.

Barrel Plug- All fields require you put your barrel plug in your barrel when your off the field, make it a habit to keep your barrel plug in when your not playing.

Cover/Moving- You want to be at a bunker at ALL times, if you are out in the open you are a sitting duck, never WALK to a new bunker, run full speed at all times, moving slowly makes you an easy target. Also run low, running low makes you less of a target and any smaller bunkers between you and your opponents may help for a wall.

heres a whole list of things that are useful in speedball. i have alot on this list but if you have anything else you want to add you can just PM me and let me know.

1) In speedball you need speed. without speed your just a slow moving target.

2)Movent

-when you  decide where your going to run to have your teamates give you cover fire and run as fast as you can.

-decide where your going to run to then have your teamates give you cover fire. *have your teamates fire at the people who are the greatest threat to you.  

-once you get to the bunker again check your angles to make sure your safe on all sides of your bunker. if there is someone who has an angle on you and is a threat to you try to either eliminate them or have a team mate eliminate them.

3)Movent

-before you make a move to the bunker take a look at all your angles

-have a teamate cover you while you move

4) Bunkering

bunkering an opposing player.

-Before making a bunkering move tell your teamates that your going to make a bunker move.

-once they understand tell them to give you cover fire. have some of your teamates shoot at other enemies on the field while one or two shoot at the guy your going to bunker. this will hopefully keep his head down so he won't know your coming.

-when they give you cover fire run to the bunker and shoot the guy.

being bunkered

-When your the one being bunkerd the last thing you want to do is stand up behind your bunker and start shooting at the guy charging you. its a better idea to try to find out where he is coming from,wait until he gets almost behind you, then run out from the opposite side  . heres what i mean. lets say the guy is charging from the left wait until he gets almost behind you, then run out from the right side of the bunker and get him from the back. this takes practice and spped but if you practice this with your teamates it will really help. its a good idea to practice both bunkering and getting bunkered 1on1 with your teamates

5) Tactics on moving after the break and Using tapelines to flank

(your behind the dead box...the ref says 10 seconds...3..2...1 go go go!)

-on the break is a good idea to have your back players shoot as fast as they can and shoot as many lanes for you as possible. when the front players are moving up try to get as far as you can which will most likley be the 50 mark.

-Once you get as far as you can try to use the tapelines to move up farther and flank the opposing team. this might take awhile and the going might be slow at first but DONT rush. rushing will only send you back to the dead box.

-once your on the field and the game has started watch your sides and angles at all times. getting tunnel vision is a players death sentence and it will most likley send you back to the dead back saying "i never saw that guy there."

6)Snapshooting amd other tactics on shooting

-snapshooting-popping out of your bunker, shooting a burst quickly then ducking back behind your bunker 

try this with your teamates during practice. if you can master this it will be a huge advantage in tourneys

-shoot in "X"s. what i mean is people on the right side shoot to the left and people on the left side shoot to the right. also if each person covers 2 bunkers you double your effectiveness on the field. 

7)playing bunkers tight

-this is something that you definitly want to work on. you only have to lean out just a little bit to far and POP! shot right in the loader.

-the tighter you play a bunker the harder it is for the other team to hit you. the only problem with playing tight is that the tighter you play a bunker the hard it is to see all angles.

-try to keep your body as much behind the bunker as possible. get your gun and also place that as tight as you can to the bunker.

-when you are shooting from the side of a bunker remember to tilt your loader in so the only thing your opponent has to shot is your barrel and the bottom of your Co2 tank.  Also make sure if you play snake to always have someone cover you. 

8) Communication

before a tourney take a look at the field where you will be playing. with your teamates name the different types of bunkers. heres some examples

small round sup air bunker-piccahou

large sup air triangle-well my team just calls it the triangle

small triangle sup air bunker-dorrito

large cylinder sup air bunker-shotgun barrel

small cylinder sup air bunker- beer can

these are some examples of naming bunkers. there will most likely be more then one of these types of barrels so you need name them by where they are (center, right left) color, and name. so when you on the field you'll probably here something like this...

"enemy behind front center orange beercan"

"enemy behind yellow center dorrito"

"enemy behind left blue piccahou"

you also might want to make names for other things like when your reloading. one example would be something like this "steve im on hangover cover me"

also you should make code names for bunkering - "tim im goin in for the move cover me"

-always know where your teamates are and talk to them at all times. this is EXTREAMLY important.

-you can also you use hand signals. i borrowed these from snake6:

Examples of a few basic signals are :

[Point to yourself]
        I will move /shoot / etc.
[Point to your eyes,(usually index and middle in a 'v')]
        I see
[Point to your ears]
        I hear
[Point to one of your players]
        You will move/shoot etc.
[Thumb Up]
        OK/I understand/Ready/Reloaded etc.
[Thumb Down]
        Down/Bad/Negative
[Hold up a closed fist]
        Stop dead in your tracks and don't move.
[Flat opened hand, palm down, and arm extended at a 45 degree angle above your head, then lowered to the ground]
        Get down, don't move.
[Pat top Of Your Head]
        Head count.
[Raise fist to shoulder, thrust fist up/down above shoulder several times]
        Rush, Increase Speed, Double Time
[Point In Direction]
        Move/shoot/enemy etc. in that direction.
[Make a 'gun' with index finger and thumb]
        Can then be used for shoot in that direction.
[Draw finger across throat]
        Enemy /opposition / the bad guys / danger area.
[Point to person(s), beckon by holding arm horizontally to the front, palm up, and motion toward body]
        Join me, Follow me, Come to me.
[ Extend arm vertically overhead and wave arm and hand to front, left, right, and rear with palm toward direction of each movement]
        Disperse
[Raise fist to ear with thumb and little finger extended]

hope this helps.

HOW TO TRAIN AND ORGANIZE A TEAM

This was made mainly for the captains of scenario
and woodsball teams, but a lot of it can also aplly to
speedball teams or non-captains.

This was done by me with parts by Darur.  PM me for
additions.

practice moving in the woods while shooting at a
distance.  Set up small targets, a soda can, or a
painted stick, and have half of the team lay fire on the
other two, as they try to shoot the target.  Play 1 v 2
games and 2v2 games.  Practice games with only
45 rnd hoppers.  Also, every month or two, have
everyone shoot about 100 rnds on the target
range.  See below for more details on improving accuacy at the target range.

Play a couple games with your team.  Observe the
other players and see their strengths and
weaknesses.  Base your practices mainly on the
weaknesses, but continue to hone the strengths. 
For example, if all of your teammates are excellent
sharpshooters, but stick out like a sore thumb. 
Mainly practice on the art of stealth, concealed
shooting, etc.. but always keep practicing the
accuracy.  If you stop practicing any area, then it will
gradually worsen and you have to invest more paint,
time, effeort into rebuilding the skill.

After a couple of practices, start assigning roles to
your teammates.  Roles such as back sharpshooter,
mid supportman, and front assaulter are vital
elements to a team, but a recon team, major
ball/gas hauler, and stealthly members to sneak
behind the main line are very useful during long
games and scenarios.

This a list of roles, and the types of people who should play them.

Main Roles

Back Man: This is the player who stays slightly behind the "front line", and provides cover, and sharpshoots.  He should have great accuracy at a range,125+ ft.  He should be skilled at remaining concealed, but not neccesarily moving long distances.  A flatline barrel is very useful for this position, due to the increase in range.

Middle Man: This player stays between the front and back men, picking of the other team and recieving the bulk of the other team's fire.  This man should have good accuracy at around 100 ft, be skilled in concealement, and concealed movement, and cannot be afraid of enemy fire.  Any accurate barrel is a good choice for the mid man.

Front man: This is the player who sneaks up on the other team, picking them off and then hiding.  He is the spy like player of paintball.
He also has many different specializations, posted below.  The "average" front man sneaks up very close to the other team, and waits patiently for the right oppurtunity for a one shot mark.  He must be deadly accurate at around 75 feet and below.  He usually won't have to shoot any further, but in case is is spotted, he will need decent accuracy at distances.  He needs to be a master in the art of stealth, being able to sneak up within under 50 feet of the other team's players without being noticed.  He should have a quiet barrel, that can shoot very accurately.  At the very least, he needs to be in full camo, and at least black mask and gun that aren't shiney.  Camo painted guns and mask, and ghili are very useful for the front man.

Special Roles

Captain: This is leader of a squad.  He tells his squad what to do.  It doesn't matter what other role he plays, as long as he can communicate with his squad.  A team can usually have enough players for 2 squads or 3 or players each. Each captain should be experienced in whatever type of game they are playing, and have good leadershipship qualities.  The must remain calm during hard sections, and figure out ways to solve problems.  It can be useful for the captain to have radio communications to other captains and recon teams. 

Hauler: This is the mule of paintball, usually a guy who hangs in the back, who brings up extra paint and air to the other guys.  He should play like a merge between mid and back players, but be able to move across the feild, to bring supplies to his team mates.  He should be used during scenario games mostly, where paint and air can become scarse.  He needs a big harness of backpack to carry pods and air tanks.  He should also be strong enough to carry it all without being to burdened.

Runner: This guy is used almost exclusively in capture the flag games, he is the guy who can run to the other teams flag, gewt it, and return it to your flag station.  He must be lighning fast with all his gear.  Every day he should go out with his gear,  maybe not his gun because that would look weird, and run a mile or so.  He should carry a pistol, and have a holster to put when he breaks for the flag.  He should be in camo, but as light camo as you can get.  If your not playing ini heavy woods, camo jerseys are good because they are very light, but can rip if caught opn a branch. 

Special Forces:  A small team of about 3 members comprising of great sharpshooters and stealth experts.  These are the guys that sneak behind enemy lines to get the thing you need to complete a scenario mission, and return, without being noticed.  They need to be able to cause confusion, by elimating enemies while remaining concealed.  They NEED to use hand signals, and ghili is extremely useful.  They should have good, accurate guns, and be very good sharpshhoters.   45 rnd hoppers are useful as they make for much smaller targets.  During the game, they can play as recon, or front men, but when they are needed, should be able to get the job done with good efficiency.

Recon: Very important during some scenario games, recon sneaks behing ernemy lines, and reports back with troop locations, and anything else pertaining to the current mission.  He needs to be the supreme stealth master, able to get in extremely close to the enemy.  If hes lucky, he can even pick up the other team talking about their future moves.  He should have ghili, gun cover, and mask cover.  He should be equipped with radio communication to the team captains, so he can report to them without having to risk the return journey back.  Also, he should learn one hand signal, so if your team spots him, you can be sure hes on your team, nmot the other ream's recon.

If you find your team ever wishing "Man, if we just had someone to,"[insert a task],"then we could win every game!", then train a team member to do this!  Just about anything is possible to accomplish in paint ball.  With a bit of skill, a man can get within 10 ft of another player without them noticing.

Movement should be confined to three Modes :
Slow but safe, Middle, Fast and powerful.  Decide a
movment pattern to fit the screnario and make sure
your team knows it.

Communication : Code words should be
assigned in case you need to yell, or if you are using
radios and so is the other team.  The basic words 
that can be  used are : Alpha - Main Assault or Key
Group ; Bravo - Secondary Assault or Support group ;
Charlie - recon ; Delta - Base defense or Group
Cover Unit ; Kilo - Package delivery group to Front
Line (i.e Ammo, Air etc.) ; November - Unknown
Target/Boogy ; Papa - Package delivery unit from the
front lines (i.e flag, player w/ broken gear ; Omega -
Unbeatable sitiation/death trap ; Juggernaut -
Unstoppible opponent group ; Tango - Encounter
with enemy.

Besides using the key words, communication through hand signals is very important for stealth.  Have signals such as a thumb up meaning that the coast is clear, moving you hand forward with a fist meaning charge, moving your hand forward with your palm open meaning to move forward and hold your fire.  Experiment with different hand signals.  Hand signals aren't required for everything you need to say, just basic messages so that you don't blow your cover.

Radio communication can be helpful for large scenario teams.  If you do decide to get this, you only need one or two people per squad to have it, not everyone.  It can help a lot by allowing communication between a stealth unit ahead of the line, to the front line fighters.

If anyone here has read Ender's Game by Orson
Scott Card, do what they did in the book.  Divide your
team into groups half, then have two commanders in
each squad.  This allows you to have either two large
squads or four smaller ones, each with a capable
commander.  Then for specific scenario missions,
have members from both squads create a
"ultra-squad" for specific hard missions.  Read the
book.  If you do this, radio communicatin is very
useful, especially beetween commanders.  Also,
utilize hand signals in case radio goes bad, don't
have radio, or just for communication with your
squad.  The squad leaders don't h ave to be the best
players, but they need to be good strategist able
to run a unit alone, or take orders from their
superior.  A team like this will take a multiple months
to train and organize, but will definately be a force to
recon with.

Drills

Accuracy
Set up a target range with targets at 50, 75, 100, and
125 ft away. The targets should be about the size of
a small coke bottle or a can. If you are new, you can
start with 2 liter bottles. First, just practice shooting
each target 5 times in a row just taking one shot,
then seeing if you hit, taking another, etc... Then try
to hit each target 10 times in a row. After you have
mastered hitting each target, Start to ry to hit the 50ft
target, then the 75 ft target then the 100 ft target, the
125ft target and back again. Practice this until you
can do it with minimal paint used.
Next practice hitting the targets while in different
positions. Standing, leaning, crouching, lying, etc.
Try to hit targets while walking left to right. After you
can walk in that direcection, try running while
shooting the targets. After you are decent at running
and shooting left to right, practice right to left.
After your team does these drills with you, there
accuray will improve.

Stealth

Stealth can be summed up as : Silence
Teamwork Eyes and Ears
Agression Listening Tactics
Heart(guts). 

During a normal game, have one player on one team be "the sneaker", and without informing the other team, have him try and sneak up past the enemy lines.  Observe how far he got, if he tagged another player, and how he handled nearby enemies.  In the best situation, he should have gotten completely past the other team, and had an easy time picking them off with the accuacy skills learned above.  Obviously, the first many times, he won't make it all the weay, as he is probably inexperienced in this.  Just as in accuacy, practice makes (near) perfect.  This drill not only teaches stealth, but also conservation of ammo (for the sneaker), and detected enemy infiltraters. 

Also, to teach your team only to take shots that they know that they can make, play 2v2 with ten rnd tubes.  Give each person 2 or 3 tubes.  It makes the game much more tactical.  You can even give one team ten rnd tubes, and the other full hoppers, to teach the importance of tactics, and that firepower doesn't make a winning team.

Always remember to start a game with hopper and pods filled tightly to minimize rattling.  Try and keep your gun steady after you have shot a bit to keep the noise level to a minimum.  Being quiet is nearly as important as staying hidden.

Speedball

Warmups

First, before any playing, stretch!  Strech your arms and legs.  Then run a few laps around the field.  Before a game, take a tour around the field that you will be playing on.  Note key bunkers, and determine your first few moves.  Get an advantage before the game even starts!

Drills

Accuracy

Do the same thing as I posted above, but practice shooting multiple targets at a high rate of fire.  Practice shooting targets in 3 round bursts, and while leaning.  Practice laying down paint on a target while moving.  If possible, have a buddy run, and have someone else try to shoot him.  Remember, similarly to playing in the woods, you may only get 3 shots before you need to take cover, so make them count!

Snapshooting

Put two players on bunkers facing eachother.  Have them try to shoot eachother.  They can't leave the bunker.  They can only lean out for about 2 seconds.  Do this drill a lot, it helps.

Lane Shooting

This is when you lay down paint to prevent another player from reaching a specific point.  Very useful on the breaks.  Have the back men and mid men lay down paint on either side of where the other team starts.  After a couple times just standing, practice it while moving towards a bunker.

The Break

This is where the game starts.  Your team can get a great advantage during it if they play smart.  If your a front man, get to where you want to go.FAST!  That is your job in the beggining of the game.  Mid and back men should be laying down paint and lane shooting.  The mid men should be going at a brisk jog towards there bunker, and the back men at a walking speed.

^Not good post that has nothing to do with anything! <You are correct, so I have deleted it> <KRL>

The purpose of this sticky is to completely inform people about anything they may not know about Camouflage. I contacted several mods, and did several searches to be sure I could go ahead with this. The Mods said I should post this in New Players and Ideas.

The Art of Camouflage and Paintball in General
Although used by the Military for over a hundred years, camouflage is something still catching on for many paintballers and fields. Its is really only useful in woodsball and scenario games, yet also essential. Its not just to give the game a military-sim feel. If only one person on the field has sufficient camouflage, he will have a severe adavantage. If all but one of the player have camouflage, he will have almost no chance. The rule is: Have it, or lose.

Camoflauge is a crude, and the only method of blending in with surroundings, and distorting the human figure, which the human mind has the instinctial reaction of noticing. You can never have too much camoflague.

Camouflage does not make you invisible. It only helps, and if you move slowly, and use proper cover, it works best.

Camouflage Clothing- BDU's
B.D.U. is an acronym for Battle Dress Uniform. Used by the military, since the beginning of its camo use, it is a Two-Piece (Pants and Jacket) uniform, dyed in colors and patterns in an attempt to blend in. It works very well. You must try to match the BDU with your surroundings. This is the cheapest and most common method of camouflaging yourself, although not perfect.

They come in the fabrics: Rip-Stop cotton, not as durable, and hard to clean, but cheap. Poly-Cotton Twill, most common, and durable, what the army uses. SWAT Cloth, my favorite, very breathable, feels like Khakis, but arent. They are more expensive, too.

Snake6 says, about the materials the army uses and their Winter/Summer use:
Winter Wieght:50/50 Poly-Cotton Twill.

A heavy fabric, designed for use to break wind, insulate even while wet(this is due to the blend of polyester.) and is a warmer fabric all around, also more durable than ripstop. The disadvantage is that if the tempeture is above 70* F you will sweat like a dog.

Summer Wieght: Ripstop 80/20 Polyester/cotton

A light wieght breathable fabric designed to be used during the summer months and in the dessert, temps above 70*F. this is also designed to be used underneath the M-65 Goretex Field Trousers, and the ECWS gear system. the ability of this fabric to breathe is its greatest streangth. The disadvantages are, becuase to its breathing ability this fabric has been known to be very cold apon leaving the water due to the high cotton blend which does not isulate while wet. and is not recomemeded to wet invirments. also this will not fuction correctly under 70*F due to the fact that there is no insulting factor involved unlike the winter wieght fabric. also because this fabric is so light wieght it does not withstand the wear and tear like 50/50 blend fabric.

You can buy units at-
http://www.opsgear.com - OpsGear Altough a bit expensive, Opsgear sells NEW units, in most sizes, in all three types of fabric and in most patterns. $30-$35 a piece (Pants and Jacket).
http://www.cheaperthandirt.com - Cheaper Than Dirt is a military and police surplus resaler. You can get Used, New (Surplus), and Irregular (has defects, but is VERY cheap). So here, you can get most everything from $20 for the whole unit, to $30 per piece.
http://www.rangerjoes.com - Ranger Joe's Preforms similar to Cheaper Than Dirt, this is a good place to go to if you are having bad luck with the other sites.
There are many other places to purchase BDU's at, if you find a really good one, let me know.

Note: You can also purchase Jumpsuits and Ponchos in most patterns.

Camouflage Clothing- Patterns
The integral part of camo clothing is the pattern. I will introduce you to many useful patterns and their best times and areas of use. You want to avoid bright and dark colors as much as possible. Even Black. Black does not show up in many places in nature, and subconsciously attracts unwanted attention.
Even at night, avoid black, because your camo, if it matches it at day, it will darken with the area, and match it at night too.

Woodland

Useful in the widest range of conditions, areas and seasons. It is the absolutely the first pattern you should buy, as you will get the most use of it. Best in Temperate, Forest and Jungle regions, in all seasons but Winter.

Tiger Stripe

Slightly less effective than Woodland, this is best used in Fall, where more trees are visible, or densely wooded areas.

3-Color Desert

Best used in all desert regions. Of course.

6-Color Chocolate Chip Desert

Rocky desert regions, try to stay low. Rocks do not stand 5 feet off the ground.

Urban Camo

Comes in many patterns and colors, best used in scenario games, involving lots of buildings, and concrete. The lightly-colored ones also somewhat work in the winter, with snow on the ground.

Arctic
(No picture, if you know of one, tell me)
Probably one of the best working camo patterns. In snow, you blend in almost perfectly, because of the few colors needed. The brightness of light hitting the snow doesnt help people see you, either. Also difficult to find and purchase.

Alpenflage, or Swiss Camo
(no picture, again sorry. Available in Cheaper than Dirt catalogs)
Uses splotches of odd colors of Red, Green, White, Black, etc. It is the ultimate in Fall Camo.

Digital Camo

The Newest, from the Marines. As of this writing, all of it you can buy, is fake, but works as well. It uses pixellized colors to trick the brain into seeing what it wants to see-- trees and plants. Effective. Comes in Woodland, Urban, and Desert.

Superflage, or Hunter's Camo

Works extremely well during hunting seasons, in hunting areas. Uses actual pictures of leaves, trees, etc. But it also has the smallest time and area of effectiveness.


The Ultimate, Ghillie Suits
Ghillies are designed to detroy the human frame, while blending colors. It is extremely effective. It is actually taking foiliage, and attaching it to netting on your body. You can buy some, from Bushrag, or make your own. It is best to make your own, to ensure it matches your environment totally. The Ghillie does not make you invisible, but I have heard horror stories of soldiers being stepped on, while wearing their suit.
http://www.geocities.com/stalker217/ghillie/ - This is the absolute best guide for making your own Ghillie Suit.

Camo-ing your gun
Is your silver bullet signalling aircraft? Is your chromed-out custom, causing people to point and laugh when you are "Sneaking".
Both http://www.opsgear.com - OpsGear and http://www.kpcustoms.net - KP Customs both offer services to paint your gun camo-patterns. The more of your gun that is covered, the better.

Your Paintball Mask
Your mask is a crutch to camouflaging attempts. First off, try to purchase non-reflective lenses to dampen the gleam off your lens. That is the most common way of finding someone on a sunny day.
http://www.goggleskinz.com/ - Goggle Skinz is an interesting way of doing it. From the outside, they see non-reflective camo fabric. But from inside, its transparent. Ive yet to see how well you can see out of it. I also have heard horror stories of paintballs hitting the skinz, and ruining them.
You can also have your mask painted in camo patterns.

No camo is effective if you are not moving slowly, and using cover. Stay low, stay far away, and stay quiet.

Disclaimer- I wrote this, you cannot use this without my written consent. Copyright 2004. 

Customowner's Revised Forum Dictionary

ASA- short for air source adapter

Avatar- the picture under your name, a animated or still picture used to bring attention to yourself

BEagle- Short term for the Brass Eagle Paintball Company

bump- When you want to send a post back to the top of the page(like if it's a good post but no one viewed it or if it was a question that was never answered), and you don't have anything worthwhile to say but you want to let people know you aren't spamming

 Cocker-short for he Autococker marker

Flame- an insulting post used as a noun “That was a got flame” or a verb “I’m going to get Flamed

Guested- had their account taken away, they cannot post using it.

IP ban- their IP address has been banned from the tippmann website, they cannot post on the forum with any name, unless they buy a different IP from their service provider

<KRL>- the name of a mod(see below) who made his name by cracking down on swearing, this symbol/word is often used instead of a curse word

1337- leet, derived from elite, used as a verb mostly “Tat gun is 1337” spelled in "1337 text" an Internet created artificial language

LP-short term for Low Pressure kit

Paintball gun-common for Paintball Marker since gun is used more in the real world

Mod- someone in the Moderator Group ( 4 stars)

Mother- nickname for the tippmann forums

Newbie - also  newb n00b newbzorz ,One that is new to something. For the forum it is most likely a new, un-informed paintballer.

Old Blue- the forum two versions ago. It's where a lot of the "regulars" first saw posting action

Old Men and Heavy Weights (OMHW) - It's the unofficial Tippmann scenario team that some of the moderators and a few of the plats are members of.

Owned-when a great insult or victory has taken place, verb “you got owned” or Exclamation “owned"

PB-short term for pshyco ballistics product

PM- Private Message, a private post to another member can be found in inbox

pwned- used as a spin-off of owned, used when someone has been reprimanded and/or insulted.

Reg-Short for  Regulator paintball prt

Revy- short for a electronic hopper using 12 voltage batteries

Rico- Short for the Ricochet Paintball product or company

Roxorz (also roxors and Roxcorsz)- good, cool, "thats the roxorz!)

R/T- short term for Response Trigger product

sig - a forumers signature used like an avatar to get attention

Sniper- a pseudo curse word around here, don’t say it, it may result in flaming or insulting

Speedball-also Speed, Paintball played in a private field with bunkers, Teams start at different ends. Usually “Capture the flag”

stab- Short term for the palmer stabilizer product

sticky- a thread (see below) which has been made so that it stays at the top of a page

teh-"the" it is a mistake that became normal because some fourmers type that way.

Thread- 1.either the end of a barrel where it screws into the marker

2.a topic of discussion on this, or other, forums

Tippy-Short term for Tippmann product

tool- a not nice thing, an annoying person, or a suck-up, generally an insult noun “Dude, you’re a tool”

tricked out - an upgraded paintball marker

Uber- good, great, cool, as in "that’s the uber (barrel, gun, etc.)"

Woodsball-also woodzball or just woodz, Paintball played in the woodz and natural surroundings

x-chamber- short for the expansion chamber product, expansion chamber allows the airsource to turn the liquid to gas 

All about the R/T

The Response Trigger System is a Drop-In Kit that Tippmann Pneumatics sells for both the 98 (Custom or Model) and the A-5. It is a Drop-In Kit for the A-5 and 98 Custom. But, the Model 98 needs to be milled for it to fit in right. Tippmann will take your Model 98, give you 98 Custom Receiver Halves, Along with the other parts needed, and will give you an R/T for $120.

How it works:

When the 98 or A-5 fires, there is excess Gas/ Air thatr is not used to propel the Paintball. Usually, that is just extra Gas/Air and is vented away. But with the R/T, it uses that excess Gas/ Air to power a little Piston that is located behind the Trigger. So, after everytime you shoot/fire the Paintball Marker, the R/T will take that excess Gas/Air and it will send the Gas/Air to the R/T's Piston. When that happens, the Piston will fill up with Air and it will push forward a little pin which will re-set the Trigger. It will do it fast enough so you will still end up having force on the Trigger. So, you will pull it again. That is called "Trigger Bounce".

What is all included:

98: The Response Trigger for the 98 will come with a new R/T Power Tube, R/T Hose (Cocker 3-Way), Banjo Fitting, Knurled Adjuster, and R/T Piston.

A-5: The Response Trigger for the A-5 will come with a new 3-Way Banjo Fitting for both the Cyclone and R/T, Knurled Adjuster, Knurled Adjuster Fittings, and R/T Piston.

FAQ:

1. Does the R/T use more Air?
No it does not! The R/T uses EXCESS Air to power itself.

2. How many BPS can it shoot?
Most R/T's will shoot around 14-15 BPS. But, some well tuned R/T's will fire at 16-17 BPS.

3. Is it Full Auto?
Not really. It just "Bounces" the Trigger. It is still 1 shot for each Trigger Pull.

4. Is it Tourny Legal?
It all depends. Some Feilds allow it, some dont. Go and ask them.

5. My R/T is not working. Whats wrong?
It could be a few problems.

 1. You are putting too muich force on the Trigger. Therefore, the Piston cant Re-Set the Trigger.
 2. There is something blocking the R/T's Air Hose.
 3. The R/T is not adjusted properly.

6. My R/T is open on the end!!
The new R/T's have an Open "Face" on them.

How to install the Response Trigger:

98:
1. Dissassemble your Marker.
2. Remove the Valve Bolts and Re-Move the Power Tube.
3. Remove the Air hose or Verticle Adapter from the Valve/ Power Tube.
4. Get the Valve out of the Power Tube. You can lightly tap the Power Tube on a towle untill the Valve slides out.
5. Insert the Valve into the NEW Power Tube.
6. Take the right Receiver Half and a Nail-Set or Hole Punch. There is a little Groove/Slot about the Grips. Knock out that little "Plug"
7. Install the R/T Piston.
8. Put in all the Internals including the Power Tube. Dont forget the Valve Bolts!
9. Screw on the Banjo Fitting and Knurled Adjuster. Connect the Air Hose.
10. Adjust it and start ripping out the paint!!

A-5:
1. Dissassemble the Marker. Take off the Grip Frame.
2. On the Right side of the Grip Frame, there is a small "Notch". Break that little peice out. You can use your fingers.
3. Take apart the Grip Frame and put in the R/T Piston.
4. Put in the new Trigger Plates. (If included) Some have them, some dont....
5. Take apart the Marker. Install the Knurled Adjuster and Fittinginto the bottom right hand corner of the Marker.
6. Put the Marker back together.
7. Take off the old Banjo Fitting (Connected to the Cyclone) and put on the new one.
8. Adjust it and start ripping out the paint!!

For more info, check out the Tippmann Systems Page on http://www.tippmann.com - www.tippmann.com

-tgaffner

At the request of my fellow forumers, here you go. If I missed something, PM me and I'll add it, but I think I got most of it.

I have seen a recent increase in people asking "What upgrade should I get for my marker?" Well, ultimately, the choice is yours. You should put on your marker what you want on your marker. However, I have compiled a list of all the various upgrades that you could get for your marker. A-5 upgrades are listed first, followed by 98 Custom upgrades. And some of you will say this should be in Upgrades and Customizing, but I wanted all the new players to see it.

A-5
-New Barrel- Adds accuracy and air efficiency
-Flatline Barrel (If you like)- Adds 100+ feet to the distance of your shot.
-E-Grip- Firepower upgrade. Allows semi-auto, auto responce, turbo, three round burst, and full auto
-Response Trigger (R/T)- Another firepower upgrade. Allows very fast shooting by a piston firing the trigger forward as user squeezes
-Double Trigger- Allows use of two fingers, allowing for faster trigger pulls.
-Drop Forward- Brings weight of your air source down and forward, centering weight of marker.
-Rear Velocity Adjuster (RVA)- Allows easy control of velocity via a -dial in the back.
-Low Pressure Kit- Allows operation at a lower pressure, greatly increasing efficiency.
-New Front Grip- Improves grip, mostly for looks.
-Expansion Chamber- Gives C02 more room to expand from liquid into gas form, increasing efficiency and reducing risk of liquid C02 getting into marker.
-Shoulder Stock (Solid, Collapsable, Folding)- Allows bracing of the marker against shoulder, stabilizing shot.
-Raised Sight Rail- Brings sights up higher, allowing for easier aiming, and also easier installation of dot sights, scopes, etc.
-High Capacity Hopper- Holds 220 rounds instead of the standard 150 rounds.
-Military Simulation Upgrades (Too many to list)- When taken to the extreme, will make your paintball marker look so much like a real gun that you will have to look closely to be able to tell.
-Fake Supressor- Looks only. And muffling or deadening of sound is strictly coincidental.
-Combat Sling- Allows for easier carrying of marker on long hauls.
-Universal Mount- Allows the mounting of any ASA adapter onto A-5.
98 Custom
-New Barrel- See above
-Flatline Barrel (If you like)- See above
-Electric Hopper- Agitates balls in hopper, allowing for faster feeding at high rates of fire.     
-E-Bolt- 98 Custom equivalent to the E-Grip.
-R/T- See above
-Double Trigger- See above
-Drop Forward- See above
-RVA- See above
-Low Pressure Kit- See above
-Gas-Thru Foregrip- Brings bottomline through the foregrip of the marker, which is turned into an expansion chamber.
-Powerfeed- Allows for faster feeding.
-Rocket Cock- Covers open slot where cocking knob is, protecting internal components.
-Grips (Sticky Grips, etc.)- Allows better gripping of handle.
-Expansion Chamber- See above
-Direct Feed- Allows for faster feeding,
-Military Simulations (Again, too many to list)- See Above
-Raised Sight Rail- See above
-Shoulder Stock- See above

This list is small, because Pro/Carbine upgrades can be relatively hard to find.
Pro/Carbine
-New Barrel- See above
-Electric Hopper- See above
-Double Trigger- See above (Only problem, the only one I have seen has no trigger guard)
-D-Feed System- Allows for faster feeding
-Expansion Chamber Kit- See above
-Vertical Adapter Kit- Brings air source directly into bottom of marker, with no bottomline.
-New Cocking Knob- Strictly for looks
-Shoulder Stock (With RVA option)- See above
-RVA- See above
-R/T- See sbove (I believe it takes custom work, but it is a sight to be seen)

Added

-HPA- High Pressure Air, or Nitro. Greater number of shots, better consistency.

-Regulators- Regulates gas flow into marker

-Remote Lines- Brings weight of tank off marker and onto your back, or wherever you want to keep your tank. Also acts as an expansion chamber.

er, this will be sticky'ed for awhile, then added to the Uber-FAQ, so read it here while you can! (this was originally going to APG, so read it for free monkeys!)

 So, you wanna play paintball but dont have the money for all the flashy gear, I've been there, most players have.
And let me tell you It killed me, watching the players with the bling-bling markers, and the coolest tourney gear. The
players tossing ungodly amounts of paint every game.

But you don't need any of that. You don't need the latest electo marker, or a 5+4 pod pack with half a case on your back.
So I'm going to tell you how to do this without the stigma of being the newb.
                                                         
       GEAR
 
 You're first and most important piece of equipment is? the marker? no. The tank? no, Its the mask,
You will want to spend the most money, comparatively, on your mask. After all, this is your ugly mug we're talking
about protecting, isnt it? You will need a goggle system specifically designed for paintball. You will want a thermal lens
to keep from having your vision impaired mid-game, by fog. A great mask for working on a budget is the V-force sheild, Which
 rovides A lot of protection for a very low price, You can find versions of the Shield for as low a $20. Another great mask
is the game Face (Draxxus) Skul mask, Or one of the many great JT masks. If you are willing to spend a bit more on your mask
(reccomended) I would say that the JT Flex-7, V-force morph, Or JT Proteus.

 Your second Piece of equipment is also an integral part of the game, without it, you'll be throwing paint at the
other team! The marker is one of the most personal, selective pieces of kit you will ever buy. No two people like theirs
exactly the same. Go to the feild, or pro-shop, and pick up, and if you can, fire as many as you can. My personal
Reccomendations are; The Tippmann model 98 custom (usually around $125), a solid performer which won't go down in the middle
of a game, these things are tougher to break than that plastic stuff on CD's! Another Great entry level marker is just about
any marker on the Kingman (Spyder) lineup, a spyder will run from $50 to about $300 depending on the model. But as I said, try
As many as you can, and go for the one that feels right in your hands.

 Food for your gun. The Marker won't be much use if there isn't any gas powering it. The two types of gases used in
Paintball are Co2 (carbon Dioxide), and HPA (High Pressure Air). technically there are three, but Nitrogen, or "Nitro,"
for our purposes are exactly the same. Some Places do not offer HPA fills, but most offer Co2. HPA tanks can be quite
Expensive, ranging from $75 all the way to $500, these Air systems are used by nearly 100% of professional players. but
on most low priced guns, you do not need to use HPA (although most high end electro's do require HPA). I reccomend getting
a Co2 tank, these are $14 to $25, some people will tell you that Co2 is either not good for your gun, or will be inconsitant.
This is only half true, Co2 does not ruin most low cost guns, such as the 98 custom, or the Spyder Line of markers. The tales
Of inconsistancy are partly true though, Co2 is in a liquid state when stored in a tank, but is rapidly transformed into
a gas when shot. this can Lead to liquid co2 getting into the gun during rapid fire, but it shouldn't be much of a problem
on most of the afore mentioned markers. A quick partial solution to the Consistancy concerns is to get an "anti-siphon tube"
installed on your co2 tank, only let a qualified airsmith do this. Co2 is measured in Oz, the most common sizes are, 9 Oz
12 Oz, 16 Oz, and 20 Oz. Depending on your gun you will get on average of 50 shots per ounce. a good size tank for
all around play is 16 Oz.

 A traditional gravity feed hopper should be fine, but should you feel the need to get a motorized loader, a good
Choice on a low budget is the Ricochet Rhino, or the Viewloader Quantum, both around $30.

 Clothing, that stuff that protects your Oh-so-fair skin from harm, Is still a requirement while playing. For obvious
Reasons. Some players choose to wear Jerseys in Speedball, or Camoflauge in the woods. these are not a requirment.
The Best all around clothes I can think of are a pair of jeans, two long sleeve shirts, and a soft soccer
style cup (if you are a guy). For the Women in the sport, several companies make chest protectors.A hat, or beanie is also
 a good idea, so you dont get lumps on your sacred dome. A neck Protector, and gloves are also a good idea.

The extra's, Pod Packs and squeegies. Pod packs can be found cheap, but as someone on a budget you won't want to be shooting
a large amount of paint, so these are completely optional. A good squeegie can be made with a chop stick, and some Kleenex,
Or just bought for about $4.00. A barrel Bag, or condom is also a neccesity.

       PLAY

 When playing, you never want to waste paint just shooting at the ground, or trying to long-ball across the entire
field, nearly 70% of all long balls won't even break, much less hit. never "spray-and-pray" this is a tactic which is looked
upon with disgust and is pretty expensive.... If you don't feel you can hit someone, get closer. Do anything you can, short
of stealing paint, to keep paint/Air costs low.

 Field fees can be a killer, see if your local field has a night or day where entry is discounted.

Hopefully during the summer you can do odd jobs, or get part-time work to pay for an upgrade or more play, just keep at it!

"may you receive many a bounce"
-Matt

From NotDaveEllis –

Also buying gear used from places like PBN or PBR or AO is great, I've saved a ton of money doing deals there.  (remember to check feedback and maybe go through a 3d party service such as http://www.moodypaintball.com/ - www.moodypaintball.com or http://www.palmers-pursuit.com/ - www.palmers-pursuit.com

From Centaur –

BB,

Excellent post!

One small suggestion: in the second paragraph, you weren't clear up front as to what the the "second Piece of equipment" really is. Although all of us smart folks know you mean the gun (and you mention it later), remember who your audience is!

My suggestion: revise the 1st sentence of 2nd paragraph to read: "Your second most important piece of equipment is, of course, the marker. The marker is an integral part of the game; without it, you'll be throwing paint at the other team!"

Also, something else to consider: expand on the paint issue. By far, this is the most expensive cost. Not just because you pay $65 a case, but because you pay $65 a case each and every time you play. All the equipment are one time costs/investments, but paint (and air) will keep taking bites of your wallet.

I suggest the following to cut back on costs:

1) shoot less: Like you mentioned already, shooting less (no spray and pray) will save on paint. Seems obvious, but a point not easily taken by many players. May I suggest you write more on it to make your arguments more persuasive?

2) buy less paint: If shooting less paint seems hard to do, perhaps forcing yourself to have less to shoot with will help. If a player knows he/she only has 1000 rounds to use all day, that player will keep a closer eye on how much he/she shoots.

3) buy cheaper paint: A lot of people think that you MUST buy what the pros buy. This is not true. If you are just playing recreationally, you can always settle for "field paint" or "practice paint". Afterall, for most players, they are NOT playing in the world cup! And the paintball companies don't like to say this, but most paint shoot just as well as others for most guns. Sure there are some guns that can take only certain kinds of paint and some paint have noitceable benefits over others, but by far, they are the exception and not the rule.

For example, I used to buy JT Marbs and Slams for $65+ a case. In order to cut costs, I started buying Zap Tork (on sale for $30 a case). That's a 50% reduction in paintballs costs! If I played 6 times a year, that means a savings of $180! (And the Zap Tork shot just as well as the JT Marbs!)

A few other ways to save $$$:

1) check the fields to see if they have "frequent player" pass cards. One field I went to has one for up to 15 visits. Sure, the card cost $20, but it cut admissions fees in half (from $20 to $10 a visit) so it made itself up in just 2 visits!

2) bag your lunch: On many occasions, I have seen players buy their food at the field or nearby McDonalds and pay outrageous prices. ($2 for a small hotdog?!) But if your bring your food with you from home, you will save a few bucks, perhaps enough to cover that second co2 refill! Besides, for most players, you do not need to pig out at lunch. Just eat enough to get those needed claroies for the afternoon day of play. Just get some GENERIC power drink at Costco, a Powerbar, maybe a simple ham sandwich, and you are set! Don't overload on food at lunch, otherwise, you will just barf on the field!

I hope this helps.

Centaur

From Paintball46 –

nice tips but i would add that to cut down on costs dont be afraid to buy cheep paint. If your starting out you probably dont have to many firng upgrades so you rate of fire will be so low you wont break many balls. I was always into spyder guns because I liked them for woodball and thats all i played but I just recently got a custom 98 I only buy the cheep bulk zap paintballs for it and very little of them have broken yet.

Good luck and search-it-first!

This is important:

Layman wrote: If you read this, bump/up it to keep it high up, it might actually save a life... Remember these things can kill you, or someone else On a safety note: Don't put anti-siphon tubes into your own tanks. There have been two deaths recently due to tanks flying off the valve. One of them is a confirmed home done anti-siphon tube. Glenn Palmer of Palmer's Pursuit Shop had this to say:    "The only thing that I saw wrong with any of the hardware was: There were no signs that the valve had been tightened sufficiently into the tank and there was no sign of chemical bonding materials having been used at the last installation of the valve. However, the Safety vent hole in valve neck was plugged with an unknown substance. Another contributing factor was that the anti-siphon tube was installed in such a way as to require that the tank/valve be tightened fully into the ASA to put the tube in the appropriate position. IMHO, the hardware itself is not the issue but the handling of it is. Apparently, the complete rig was bought off of the internet. As is. Sherriff's dept. investigation not yet complete and there has bee no word about who may have done the anti-siphon modifcation."     Then his follow-up, "...it appears that the young fellow that owned the equipment had in fact been doing some modifications on his own (including the anti-siphon) and not bought the equipment 'as-is' over the internet, as he had originally claimed." UPDATED LINE IN RED Tom Kaye, inventor of the AutoMag's and owner of Air Gun Designs wrote, "Lock tight IS NOT suposed to be used on tank threads, they are suposed to be TORQUED on with a special strap wrench." Hydro Testing So what is a "hydro"? Hydro refers to "Hydrostatic Testing", or more commonly hydro testing. Well, what is it? In layman's terms (sorry) it means they take a bottle, put it under water and inflate it to a predetermined pressure. Depending on how much water it displaces, it will pass or fail. For a much more indepth answer click here. OK, so everyone keeps talking about the hydro date on your tank... but where is it??? HPA On a High Pressure Air tank (HPA) it's pretty easy to see. See the "11-97"? This is the date of manufacture. The date this Air America fiber wrapped tank was made was November 1997. According to the DOT this tank must be hydro-ed by November 2000, again in November of 2003, and so on until the tank is fifteen years old. After the fifteen year, at this point in time, fiber wrapped tanks are to be trashed. The steel tanks are able to be used until they no longer pass hydro. Wrapped tanks must be hydro-ed every three years, unless they are on a five year hydro like the DOT#10915. If you have a tank with that DOT number on it made before May 2002, your first hydro is on the third year, then you go to five. This exeption will expire on April 30th 2004, so unless they renew it will be back to the three year tests. Carbon Dioxide (CO2) On a CO2 tank there is also a hydro date. Many CO2 tanks have it stamped into the bottle, although some companies have started printing them on the sticker label with a clear retest date. Different manufacturers put them in different places. You can find them near the bottoms like this one: Some manufacturers put them on the bottoms like this one did: Or, more commonly you'll find the dates stamped into the top of the bottle near the neck like these guys did: The tanks above are the CO2 tanks more commonly found amoungst players. These tanks require a hydro test every five years. It is more cost effective with a CO2 tank to replace it, than to hydro it. There are also fiber wrapped CO2 tanks that have the same label as a HPA tank. On these you read them and test them the same as you would with HPA tanks. Here is a direct cut and paste of Picasso's post on the dates subject, "...." denotes a removed piece within the body: "Steel or Aluminum Tanks: -Under 2 inch diameter, no hydro required. -5 year hydro testing for any that are greater than 2inhces diameter. -No lifetime, as long as they pass hydro. There are scuba tanks out there from the 1970's still in use, legally, due to current hydro testing and inspections. Carbon Fiber wrapped tanks (HPA): -15 year lifespan from First Hydro/Manuf Date. After 15 years, they get a hole drilled in them. Gone. -All Carbon Fiber was 3 year Hydro. However, now, the DOT has allowed some to be 5 year hydro. You have to look at the DOT number (such as DOT 10915) to see if it qualifies. Some tanks produced after a certain Date, that meet DOT, are now 5 year hydro, if they are before that date, they still get a 3 year Hydro, the first time. So, with HPA tanks, its a little confusing, check with the manufacturer. Using one of my tanks as an Example: It is a Luxfer Tank (brand). It is "DOT 10915" which has been granted a 5 year Hydro exemption. BUT, this exemption has a Beginning DATE requirement. My tank was manufactured/first hydroed MAY 2001. This means it is too OLD to qualify for the 5 year Hydro, it must be tested Next month (May 2004). Once it is tested, then it falls into the 5 year testing requirement sey forth by the DOT exemption..................A lot of 20 oz. Co2 tanks hit the market about 5 years ago, when they became popular, now they are hitting their first hydro requirement date. I suspct that Feilds and Shops are going to be checking dates and condition of tanks a lot closer.    To find the date on your Co2 tank, it is near the Neck, and is stamped into the tank. You'll see 1800 which means max working psi rating (Your burst disc will be an 1800 psi disc so that the tank never exceeds that rating).    You will also see a set of numbers like 08 02. This means the tank was manufacture/hydroed in August (08) of 2002 (02). It will be up for a hydro test in 08 07, which is 5 years, because it is steel or aluminum" feaksoftware wrote: Good info, but where do you get it hydro'd? That's the only thing left to know. You can get any tanks hydro tested through any local "dive shops". Ask your local fields and pro-shops where to get it done. Check your local yellow pages under Welding Supplies too. firefighter3431 wrote: hears a little info for the people that aren't near a paintball shop or a welding supply shop.....    if you want you bottles hydroed check with your local fire dept.   the air bottles we use have to also be hydroed ... they would probalby give you the company name and a phone number to see if they would hydro your bottles... Hopefully this will answer any and all possible questions about hydro dates.

This too is a valuable little piece from Greg Smith:

Greg Smith wrote: The one question we have all asked is how to improve accuracy. It might be a question about which barrel to get or paint to buy or a particular HPA tank. So let me help by laying some important things out for you. Paint to barrel match is secondary at best. The most important factor determining accuracy is the quality of the paint. If the paint is misshaped, dimpled, swollen, old or anything of that matter, nothing, and I do mean nothing, will make it very accurate. Example: OMHW played a game at Hogback Mountain in VA late 2002. The paint was crappy seconds. The paintballs were dimpled and misshaped. Even Picasso with his Autococker and Freak Barrel (with matching insert) had accuracy issues all day. The next most important factor is consistency. I'm not going to provide a specific example because we all know that the closer each ball is in velocity the closer each ball will come to falling in the same spot. Consistency can be improved by switching to compressed air, adding a regulator or an expansion chamber, and most importantly taking good care of your gun. That means keeping it clean and performing the proper maintenance. The third most important factor is the quality of the barrel. Now any good quality barrel will do. As long as the paint is not too big for the barrel you will be fine. Example: Take a look at the December 2002 issue of APG Magazine. There is an article about the 8" Lapco Bigshot and its bench test against the stock Tippmann barrel. Now the bores of each of these barrels were within .001 (.689-.690) of each other so for all intensive purposes they were the same bore size. They used 3 different quality brands of paint (they all fit) and bench tested an A-5. In each of the 3 tests the Lapco out performed the stock barrel, even though the paint to barrel ratio was the same. So matching is not as important as paint and barrel quality. Now as for paint to barrel match, yes it will help a little if you match the paint to the barrel. However don't bother to do so if the factors above are not met. Instead of buying that $200 Freak or $110 Boomstick, try a $50 Lapco, $49 CP Classic, or $45 J&J Ceramic with an expansion chamber and a bag of good quality RPS or Diablo/Draxxus paint. I assure you your accuracy will vastly improve.

The Flatline Barrel System

Ok, so lets get this straight.  The Flatline barrel is one of the most controversial barrels that Tippmann owners have the opportunity to get.  On the forum, people are asking left and right which barrel should I get?  The Flatline or something else?  Also, questions like "What kind of paint works good in the Flatline?"  Look to have all those questions answered here.  So, lets start it off.

What Exactly is the Flatline?

Ok, so here we go.  First and foremost, we must realize that the flatline barrel is the only barrel guarenteed to give you more distance then any other barrel.  Hands down, the Flatline really sends those paintballs flying.  But why?  Its simple.  The Flatline barrel is actually curved, so that when the paintball is shot, the barrel creates backspin on the paintball, allowing the ball to kind of hover through the air in a straight line, hence the name "Flatline".  If it wasn't for the curved barrel, the Flatline would just be another $100+ hunk of junk. 

Assembly of the Flatline

This is a major difference point between the Flatline for the 98, and the Flatline for the A-5.  Since the A-5 is so much easier to take apart and put back together, the Flatline can be installed on the A-5 in under 2 minutes, going at a nice and slow pace.  However,  since the 98 makes the owners pull out the toolbox to field strip, the flatline can take a bit of time to install.  For the 98, you will need to remove a reciever half and take off the old rear sight.  Put the reciever half back on, and leave the 3 front bolts off.  (NOTE!!! Please make sure that the orange ball latch stays in place during this process...Nothing is worse then finishing the installation to find out that your marker is useless because the ball latch isn't there.)   With these bolts out of the way, you can screw in a adapter for the barrel, and then finally put on your shroud.  After that, insert the barrel, Tap it in with a rubber mallet, and finish by tightening all the bolts back up.   Whew....The A-5 gets the easier job

So...What Kind of paint should I use?

Paint is just as much trouble as you make it.  Once you have this barrel, you will more then likely have to change paint, because the Flatline only shoots good with small or medium bore paint.  Usually on the box it will say what size the bore is, but if it dosn't, there is a chart on the forum that will let you know.  Please use the search icon and look it up, its very useful.  A few brands that I have personally used are Draxxus Blaze, Midnites, Marbalizers, PMI Premiums, RPS All-Stars, and Zap.  These tended to work very well in the Flatline, as long as the ball quality was good, and none of the balls were offshapen or cracked.

Other brands that work well are:  Evils, Big Balls, and Hellfires.

What should I get, the flatline or a Bigshot/J&J/A-A?

Before you ask again, these questions are all preference.  They are usually asked because the person is not informed about the barrels themselves, or they are looking for the most widely used barrel.  This post is only to inform the readers about the Flatline Barrel, however, I can give some Ideas on when its better off not the get the Flatline.

If you are a woodsball player, the Flatline is calling you.  The Flatline just works great in the woods because it keeps you from shooting up in the trees, and can take away many tree bunkerings from opponents.  Compared to other barrels, the flatline sweeps the field in the woods.

If you play speedball, chances are that you might not want the flatline.  I play speedball with my flatline, but im not happy with it.  Sure, it shoots across the whole field, but now since the field is smaller, so do all of the other players markers.  Taking away this advantage, and only being able to rely on the Flatlines Accuracy, you no better off then the other players.  The flatline gets in the way when your trying to get in a bunker, it takes longer to get the gun around a corner to reture fire, and pretty much it just plain gets in the way.  Most people say that the flatline isn't good for speedball because you can't lob balls over bunkers.  This is true, but however, you can turn the marker sideways, and the ball will actually curve, allowing you to sometimes shoot people from around the bunker.  This neat feature however, dosn't save the flatline in speedball.

98 Flatline VS. A-5 Flatline

This has become the most frequently talked about thing at many fields, and here on the forum.  The answer, though it may worry some 98 owners, is that the A-5 Flatline is just a better performer.  The Accuracy variations arn't as noticible, its WAY easier to clean, MUCH easier to take apart/off, and its easier to install, since its just a one peice snap on/off, while the 98 has to get the barrel lined up correctly, and then get the shroud on. 

If you can, try shooting both barrels.  Even if you hate the A-5, you will notice that the A-5 flatline is just better, plain out.

Trouble-Shooting the Flatline

(June 4, 2004)  After reading over this topic again, I realized that I didn't cover some of the problems that most people have with the flatline.  So, since I have nothing better to do during 6th block, i'll list them here.

My Flatline Won't Fit...what do I do?
Ok, first things first.  Make sure that you are following the directions on the instruction manual, and made sure that you are doing everything correctly.  Look for small mistakes that you may have missed.  Many people miss the fact that the rear sight on the 98 has to be removed before the shroud will fit on top.  Just don't sweat it, relax, and FOLLOW THE MANUAL. 

Ok...My Flatline is installed...but what FPS is right for it?
This is one of the most critical aspects of the flatline besides what paint you're using.  If you have your fps too high, you risk breaking a ball (bad news) or having your paintball have more movement towards the end of flight.  Another thing that can happen with a high fps, is that your paint can actually be spinning so fast that it actually curves upwards, and goes up in the sky.  If you EVER see your paint curving upwards any, its time to lower your fps. 

If you keep your fps too low, you will start to affect the benefits that the Flatline gives you.  Too low will make the paintball's distance much shorter....thats pretty simple to understand...right? 

A good fps to keep it running is in the 260-280 range.  Please remember, that since the Flatline has this range to work with, ALONG with your choice of paint, its going to be extremely picky.  Velocity spikes are a nightmare for Flatline users, and you will want to get rid of that as fast as possible.  If your using any source of Compressed air/Nitrogen, with a good regulator, then you will get much more effeciency out of the Flatline.    Basically, Velocity jumps/spikes=

HELP!!! My paint is curving!
There can be multiple reasons why this is happening, I'll try to help with each one. 

• Installation...You didn't tap the barrel in with a rubber mallet, or anything for that matter.  This may sound like a stupid and pointless thing to do, but trust me...its VERY importaint.
• Installation (pt2)  The barrel could be crooked.  A-5 users can skip this one, as you don't have to worry about it.  Make sure that the porting at the end of the barrel is nice and even when you set it.
• Paint...Your paint could be...well, not good.  Small to Medium bore paint works the best for the Flatline, as stated earlier.  Make sure you don't skimp on paint, as it could come back to haunt you later.
• Velocity...Check your velocity.  You want it between 260-280, and make sure that your velocity isn't jumping/dropping horribly. 
• Check Yourself...you actually may not be shooting straight.  Note that the barrel is curved.  Now note that when you turn the gun, the barrel does not adjust itself so that it will continue to shoot level.  The barrel will rotate with the gun, and if the gun is rotated, then your paint will spin and move in the direction that the laws of physics says it should.  Make sure to keep your gun as level as possible.  Please note that turning your gun sideways WILL let you curve balls around bunkers...not as useful as you would think though.

Overall

So, overall, the flatline barrel adds distance to your shot.  Note that it adds distance, W/O mentioning any added accuracy.  Its true that the Flatline does not give you the best accuracy.  However, I believe that the ablility to shoot much farther can in some cases outweigh that one flaw.  I hope that this post will help viewers that needed to know any information about the Flatline barrel.  If you do have any questions about it,  please, feel free to ask me.  I will try my best to answer it.

WAYS TO PREVENT FLAMING AND HOW TO HANDLE FLAMING

1. Use the search button located at the right hand corner of the page, you should alaways search before asking a question, chances are they have already been posted before!
2. dont make threads about a topic you know people hate, like paintball sniping and paintball snipers
3. if somebody flames you about your typing skills, edit your post.the edit button is located under every post you make.
4. if somebody flames you ignore them, dont provoke (sp?) them.

feel free to add on or fixed anything in this post!

Some one told me to put this here.... well i hope it helps:\

Ok this was wrote by Dr. David G. Berkebile from paintball x tremes magazine... hopefully I’m not doing any thing wrong here like plagiarizing if I am tell me... thanx

Foods that increase energy!

Playing paintball requires the right equipment. This equipment is needed to be competitive in the game and to help protect the outside of your body. But how do you improve your game from the inside? Equipment for your inside does not mean swallowing a pair of batteries or a few paintballs, that's for sure: it means getting the right kind of nutrients from certain foods! Taking care of the inside of your body is just as important as the right equipment is for the outside. Eating the right foods can help you become a better paintball player, and have a fuller and better life!

When it comes to choosing the right foods, most of us fall short. Eating the wrong foods can cause fatigue early during a game, the inability to think clearly and/ or shoot straight. In addition, choosing the wrong foods over time can cause us to gain weight making us sluggish and even depressed! With a majority of our society being overweight isn't surprising that eating wrong foods can cause us problems such as diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure. Most paintball players are young and haven't been affected yet, but for some of the veteran players the types of problems are showing up.

What do we need to eat daily?

Vitamin, Minerals, and Phytonutrients:

Fruits: raw 4-5 pieces a day and/or freshly squeezed fruit juice 3-4 glasses/day (12oz.).

Vegetables: 6-8 servings a day raw or lightly steamed. Vegetables and fruits are high in fiber**.

Protein: chicken and/or grilled/steamed fish, 2-4 servings per day. Fish is preferred over poultry due to the Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFA), which are essential Fatty Acids (EFA) that we need daily. PUFA consumption should not exceed more than 10 percent of total caloric intake.

Small portions of very red meat with no visible fat should be eaten. Red meat should be consumed only a few times per week or less. High red meat consumption (especially high in saturated fat) has been linked to causing high blood pressure, obesity, and coronary artery disease and colon cancer! Therefore, limiting your intake of red meat would be wise.

Complex Carbohydrates: Eating whole wheat breads and pastas, wild rice, couscous, polenta, and bulgur: 6-11 servings a day. Good source of fiber** and contains amounts of protein.

Complex carbohydrates and protein combination: Peas, kidney beans, lima beans, lentils, and navy beans: 2 servings of these would be the equivalent of one serving of protein and two serving of complex carbohydrates. These types of beans also are high in fiber**.

Fats

Monounsaturated Fatty Acids (MUFA): Low to moderate amounts of olive oil (extravirginolive oil recommended) should be consumed with fresh vegetables and salads. Avocados and nuts are also other forms of MUFA's. Recommended intake of MUFA's is between 10-15 percent of total caloric intake.

Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFA): See Fish above.

Simple sugars: Honey should be used as the principle sweetener and sweets (simple sugars) are eaten only a few times per week.

Fiber: Doctors recommend getting between 25-35 grams of fiber a day.

Various foods and their fiber content:

 Order of food lay out: food, Serving, Calories, Grams of Fiber

Apples: 1 medium, 81, 3.5

Prunes: 3, 60, 3.0

Raisins: 1/2 cup, 106, 3.1

Raspberries: 1/2 cup, 35, 3.1

Bean Sprouts: 1/2 cup, 13, 1.5

Broccoli: 1 cup, 40, 4.4

Brussels sprouts: 1 cup, 56, 4.6

Carrots: 1 cup, 48, 4.6

Parsnip: 1 cup, 102, 5.4

Spinach: 1 cup, 42, 4.2

Baked beans: 1/2 cup, 155, 8.8

Dried peas: 1/2 cup, 115, 4.7 

Kidney beans: 1/2 cup, 110, 7.3

Lima beans: 1/2 cup, 64, 4.5

Lentils: 1/2 cup, 97, 3.7

Navy beans, 1/2 cup, 112, 6.0

Bran muffin: 1 muffin, 104, 2.5

Crisp bread, rye: 2 crackers, 50, 2.0

Spaghetti: 1/2 cup, 155, 3.9 

All-bran: 1/3, 71, 8.5

Bran Chex: 2/3, 91, 4.6

Corn Bran: 2/3, 98, 5.4

Raisin Bran-Type: 2/3, 115, 4.0

**Dietary fiber is very important to keep not only your bowels moving, but also to keep our bodies healthy.

So how do you know what the right foods are?

Here's a list (in no particular order) of fruits and vegetables to be eaten on a regular basis to help with feelings of depression, fatigue, and to increase energy. It's recommended they be eaten raw and not cooked.

Red tipped lettuce

Onions

Dandelion greens               

Lemons

Cauliflower  

Broccoli

Brussels sprouts

Carrots

Collard Greens* 

Cabbage

Yellow Peppers

Yams  

Watermelon

Pears

Apple

Tomatoes

Apricots

Spinach*

Pineapples*

Kale*

*Do not eat dark green leafy vegetables or pineapples if you are on blood thinner medication or have a bleeding disorder

The night before and the day of a game you still need to eat from all the food groups and adding a little more complex carbohydrates is recommended to keep the glycogen levels (energy supply in the muscles) high. Proper rest one to two days before competition is important for building up high glycogen levels.  

Make sure to follow these suggestions for your pre-game meal plans. Be sure to eat the meal three hours before an event. This allows enough time for the foods to be digested. Choose a meal that's high in complex carbohydrates. Eat only moderate amounts of protein. Protein takes longer to digest than complex carbohydrates.  High-protein meals may cause more urine production, which can lead to dehydration. Limit intake of fats and oils, becasue they take too long to digest. Restrict simple sugars (sweets) in foods. Sweets can cause blood sugar levels to change rapidly leading to less energy. Avoid foods and drinks that contain caffeine. Caffeine causes the body to increase body output, which can lead to dehydration. A full bladder can be very uncomfortable.

During the game drinking watered down fruit juices or sports drinks is a quick and good source of energy. In addition, drinking plenty of water to keep your body hydrated is very important.

Thirty minutes after the game or tournament is finished, eat a well balanced meal containing protein and carbohydrates. This is important for building muscles that have been broken down during game play and replacing glycogen levels. It usually takes 2 days to replenish the glycogen supply that has been depleted from playing paintball.

Participating in paintball increases the amount of calories needed. When you train, you increase muscle mass relative to fat. As muscles increase in size, they burn more calories. Playing paintball can easily increase the daily calorie needs of teens and adults over the recommended 2,000. The amount of food needed depends on the athlete's age, sex, weight, and activity level. A larger athelet requires more calories are being burned during short periods of time may be greater due to short bursts of intense activity that occur in completion. Further, the activity levels and calories being burned vary among players due to the positions being played. Players playing back may not need as much calories as those playing front.

Remember to put as much emphasis into the inside equipment as you do into the outside equipment. What you eat daily provides you with the nutrients and energy to sustain you over a longer period of time. In addition, eating the right foods helps you to live a healthier and longer life. Keep playing hard and eating right.

Again this article is from paintball 2 x tremens magazine and was written by Dr. David G. Berkebile

Hope it helps!!!!!!!!!!

So you've started to play paintball, its your first game, the gun you are using starts making strange noises and when you go to have someone fix it you can't accuratly describe what has happened because you don't know what it is called. I have seen this happen so many times. So I have compiled a list of some paintball terms that may help out some of the newer players that don't know what these are and for some experienced players that have the wrong meaning. If you find this not worthy of this position please feel free to delete it mods.

Terms and their Definitions  

  ACTION:
  A battle or skirmish. Actual combat with enemy forces.

  AGITATOR:
  A hopper (ball holder) that agitates and mixes. The fastest agitator moves 12 balls per
  second.

  ASA ADAPTER:
  Also referred to as: CA Adapter. Constant air tank screws into it and lets the Co2 gas
  pass through it.

  FULL AUTO:
  Continuous firing of paintgun as long as the trigger is held down. Examples are Angel,
  Shocker, Rainmaker, and TS-1. Many guns now have kits that can make the gun go full
  auto.

  SEMI AUTO:
  Requires a squeeze of the trigger to fire each shot.

  AUTO TRIGGER:
  Used with pumps. You hold down the trigger and continuously pump the gun and it
  keeps firing.

  BARREL PLUG:
  A safety device that is inserted into the front end of a barrel to prevent a paintball from
  exiting the barrel.

  BOLT:
  It is the device that moves the paintball from the chamber to the barrel.

  BOLT (closed):
  The closed bolt design means that the bolt is in the full forward position with the bolt
  O-ring sealing against the inner wall of the paintgun barrel when gun is ready to be fired.

  BOLT (open):
  The open bolt design means that the bolt is in the full rear position with the bolt just
  behind the feed nipple port (the port that allows the paintballs to flow into the paintgun
  body) when paintgun is ready to be fired.

  BOTTLE:
  It is the air tank.

  BOTTOM LINE:
  Either steel line or micro-line that connects the gun to the air source.

  BUNKER:
  This is used to hide behind. Examples are natural brush, pallets, trees, or another hiding
  spot.

  BUNKERING:
  This is done more in tournament play. It is a quick move upon a bunker to eliminate a
  player at close range.

  BUTT PLATE:
  A plastic molded piece that fits on to the end of a tank allowing it to be used as a
  shoulder stock.

  CHRONOGRAPH:
  Electronic device that measures the speed of an object directed across it. The maximum
  limit is 300 fps.

  Co2:
  Carbon Dioxide. This powers a paintball gun.

  CONSTANT AIR:
  A tank is a source of constant air. It powers the paintball gun.

  CYCLE RATE:
  The number of cycles a paintgun can perform per second. Ex. An angel can cycle in
  excess of 12 times a second. That means it can fire 12 balls in one second.

  BALL DETENT:
  Stops 2nd paintball from going into the chamber at once.

  DOUBLE ACTION:
  One pull of the trigger cocks and fires.

  ELBOW:
  Hopper adapter.

  EXPANSION CHAMBER:
  A device which expands co2 before it enters into the paintgun's valve system. It is a
  series of chambers usually 4, 6, or 8.

  FILL STATION:
  Series of valves used to fill small co2 containers.

  FLAG STATION:
  Location where a team's flag is kept. It is also the location where a team must return the
  opposing team's flag in order to win the game.

  FLANK:
  The extreme right or left side of an army or fleet.

  FORE GRIP:
  A horizontal grip generally located on the front of a gun. Used for stability.

  F.P.S.:
  Abbreviation for 'feet per second'. Every field has its own limit but the maximum is
  300fps.

  GAS EFFICIENCY:
  The amount of shots a gun gets in relation to the amount of liquid Co2 it uses

  GOGGLES:
  Eye protection worn by players to prevent eye damage.

  GOING LIQUID:
  Liquid Co2 entering the paintgun before it has had a chance to expand into a gas or
  vapor. The gun freezes up and velocity will be very inconsistent.

  HARNESS:
  The system that is used to haul paintballs, air-system, and anything else they need.
  Called 4+1, 6+1, 8+1, and many more.

  HOPPER:
  A container used to hold paintballs. Example is vl200, vl2000, Revolution, and vl3000.

  HOSING:
  The consistent rapid firing. A tactic typically used when pinning down an opposing
  player.

  THERMAL LENSES:
  A dual lens system. The space between the two lenses is called a thermal barrier and
  helps to reduce fogging on the inner lens. Note: lenses should be replaced every year.

  NITROGEN (N2):
  Refers to Nitrogen gas. A gas which is compressed to high pressures. The difference
  between Nitrogen gas and Co2 is that Nitrogen is measured by pressure while Co2 is
  measured by weight. The advantages of nitrogen are: more efficient over the
  chronograph and it is cleaner for your paintball gun.

  O-RING:
  A ring which is rubber or neoprene, used as a gasket. Make sure you properly oil your
  o-rings often. This will prolong the life of them.

  PAINTBALL:
  A round capsule filled with colored water based dye that is designed to break upon
  impact leaving a splat mark. The most common paintball size is .68 Cal.

  PAINTBALL GUN:
  A device used to project paintballs. Often called a marker.

  PAINT CHECK:
  Used in tournaments. When a player thinks they got hit, they yell paint check. The
  referee comes and checks them over. That person is neutral during this time. They
  can&Mac226;t shoot or be shot at. Along with that you cannot advance on that player.
  This doesn&Mac226;t mean you can&Mac226;t move.

  POWER FEED: It is a common feature on guns today. It increases the rate at which
  paintballs fall into the breech.

  PRESSURE REGULATOR:
  Regulates the pressure of gas flowing through it. Some regulators are preset and some are
  adjustable.

  PULL PIN:
  A pin which can be removed quickly to speed disassembly of a player's marker.

  QUICK DISCONNECT:
  This lets a player disconnect his gun from the air-source quickly.

  REMOTE SYSTEM: The system puts the tank in a pouch or on the player&Mac226;s
  back. A „remote line‰ runs off the tank and connects to the gun. This makes your gun a
  lot lighter. .

  SIGHT RAIL:
  Allows a sight to go onto the gun.

  SIGHT RAIL, RAISED:
  A sight rail that is raised up off the body of the gun. The purpose for this is to be able to
  see over the power feed system.

  SPLATTER:
  The spray of a paintball. If the spray is bigger than a quarter then the player is called out.

  SQUEEGEE:
  Used to clean the barrel of a paintball gun.

  ANTI-SIPHON TANK:
  A tank designed to allow only vaporous Co2 gas to exit the tank through the tank valve.

  TANK, SIPHON:
  A tank specifically designed to draw liquid Co2 from the bottom of the tank.

  THREAD SAVER:
  A protective cap that screws onto a tank valve. This keeps the valve from being damaged
  while not in use. I highly recommend this.

  TOURNAMENT CAP:
  Covers a gun's velocity adjuster/regulators so that the velocity cannot be adjusted during
  game play, Normally required for tournament play.

  VELOCITY ADJUSTER:
  Usually a set screw that when turned in either clockwise or counter clockwise direction
  will increase or decrease the paintguns muzzle velocity.

  WRENCH, ALLEN:
  A hexagonal tool which comes in various sizes. In paintball they are used to adjust the
  paintball gun's velocity as well as disassemble it.

-The Manic

Buying your First (or next) Marker

You've seen the question time and again.  What marker should I buy?  Should I get a Tippy or a Spyder?  Should I get a Timmy or a Cocker?  These are not easy questions to answer for a number of reasons.  I had originally posted this same article over on the Ariakon forums but since another user here posted my article on upgrading your marker and it was well received, I decided to post this here and let you folks have a go at it as well.  Anything any of you can add to this please feel free.

Where to begin!?

Well, believe it or not you are already on the right track.  With the Internet, information about various markers is right at your fingertips.  However, before you go diving into that, let's take a look at you.

If you are the first time player, you will have different marker needs than someone who has been playing for a while.  First, being the new player you may not know all the different types of paintball that you can play.  It is HIGHLY recommended that before you go out and purchase a marker that you try the sport at your local field and rent a gun for a few times.  This gives you three things:  One, will you like the sport enough to justify spending a few hundred dollars on the equipment? Two, what kind of paintball is played at your local field? Three, what did you like or dislike about the marker you rented/tried?

If you answer no to the first one...well...what can I say?  Either you had a bad experience or you just don't like the sport.  However, the next two questions are a little more difficult to answer. 

What do you play?

Obviously this is a big factor in your purchase.  For instance, if all you have near your home are speedball fields, then a SIM-4 Elite probably isn't going to be for you.  Also, if you have a lot of Woodsball type fields near you, then the Nemesis might not be the marker for you. 

How do you know this?  Simple.  Look around at what other's are using and see why they chose their markers.  Ignore any comments that go along the lines of "It looked cool" (exception to this are MilSim markers like the SIM-4 and SIM-5...with MilSim Scenario games looks actually is a big part of it but more on this later), "my buddy had one", or other undefinable reasons.  Things to listen for are items like reliability, ease of use, maintenance, cost, performance, where they got it, and general owner satisfaction.  Why these are important we'll discuss later.

Also important is to find out (ask if you need to) what they DON'T like about their marker and listen for markers that they may want to get.  Now, take that last part with some caution as many players will tell you what their dream set up is and not what they really will be buying next.

Yes, you in the back with your hand up?  What about the Internet you say?  Well, right now isn't the time to go there yet...don't get ahead of the class.

What YOU like.

Now that you've found out what type of paintball is played by your home and what others find as being important factors in their decisions we move on to what you liked about the markers you have tried.

First, when you try a marker try to record it's name so you can remember it later.  Also, remember that the first marker you try is going to be the "best one ever" until you try others so try to put some variety in their if you can.

Next, how did the marker feel?  Was it comfortable?  Was it too heavy?  Did you think it was too long?  Did it have issues or was difficult for you to use?  Was it unbalanced?  These are the things you want to ask yourself.  You will probably find that there were a couple things you would have changed about the marker and other things that you really liked.  Start making a list of these likes and dislikes so that you have a better idea of what options you want on your new marker.

Unless you  have a money tree...

Or are independently wealthy, you are going to have a budget for your new marker.  There is nothing you can't have on a paintball marker, but all it takes is money.  Also, don't forget you're going to need things like an air tank, hopper, mask, pods, squeegie...well...a lot of other stuff suffice to say if this is your first marker.  (Obviously people that have already been playing a while already have this stuff)  Regardless, you will only have a set amount to spend and this is going to limit your decisions.  Figure out how much you can afford before setting off to look for your marker.

To the 'NET!

Now that you have an idea of what features you want your marker to have and what your budget is, it is time to hit the Internet. 

Hold on now, it's not time to start posting...it's time to start reading.  Your goal here is to start finding markers that have some of the features you want and then find out how much they cost so  you can see if they fit into your budget.  You may have found one or two particular features you MUST have.  Start by using Yahoo or Google to search for those key features.  You'll find that the more you read and the more your research, the more you'll know what it is you're looking for.

Take notes or bookmark pages that are relevant to your search so you can find them later.  Nothing worse than remember you read a valuable post somewhere and not remember where.

Soon, you are going to start to get an idea of what markers will fit your budget.  You may have 2 or you may have 20 but either way, you now have a starting point for your shopping.

Personal Preference

Paintball markers are kind of like clothing...everyone has what they like.  One thing to take into consideration when getting your first marker is that you HAVE to like it. Once you buy it, if you want to sell it figure that you'll get about half what you paid for it.  So buying something that you like is important.  This is where looks come in to play.  You may like the way one marker looks over another and there is nothing wrong with that.  Don't be afraid to decide between two different markers just because one looks cooler than the other...just so long as both markers are in your budget and have the features you want.  Nothing is worse than getting a cool looking marker that isn't at all what you were looking for performance wise.

Also, while we're talking about performance, understand that there are some markers out there that do not perform very well but are very inexpensive.  Like I said, I'm not going to name names, but if you do your research, you'll see which markers I'm talking about.  Your best bet is to stay away from these no matter how good of a price they have.  Trust me, nothing is more frustrating than going to play paintball and spending the majority of the day trying to make your marker work.

BUY BUY BUY

Not  yet, actually.  There are a couple things you want to do before you buy.  First time buyers need to consider a couple things before they get their first marker.

1. Buy New.  As a new paintball player, you don't know what too look for in a used marker.  I know it is tempting to hit E-bay to get that great deal, but unless you know what questions to ask buying used is best done when you have some marker owner experience under your belt.
2. Maintenance.  Your new marker is going to require maintenance so if you look at a screwdriver and cringe, you're going to need some help.  This means it may be better to get the marker at your local shop.  Sticking to markers they carry will ensure that someone can help you maintain your marker and service it if you have problems.  If you happen to have friends that are into paintball, getting a marker that they are familiar with might be something to consider too.
3. Your local shop.  It is important to take this into consideration especially as a new player.  Even if you get your marker from mail order, chances are that you will be going to your local shop for air, paint, and probably option parts for that marker.  Many shops won't touch a marker that wasn't bought there so that's something else to consider as well.  And while we're talking about upgrades, unless you don't mind waiting for parts in the mail, buying a marker that your local shop supports with option parts is something to consider as well.
4. Mail order.  Generally speaking I love mail order.  Waiting for parts to arrive makes every week feel like Christmas.  No lie. :) For me, I went with a marker I could only get through mail order because it was what I wanted (after much research) and for me it wasn't an inconvenience.  Also, I have a couple local shops that somewhat support this line (but very little) and found the on-line forums for the manufacturers (like Tippmann) very supportive and helpful.  This made getting this marker as my first marker a very enjoyable, and painless, experience.  But if you go this route you better be mechanically inclined and don't mind doing a lot of research so that you know EXACTLY what you are getting into.

K.I.S.S. (thanks to Armorer over at Ariakon for reminding me of this)

This is something for those of you who are still pretty new to the sport.  If you've never heard the term K.I.S.S., it stands for Keep It Simple, Stupid.  (No, not calling you stupid, it is just what it stands for.) What this means to the less experienced paintball player is you are better off getting a K.I.S.S. simple marker rather than something that requires a lot of knowledge to get it working right (Autocockers are one type that come to mind).

Here's why.  Like I mentioned before, markers need maintenance. Eventually, you are going to have to work on it.  After all, once you go out and play with it for the first time you are going to have to come home to take the marker apart and clean it.  Some markers require very little maintenance and if you aren't so mechanically inclined these might be a better choice for you. 

Realize that some things that makes some markers "better" than others are their complexity and their tolerances (how well the parts fit each other...tighter tolerances=more precision).  Both of these traits mean that these markers will fail more frequently IF they are not properly maintained. Tippmanns are perhaps the most trouble free markers on the planet when users fail to properly maintain them.  They are very forgiving in this respect.  Even so, it is good to get in the habit of maintaining your marker no matter how forgiving it may be.  Other markers such as Spyders require a better maintenance routine. With proper maintenance, any marker will be reliable.

In another part of the entire "complexity" issue are the aforementioned Autocockers.  Now, this is by no means picking on Autocockes but they make a very good example.  Because of the way they work, Autocockers have to be "timed" to operate at their peak efficiency.  From the factory they are set to work properly for the user but not at their absolute best.  Experts in paintball have probably written master's dissertations on the proper techniques to time a 'cocker.  Even experienced paintball players can be left frustrated on the sidelines by this experience.  If you are not the mechanically adept type, an overly complicated marker may not be for you.

Time to put the cash on the barrel head

Okay, now you have a number of markers chosen and have a good idea of what kind of place you want to buy it from.  Hopefully you will only have a couple markers to choose from by this point (or, better yet, just one).  Now how do you decide.  Well, that's actually more up to you than anyone else. Maybe you can find one a little cheaper than the other, perhaps one is a color you like better or maybe your friend had one like this one so you want to get one like his...or one that isn't like his.  This is the point in the process that you will decide which marker to make YOURS and yours alone. 

Maybe you have a very tough decision and can't decide.  Perhaps you'll want to post on the forum and ask them what they think you should get.  Believe it or not, this is a BAD idea. It is actually just going to make matters worse.  The best thing you can do in this situation is to go out and SEARCH for comparisons between these two markers and read what is already there.  Also, pbreview is a decent source for this kind of information too where you can read reviews by people who actually own the product.  Again though, remember to make up your own mind AFTER you read EVERYTHING you can find. 

Conclusion

Buying your first marker is a big step.  Buying your next marker doesn't get any easier.  I hope this guide at least gives you some tools so that you make a well informed purchase and that whatever you get is exactly what you wanted. 

Good luck, and remember, it is all about having fun!