Uber Upgrades & FAQ: Please Read!

UPGRADING YOUR MARKER:  COMPLETE FAQ.

I am writing this to help the people so they won’t have to post as many questions, although there is nothing wrong with that. It will help keep the forum fast though. This FAQ will cover effective barrel length, the best ways to store paint, what upgrades you may want to consider, types of air lines, etc.

1-      BARREL LENGTH- For the most part, the length of your barrel does not affect accuracy. A paintball needs about 7.5-8 inches of barrel to stabilize, and to be truthful, after that, you are using more of your air source (co2, n2, or HPA). So, the longer the barrel, the A- more air you use and B- the more you have to turn up your velocity. This should help to eliminate questions asking “How long should I order my barrel?” Although, once again, I will say there is nothing wrong with asking questions, after you search. I will list some decent barrels for decent prices. (Note-I know I am not naming all of the barrels.)

J+J Ceramic

Stiff!

All American

Tear Drop

Progressive

Abrades

Quit Riot

Nite Stik

Stealth

Big Shot

Boom Stick

Freak Kit

Freak Junior

Evil Pipe

Flat line - A-5

Flat line - 98 Custom

BARRELS YOU WILL WANT TO STAY AWAY FROM

GTA Sniper Barrel

Thunder Pig Barrels

2-      CARING FOR YOUR PAINT-

A-Open package and rotate the bags. The paintballs are extremely close packed in the box. This may lead to a ball break. That is bad…

B-Keep them in a relatively warm place, with low humidity.

C-Keep rotating the bags

D-DO NOT FREEZE YOUR PAINT (doing so will ruin your barrel and is dangerous to others)

E-Follow all other instructions on your box of paint.

3- Types of Air Hoses- Steel braided lines, Macro lines, and Micro lines.

               STEEL BRAIDED LINES- These are what you stock model 98, model 98 custom, A-5, Pro-Carbine and most other guns that aren’t upgraded come with. Not all guns come with steel braided. Some higher end guns come stock with macro line, described later. These hoses are made of steel, and look like a girls braided hair, hence the name. These are more durable, but come in sizes, and you cannot adjust the size. So if you buy a drop forward, regulator, or expansion chamber, you may need a new hose. These are pretty flexible, but cannot be bent too much, or at too much of an angle. These also only come in one color, silver.

              MACRO LINE HOSES- These are what some higher end guns come with. These are small, thick, heavy duty plastic air hoses that can be flexed quite easily. You can buy a kit with 3 feet of hose (3 colors) and 2 fittings (one 90* elbow, one straight fitting, or two 90* fittings.) for 10 dollars at www.countypaintball.com . I have found that they have the best deals for macro line. These types of line come in three colors (usually red, black, and blue) and are made by several companies. They can be cut to any length needed, and each color hose comes in one foot sections. Some people dislike them, saying that they are not strong. This is both true and false. Macro line is not as strong as Steel Braided hoses, but is more flexible and can be cut to any size. Macro line is still pretty durable though, so do not think it is “weak”.

           MICRO LINE HOSES- These hoses are pretty rare to find these days. If you do find some, I suggest against buying it. They are just like Macro Line, but they are a lot smaller in diameter, thus restricting airflow. If you are still interested in this, you may want to look for some on www.ebay.com . I have not found them anywhere else.

4-      POTENTIAL UPGRADES-

R/T-Response Trigger- This is illegal at some tournaments but not all. This uses excess air from your marker to blow the trigger back into the ready position. This is still semi-auto, but many people think it is fully auto. It isn’t.

Drop Forward- These are used to disperse the weight out better on your gun. It brings you ASA (Air Source Adapter-Where you screw in your air tank) forward and down. These are also used a lot in speedball so you can tuck in closer to the bunkers.

Regulator (for HPA and N2—some work with co2)-These can set down the air going into the gun to make your gun more gas efficient.

Expansion Chamber- This is only for co2. It gives the co2 more time to expand into a gas-helps keep liquid co2 out of the gun.

Electric Hopper- A electric hopper spins a paddle for whenever you shoot to prevent chopping balls and having clog ups in your standard hopper. Good investment if you have the R/T.

Double Trigger- Some people prefer these over a single trigger. Its pretty self explanatory. Two slots for your fingers instead of one.

New Grips- Some people find the stock grips to be irritating. Most aftermarket grips are softer and are more comfortable.

New Barrel- The stock barrel on gun is most likely not very accurate, and not very good all around. See the section on barrels above.

Stocks/Remote lines – Woods ball players like these over speed ball players. The stock lets you rest the gun on your shoulder, and the remote line is a coiled hose that attaches to your ASA and co2 tank, letting you wear your co2 tank in a pocket. Remotes can work like expansion chambers too.

Scope- Scopes aren’t very good in paintball. Paintballs aren’t very accurate anyway. Scopes also give you tunnel vision, which will probably result in you getting flanked

Red Dot Site- These are better then scopes because they won’t give you tunnel vision and is easier to use then a scope. They have a red dot inside the site and you jut line that up with the target and the aimer on the site.

RVA (Rear Velocity adjuster) - If you buy this, it will allow you to increase or decrease your velocity with out having to use allen wrenches. It allows you to adjust velocity with your fingers. (NOTE-THIS WILL NOT WORK WITH A REAR COCKING SYSTEM)

Rear Cocking System – This allows you to cock your gun from the end. Some people prefer these over side cocking markers. Usually, a metal plate and screws will be provided to cover the hole where the side cocking knob used to be. (NOTE- WILL NOT WORK WITH ROCKET COCK OR RVA)

Rocket Cock- This is used to cover up the side cocking system, and has a ring on a pin that attaches to the side cocking knob. So it covers the side cocking hole but you still cock from the side. This is for looks, but some say it quiets the gun quit a bit. I do not know, I don’t have one. It also helps keep debris and paint/paint shells out of your marker.

HPA (High Pressure Air) or N2 (Nitrogen) - These are interchangeable as far as paintball is concerned. You can fill most tanks with either or. HPA/n2 is more consistent then C02, so you will get better shots and you won’t get velocity spikes. You also won’t have to worry about having liquid C02 in the gun. These come in three common types- Fiber Wrapped, Aluminum, and Steel. Those are in order of the lightest to the heaviest. You will want to buy a tank cover for most Fiber wrapped tanks because they scratch easily. How many shots will you get? You multiply the CI (Cubic Inches) by these numbers…

10xCI= Number of shots for a 3000 PSI tank

15xCI= Number of shots for a 4500 PSI tank

20xCI= Number of shots for a 5000 PSI tank

Foe more information on HPa/n2 systems, please check the MILKMANS sticky.

There are many more upgrades, but that is all that I can think of right now…and I’m tired… I know I didn’t list all the barrels either, but I will add on to both at a later time.

Accuracy

Accuracy depends on several things, and length of the barrel doesn’t effect accuracy. Here are some things that effect accuracy

·        Good, fresh, non deformed paint

·        Paintballs without paint spill on them

·        Clean paintballs

·        Velocity not too high-280 FPS is good

·        Clean barrel

·        No spurs in barrel

·        Good Paint To Barrel Bore match

Paintball sizes- http://www.ottersccustoms.com/paintc.html

Barrel Sizes- http://www.ottersccustoms.com/barrelc.html

Remember, have fun and be safe!