Paintball Buyer’s Blog

One of the markers that everyone was talking about at World Cup was the SP-1 from Smart Parts. This marker is obviously targeted at the entry level woodsball player, a huge demographic that Smart Parts hopes to gain a foothold in. I brought an SP-1 back from World Cup and have been putting it through its paces. So far I am quite happy with its performance. Its sub-300psi operation is pretty gentle on paint and not too loud. The plethora of tactical rails give the scenario player lots of real estate for cool toys to be added. Spool valve markers tend to be low on recoil and the SP-1 has practically none. It is really easy to rapid fire and keep on target. Gas efficiency is average… not as efficient as a Spyder but about the same as a Tippmann. You can still expect about 1000+ shots from a 20oz CO2 tank. Yes, you can use a standard CO2 tank too, though more on that later. A two-finger trigger just got released for it and the Stock Adapter Plate is now available so you can attach most Tippmann 98 Custom stocks to the rear of the body.

The board is capped at 11 balls per second and in its current form does not have burst or full auto. I’ve heard quite a bit of people wonder why they did that and the answer is simple… most players don’t need it, don’t care for it once they have tried it and don’t have the proper accessories to use it properly to begin with. So many times I have been at a field and get called over to take a look at a kid’s marker. The CO2 tank and half the marker is frozen frosty white and paint is oozing out of their standard gravity fed hopper. The reason is always the same… the kid wanted to use burst or full auto. Well, if you use those modes without a fast motorized loader and compressed air your bolt is gonna chop and blend paintballs like a Cuisinart and your tank will freeze up till it looks like a snowcone. Since so many players don’t always have cash on hand for such accessories starting out, Smart Parts decided to slow the marker down a bit to account for lower technology. I know Virtue is working on a board for it right now so those will be available in the future.

As with any marker, I do recommend using compressed air. The performance in all weather conditions can’t be beat and it tends to be a lot cleaner than CO2 (all those rust bits, metal splinters and other garbage floating around in liquid CO2 tanks are horrible for your marker’s seals). However, the SP-1 and Vibe will accept anti-siphoned CO2 (make sure the line on the tank where the tube lies is facing up) or regular CO2 tanks. When using regular CO2 I recommend slowing down your rate of fire and try to keep the marker pointing barrel tip up when not actively shooting. If you shoot too fast you get a lot of liquid CO2 and dry ice in the regulator… the interesting design of the reg vents off the excess pressure and shuts down until conditions are back to normal. Thus the marker stops shooting until the passageways are clear again. So, if using CO2 try to shoot slower, or use compressed air and blaze away. By the way, a remote line really helps with CO2 use.

After messing around with a few different accessories and figuring out some cool combinations, I decided to offer them on our website in kit form. This way you can pick up a cool looking SP-1 with proper matching parts/ adapters and save a few bucks over buying everything separately at the same time!

Our SP-1 Rifleman kit includes a Smart Parts 16″ Tactical Barrel and a Collapsible Stock. Its a good basic setup with room to grow later.

The SP-1 Close Quarters kit provides a Collapsible Stock and a lasersight with pressure switch that mounts on one of the four front rails. This is red laser, not green, so its safe to use while playing. I used a laser in some big games awhile back and what was fun was painting the laser on an opponent but not pulling the trigger until they looked down and saw it. Their reaction was priceless!

The SP-1 Night Ops kit includes a Collapsible Stock and a Tactical Flashlight with pressure switch. A barrel mounted flashlight with pressure switch is one of the most important pieces of gear you can have in a 24 hour scenario game. Its quick light so you can see where you are going in the dark so you don’t break your neck and lights up your barrel cover when you’re walking back to the regeneration zone after being hit, so the other team doesn’t continue to shoot you. Of course, its also used for another dirty trick… when you have opponents looking in your direction, strobe the light at their eyes with the pressure switch. It will dazzle them briefly, making them see spots of color all over the place while you move in for the elimination.

The SP-1 Heavy Gunner kit puts a Collapsible Stock on your shoulder, a 16″ Tactical Barrel throwing the paint downrange and a Folding Bipod under the body front for keeping that aim steady when you’re trying to put a lot of paint downrange. I used to think bipods were just useless weight until I used one… they are amazing for keeping on target while reloading, laying down suppressive fire and dang it, they just look and feel awesome!

I’m impressed with the SP-1 and our company plans to support the platform thoroughly! Watch this space and our website for more cool toys to make your Smart Parts SP-1 shoot better and look sharper.