Paintball Buyer’s Blog

After working in paintball shops for several years one thing you get used to was the last minute Christmas holiday rush. It never ceased to amaze me how people would come into our showrooms or call us on our ordering line (1-800-875-4547) and say “I’ve got a son/ daughter/ husband/ wife/ niece/ nephew that needs a paintball gift and I have no idea what to get”. I used to keep popular marker packages already pre-boxed behind the counter for such desperate customers. Another common request was for simple quick paintball Christmas ’stocking stuffers’ ideas. When I ran a store I would have these on the counter, but since more and more shopping is being done online (after all, we are Paintball-Online.com) I figure I’ll help out those last-minute shoppers on here.

Gloves are one of those gifts that every paintballer can use. A popular glove among the recreational paintball scene… and a good choice for kids… are the CORE Hard Top Paintball Gloves. These feature half fingers for dexterity, a padded palm and flexible plastic armor on the back. You barely even feel getting hit by a paintball in these things. They are really inexpensive and the half finger design helps them fit a wide variety of hands.

Another hot seller and perfectly sized for the stocking are the 08 JT Gloves. They have two models to choose from, Team Series and Pro Series. Team Series are available in Black , Blue, Olive and Red. They feature lots of compression formed padding on the backs and wrists with silicon armor on the knuckles. Pro Series gloves are available in the same colors as well, with a wrist strap and more flexibility at the joints and Lycra trigger fingers for trigger speed. Used by many of the top professional teams, these gloves are sure to make any player happy.

All paintballers need squeegees, the more the better. They get worn out, forgotten at home, lost on the field or “borrowed” and never returned. Pull throughs clean the best, stick squeegees can be used the fastest and swabs are handy for sopping up little bits of paint and cleaning chambers and feednecks. We have a 4 Piece Squeegee Set that offers all three plus a lanyard for keeping the stick squeegee around your neck for easy access. Again, every paintball player, no matter what skill level or style, always need them! A few CORE Barrel Covers will be well appreciated as well.

Its winter time and if you want to get them something they can use right away, take a look at Smart Parts Beanies. These acrylic knit caps look cool, keep their noggin warm and tell the world they play paintball. These just dropped 33% in price too so you’re getting quite the deal! There’s the Flipside (reversible black to red), classic Black and Blue, Crosshair (featuring Smart Parts’ famous logo) and the hip Brimmed.

Still can’t think of something? There is always a Paintball-Online Gift Certificate as well ! Simply choose which amount you would like and place the order. Print out our Gift Certificate Form (located on webpage) and fill in the certificate number we email to you when we process your order. Ready to be slipped into an envelope or holiday card and stuffed into that stocking.

Take a look at our Holiday Gift Ideas page for more great last minute ideas to finish getting all those paintball gifts. All orders placed by 12pm PST on Dec 14th on items in stock receive guaranteed UPS Ground Shipping in the Continental US!

Added… Check out the new BT-4 Delta Elite here !

Back in stock are BT’s two latest paintball markers, offshoots of the innovative and successful modular design that put them on the paintball map. One is comprised of several popular features all rolled into one low price and the other is a complete milsim monster! But before I discuss both of those I should probably draw your attention to the new loader, the BT Rip Clip Electronic Loader for BT-4 markers.

The Rip Clip basically takes the drive cone force feed of a HALO B and the sound activation and speed of an Empire Reloader , puts them in a compact housing and mounts it securely to the side of your BT paintball marker (no, it doesn’t fit other markers). The end result is a force feed hopper with a low target profile and plenty of room for accessories or even a monster 45mm dot sight! Force feed pushes right through pressure blowback so each ball is positively chambered and sound activation means that your loader won’t shut down from dirty, loose or broken eyes or wires. We are selling more and more BT Electronic Gripframes and this loader was designed to be the perfect companion.

This leads us to the next product from BT, the BT-4 ERC paintball marker. Lets see… BT has a very popular base gun, the BT-4 Combat, a successful electronic gripframe, an electronic loader and the hugely popular Apex Barrel that people often buy all at the same time… why not combo that all together in one box? That’s just what they did! The ERC combines all those great accessories into one pre-built package and saves you about $50 at the same time. You get the speed and cool burst and auto modes of the electronic frame coupled with a loader designed to feed those speeds so you not chopping paint like those old Ginsu Knife commercials and the adjustable backspin effects of the Apex Barrel for increasing your effective range and flat trajectory another 100 feet!

Now me, I need another paintball marker like I need a hole in the head… but dang, the new BT Delta paintball marker just looks and feels soooooo awesome. When we got them in I set one up and took it on a quick tour of the office to show the sales staff. Two hours later it finally made it back… everyone from the warehouse staff to sales to even the general manager wouldn’t put it down. The look of the Delta is based on the immensely popular MP5 line of submachineguns, again all centered around the basic BT body shells. The most striking feature is the retractable stock. Just like the real thing, a locking lever underneath lets two arms slide in or out along the length of the body. This allows for an incredibly short size for gear bag stowage or for that perfect fit when shouldering against a fully loaded tactical vest. A metal mag well holds a mock curved 9mm magazine and the top shroud over the barrel and body completes the look, even down to the authentically-styled front/ rear sights and side sling mount. Throw an Electronic Grip and Rip Clip on there and you have the complete SWAT scenario marker!

I’ve heard rumors of some big product changes in the future for BT, hopefully to be released at the Oklahoma D-Day game in July (looks like this event is going to become the World Cup of manufacturer’s releases of milsim/ scenario/ woodsball gear). If they are as well thought out and attractive as their current lineup they are already a winner.

Added… check out the new BT-4 Delta Elite here.

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.

Everything comes in cycles, and what is old will eventually become new again. Seems like everything in life follows this… paintball is no exception. Paintball started with pump action markers, where one had to manually pump the marker like a shotgun to cock the action and load the next paintball. This style of marker was eventually eclipsed by semi and full autos, with most companies either switching to semi models, making other products or simply drifting away.

LAPCO (did you know that stands for L.A. Paintgun Company?) innovated several products for paintball such as the bottomline… but the product that put them on the map was the Grey Ghost. It is often considered to be the finest pump marker ever built. While they were in production they were hard to get as each one was hand finished and tested. When the industry switched to semiauto and LAPCO concentrated on barrels and accessories the Grey Ghost became a sought-after collector’s item. Well, now you don’t have to watch Ebay everyday or trade away your first born… LAPCO has brought back the Grey Ghost and is available through us! They are not cheap… but its one marker you’ll never want to part with!

Today’s Ghost keeps the awesome features of the original and adds a few modern conveniences. They decided to go with a stockclass configuration, meaning the paintballs are loaded horizontal to the barrel and must be tilted to chamber the next ball when pumping (there are more requirements to be stockclass legal but that is the biggie!). Custom LAPCO fingergrooved grips fit like a glove and the marker features the classic slide trigger which makes for a butter smooth pull without being too light. The pump is ribbed for a sure grip and has an internal return spring so you don’t have to hold the pump handle forward the whole time while playing.

Feeding gas to the Ghost is a bucket-style 12gr quickchange adapter, hung vertically from the front of the triggerguard. Stainless steel hose runs on the right side of the marker to the valve and they even did a trick Ive been doing for years… installing a quick disconnect fitting at one end. It makes maintenence quick and easy. Luckily for today’s players, LAPCO utilized the same innovative internals to deliver excellent gas efficiency. The Ghost averages 40+ shots per 12gr cartridges so you are not constantly changing 12 grams and wasting money!

The fit and finish is phenomenal, from the tight tolerances to the LAPCO Bigshot barrel in Spyder thread to the brass quickstrip screws. The classic grey anodizing is flawless. A T-Stock ships with the Grey Ghost for those who want to steady their aim…. yes, this marker is one that you actually do aim and with great effect.

Its great to see an old classic come back to life and a new generation of players have access to a marker that really is an investment… timeless old school cool!

Just got a call from Smart Parts and did a big buy on their paintball jerseys and pants for a pretty big discount. To pass on this savings, prices have been cut big time!  This applies to all Smart Parts paintball playing apparel in Grey, Red, Blue, Yellow, Freak Green and Olive. Sorry, the special does not apply to the new Digital Urban and Jungle at this time.

The Smart Parts Fighter 3 Jersey is now at $24.95, down from $39.95. Its well made, simple yet classy looks, lightly padded and well ventilated. The Smart Parts Fighter 3 Pants are now $39.95, down from $59.95. They are a great deal on pants… tough, light and airy so you don’t overheat.

The Smart Parts Defender Jersey takes it another step up, with more padding on the shoulders, elbow and cuff. These are now $29.95 instead of  $49.95. The hottest deal on these clothes, however, are the Smart Parts Defender Pants. These thoroughly padded and burly pants are now $49.95… thats 50% off of the old price of $99.95 !

Of course, to round out the whole package you need gloves… yes, the price was slashed on those too! The Smart Parts Exoskin Gloves are now $24.95 and you get compression formed padding and ventilation running up every finger! What would help haul all these new clothes to the field? A roomy and comfortable Smart Parts Fielder Backpack, now $15 off for the new price of $39.95. I personally bought one of these to help carry some odds and ends to the field… I like it so much its now my everyday backpack I use commuting to work.

So let’s see… one could now get a complete set of Fighter 3 jersey, pants and gloves for $89.85 or a Defender jersey, pants and gloves for $104.95!  For less than the cost of some companies pants alone you can get a complete set of quality and stylin’ paintballing gear. This is while our supllies last so I suggest hurrying if you’re interested… Christmas is right around the corner!

I know I bring it up a lot, but I really can’t emphasis it enough… wear protective gear when you play paintball ! It doesn’t matter where or what style you play, whether you’re a newbie or a tournament player. I’m not necessarily talking about gear that absorbs the impact of a paintball (though everyone should have some of that too). More important is gear to protect you from yourself. Paintball is a physical sport. No matter how careful or graceful you think you are you are going to dive, drop, crawl, fall, slip, trip, crash, somersault and just run into things sooner or later. If you’re like me its a case of more often than not… at 6 foot 210 pounds I’m not what you call “graceful”. I used to brag about my paintball injuries, now I beg people to start taking padding seriously !

Probably the most important protective equipment is knee pads. You beat the heck out of your knees playing paintball anywhere and they can be the most painful and long-lasting of sports injuries. A good set of knee pads run around $40-60 and that is A LOT cheaper than knee surgery. A few brands really stand out for 2008. New to the lineup this the Dye 08 Knee Pad. I’ve owned a couple models of Dye knee pads over the years and they’ve never let me down. The padding is firm enough to absorb impact yet the designed hinges for flexibility. Smart Parts Exoskin Knee Pads feature lots of venting to breathe. Empire Ground Pounders SE continue to be both lightweight, popular and affordable with a slim design that doesn’t bind up under your pants while the Ventz SE Knee Pads protect not just the knee but the whole shin as well! Very nice for woodsball and killing yourself on logs and tree roots.

We are selling more and more slide shorts these days. These are a pair of padded shorts worn under your playing pants and feature hip, thigh, groin and lower back protection. Players are landing on their sides more often, slamming your harness into your lower back does not feel too good and groin padding is, well, self-explanatory! Again, all the big names cater to this product. Smart Parts Exoskin Slide Shorts are probably the most ventilated. Dye Slide Shorts feature a wide elastic waistband and firm padding. Empire Ground Pounders Slide Shorts have a wide and long pad on both sides and are the most economical. Proto Slide Shorts are both lightweight and feature a cuff at the bottom to keep them from riding up your leg while playing.

One standout in this category is the Empire Ground Pounder Pro Slider Pants. They take the concept to the limit with a full stretch pant that protects not just the midsection but also the whole thigh, knee and shin.

More to come…

Viewloader, who make some of… if not the… best loaders in paintball, called me up with a sweet deal on some VL XSV Vlocity loaders. just in time for Christmas! While supplies last, you can score these excellent electronic hoppers for just $109.99. Thats $70 off the old price and $20 below a standard Vlocity! Its probably the best value out there to feed any fast firing tournament and scenario marker out there. The heart of it is the same rugged design as used by professional team XSV, with different tension settings to maximize speed without crushing brittle paint. This edition also includes the Clockspring Propeller, a new drive cone that features springy arms to allow more room for paint to index into the catchcup while providing even more cushioning to prevent turning your loader into a brittle tourney-paint blender. However, the best addition is a set of long-lasting Ion-Lithium batteries and recharging base with both wall and car plugs. Not only are you saving $70, but you never have to buy batteries for your loader.

Again, this special is while supplies last… and I doubt they’ll last long. If you need a new force-feeding loader, here’s your chance to save big. If you’re Christmas shopping for a paintballer on your list, here is a great deal on something any player can use!

Invert and Empire have always kept the younger generation of paintball players in mind when they design new gear and the 2008 line is no exception. Now kids can not only look like pros but also have a wide range of safety gear to prevent injuries that could affect them down the road.

Let’s face it… kids love camo and 2008 Invert clothing offers a pant, jersey and gloves in the popular Woodland Digi Camo. These are not some cheaply made, disposable kid’s clothing. These are serious pieces of gear made to the same exact specs that the pros use. Built to last, one full set of gear will outlast many sets of street clothes and they look infinitely cooler!

The Invert Youth Pants feature padded knees and Kevlar (thats what they make bullet-resistant vests out of) reinforced skidplates so the knees aren’t getting shredded and full of holes. They are roomy and have drawstring cuffs at the ankles and velcro waist adjustment on the sides to not only give a proper fit but also provide a little room to grow into. Youth Large is about a 26-28in Waist, Youth Medium 24-26in and Youth Small 22-24in.

The Invert Youth Jersey is vented for circulation and has padding on the elbows, deltoid and shoulders to take some of the sting out of getting hit.

Gloves are one of the most important pieces of gear to prevent your hands from getting cut and scraped up. The Invert Youth Paintball Glove puts padded Clarino between their skin and the ground. The breathable open cell neoprene backs take the sting out of hand hits, with extra padding over the knuckles for added safety.

Empire also offers protective gear in youth sizes as well. For 2008 the Ground Pounder Series has Slide Shorts, Pro Slider Pants, Elbow Pads, Knee Pads and Chest Vest chest armor. Knee pads and elbow pads I personally consider to be essential equipment and I’m really liking the Pro Slider Pants and how it puts padding all over the place because really, do you ever fall in the same place every time?

Keep those kids both safe and looking good this season!

Tippmann is running a rebate right now that helps out both the player and your local paintball store and field. How it works is simple. From now until February 15th, 2008 you buy any Tippmann 98 Custom or Custom Pro. Take your new marker and go play at your local field, saving your receipt for your entry fee (must be at least $20) or from getting CO2 and air fills adding up to $20. Fill out the rebate form, mail it in with copies of the proper receipts and Tippmann will mail you a check for $20. How cool is that?

Its finally here! The entire line of 2008 Empire paintball apparel is in our warehouse and will be shipping next week so start placing your orders now because a lot of this stuff is going to go quick before the Christmas rush even begins. This year Empire’s main lineup is focused on five color options… Black, Blue, Red, traditional Woodland Camo and old-school Desert Camo. The Desert Camo is the choice making the most waves at the moment and just might be the biggest seller of the year.

First up is the Empire SE Jersey. This year they added a longer cuff with a thumbhole so the sleeves don’t go sliding up and over your elbow pads when you dive. They added more tournament-legal padding to the outer wrist area and deltoid areas to give you a little more protection from injury, and rubber grippy emblems in the shoulder pocket region to help hold your tank in place. Most of the shoulder and sleeves are black… a classy look on the rec field and helps sponsor logos stand out more for those teams good enough to get sponsorship.

Covering hardcore paintballers legs this year will be the Empire SE Pants. What I love about these is the amount of padding they put into them. They have the usual knee and vitals covered but also put in some cushion zones to the hip, shin, thigh, rear and sides of the knees. Really people, I don’t care how tough you think you are… load up protection and pad yourself against injury! The SE Pants have a high backed waist and stretchy yoke to hold your harness in place comfortably and really wide belt loops so if you want to wear your favorite 2 1/2″ wide studded leather belt while playing like I do, now you can. Kevlar reinforcement, soft covered zippers… really, I could keep going on and on about these pants… do yourself a favor and get a pair!

Of course, one needs gloves to round out the apparel. The Empire SE Gloves feature open cell neoprene backs so your hands can breathe, with cushy neoprene and gel sections sewn into the wrists and knuckles for protection on those bony bits of your hands. The fingers feature a Lycra section on the two trigger fingers for feel and mobility. I’m sure most people will still cut these off but when I was at World Cup I noticed that nearly all players using them such as Infamous were playing with the fingers still on the gloves. Hmmm, what does that tell you about how they feel? The palms are a combination of Kevlar pads to hold up against slides and grippy silicon patches to grip your marker. All that and some sweet styling to boot. The pre-orders on these are already piling up…

That covers just the basic apparel for the 2008 Empire line. I haven’t even gotten started on the gear bags, tank covers, harnesses or hoodies. Do yourself a favor and click on this link… Empire is going to be hard to beat for the quality and features this year!