Ring. Ring...

Good afternoon. T-Square Paintball.

Yes. Hello. What time do you close?

We close at 6pm.

Oh. Okay. How late can I bring a tank in to be filled?

Ahhhummm, 6pm.

Okay. See ya later.

...click...

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New stuff...

Got the new Platinum Series Custom 98 in today. You can find my review here. Can't seem to find a bigger picture.

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EBAY magic...

Does anyone sell used guns on EBAY? Here are some descriptions of a few current deals:

"Everything has only been used twice"(Once in the mud and the other time in the rain)

"This is a very little used paintball outfit"
(Maybe because it’s broke)

"This gun and tank were purchased new and both are in excellent condition, only used 3 times!!" (Bought new five years ago and the tank is out of date)

I bought it a while back and forgot I had it in my closet(Maybe because it’s a piece of junk)

"Just Been Sitting In the Closet Because I Can't Get The Guys To Play That Begged Me To Buy It" (Now that’s just wrong!)

"Has only been used twice in my back yard to shoot at a target"
(300,000 times)

And as far as reasons for selling - these caught my eye:

"It was bought for my 11 year old grand son but he is not old enough"
(Mom law rules!)

"I never thought I would sell this gun but since my girlfriend won't get off my back, it goes on ebay" (Girlfriend law rules!)

"NO TRADES WIFE'S ORDERS UNLESS HIGHLY IN MY FAVOR AND I MEAN HIGHLY" (Wife law rules!)

"I'm too old, too slow, and too fat to run around now."(Nuff said)

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Old stuff...

Here's another oddity from VintageRex. The Nova was based on technology used to build those t-shirt shooters you see at arena events. It kind of lost its charm when word got out that it had a tendency of blowing apart at the rear end.

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From a land down under...

Here's a bit of paintball history I found interesting:
http://paintmagazine.com/npaint2/badger.shtml

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Jekyll and Hyde

A recent incident involving illegal drag racing got me to thinking about similar outlaw actions and their effect on what I’m going to call the “legitimate participants” of the sport.

Some young adults, and probably a few older ones, got together on a public street to do a little “street racing” – an illegal form of drag racing. Eight people were killed and dozens injured when a car went into a crowd of spectators. A responsible person would ask, “Why were they racing on the street?”

I'm going to guess most of the outlaw participants would point a finger at the GREEDY OWNERS of legitimate NHRA drag racing businesses who have the audacity to charge an entry fee to use their legal and safe facility. Meanwhile, some people shake their heads and condemn ALL drag racing as an unnecessary and evil killer of our youth.

Sports parachute clubs that follow proper rules and safe procedures have to deal with the negative publicity garnered from BASE jumpers who illegally hike into National Parks for the thrill of jumping off cliffs or who jump from public buildings and bridges.

Gun owners have to deal with those that believe it is their right to own assault style weapons. Hunters and fishermen have to deal with poachers. Kids walking to their local skate park with a skate board under their arm, holding a bag of safety equipment, are all labeled as “punks who terrorize public streets.”

And in case you missed the correlation it’s the backyard, or commonly called, renegade players who end up in emergency wards with a busted eyeball dripping down their cheek that legitimate players and field owners have to cope with. Or the people who think it’s cool to do paintball drive-bys or who get chased off public land. Or the ones who love to show off their oozing welts they get from playing without a chronograph or other basic safety rules. It's said any publicity is good publicity but is that always true?

I could go on. Whether you agree or not my point is made. And before someone tries to pull the “personal rights” card on me let me say I’m the first one who will stand up for personal rights. Go jump off a bridge. Go to the range and fire up targets with your AK-47. As long as my rights are not impugned upon by your wrongs I’m a happy camper.

I suppose every sport or endeavor has its dark side. Maybe for the sake of personal rights we legitimate participants should allow the outlaws and renegades their right to do as they please and instead go after the short sighted folks who think the outlaws and renegades represent us all.

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Even more new stuff...

JT Sports Introduces the first of its QLS Mask line with the brand new Reaper. Currently available in Black and in Blue this "revolutionary" new mask features a low profile brow and soft removable gel skirt. This Quick Lens System enables fast and easy lens changes.

QSL? "Quick Lens System"? They carry on like maybe they invented the concept. Fact is it has taken them tears to catch up. Good move.

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I was never good at math, either...

All I can do is shake my head.

"I want a private ref (him and his 8 friends). There's 45 players in the walk-on group. That's too many."

Looking over at the stack of 24 walk-on player cards, "Sir, you have to make reservations for 12 or more players so I can have time to insure a private ref will be available."

Another player. "Ref he hit me 14 times."

Checking him and seeing one hit on his back, "Wow, that's not good. I'll talk to the other player."

One more player. "Hey ref. When I crashed into that log bunker and you dumped all my broken paint out of my hopper and replaced the hopper with a bag of 100 rounds I don't think you realized I had 3 bags of paint in that hopper."

Heavy sigh. "Player the hopper was half full and only holds 180 paintballs when it's full."

"Yeah. So?"

Must be that new math they teach in school.

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Old stuff...

If you haven't been over to Vintage Rex (Marker Museum) you should really take the time to visit. Maybe you have to be an old guy like me to appreciate some of the paintball history displayed there.

It's true all paintball guns are nearly identical; a trigger, a barrel, a body, a grip, etc. But every now and then something comes along that makes you go, "What?"



This is actually a conversion kit. I'm not sure what it's converting to or why someone would want to add 10 pounds to the already behmouth PMI-III (VM-68) that's buried in the middle of this thing. It's called the Bullpup Conversion Kit and only a few were actually made by Pneumatic Ordinance in 1995. (pic and info courtesy of Vintage Rex)

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The quest for accuracy...

Rifled!? Please. Consider the true definition of barrel rifling - a series of spiral grooves cut inside the length of a barrel, designed to spin a bullet around its horizontal axis in order to improverange and accuracy.

Bullets, yes. Round paintballs, no!

How do you make a baseball curve? You put spin on it by rotating your wrist.

SPIN! You put spin on it.

Why would you want a rifled barrel on a paintball gun?

Why do barrel manufacturers advertise rifled barrels?*

In most cases what the barrel makers call "rifling" is actually spiraled holes drilled down the side that, fortunately do not add spin to the paintball. In the case of the "Tru-flight" barrel that has actual rifling in the barrel the rifling is straight. "Hammerhead" barrels are spiral rifled. Fortunately that rifling is so light and fake that it has no spinning effect on the paintball.

Paintball markers are not rifles. They are toys** we use to play a game called paintball. Paintball markers are inaccurate. There is nothing a barrel can do to a paintball to add any measurable accuracy. The reason tournament players shoot 25+ balls per second is to make up for the inaccuracy. One case - one kill!

Truth.


*to make you think the barrel is more accurate and worth the outrageous sale price.

**even though most of them have the evil warning stamped on the side "This is not a toy!"

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Bold moves...

There's a big deal being made over on the PBN forum about a field in Kansas that is requiring rec ball players to use gravity feed hoppers only. This is an attempt to slow the rate of fire so new players won't be intimidated by the game. It's being called a "bold move" on the part of the field owners with much discussion as to the pros and cons of such a decision.

I can attest to the fact that it's a great idea.

I've operated a successful "limited rate of fire" field for 14 years. And without any restriction on equipment. If I hear more than three shots in a row I ask the player to slow down. If I see a player with more than three hits on him I hunt down the person or people who hit him and call them out. I have a big sign at the door that says "Semi Only - no Auto, Burst, Ramping, Fanning, RT, ect." Word gets out. People know I operate a family first rec ball field. Hard core players go to the field across town.

Pretty simple.

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I'll huff and I'll puff...

The winds blew. Hard. I sat in the Wallyworld parking lot watching shopping carts, sans shoppers, streak by. I was there because I didn't want to go back to the field where tarp tents and signs and garbage cans and netting and air ball bunkers were gathering and spinning in the center of the speedball field to discuss their Kansas getaway. Some might wonder why I wasn't rushing back to try and stop them.

Ten fingers and ten toes. Imagine a dike leaking from forty three places.

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