Paintball Rumor Mill

[going_home]

Havent played since a week after Tunaball.

May not last too long in this heat but I need to play at least once this month.

[zondo]

Hopefully playing next week at a BYOP night.

[BigEvil]

Im done until after our Myrtle Beach vacation..... Gotta try out the new Shocker

[Dayspring]

Im done until after our Myrtle Beach vacation..... Gotta try out the new Shocker

You picked one up? 1) That was fast. 2) From who?

[djinnform]

I finally got my Doc's adaptor running a few weeks ago. The field paint was shooting like darts. Does Doc's adaptor make paint shoot straighter?

[UncleStasiu]

I finally got my Doc's adaptor running a few weeks ago. The field paint was shooting like darts. Does Doc's adaptor make paint shoot straighter?

I've noticed the same and have an idea. My twistlock CP barrel shoots well. No complaints. It does have a little bit of play in the body though. Not much, but you can feel it if you move the barrel around. A cocker CP barrel in a Doc adapter in the same gun always seems to shoot with more precision. I chalk it up to the adapter being solidly held in place by the overtightened twistlock pin, and the fact that it seems to be tighter fit in the body.

[PsychoMag]

So if the rumor mill turns out to be true, and the one large paint manufacturer (GI) buys the other large paint manufacturer (KEE), will the paint quality get better or worse ?


Can the paint even get any worse ?


Field paint like Marballizer used to be the best, now its no better than $30 dollar a box Midnight from Sports Authority.

I just shot 4 cases of marbs at legends 8. Every ball shot well, had good breaks, and no barrel breaks at all. I used my JT Imp, Demonic Cocker, my Angel A1, and level 7 minimag. I noticed the shell change, I liked that dry shell. What other changes were made besides RPS getting sucked into the mega-conglomerate? I normally shoot evil. I don't really pay attention to the politics behind paintball. IT always changes, not necessarily for the good.

[Nobody]

I heard that Bob Long uses a grinder to prototype his guns then tries to make them work...

[JKR]

Marbs are now made in South Korea at the same plant making Valken Graffiti and Valken Redemption paint. I used a case of it in October at Bear Claw Paintball at their Game of Thrones scenario and the Marbs shot better than they had for several years.

[going_home]

I heard that Bob Long uses a grinder to prototype his guns then tries to make them work...

http://www.boblongdirect.com

Phone number on the site.

Call and talk to Zach and clear up the mystery.

[Nobody]

Why, i got my info from a credible source. If i were to call, why would they even confirm it?

[going_home]

Marbs are now made in South Korea at the same plant making Valken Graffiti and Valken Redemption paint. I used a case of it in October at Bear Claw Paintball at their Game of Thrones scenario and the Marbs shot better than they had for several years.

Used a couple cases of Marbs field paint last month.

$65 dollar a case, worse than $30 a case Midnight from Sports Authority .

[vintage]

i picked up some Valken(graffiti or redemption not sure) and it is so small it barely touches going thru a .684 freak insert. now i'm going to have to get some smaller inserts. i used the .684 at Tunaball

[JKR]

Strange. Graffiti and Redemption have been coming in a solid .684-.685 for me just about every time I use it. The packaging, with the dessicant in each individual bag seems to result in very consistent paint...at least that has been my experience.

[vintage]

there was no dessicant in either bag.

[going_home]

Juicy rumor coming from 00F this morning: Gi Sportz is reportedly eyeing a takeover of Kee Action Sports. Acquisition seems to be done according to multiple sources… It will make the Gi Group the biggest paintball company ever in our industry.

Good or bad news for our sport?

http://www.face-full.com/gi-sportz-r...action-sports/



Anyone heard any more on this ?

[going_home]

Well it's official, John Dresser posted GI is definitely buying Kee.

Does anyone care ?

If so what's your concern ?

Likely some duplicate lines of paint will go away.

They now own both major low end lines, Tippmann and Kingman Spyder, wonder what changes will come of that.....

[going_home]

[Cyco-Dude]

seems pretty universal in opinion from what i've read so far: it won't be good for us.

[OPBN]

Not that I really care, but does GI have some private backers or something? It always makes me wonder how companies that are either smaller or haven't been around very long absorb larger companies.

[going_home]

Not that I really care, but does GI have some private backers or something? It always makes me wonder how companies that are either smaller or haven't been around very long absorb larger companies.

Fulcrum Capital Partners

[zulubravo44]

Fulcrum Capital Partners

Canadians eh? Interesting investment for them, considering their other investments.

All this makes me wonder if the market isn't getting too concentrated. I know no one cares enough to do anything about it, but acquisitions like this in other markets (telecoms particularly) would raise the ire of the SEC. That's a major consolidation of the market share in paintballs, if not equipment.

[going_home]

Richmond Italian is Canadian, so it's no surprise really.

[nak81783]

Notably, the Redemption Gold, or Pro, or whatever it's called, wasn't any better than the standard Redemption in our opinion.

Discouraging to hear that's happening at the high end, too. I don't see much of a different between the entry, low-mid, and upper-mid offerings from Valken. I was hoping to buy my way out of paint issues.

i picked up some Valken(graffiti or redemption not sure) and it is so small it barely touches going thru a .684 freak insert. now i'm going to have to get some smaller inserts. i used the .684 at Tunaball

I've had to use .673 and .676 iFit inserts for Graffiti recently to prevent Autococker rollouts.

knowing what you know now about current paint, would you be willing to pay $75/case for 1990's marbalizers today?

Yes, I would, but would enough others do the same to convince a company to make a quality paint worth $75/case? At this point, I would pay $75 a case for what PMI Premiums were in the early 2000s, maybe even for what BigBall was.

I'm concerned what the poor paint quality will do for new players. IMO, bounces hurt more. Also, it's discouraging for the shooter to witness the bounce. Will a young new player continue playing if he/she is taking 3-4 bounces per game, resulting in more discomfort than one clean break? Especially when, on the flip side, they're not getting the satisfaction of eliminations as they witness their paint bouncing off their opponents.

They now own both major low end lines, Tippmann and Kingman Spyder, wonder what changes will come of that.....

Tippman? Kingmann?

[going_home]

There are still lots of other companies making paint, guns, and equipment.

No one is going to bother with trying to prove GI is a monopoly.

[vintage]

we used to get alot of bounces back in the early 90's with the ZAP field paint. usually came home with a dozen or more welts after a days play but we did not care back then as the other two problems with paint--accuracy and in gun breakage were not a problem.

[going_home]

Not sure if this will cause paint to get better, but can it get any worse ?

I've found locally here that no matter whether you pay 65 or 30 a case there's very little difference.

So little I started buying 30 dollar midnight (made by GI) from Sports Authority.

It's so close in quality (or lack of) to 4 and 5 star GI it's not even funny.

That and I'm not afraid to buy heavy because as long as it's a full case I can return it with receipt.

If it looks like I'm not going to play for a month, I return it and buy more when needed.

[JKR]

Surprised to hear about any reports of any really small Graffiti. It is always about .684 when I get it and usually shoots great. Valken Redemption and Graffiti are my two favorite paints currently. I hope they keep them the same quality as they have been for me over the past couple of years.

[nak81783]

I've found locally here that no matter whether you pay 65 or 30 a case there's very little difference.

So little I started buying 30 dollar midnight (made by GI) from Sports Authority.

It's so close in quality (or lack of) to 4 and 5 star GI it's not even funny.

I think at least one of the fields near me has noticed many people have figured this out. They don't even offer a case below $55 (which leads me to believe margins go up as grade increases), and it's a house formula made for them by Valken in a special box. I want to be clear that I'm not accusing any business or company of anything, but without any noticeable change from Infinity to Crusade (Honestly, I couldn't tell a difference from it and the case of Grafitti I bought when I was frustrated with it), how do I know what I'm getting from them? How do they know what they're getting from Valken?

Does anyone know if margins increase with grade level, ceteris paribus, such as purchase volume?

And for what paintballs are, can we be expected to notice the difference between 7 grades of paint? I can only tell the difference between 3, maybe 4 grades of beer!

[Pneumagger]

I used some Valken infinity in my mag and phantom. shot great.
No complaints at all when shooting from the phantom - where I definitely would have noticed bad consistency.