Advise needed!

[knuckledragger]

Several months ago I saw a story about paintball on CNN. Intrigued I went and played indoor with my family. Not being really prepared and being dressed without much padding I shot my daughter in the ankle and she was hurt. She never wanted to play again. However, the rest of us LOVED IT!!!!!!

I am now totally addicted as is my son. After reading numerous paintball magazines I bought an A-5. My question is did I simply succomb to lots of bull**** advertising or do I have a decent Marker. I have put a flatline barrell and did notice improved distance and somewhat better acuracy.

I would also like to know is does the Marker make that much difference in your game. It seeems some guys can shoot with what appears to be incredible accuracy. While I will send a wall of paint and never hit my mark. What is the secret. If the anwser is a better marker then what is the best most accurate. Thanks in advance!!! :confused:

[Chronobreak]

Welcome to AO accuracy is paint to barrel match i suggest ditching the flatline but after you get used to the gubn and aim better you can judge where the paints gonna go better tippmans are on the low spectrum and there ok for woods and rec but if u play tourneys u may wanna get a mag or a cheap electro

[kopfjaeger]

Hose down a point in front of where your opponent is running and let them run into your paint. Try to shoot at people who are at angles from you. Like if you are on the left tape, shoot at the guys on the right tape. It will be easier for you to catch someones elbows, feet, shoulder, or head this way. It is much more difficult to hit people in the bunkers directly in front of you. :)

[RtDaNiMaL]

hey,
that is a good ? lots of people have A-5's. but it really depends on what kind of paintball you play. for instane if you play woods ball with wide areas, the tippman is the way to go, but if you arte going to go out to your ordaniary speed ball field, then it wouldnt be the best gun. Also the flat line wll make a difference, it shoots straight for the first 100 feet, then is slowly starts to sink at a rapid pace.

It really depends on what kind of game you play for the type of marker you get. In my view, the gun is okay if you play woods ball, and yes you really got suckered into their bull****!!!
good luck

[LittlePaintballBoy]

I personally like A5s as begginning guns, because they are workhorses. My suggestion is to get rid of the flatline. Sell it and but a good barrel, J&J barrels are awesome, and cheap. When we had an A5 we had a flatline on it, it is fun shooting balls way out there, but it has horrible accuracy.

[Konigballer]

your A5 is a good basic gun, I used to hold my own with a Tippman Prolite against cockers and mags for years and the A5 is a better marker than that.

Your flatline is mostly hype though. It DOES do what it claims though, improves DISTANCE. But distance does not equate accuracy. With a flatline your paint is reaching out far and with a level trajectory but your shots tend to fan out, negating any distance advantage achieved with the flatline. The paintballs also lose so much velocity by the time they get out downrange that they basically seem to just float in the air, anyone who has ever played against one has probably seen this. I've been hit by shots from one and just had them bounce of my arm with out braking, that is useless.

I would just get a decent aftermarket barrel and get a good paint to barrel match and you should be good to go, with lots of target practice of course.
Try a Lapco, Dye, or other respected barrel. Theirs some players, usually woods players, who swear by flatlines, but generally I think u will find a consensus that you should dtich it.

[CaliWagon31]

A-5 is a good gun man, you didn't waste your money. Not a high lvl marker but im sure u are having fun with it

[Loud Tim]

to say u got suckered into their bs is not totally true its not the gun of choice for most of the people that are on the forums because they have been playing for awhile and have moved up the ladder from low end to high end guns. to call the tippman a low end gun does not mean that it is not good because it is great for people just getting into the sport they are simple to take apart and cleanand they are a work horse i know few guns that u can bounce off a brick wall and then throw them in a creek and still have them shoot like a champ. i would recomend ditching the flatline barrel and get a j&j barrel they arnt the most cosmetic barrel but thats cus j&j focus on the inside of the barrel not the outside. the problem with the flatline is that it is very hard on paint. sending it through a curved barrel is gonna give u alot of barrel breaks if u are using a more fragile paint, and after u get a little bit of paint or dirt in that flatline your balls are just gonna scew out in every direction.

[SpecialBlend2786]

ANYTHING Tippmann is a good choice for a first gun. Therefore you made a good choice :)

The A-5 has a decent upgrade path as well, with choices such as an electronic trigger and auto responce frames. Plus, Tippmanns are built like tanks, my m98 NEVER broke or let me down.

[knuckledragger]

Could you tell me if I bought another barell like a J&J would I get a 16 14 or 12 inch. Thanks in advance.

[Loud Tim]

umm depends on what u are doing with it if u are playing rec ball 12 inch is just as good as a 16. the advantage of a longer barrel is that it alwows u to push into air bunkers and wrap on them. performance wise a 12" 14" and 16" barrel will all shoot the same distance and be just as accurate.

[ZapTheMad]

J&J ceramic barrels are the way to go. They actually clear ball breaks fairly well just by shooting a few more balls. Nothing compares to a good squeegie job, but sometimes you aren't in the position to clean your barrel while being shot at.

[SpecialBlend2786]

Personally, I would go for a 14" J&J Ceramic if you are looking for a cheap, effective barrel design. The J&J barrels really impressed me, and are a great value for the money you spend on them.

[Jeffy-CanCon]

Could you tell me if I bought another barell like a J&J would I get a 16 14 or 12 inch. Thanks in advance.

Longer barrels are not more accurate, but since most paintballers aim down the side of the marker rather than over the top, the longer barrels are a little easier to aim with. The longer barrels can be a less efficient on air, but Tippmanns tend to be air-hogs anyway, so I doubt you'd notice.

Welcome to paintball, and welcome to AO!

[ghideon]

Can't go wrong with Lapco barrels either, for any gun. Lapco also does a lot of A-5 upgrades (not too sure what they all do, since I'm not an A-5 owner).

http://www.lapcopaintball.com
http://www.lapcodirect.com
Also, check out the A-5 Owners group:

http://beta.a5ownersgroup.com/forum/

[Chris42050]

A-5 =Good gun for money. You got a built in loader and an r/t trigger. Perfect starter gun IMO.

The flatline. If you can hit people and have the paint break then use it. But I am starting to think that that part of the gun is hype myself. I liked them at first but I am now realizing my friends get good range but lots of bounces. Masks are probably your best chance for breaks.

Bounces =Frustration

[Scherdy]

...You got a good gun. Especially for learning how to take something apart, mess with the marker and put it back together . A5's are pretty forgiving.

Be sure you check out that link to the a5 owners group. Lots of helpful people there just like here. I have had an a-5 for a year now. It definitely holds it's own and remember it's not the marker that makes the player. Everyone's advice on barrel choice is right on. Lapco and J&J are great barrels and you're not paying for the label, just a good barrel. Be sure to look into regulators on the a-5 O.G. and HPA are always a good investment if you're looking to increase accuracy. But learn how it works stock so you can see how you want to improve it first.

And when you do decide to upgrade your marker....a couple years, 8 months, (ok, 4 weeks) down the road, your a-5 will still be hummin' (as long as you keep it oiled) and will be a great backup or loaner to friends who you are trying to sucker into playing with you! There's nothing worse than while you're getting into paintball spending the day fixing a marker that just won't work. Your a-5 should keep you on the field and playing!

[knuckledragger]

Wow, that is a lot of great information! Thank you all. As I mostly seem to play speedball I think I may try a different barell.

I still am confused by how I can get hit almost directly between the eyes by some players, while I just wiz paint all around them. It does not seem to be coinsidence or pure luck that the same players are making lots of great shots and others just keep missing. Is there a huge difference between a $200 marker and a $1200 marker as far as accuracy or is it simply skill. Thanks in advance.

[space_weazel_45]

Wow, that is a lot of great information! Thank you all. As I mostly seem to play speedball I think I may try a different barell.

I still am confused by how I can get hit almost directly between the eyes by some players, while I just wiz paint all around them. It does not seem to be coinsidence or pure luck that the same players are making lots of great shots and others just keep missing. Is there a huge difference between a $200 marker and a $1200 marker as far as accuracy or is it simply skill. Thanks in advance.
Skill YES and to a lesser extent the gun, balls will be more "accurate" as they are shot more consistently, same start position(ball in breach), gas (amount/pressure), fit (ball to barrel). the closer these factors are to each other ball to ball will equate to more perceived "accuracy". EX. Slow fire will generally be more "accurate" that rapid fire, due to the Co2 having a chance to expand completely before being released = consistent gas(amount/pressure). Some guns may do a better job of regulating all of the aforementioned factors. But you can achieve accuracy out of any gun buy gaining skill and understanding the limitations of said equipment.

That being said I’m probably forgetting something and/or failing miserably at explaining things because its so freaking late and I’m uber tired.

any other questions drop me a PM

[Target Practice]

Wow, that is a lot of great information! Thank you all. As I mostly seem to play speedball I think I may try a different barell.

I still am confused by how I can get hit almost directly between the eyes by some players, while I just wiz paint all around them. It does not seem to be coinsidence or pure luck that the same players are making lots of great shots and others just keep missing. Is there a huge difference between a $200 marker and a $1200 marker as far as accuracy or is it simply skill. Thanks in advance.

As you continue to play, your marker will become an extension of yourself. You will just learn where your balls go. Granted, you are going to be getting some performance variance in the paint-to-barrel match and the use of CO2 over compressed air, but you will probably be able to overcome these for the most part. Now, I hold the belief that no marker is inhearently more accurate than another., the exception to this rule is, IMO, the Phantom. Barrels as well are pretty much the same, honed pipes. Rifling the barrel does NOTHING. There is a thread in the Deep Blue forum about paintball spin physics that you may want to check out for further info.

Anyhoo, you've come to the right place for info. Oh yeah, Welcom to AO!

[Jeffy-CanCon]

...
I still am confused by how I can get hit almost directly between the eyes by some players, while I just wiz paint all around them. It does not seem to be coinsidence or pure luck that the same players are making lots of great shots and others just keep missing. ...

Inexperienced players tend to point and shoot, and hope to get lucky. Also, they tend to be nervous if someone else is shooting at them. With more experience, a player becomes calmer, ignores the wild shots whizzing by their head, and aims at their target. I actually have one friend who is more accurate when under fire!

[Load SM5]

Part of the problem with speedball and a flatline barrel is the ball's tendancy to veer to the sides if the gun is'nt held exactly straight up and down. Tilt the gun to the right a bit and the balls will curve that way a little, due to the barrel's design. That could partially explain your accuracy issues. Plus, do you really need distance on a smallish speedball field? Just tilt the gun up a bit. Accuracy is also by product of consistancy. If your using CO2, old, misshapen or cheap paint it affects your shot to shot consistancy. It's usually not a terrible issue in woods and recball, but it can be darn frustrating in a speedball game when you're trying to hit an elbow or a hopper. Shots just don't seem to hit in the same place. Of course taking into account, that your basically trying to get blinding accuracy with a fluid-filled musketball, stacking balls right on top of each other, on a square inch area, at a good distance is, a tough thing anyway.
That's where the e-gun "accuarcy by volume" thing comes into play. While shooting 20bps is not always a needed thing, the ability to pop, send 4 balls at that elbow or hopper, and pop back in before anyone returns fire is a pretty helpful ability. That's the real beauty of a light mouseclick trigger. Also the lighter the trigger, the less the gun is jerked when firing, and that helps accuracy out a good deal, too.
Sooooooooo.... my suggestion is to start off with a decent barrel to match the bore size of the paint your tend to use, buy some decent paint (Bigball is'nt bad for the price), and if you can, a decent preset N2 tank. That should get you on the road to having better shot to shot accuracy. Speed will be helped buy picking up the Tippman e-grip upgrade or passing the tippy down to your son and buying another e-gun. All the expense, may or may not be justified, depending on how serious your desire to play serious tournaments or just fling paint on the occasional weekend.
A-5's are'nt bad guns by any means. They're tough, can be fast, and usually easy to fix. Tippman sponsores a serious tournamnt team that shoot exclusivelly 98's and A-5's and does really well with them. Never let anyone tell you that in order to be a better player, you have to sport the latest wallet-burning $1200 gun.

Welcome to AO.

[temps]

There is a guy at my field with an a5 that holds up just fine against the high end electros..

And that proves to me that its mostly skill..

[lbonettosd]

I've got on very imoprtant word for you to remember..... "practice". Practice will increase your accuracy and IMO often more than a barrel will. The better you are at using your equipment the better player you will be. Some people say that a flatline isn't accurate, some say it is, I say it's up to you decide what you deem accurate. Just remember the old saying "practice makes perfect", your game will improve just give it time. I've been playing for 12+ years and (to this day after I get shot out or eliminated) I always analyze how it happened, what I was doing, etc... Odds are that most of the time when you get hit in the goggles you were looking over the top of the bunker, its. a very common thing for new players to do,. Neat time try going out the side instead, this will might just keep you in the game a little longer.

And i know this was probably covered somewhere in this thread, but the A-5 w/ a flatline is an extremely popular gun for scenario play. Matter of fact I'm thinking about selling one of my mags to buy an A-5 just for that reason. Good Luck with your game and Welcome to AO!

[No sKiLLz]

We just picked up a BKO for my friend for a little over $300. It has a much shorter profile than Tippman 98s or A5s but is electro with a much higher ROF. It's autococker threaded and we put a Kaner barrel kit on it. With a LP crossfire tank, it's probably the best speedball bang-for-your-buck I've ever seen. It will work on CO2 as well but move away from CO2 ASAP

All you who are about to argue, TK said it himself, it's a numbers game. The more paint you sling the better chance you have of scoring the hit.

[knuckledragger]

Wow, great advise. I am overwhelmed. Thanks all!! I think I may try a ceramic barell and possible a e trigger. Is a response trigger better or would an Electric trigger be the way to go? Thanks in advance.

[TeamNausea]

go electro!

[kungfuhampster11]

if you sod the flatline, and wanted to get another barrel in the 150 price range, the jj edge kit is a wicked good it, it has different bore sizes so you can have better paint-barrel match and is just like the ceramic and it will clean itself

[Load SM5]

Wow, great advise. I am overwhelmed. Thanks all!! I think I may try a ceramic barell and possible a e trigger. Is a response trigger better or would an Electric trigger be the way to go? Thanks in advance.

The electronic trigger would be better than the response. Due to the the fact that it can be dialed to runaway (basically firing itself by lightly bouncing off your finger) it's not usually tournament legal.