Badmovies.org
05-12-2007, 07:48 PM
It was a fine day to play at the Outdoor Adventures field in Rosedale, MD. The weather was hot, compared to recent days, coming in at 84 degrees. I am in pretty good shape and acclimatized, but made sure I hydrated well during the morning. I took some water with me to the field as well. Something to remember about staying hydrated is that your body also needs salt and electrolytes. That is one of the good things about Gatorade and other sports drinks. However, if you just want to drink water, bring something to replenish your electrolytes (running out of salt will put you into a full body cramp). An energy bar or other such food works fine with water.
This was my first chance to play with the MiniTac Pro after installing the Splinter Pro Trigger and having my tank upgraded with an AGD Flatline regulator. I have not been happy with Marbalizer lately, because I had some problems with it breaking on target. I picked up a box of X-Ball Silver to try. Testing them, I found that it was four or five drop paint, and fit my Scepter's .690 insert best. My chronograph was good; a dozen shots fell between 272 and 285 fps, and most were 276 to 283 fps.
I did set my Flatline's output pressure to 1100 psi, because I could not ensure that I could fire single shots with it at 1200 psi. That reduced my rate of fire. Sweet-spotting went down to 17 bps and walking the trigger dropped to 8-10 bps. However, I decided that being able to control my rate of fire was more important.
After playing, I found that my air efficiency went way down. With a preset Crossfire high pressure tank, I would get 1000-1100 shots per tank. With the output set to 1100, it was more like 800 shots per tank (68/4500).
The X-Ball Silver seemed to have slightly less accuracy than the Marbalizers. However, I had absolutely no problems with it breaking when I hit someone. I did chuff a few times on balls, but suffered zero breaks. I shot 1400 balls today, over 7 games, meaning an average of 200 balls per game. The caveat to that is that two games I was hit early and might only have fired 50 shots. So, in reality I fired 1300 paintballs in 5 games, meaning an average of 260 balls per game.
The marker and player pool was a pretty good mix. There were several electros, the normal smattering of Tippmanns (some heavily upgraded A-5s), and a number of players who had experience. With my setup, I can throw down with the electros on even terms. Heck, a number of times it was uneven. The Proto Rail that was out there was experiencing shootdown when firing rapid (he was using a PMI tank/reg). I got into a firefight with one Ion and easily had volume of fire over the player. It is a really good feeling using a mechanical marker and outshooting an electronic marker.
Had some minor problem before the end of the day with outrunning my Vlocity when I was shooting quickly. I believe that the rechargeable batteries I use, 300 mAh Powerex 9Vs, had lost enough juice that the LED was still blinking green, but it was not feeding as quickly. No worry, because the Lvl 10 worked great. I did have one time, at the very end of the day, where it did not immediately reset after multiple chuffs. However, when I performed my PM on the marker after playing I discovered two things. One: I was able to add two more Lvl 10 shims without leaking down the barrel (that was a change - perhaps the o-ring has broken in fully). Two: My bolt bumper had nearly disintegrated. From now on, I am thinking that $2 part will be replaced every 6000 shots.
I played red team all day. The other team, blue, had a tendency to dig in and go into a pure defense role. There were a few games that they did not deploy any further than twenty yards from their flag. If they managed to eliminate enough of us, then they would advance. It can be challenging to dig multiple players out of interlocking positions. We played on three fields; one was filled with bunkers (natural, pallet, and also big trees), while the other two had a lot of thick spring vegetation. Playing on the thick foliage fields was brutal against a team that would dig in and wait for us to come to them.
Two games, I was hit early and did not take out any of the other team. However, my results from the other games were great. One game I got six, one game I eliminated five, two games I got four, and one game I hit two opposing players. I tend to play front and take chances. Sometimes, I am going to get out before I do anything, especially playing against a team that is going heavy on the defense and making us come to them.
Met a gent named Dave, who was on my team. Dave was using a Spyder he has owned for eight years (wow - pretty good mileage for a Spyder). He was a great person to team up with. He and I leapfrogged when assaulting on the more open field and that worked great. Dave has a good feel for timing when to move and how long to stay silent before popping out to surprise the other team. On the field with heavy foliage, the thick underbrush really broke up us working together.
There was also another guy who was fast on the sprint (from the start). I usually tried to chase him and stay close enough that when he finally had to stop running and take a position, I could provide assistance. I'd like to play with him against another team who advances fast on the start. Players like that can really change the game by limiting the other team’s initial deployment.
I felt sorry for one player on the blue team. No less than three times, I shot him in the butt - and I mean multiple balls on his backside (this became something of a running joke in lowbrow humor). He was one of the few blue players who would advance. As a result, I would run into him. Two times, I charged him while firing and got an angle that allowed me to hit his buttocks multiple times. After each of these, the other player would be yelling afterwards about, "How much my ^%$*& hurts!" The final time I got him, it was during the initial sprint at the start of the game. The one fast runner was about 10 yards in front of me and I had angled slightly left to head for a certain bunker. Poor Mr. Sore Butt went after the fast sprinter. My angled rush gave me a perfectly clear shot at Sore Butt. He made the mistake of trying to keep running forward just one more tree (to get a better angle on the guy in front of me). After the game he and I were laughing. He said, "I looked up and saw you and I was completely in the open. I was like, 'Oh no!' just before all your balls hit me."
(I had kept running, walking the trigger, and put a dozen or more balls onto him. And, yes, two balls hit him high on the side of his thigh, right below the buttocks.)
Had two really good charges today; one was on the thick vegetation field. The first thing I did was unload on a pair of bushes that were shooting at me. One of them actually looked like the minigun scene from "Predator." I fired nearly a full hopper into a batch of vegetation that had shot at me. I unloaded on it and cut it down to about two feet high. The guy who was trying to hide behind it was out. I put a hundred balls onto a clump of bushes that was shooting at my team and took that guy out. When trying to shoot through dense foliage, I have found that volume of fire is a wonderful thing. One ball always sneaks through.
Anyway, with those two out, we tried to move up. A fellow who had a pump took point. He was four yards in front of me and suddenly a hidden enemy opened up on him from our right. The pump player dropped onto his back and was in trouble, but I couldn't get an angle to help unless I ran into the line of fire. The pump guy was hit and out. I was hiding behind a pile of sticks that was about 18" high when another enemy opened up on me. I crouched low, returned fire, and the attacker faded back into the brush. Waiting for a minute, I rushed, going past where the pump player was eliminated and catching sight of the ambush spot. I put a good burst onto the enemy player, saw one break, then was engaged by another ambush. Fortunately, I was able to tell where the balls were coming from and returned fire fast as I could. The other player and I eliminated each other. That opened the entire side of the field to my team.
The other really good charge was working with Dave. Four enemy players were in good positions near their flag. Dave got their attention, shooting from either side of a large tree. After he managed to tag one of the other guys, I rushed up to a tiny bunker, slid in, and did a situp to snapshoot the first guy. I immediately rushed another six yards, slid in, and put as many balls as I could onto another player (we were shooting at each other through a tangle of vines). Got him and then switched targets to another guy who suddenly realized I had an open shot at him in his bunker. However, at that moment the pump player (my teammate) appeared over the bunker and tapped the enemy player with his barrel. "You're out."
I can say that I am glad I adjusted my output to ensure I could fire single shots. During one rush, I took out an enemy player, rushed up, and found another one in a position on the side of a hill about seven yards away. I could see his head and his foot. I fired one shot at his foot, missed, then fired another shot at his knee as he tried to roll to engage me. Splat. I was engaging him from a good position, but didn't want him to slip away and didn't want to pelt him with a bunch of paintballs. Being able to take a single shot in that circumstance was a good thing.
Shot count for this marker, the MiniTac Pro, is now 11,000.
Current setup:
X-Valve with Lvl 10 (3 shims, 1.5 carrier)
Mini-Tac Mainbody w/dual RPG detents and RPG clamping feedneck
Tac Rail
Intelliframe with Splinter Pro Trigger
ULT (6 ULT shims)
Hogue .45 Grips
Viewloader Vlocity
CP Razor Drop
RT Pro Front Grip
Shrink-wrapped Hose w/Quick Disconnect
68/4500 Tank with AGD 4500 Flatline Regulator and Dye Rhino cover
12" Powerlyte 2007 Scepter kit (.684, .686, .688, .690, and .692 inserts)
Pics of the marker:
http://www.automags.org/forums/showpost.php?p=2352594&postcount=2233
Previous entries in the chronicles here:
28 April 2007
http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?t=214340
22 April 2007
http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?t=213998
14 April 2007:
http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?t=213611
5 April 2007:
http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?t=213102
25 March 2007:
http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?t=212556
24 February 2007:
http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?t=211063
This was my first chance to play with the MiniTac Pro after installing the Splinter Pro Trigger and having my tank upgraded with an AGD Flatline regulator. I have not been happy with Marbalizer lately, because I had some problems with it breaking on target. I picked up a box of X-Ball Silver to try. Testing them, I found that it was four or five drop paint, and fit my Scepter's .690 insert best. My chronograph was good; a dozen shots fell between 272 and 285 fps, and most were 276 to 283 fps.
I did set my Flatline's output pressure to 1100 psi, because I could not ensure that I could fire single shots with it at 1200 psi. That reduced my rate of fire. Sweet-spotting went down to 17 bps and walking the trigger dropped to 8-10 bps. However, I decided that being able to control my rate of fire was more important.
After playing, I found that my air efficiency went way down. With a preset Crossfire high pressure tank, I would get 1000-1100 shots per tank. With the output set to 1100, it was more like 800 shots per tank (68/4500).
The X-Ball Silver seemed to have slightly less accuracy than the Marbalizers. However, I had absolutely no problems with it breaking when I hit someone. I did chuff a few times on balls, but suffered zero breaks. I shot 1400 balls today, over 7 games, meaning an average of 200 balls per game. The caveat to that is that two games I was hit early and might only have fired 50 shots. So, in reality I fired 1300 paintballs in 5 games, meaning an average of 260 balls per game.
The marker and player pool was a pretty good mix. There were several electros, the normal smattering of Tippmanns (some heavily upgraded A-5s), and a number of players who had experience. With my setup, I can throw down with the electros on even terms. Heck, a number of times it was uneven. The Proto Rail that was out there was experiencing shootdown when firing rapid (he was using a PMI tank/reg). I got into a firefight with one Ion and easily had volume of fire over the player. It is a really good feeling using a mechanical marker and outshooting an electronic marker.
Had some minor problem before the end of the day with outrunning my Vlocity when I was shooting quickly. I believe that the rechargeable batteries I use, 300 mAh Powerex 9Vs, had lost enough juice that the LED was still blinking green, but it was not feeding as quickly. No worry, because the Lvl 10 worked great. I did have one time, at the very end of the day, where it did not immediately reset after multiple chuffs. However, when I performed my PM on the marker after playing I discovered two things. One: I was able to add two more Lvl 10 shims without leaking down the barrel (that was a change - perhaps the o-ring has broken in fully). Two: My bolt bumper had nearly disintegrated. From now on, I am thinking that $2 part will be replaced every 6000 shots.
I played red team all day. The other team, blue, had a tendency to dig in and go into a pure defense role. There were a few games that they did not deploy any further than twenty yards from their flag. If they managed to eliminate enough of us, then they would advance. It can be challenging to dig multiple players out of interlocking positions. We played on three fields; one was filled with bunkers (natural, pallet, and also big trees), while the other two had a lot of thick spring vegetation. Playing on the thick foliage fields was brutal against a team that would dig in and wait for us to come to them.
Two games, I was hit early and did not take out any of the other team. However, my results from the other games were great. One game I got six, one game I eliminated five, two games I got four, and one game I hit two opposing players. I tend to play front and take chances. Sometimes, I am going to get out before I do anything, especially playing against a team that is going heavy on the defense and making us come to them.
Met a gent named Dave, who was on my team. Dave was using a Spyder he has owned for eight years (wow - pretty good mileage for a Spyder). He was a great person to team up with. He and I leapfrogged when assaulting on the more open field and that worked great. Dave has a good feel for timing when to move and how long to stay silent before popping out to surprise the other team. On the field with heavy foliage, the thick underbrush really broke up us working together.
There was also another guy who was fast on the sprint (from the start). I usually tried to chase him and stay close enough that when he finally had to stop running and take a position, I could provide assistance. I'd like to play with him against another team who advances fast on the start. Players like that can really change the game by limiting the other team’s initial deployment.
I felt sorry for one player on the blue team. No less than three times, I shot him in the butt - and I mean multiple balls on his backside (this became something of a running joke in lowbrow humor). He was one of the few blue players who would advance. As a result, I would run into him. Two times, I charged him while firing and got an angle that allowed me to hit his buttocks multiple times. After each of these, the other player would be yelling afterwards about, "How much my ^%$*& hurts!" The final time I got him, it was during the initial sprint at the start of the game. The one fast runner was about 10 yards in front of me and I had angled slightly left to head for a certain bunker. Poor Mr. Sore Butt went after the fast sprinter. My angled rush gave me a perfectly clear shot at Sore Butt. He made the mistake of trying to keep running forward just one more tree (to get a better angle on the guy in front of me). After the game he and I were laughing. He said, "I looked up and saw you and I was completely in the open. I was like, 'Oh no!' just before all your balls hit me."
(I had kept running, walking the trigger, and put a dozen or more balls onto him. And, yes, two balls hit him high on the side of his thigh, right below the buttocks.)
Had two really good charges today; one was on the thick vegetation field. The first thing I did was unload on a pair of bushes that were shooting at me. One of them actually looked like the minigun scene from "Predator." I fired nearly a full hopper into a batch of vegetation that had shot at me. I unloaded on it and cut it down to about two feet high. The guy who was trying to hide behind it was out. I put a hundred balls onto a clump of bushes that was shooting at my team and took that guy out. When trying to shoot through dense foliage, I have found that volume of fire is a wonderful thing. One ball always sneaks through.
Anyway, with those two out, we tried to move up. A fellow who had a pump took point. He was four yards in front of me and suddenly a hidden enemy opened up on him from our right. The pump player dropped onto his back and was in trouble, but I couldn't get an angle to help unless I ran into the line of fire. The pump guy was hit and out. I was hiding behind a pile of sticks that was about 18" high when another enemy opened up on me. I crouched low, returned fire, and the attacker faded back into the brush. Waiting for a minute, I rushed, going past where the pump player was eliminated and catching sight of the ambush spot. I put a good burst onto the enemy player, saw one break, then was engaged by another ambush. Fortunately, I was able to tell where the balls were coming from and returned fire fast as I could. The other player and I eliminated each other. That opened the entire side of the field to my team.
The other really good charge was working with Dave. Four enemy players were in good positions near their flag. Dave got their attention, shooting from either side of a large tree. After he managed to tag one of the other guys, I rushed up to a tiny bunker, slid in, and did a situp to snapshoot the first guy. I immediately rushed another six yards, slid in, and put as many balls as I could onto another player (we were shooting at each other through a tangle of vines). Got him and then switched targets to another guy who suddenly realized I had an open shot at him in his bunker. However, at that moment the pump player (my teammate) appeared over the bunker and tapped the enemy player with his barrel. "You're out."
I can say that I am glad I adjusted my output to ensure I could fire single shots. During one rush, I took out an enemy player, rushed up, and found another one in a position on the side of a hill about seven yards away. I could see his head and his foot. I fired one shot at his foot, missed, then fired another shot at his knee as he tried to roll to engage me. Splat. I was engaging him from a good position, but didn't want him to slip away and didn't want to pelt him with a bunch of paintballs. Being able to take a single shot in that circumstance was a good thing.
Shot count for this marker, the MiniTac Pro, is now 11,000.
Current setup:
X-Valve with Lvl 10 (3 shims, 1.5 carrier)
Mini-Tac Mainbody w/dual RPG detents and RPG clamping feedneck
Tac Rail
Intelliframe with Splinter Pro Trigger
ULT (6 ULT shims)
Hogue .45 Grips
Viewloader Vlocity
CP Razor Drop
RT Pro Front Grip
Shrink-wrapped Hose w/Quick Disconnect
68/4500 Tank with AGD 4500 Flatline Regulator and Dye Rhino cover
12" Powerlyte 2007 Scepter kit (.684, .686, .688, .690, and .692 inserts)
Pics of the marker:
http://www.automags.org/forums/showpost.php?p=2352594&postcount=2233
Previous entries in the chronicles here:
28 April 2007
http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?t=214340
22 April 2007
http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?t=213998
14 April 2007:
http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?t=213611
5 April 2007:
http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?t=213102
25 March 2007:
http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?t=212556
24 February 2007:
http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?t=211063