Why isn't one marker enough?

[koleah]

Why isn't one marker enough? How is it that people end up with four, five, eight different guns all of the same class?

I can understand having one pump, and one semi.

But its not like you're ever going to be able to use more than one gun at a time.

Okay, maybe you have a loaner to let a friend borrow, but unless you're planning to outfit your entire squad personally, I don't understand why people end up with such large paintball gun collections?

This isn't intended to be a dig at them, I'm just wondering.

K

[death594]

for me it is for the different feel and play of the game and i really dont like using my nice electros in the rain.

[Stayhuge]

I believe it starts like this:

You buy one marker, a pretty nice one.

Then you want to upgrade, so you decide to sell the first one and buy a better one, but you start to think, what if the new marker breaks down?

So you just buy a second one, maybe to use as your primary.

Then you realize that some of your friends might want to play and you can't have them shooting the rental markers, and they can't use your backup, because if your primary goes down, how can you ask for your marker back from the person that is borrowing it.

Then you start to think that maybe you have two or three friend that may want to play, and you can't just lend to one and not the others. You start to rationalize it by saying that once they play once or twice, they will just buy the extra markers off of you, but that doesn't happen.

Next thing yo know you have 12 markers, 9 tanks, and a bag full of hoppers, harnesses, and pods.

At least that is how I see it.

Then there are others that just love to collect markers. Same as any other hobby, just a little pricey.

That's how I see getting sucked into the black hole of paintball!!

[georgeyew]

Because they are pretty. Nuff said.

[Frizzle Fry]

Why isn't one marker enough?

Short answer? Because you can own more than one.

[hill160881]

personal collection

[maniacmechanic]

Because were Men

[Pyrate Jim]

I like having a choice.
Which shall I play with today?

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h93/PyrateJim/IM000331.jpg
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h93/PyrateJim/IM000332.jpg

[TwilightG]

I often ask myself the same question... and yet find it so difficult to sell off markers that I rarely use.
I think a lot of it really boils down to being a hobby separate from playing the game itself. We like to collect paintball markers/equipment. :)

[mpsd]

I started playing back in 1991, at age 13. At that time I used to rent cheap pump guns made here in Brazil called Busterballs. They were really, really crappy.

Later, as I played more and more I started buying some paintball magazines (mostly APG) and see the ads. I started draming about having an Automag but I just couldn't afford it.

My first own paintball marker was a red Crossball (another Nelson pump made here, a little better than the Busterball). that was in 1991 or so. I had two Crossballs, one Splatmaster Rapide, one Tippmann 68 Special, one Line SI Bushmaster Deluxe and one Speedmaster (the best Nelson pump ever made here in Brazil - it's a Phantom clone with Phantom quality). I had one at a time.

Later in 1996 when I was already in college, I bought my first Automag. It was a polished Minimag with a splash kit and a Classic valve. I stayed with it untill 2004 when I changed it for my black RT Classic. On the next year I sold it and bought my eMag. Later I had it sent to Tunaman for a complete overhaul and then I bought my second eMag and, for the first time, I didn't sell my previous paintgun.

Well, to make the story short, I now own over 65 paintball guns, including all the previous mentioned ones (except for the Speedmaster, which I can't find anymore), being 26 Automags. None of them look the same, trust me. Some are pumps, some are mechs, some are electros, some eletro-pneus and one is a pneuMag.

Now, answering your question, I bought of these guns because:

1- I could afford it (I call it "poor boy syndrome"). I'm unfortunatelly unemployed now.
2- It was a dream fullfilled (I bought almost every paintball gun I ever dreamt about having)
3- I like collecting them, specially if they are rare
4- I can loan guns, hoppers, air tanks and masks to 10 other people and therefore, I can convine my non paintball adicted friends to play with me

Here are come pics of my collection:
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x299/mpsd18/DSC00148.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x299/mpsd18/DSC00146-1.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x299/mpsd18/DSC00147.jpg

Not everygun I have is pictured but you get the idea.

:cheers:

[Drachen]

Because it's smart to have a back up marker. But what if your primary, and your back up fails? You'd need a back up to your back up. It can keep going for a while like that lol.

Though I think of it a little different, none of mine are back ups. I have my very efficient electro, I have a mech to borrow out/play in the rain or snow, I have my fancy mech that I use just because, I have my main pump, and then my rental/"I don't wanna ding up my good pump", then comes the "I don't know you well enough to borrow my good stuff, so here's a VL" mech lol.
I have always been like that. For two years I played pump only, but had 4 e-cockers, an Angel, and a Cyborg...never touched any of them on a field lol.

[shooter311]

Why isn't one marker enough?

K

Why don't you ask:

Charlie Sheen why one bottle of vodka isn't enough?

Nicolas Cage why one boat isn't enough?

Oprah Winfrey why one cheeseburger isn't enough?

Chuck Norris why one roundhouse kick isn't enough?

...

Its a sickness, sometimes we can't help ourselves.

[bound for glory]

one marker pretty much has been enough for me. but i guess i'm out of step here...

[mpsd]

Oprah Winfrey why one cheeseburger isn't enough?


:rofl:

[sjrtk]

Chuck Norris why one roundhouse kick isn't enough?

One is enough.

But as far as why isn't one marker enough? Its complicated, I find parts and pieces for sale here and there, I like them buy and them use them. The next thing I know i have so many spare parts I just slap them together bag another marker. But i do sell stuff off, when i decide i am done with it. But who knows why we do it. Mabey were are all twisted maniacal people with an insatiable need to own stuff to shoot people with.

[s1im]

I was a marker whore, then I sold up everything including xmag etc, then I decided to get back into it, so i bought one pump,one modern marker 08 ego. enough got everything i need to play???? well i missed my xmag, so bought another, seemed to be missing a cocker, so bought one, then another, then another, then i see an x very cheeply so i bought it... and so the cycle continues!!!

[Daze]

All of these are good reasons. I'll add that sometimes we hold onto guns that we wouldn't otherwise because we can't ge rid of them for anything close to what we've got in them. Likewise, we just can't get rid of them easily because they're a little too 'low end'.

[ta2maki]

For me, it's the mechanism and design of the markers that is fascinating. Every marker that I've owned has been taken apart and studied before taken onto a field. The guns that I have purchased have been selected because of their reputations, good or bad; and my curiosity as to why they have attained such reputations.

[koleah]

For me, it's the mechanism and design of the markers that is fascinating. Every marker that I've owned has been taken apart and studied before taken onto a field. The guns that I have purchased have been selected because of their reputations, good or bad; and my curiosity as to why they have attained such reputations.

I will make an exception of two guns for you, good sir, to allow for the "twins".

(which I can't seem to find the picture of anymore)

[ta2maki]

I can only keep 2? :(
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v90/cupnoodles/Paintball2/wallleft.jpg
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v90/cupnoodles/Paintball2/wallright.jpg
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v90/cupnoodles/Paintball2/longguns.jpg

[shooter311]

I may be wrong, but it seems like the people who have many markers (such as myself), own older markers. I don't know anyone with 7 egos. I like having a bunch of different cockers, mags, and some old school angels and shoebox shockers. I only have one modern gun, and I don't have any want for another. All the people I play with are newer to the sport, and they just buy one top of the line gun. They always wonder why I have a different gun every time I show up.

Is it me or is gun collecting something that the seasoned players do?

[mpsd]

I agree. I mean, I don't have and never had any Ego, DM or any other Uber-expensive gun. I mean, of course I've put some money onto some of my Mags. But they are still Mags and they still keep up with these fast depreciating markers, without suffering from that effect so much.

The only modern gun that I could see myself buying in the future would be a BL Victory. Still, I'd buy it used for something like 40% lower than it's brand new price tag.

[skipdogg]

I like having a choice.
Which shall I play with today?

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h93/PyrateJim/IM000331.jpg
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h93/PyrateJim/IM000332.jpg



I'll answer for you....play with that Golden Eagle...or is it a poison???

[koleah]

I can only keep 2? :(


HOLY WALL OF GUNS BOTH NEW AND OLD AND RARE BATMAN!

Yes, you can only keep two. I will PM my address so you can send the rest to me for. . . storage and dispersal. :D




Edit: on second glance, just send me whats pinned up below the wall on the right side. Send the subject matter, of course, not just the photo :ninja:

[Dirge]

Because moderation is borring.

[OPBN]

I need to show my wife this thread so that she will feel better about the paultry 11 (some in parts) markers that I have around here.

My base reason for having multiple markers is truly to have a back up and back up back up. I have actually been in at least one situation where between my brother and I, we went through 5 markers combined in a day of play to get two that were actually functioning properly. Considering at minimum, I have to drive an hour to a field, and in most cases 3-4hours or more, the last thing I want to do it get caught without a functioning marker. If you have two bone stock Classic Mags, I wouldn't see a reason to have any more as far as backups, but when you start adding ULTs, detents, LvlX, X valves, pneumatics or electronics, there is always an increased chance that something is going to get fubar. Add to that the constant changing around of configurations and it is even more likely to happen.

Oh, and it's fun to build new markers. I will say that I am not wild about wall hangers and it does bug me that I don't use some of the ones that I have more often. I actually sold a couple this past year that I knew I would never use for fear of scratching them up or something. Of course, I just took the money and bought others. Once I get a couple of the new ones dialed in properly I forsee a couple more possibly hitting the chopping block.

[Spider-TW]

I agree with these reasons above;

Collect
Build/Rescue
Dissect

I would add that markers are like golf clubs and firearms. It's possible to play with only one, better to play with three, and best to have the one that matches the situation.

I like electros and RTs, but I don't like playing rec ball with them, nor do I like playing pump in mixed rec ball. All pump play is fun. In games where you're the last guy against a 20 player push (or worse), RTs and electros are great fun also.

[M98Punk]

Because any gentleman can never have enough: Attention, Fine liquor, or beautiful women. Obviously markers fall between that later two, being that they are gorgeous and addicting.

Who knows where being a gun whore comes from. Lots of times for me it comes from the years in the late 90's where there were all those pretty guns that I could never afford, then then in 2008 you can buy a parts vaporized Bushie for $20 and add $100 in upgrades to have the gun you wanted 10 years ago.

And then there was the micromag I bought on ebay that started me on the path to collect one from each generation. (including the generation 1 body with the fixed barrel that I turned into a pistol)

And the tippman 98 I bought as my first marker, back when you had to send your clams back in because the barrel pointed 15* left of center.

I still have the parts of a project to put a classic mag in a walnut stock (ohhh to one day have a workshop in my house instead of a spare bedroom in my apartment)


I would have 22 sports cars if I could afford them and store them but I can't, luckily paintball markers are cheaper and smaller

[mpsd]

I would have 22 sports cars if I could afford them and store them but I can't, luckily paintball markers are cheaper and smaller

.

[M98Punk]

MPSD..... Is that a chrome fixed barrel Micromag I see in those photos?

[mpsd]

MPSD..... Is that a chrome fixed barrel Micromag I see in those photos?

It's actually a splashed 1st gen Micromag:

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x299/mpsd18/DSC06555.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x299/mpsd18/DSC06556.jpg


:cheers:

[M98Punk]

Forgive me if I drool. How long have you had that for? When was the last time your broke it out? I used mine the last time I played, with mixed results then that evil snow came and ruined everything

[mpsd]

Forgive me if I drool. How long have you had that for? When was the last time your broke it out? I used mine the last time I played, with mixed results then that evil snow came and ruined everything

I have it since mid-2009. Last time I broke it out was late 2009 but to honest, I still have to get it to the field. I did fired it at home with reballs and everything went normal but I may have shot less than 50 balls.

I love this little monster, though. I had been looking at it for two to three years before I could actually buy it.

[kruger]

Actually, one is enough. However, just like shoes, you need more than one pair. Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you dont. You see, the problem, as stated by NEO, is choice. Way too many choices out there. Prior to getting into paintball, I was an avid hunter. As a hunter, I needed a long range gun able to take down anything on feet in North America. Also needed a "brush" gun, for the times that hunting was more up close an personal. And, I needed a gun to take out small critters, and still have meat on them to eat after they were shot. And, along this line of thinking,(gun thinking), you also had to have a gun for intruders in the house, carjackers, walking in the park, mall, ect. You get the picture here. My hunting mentality sorta started to take over my paintball strategy. I am a gun collector at heart, and I fell into that same thing in paintball. Way too many choices here. Now, throw into that mentality the Automags and things really start to get out of hand. With the automags, I had the ability to have a truly, one of a kind gun. This was really scary to me, I saw so many possibility's with the automags to have something that nobody else had. Very seductive. Nowadays, I play with one of three guns. Thats it. I have found that it really doesnt matter what you shoot, as long as you shoot it well. I have more than three guns, but they are closet queens, only brought out on special occasions, just like the clean patent leather shoes. They sure are purdy, but, after a while, you realize that you dont need the "most'es, best'es, great'es " to play paintball. Just reliable and accurate. Notice I did not mention speed in this at all.

[M98Punk]

Ever visit upstate New York? I know a nice field and we can rock the Gen 1's Because she is way to pretty to have not been in a field!

[mpsd]

Ever visit upstate New York? I know a nice field and we can rock the Gen 1's Because she is way to pretty to have not been in a field!

Not really. My sisters live in Florida and California. Hopefully I'll be in south Florida in July.

Been in NY once in 2007 and only for 3 days. I still want to go back, though.