From here on, I'm going to refer to my markers by their nicknames. The Y-gripped RT Pro is "Jeckle" and the Mini-Tac Pro is "Heckle."
I spent the day playing at Robin Hood Paintball in Havre de Grace with my two nephews, Joe and Daniel. Joe had recently purchased a Tippmann Triumph marker that he used. It did not give him too many problems (I'll avoid making too many teasing statements about my nephew's choice of marker). Daniel asked to use Heckle, because he did not like the feel of the Y-grip, so I used Jeckle.
The day before, I went by the local Pev's and Inferno was on sale for just $35/case. Bought two cases, so that myself and my nephews would be covered, and I decided that I would go back for two more if the paint worked out well.
Arrived at 1030 at the paintball field, parked my car where the trees would shade it from the sun, and got everything ready. The Inferno fit the .688 insert for the Scepter kits perfectly. When I chrono'd, I did get some strange velocity fluctuations the first ten shots with Heckle. In the past, I'm pretty sure that I "warmed up" the marker by shooting twenty or thirty air-only shots and I didn't do that this time. I had not fired the marker in a month, so maybe the lubricant needed to get spread around. The velocity settled down nicely and both markers fired a dozen shots, ranging from 276-283, with most being 276-279 fps.
The Inferno shot really nice all day. I had one ball bounce off of a guy's mask, but it hit him at a pretty flat angle and he had a soft mask. I think he just got lucky. I was getting good accuracy and the paint was breaking good. I did not have any breaks in the marker, nor did Daniel - though he tends to goof up his trigger control now and then. I hear those chuffs, boy! Joe had brought his own paint and he used it.
Interesting thing that I noted: Heckle had regular Energizer 9V batteries in its Vlocity, while Jeckle had my rechargeable Powerex batteries. Heckle could shoot faster than Jeckle without getting chuffs from the loader. Both could still go above 15bps, so I didn't worry about it. I had the output from the tanks on both markers set to 1100psi, which allowed us to fire single shots or get trigger bounce and rip strings.
We played 8 games. Between Daniel and myself, we shot 2500 rounds. I shot approximately 1600 of those, meaning 200 per game. The least I fired in a game was about 50, the most was 500. My usual was around one hopper and part of a pod.
The weather was hot, but not as hot as it had been. I think the max temperature was around 90 and the humidity was less than it had been. Still, we were sweating.
The walk-on group waxed and waned. We usually had about 7 to a team, once going all the way up to 11 on each and once down to 6 on each. The guns were a mix of Tippmann Model 98s (including customized ones) and your higher end electros. There was one Angel out there and that player was not a move and shoot guy. He would sit and throw paint. Once or twice, when I did see him moving, he was walking.
We played one game on the airball course, which saw me playing back center. I really prefer playing mid or front. In the back, your whole job is to throw paint and keep people pinned. I did a good job of that and even eliminated two enemies, but eventually got hit when three enemies caught me in a triangle. My soda can bunker was collapsing to the left. That meant I couldn't shoot on the left without exposing my legs. I was also standing in a weird limbo position when I was not firing. Anyway, once three guys were on me, I was pretty much doomed, as I couldn't help but to expose something to one of them. My team was having issues, because the front guys were not moving and not doing much shooting either.
Part of this was that Joe and Daniel took some time to get more aggressive. They would hide out a lot, just peeking from behind the bunker. Around our 5th or 6th game, they were doing much better. Once the three of us were working together, with me in the front, and those two leapfrogging right with me, the other teams were in trouble.
Our next games were on the spools course, which has big cable spools for bunkers. Again, this is more speedball and nobody wanted to play back "fire support" so I took it. We got beaten bad once, but didn't do bad the other games. The game we got creamed there was a funny moment. I had moved up and was shooting more from a mid position, but engaged with three enemies. I checked my team and Joe was behind me. I told him to move up and pointed where I needed him to go. He yells back, "But they'll shoot at me!" to which I replied, "I know, that is sort of the point of the game. Isn't it?" Granted, what Joe meant was that he would be running through space that was seeing a lot of paintballs fly through it, not that moving up would make him a more likely target, but it was funny.
The games I enjoy the most at Robin Hood Paintball are the ones on the dogleg. It is a fair-sized field, I guess about 150 meters on the long sides (I've never pace-counted it yet), shaped like an L. That field gives you some room for fire and maneuver - rather than speedball-like engagements. When we got to that field, I decided to do what I do best: front or mid, shoot and move. My team was already doing a lot of "hunker down and shoot it out at 30 yards," so I didn't think we really needed a fire support guy. Every game on the dogleg course (we had three), I had at least three eliminations. One game I got five!
The best game on dogleg was our last. Joe, Daniel, another player, and I all trucked for the outside corner of the L. As I got closer to it, I saw two enemies heading to positions to make our life difficult. I sent two bursts (one at each) and they stopped and took cover. That let me get to the very corner of the L with my nephews and the other gent close behind. From there, we got into a shootout with the two guys (they had taken good positions). I was keeping an eye left, toward the inner corner of the L. One enemy tried to crawl into a concrete culvert; I saw his butt and feet disappearing into it, to engage the two guys on our team who were holding the center. I sent a burst of paintballs about 35 yards, into the dark culvert. The enemy came backing out a minute later. I caught another enemy on the left as he stuck his head out too much to engage my nephews.
The real problem was the two gents in front of me. I had to get rid of them to move up and we needed to move up; our left flank was crumbling. I topped off my hopper and charged, shooting to keep them both down. I hit the closest at about 15 yards as he tried to pop out and get me (paintballs whizzing by my head, one plucked at the underarm of my shirt) and stopped at a tree about 4 yards from the other guy, who was behind a woodpile. I aimed at the last enemy and he accepted the bunker. My hopper was spinning! No, I wasn't completely empty. I had two or three balls in left, because I could see one in the feedneck. By now, Joe was pinned down with the enemy coming up from what had been our left. Daniel gave me a pod (I had only taken a pod and my hopper to the field) and I took off running to flank. At this point, I thought that there were two left, but Joe or Daniel had gotten one of them. Still, I was moving at a run, in the open, just waiting for someone to tear me up as Daniel chased behind me. I could see Joe, could tell about where he must be shooting, and thought the other guy was behind a concrete barrier. I angled my run to come up behind the guy and bunker him (because I would be close).
I saw the guy! He wasn't behind the bunker; he was beyond it, taking cover behind a low barrier of logs! While running, trying not to trip over something or step in a hole, as the field is uneven here and there, I fired a volley at 20 yards and it appeared that most of the balls hit. The other guy started yelling at me for shooting him more than once. I probably hit him three to five times out of a volley of about seven or eight, at the end of a run that covered probably 200 yards and part of that up the hill. I was winded, but that was my best game of the day and also a really good game for Daniel and Joe.
Joe and Daniel had their best game two games prior, when I had managed to take out the enemy coming to the corner of the L on that same field (but we were coming from the opposite direction) and then got tagged by our own team - they didn't realize I had gotten that far forward. Luckily, they didn't get Daniel, Joe, or the other guy with me (though I think Daniel was right with me, like 10 feet behind me). Anyway, I watched as Joe, Daniel, and the other player leapfrogged, moved up like a working fire team, and took the enemy apart from the flank. Daniel had one really good shot; he goggled an enemy right after the trio made a short rush through the defending player's fire.
STATS FOR HECKLE
Shot count is now 18,000
Picture:
(This does not show the new Micro Razor drop, the larger Razor drop is in the pic.)
Current setup:
X-Valve with Lvl 10 (3 shims, 1.5 carrier)
Mini-Tac Pro Mainbody w/dual RPG detents and RPG clamping feedneck
Tac Rail
RPG Intelliframe with Splinter Pro Trigger
ULT (6 ULT shims)
Hogue .45 Grips
Viewloader Vlocity
CP Micro 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)
Pelican 1600 Case
STATS FOR JECKLE
Shot count is now 23,000
Picture:
Current setup:
X-Valve with Lvl 10 (0 shims, 2.0 carrier)
ULE Mainbody
Recon Rail
Y-Grip with Splinter Pro Trigger
ULT (3 ULT shims, 2 Lvl 10 shims - 7 ULT shims equivalent)
Hogue .45 Grips
Viewloader Vlocity
CP Perfect Drop
RT Pro Front Grip
13" 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)
Previous entries in the Chronicles here:
22 July 2007
21 July 2007
1 July 2007
9 June 2007:
26 May 2007:
12 May 2007:
28 April 2007
22 April 2007
14 April 2007:
5 April 2007:
25 March 2007:
24 February 2007:
I spent the day playing at Robin Hood Paintball in Havre de Grace with my two nephews, Joe and Daniel. Joe had recently purchased a Tippmann Triumph marker that he used. It did not give him too many problems (I'll avoid making too many teasing statements about my nephew's choice of marker). Daniel asked to use Heckle, because he did not like the feel of the Y-grip, so I used Jeckle.
The day before, I went by the local Pev's and Inferno was on sale for just $35/case. Bought two cases, so that myself and my nephews would be covered, and I decided that I would go back for two more if the paint worked out well.
Arrived at 1030 at the paintball field, parked my car where the trees would shade it from the sun, and got everything ready. The Inferno fit the .688 insert for the Scepter kits perfectly. When I chrono'd, I did get some strange velocity fluctuations the first ten shots with Heckle. In the past, I'm pretty sure that I "warmed up" the marker by shooting twenty or thirty air-only shots and I didn't do that this time. I had not fired the marker in a month, so maybe the lubricant needed to get spread around. The velocity settled down nicely and both markers fired a dozen shots, ranging from 276-283, with most being 276-279 fps.
The Inferno shot really nice all day. I had one ball bounce off of a guy's mask, but it hit him at a pretty flat angle and he had a soft mask. I think he just got lucky. I was getting good accuracy and the paint was breaking good. I did not have any breaks in the marker, nor did Daniel - though he tends to goof up his trigger control now and then. I hear those chuffs, boy! Joe had brought his own paint and he used it.
Interesting thing that I noted: Heckle had regular Energizer 9V batteries in its Vlocity, while Jeckle had my rechargeable Powerex batteries. Heckle could shoot faster than Jeckle without getting chuffs from the loader. Both could still go above 15bps, so I didn't worry about it. I had the output from the tanks on both markers set to 1100psi, which allowed us to fire single shots or get trigger bounce and rip strings.
We played 8 games. Between Daniel and myself, we shot 2500 rounds. I shot approximately 1600 of those, meaning 200 per game. The least I fired in a game was about 50, the most was 500. My usual was around one hopper and part of a pod.
The weather was hot, but not as hot as it had been. I think the max temperature was around 90 and the humidity was less than it had been. Still, we were sweating.
The walk-on group waxed and waned. We usually had about 7 to a team, once going all the way up to 11 on each and once down to 6 on each. The guns were a mix of Tippmann Model 98s (including customized ones) and your higher end electros. There was one Angel out there and that player was not a move and shoot guy. He would sit and throw paint. Once or twice, when I did see him moving, he was walking.
We played one game on the airball course, which saw me playing back center. I really prefer playing mid or front. In the back, your whole job is to throw paint and keep people pinned. I did a good job of that and even eliminated two enemies, but eventually got hit when three enemies caught me in a triangle. My soda can bunker was collapsing to the left. That meant I couldn't shoot on the left without exposing my legs. I was also standing in a weird limbo position when I was not firing. Anyway, once three guys were on me, I was pretty much doomed, as I couldn't help but to expose something to one of them. My team was having issues, because the front guys were not moving and not doing much shooting either.
Part of this was that Joe and Daniel took some time to get more aggressive. They would hide out a lot, just peeking from behind the bunker. Around our 5th or 6th game, they were doing much better. Once the three of us were working together, with me in the front, and those two leapfrogging right with me, the other teams were in trouble.
Our next games were on the spools course, which has big cable spools for bunkers. Again, this is more speedball and nobody wanted to play back "fire support" so I took it. We got beaten bad once, but didn't do bad the other games. The game we got creamed there was a funny moment. I had moved up and was shooting more from a mid position, but engaged with three enemies. I checked my team and Joe was behind me. I told him to move up and pointed where I needed him to go. He yells back, "But they'll shoot at me!" to which I replied, "I know, that is sort of the point of the game. Isn't it?" Granted, what Joe meant was that he would be running through space that was seeing a lot of paintballs fly through it, not that moving up would make him a more likely target, but it was funny.
The games I enjoy the most at Robin Hood Paintball are the ones on the dogleg. It is a fair-sized field, I guess about 150 meters on the long sides (I've never pace-counted it yet), shaped like an L. That field gives you some room for fire and maneuver - rather than speedball-like engagements. When we got to that field, I decided to do what I do best: front or mid, shoot and move. My team was already doing a lot of "hunker down and shoot it out at 30 yards," so I didn't think we really needed a fire support guy. Every game on the dogleg course (we had three), I had at least three eliminations. One game I got five!
The best game on dogleg was our last. Joe, Daniel, another player, and I all trucked for the outside corner of the L. As I got closer to it, I saw two enemies heading to positions to make our life difficult. I sent two bursts (one at each) and they stopped and took cover. That let me get to the very corner of the L with my nephews and the other gent close behind. From there, we got into a shootout with the two guys (they had taken good positions). I was keeping an eye left, toward the inner corner of the L. One enemy tried to crawl into a concrete culvert; I saw his butt and feet disappearing into it, to engage the two guys on our team who were holding the center. I sent a burst of paintballs about 35 yards, into the dark culvert. The enemy came backing out a minute later. I caught another enemy on the left as he stuck his head out too much to engage my nephews.
The real problem was the two gents in front of me. I had to get rid of them to move up and we needed to move up; our left flank was crumbling. I topped off my hopper and charged, shooting to keep them both down. I hit the closest at about 15 yards as he tried to pop out and get me (paintballs whizzing by my head, one plucked at the underarm of my shirt) and stopped at a tree about 4 yards from the other guy, who was behind a woodpile. I aimed at the last enemy and he accepted the bunker. My hopper was spinning! No, I wasn't completely empty. I had two or three balls in left, because I could see one in the feedneck. By now, Joe was pinned down with the enemy coming up from what had been our left. Daniel gave me a pod (I had only taken a pod and my hopper to the field) and I took off running to flank. At this point, I thought that there were two left, but Joe or Daniel had gotten one of them. Still, I was moving at a run, in the open, just waiting for someone to tear me up as Daniel chased behind me. I could see Joe, could tell about where he must be shooting, and thought the other guy was behind a concrete barrier. I angled my run to come up behind the guy and bunker him (because I would be close).
I saw the guy! He wasn't behind the bunker; he was beyond it, taking cover behind a low barrier of logs! While running, trying not to trip over something or step in a hole, as the field is uneven here and there, I fired a volley at 20 yards and it appeared that most of the balls hit. The other guy started yelling at me for shooting him more than once. I probably hit him three to five times out of a volley of about seven or eight, at the end of a run that covered probably 200 yards and part of that up the hill. I was winded, but that was my best game of the day and also a really good game for Daniel and Joe.
Joe and Daniel had their best game two games prior, when I had managed to take out the enemy coming to the corner of the L on that same field (but we were coming from the opposite direction) and then got tagged by our own team - they didn't realize I had gotten that far forward. Luckily, they didn't get Daniel, Joe, or the other guy with me (though I think Daniel was right with me, like 10 feet behind me). Anyway, I watched as Joe, Daniel, and the other player leapfrogged, moved up like a working fire team, and took the enemy apart from the flank. Daniel had one really good shot; he goggled an enemy right after the trio made a short rush through the defending player's fire.
STATS FOR HECKLE
Shot count is now 18,000
Picture:
(This does not show the new Micro Razor drop, the larger Razor drop is in the pic.)
Current setup:
X-Valve with Lvl 10 (3 shims, 1.5 carrier)
Mini-Tac Pro Mainbody w/dual RPG detents and RPG clamping feedneck
Tac Rail
RPG Intelliframe with Splinter Pro Trigger
ULT (6 ULT shims)
Hogue .45 Grips
Viewloader Vlocity
CP Micro 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)
Pelican 1600 Case
STATS FOR JECKLE
Shot count is now 23,000
Picture:
Current setup:
X-Valve with Lvl 10 (0 shims, 2.0 carrier)
ULE Mainbody
Recon Rail
Y-Grip with Splinter Pro Trigger
ULT (3 ULT shims, 2 Lvl 10 shims - 7 ULT shims equivalent)
Hogue .45 Grips
Viewloader Vlocity
CP Perfect Drop
RT Pro Front Grip
13" 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)
Previous entries in the Chronicles here:
22 July 2007
21 July 2007
1 July 2007
9 June 2007:
26 May 2007:
12 May 2007:
28 April 2007
22 April 2007
14 April 2007:
5 April 2007:
25 March 2007:
24 February 2007:
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