The Age of the Mechanical Marker

[FutureMagOwner]

Yep, I love playing against people who use their electros at full speed. I just pop my head out every few seconds and let them waste all their paint, then I come in and mow them down with maybe 20 balls shot. I don't really care what I am using, I am one of the fastest people on the trigger, but I never actually shoot that fast in a game, theres no point, I love playing to peoples weaknesses (in this case their need to shoot a crap load of paint).

[sjrtk]

At the local fields i can hang with the electro's just fine on a speed ball or rec field. Thats using a retro'd Minimag. I just can't try to trade shot for shot with these guys (most of them think its a million dollar tournament) i'm just not that fast on the trigger. But that doesn't stop me from getting an elimination or two, and having fun.

[Loneassassin]

Honestly, the only time I fully use the power of my electros is during the break out of a tournament or X-ball match. After those first 10 seconds, I am shooting at mechanical speeds. For general play any mechanical marker can keep up. I honestly dare anyone to stick their head out the side of a bunker that I am putting even 6 balls per second onto.

Anyone that fears the electro because of its rate of fire, just needs to get a bit more experience. Once you stop fearing the sound, you can play ball. Remember, if someone with an electro blasts your bunker for 12 seconds at a high rate of fire, then he is out of rounds and needs to reload. If he reloads and continues, then he will run himself out of rounds completely in under 2 minutes. If one guy is just "spraying" more than one or two bunkers to keep guys down, then he is not effective and is just begging to be snap shot in the goggles.

^^^This sums it up for me too. I rarely shoot faster than 10bps with my E-cocker unless it's off the break. I can shoot 10bps with my mech cocker, and at least that fast with my RT ULE. So it's really not a big deal. I play up front most of the time where it's a lot more about snap-shooting and first-shot accuracy. It only takes around 3 *accurate* balls per second to keep someone in their bunker.

In woodsball, it makes absolutely no difference whether I use a mech or electro.

[chafnerjr]

Yep... it's pretty much well said by now. Lot of better players are even switching to pump up here even with the agglets and their electros.

P.S. Almost any pneu can shoot to current ROF caps allowed on rec fields.

[BlackOps]

I haven't really played much at the competitive speedball level, but I'm not really gripping under what conditions a person would think that a good top end mechanical marker can't be competitive on any field.

At 10bps you are talking about only 1/10th of a second between paintballs.

Or is it simply matter of players replacing accuracy with volume?

[chafnerjr]

I agree with you, but for the sake of playing devils advocate... I'll only say that in competitive speedball a lot of players line up on a position and stream paint until just enough of something pops out to get hit... whether or not you wonder if it's:

simply matter of players replacing accuracy with volume?

It's not spray and pray because the good ones are pretty accurate but it's about catching that other baller in the .25 seconds they're open that's important. On the rec field I far prefer a mech due to the lack of "issues" that pop up. Besides, at normal caps my mech is just as fast as any electro as has been stated here pretty consistently.

[BlackOps]

It's not spray and pray because the good ones are pretty accurate but it's about catching that other baller in the .25 seconds they're open that's important. On the rec field I far prefer a mech due to the lack of "issues" that pop up. Besides, at normal caps my mech is just as fast as any electro as has been stated here pretty consistently.

Yeah, I get what you are trying to say, but for the sake of splitting hairs. If you are spitting out 10bps out of your mech marker and a player peeks out for .25 seconds. Just who just got tagged out? He'd have to pop out, look and be back in cover in .09 seconds.

[athomas]

Or is it simply matter of players replacing accuracy with volume?

I think this is a big part of it. Plus, intimidation is a big part of it. For experienced players, it doesn't matter as much. I am quite comfortable getting shot at by two guns shooting 15bps. It doesn't bother me. I am checking out the trajectory of the paint as it is coming by my face and I have my gun trained on the next logical bunk so that whoever is shooting at me can't have a free move. If the shooting goes erratic or stops for even a second or two, I'll pop out and take a couple of shots down field as I do a quick check before popping back in. If it is clear I immediately pop out and assume control with my 4 - 6 bps. I can maintain control for about 40 seconds at that rate. That gives my guys time to advance. At 15 bps, I can only get 12 seconds of control before I need to reload. While reloading, most people lose control. Experienced player practice it but most can't do it effectively.

[KKPASA]

Pump play

I've been play paintball for over ten years. I've had a Spyder, an Automag, an Autococker, a PGP, a Phantom, and a Nerve. For 90% of that time I've played pump. It's the only way I can play, and it doesn't matter who I play against, or what they play with. I play to have fun.

[DBC]

As long as there are beginning players who don't need high end stuff and as long as there are automags, mechanical markers will be needed. I finally bought a backup marker (my primary marker that I have been using for 3 years is a TAC-1) and it is electronic. I have also shot other electros, but I get the most satisfaction when I shoot my automag.

[CatoRockwell]

On a WIN note for mechanical. As some of you may know my E-Tac is out being annodized so I've been using an xvalved ule as my backup. This last weekend I went out and rocked a bunch of electro speedball players. Not one death in 4 games, Last game in particular, they decided that me, my brother (also an automag user), and one other guy who knows us were doing too well, so they did a game of 3 on 8. I scored 5 kills with my Automag. We won the game even though it boiled down to me vs the last 2 guys.

It's not about the marker, it's about the player. Sure electro's help. Heck, I have an E-Tac for when I need to lay it down, but honestly the rate of fire I can sustain on my mech marker was able to bunker other players just fine.

Best part was. At the end of the day, the other guys were all asking about this "new marker" our automags. I can't believe that none of them have ever heard of one before. Heck, they thought my ULE was an electro until I showed them it was all mechanical.

[xero28]

I love my mech guns. My Blazer and old Cocker are smooth as butter. I've got a bunch of mags and I wanted to try something different, so I turned my X'd ULE into an EGOMag, I LOVE it! with the foregrip, rail and asa, it weighs in at around 2 pounds 3 ounces. I don't use it so I can lay down 30 bps, heck, the board is capped at 13 anyways. I just like the ease of the trigger and the way it feels. Like others, I usually use it to shoot 3 or 5 balls at a time like I do with mechs, but it's also nice to have the ability to lay down a bit more when I need to. I told myself I'd never own an electo, but I also just picked up a Viking. I personally don't care about high rates of fire. If I really wanted that, I wouldn't have sold my Classic RT with the Dynaflow at 1200 psi. But with the Viking (and of course Mags), its the quality and reliability that I'm counting on. Plus, with the Viking I can play a long day of woodsball and not have to worry about running out of air.

All that being said, I was getting my gear ready for this weekend and I pulled out my Classic Mag to test it so I could have a backup or a loaner. Shot a few rounds out of it and there was something about it that just felt sooooo goooood.

EDIT: My mistake, weight isn't 2 lbs 3 oz, its 1 lb 8 oz. Its 2 lbs 15 oz with DW Fibur Barrel & insert and an empty Prophecy.

[usagi_tetsu]

The Age of the Mechanical Semi-Autos came to a close when anti-chop eyes and force-feed hoppers became inexpensive and prevalent. Some would say the Mech stopped being dominant in the late '90's, but having played most of my tournament career at that time, I can honestly say that the mechs were still a force to reckon with well into the early 2000's. Why? Even though there were many high rate of fire options out there in the electroflinger market, there weren't any loaders that could keep up, or many electros that came stock with decent anti-chop systems. If your marker is a blender at 13bps because your loader can't go above 9bps, why spend that much $$$ on it?

Does that mean that mechs are currently useless? No, but because your average player is more apt to pick up an inexpensive electroflinger over a similarly priced mech, it does mean that mechs are no longer the dominant marker of choice. At least not in sales numbers. I have electros, because when I'm feeling lazy they provide consistant shots at high rates of fire for not a lot of weight being carried around. I still have (and love) my mech markers and would love to see a national tournament series come up with a mech-only division, but I doubt it'd happen.

But are mechs dead? No way. Look at Azodin, coming out with a new mech with great features (it's a Spyder clone, but none of the Spyder's annoying propietary threading/sizing specs) at a decent price. Tippmann is still making new affordable mech markers that will last through anything up to and including global thermonuclear warfare. Even Shocktech is still offering a high end 'cocker that began production in 2009, not a legacy design from the previous decade. Mechs are here to stay... just like pumps will always have a place in paintball, as will electros.

[matteusz]

I love it this is like the "When will AGD go out of business."

Short answer: not soon.

Long answer:

Relevant yes but not widely used. I need to cave and get an aluminum valve and tune it to perfection. Or go really nuts and get a pnemag built. Then I can have the super light trigger pull and all the fun of a mech. Then again maybe I will just keep enjoying my classic valve uber gun for its slowness.

Thing with a mech is you have to learn to shoot. Something that alot of paintballers miss out on since they start on electro's now a days and don't have to.

Someday I hope the pro series all turn into a mech only game. Where you actually have to have fast fingers to shoot fast.

I think what is missing for something like this to ever happen is a commonly available cheap mech gun with a light trigger pull and easy maintenance. Mags and tippman make great guns sure but when I can get a pm 5 with tank and hopper for 3-400$ why bother? I think mech and pump play is something you grow into in the sport. After you have done your crappy gun whore bing you eventually find yourself wanting something that really works and is a joy to shoot. You get back to wanting to play for fun. That is when the mech and pump guns come out.

[b-cuzz]

I'm currently building the potentially fastest marker I own. It's a single trigger Jungle Nights r/t Micromag. All I have yet to add to it is a flatline or comparable high-flow system.
Boy, if I was the last person to get picked for teams before because of my chrome short-barrel Mag.....
I can't wait to tell them "Don't make me wanna break out the purple one....."
My group played a 5v5 speedball game one day with some walk-ons. The way the teams ended up, most of the heavier hitters from my group were on the other team (Andy-hyperframe q tac-one, Devon-Xvalve ule hyperframe, Shannon-alley cat, but he's good with it, Josh-e-cocker, agg-Ion or Dye or something).
My team was gone in a few seconds. I managed to get down to the agg and Josh, and the agg wouldn't call out. Must be because I only hit him once. Josh got me while the agg was "checking himself". I had it won. I knew where Josh was.
S'all good. When you know it, it still feels like a win. I still did it with El Chromo. I'd still do it again, too.