Any old school ballers out there?

[LoveMyMagMoreThanYou]

The VM-68/PMI3! I love that gun. Built like a tank and weighed more than one. I started playing in 1994. Wanted to play for quite a while before that. First played with an Automag and was given a Spyder for my birthday. Sold the Spyder to buy my current 'Mag.

[CoolHand]

I remember when I was in sixth grade (that would be 1991), I stole a very thin paintball catalog from my cousin (who was much richer than I), and simply drooled over that VM-68 and a very cool looking 68 Automag with a bright green SP AA barrel and wooden grips. But alas I was poor, so I bummed my cousin's SL68II, when he would let me.

In '94 or '95 (can't really remember), now in highschool, I had saved enough money to buy a Tippmann ProLite (once again a marker my cousin had), when I ran across this ad in APG with this funky lookin silver and black semi-auto.

You guessed it, a Spyder Classic. Bought one old school mail order style, and paid almost $250 for it when I did (they were brand new at the time).

Then came my MinMag, and a host of others too numerous to list.

Suffice to say that the only markers to stick around very long were the Mag, and a FreeFlow Cocker, neither of which I will part with.

I'd like to second that comment about how heavy old markers were. It gives me a little chuckle now, when I hear a scrawny little guy complaining about how heavy his 2k2 Timmy with a 68cu HPA tank is. He should try lugging around a VM-68 with the dual bottle setup. Two chromemoly tanks, filled with CO2 no less. lol That'll put hair on your chest. I own real guns that weigh less.

[The Frymarker]

Ahhhh those are some neat pics

I'm not really old school I started playing in 1998 when I met my husband.

He played in high school 1992, but they played in old abandoned warehouses in the dark.

[ExtremeODD]

heh im not old at all, comming up on my 2nd year, neat pics tho

[cgrieves]

This is about the earliest pic I can find of our team, Ballistic. This one is from 1994, although the team started out in 1991.

I'm the one bottom left, with the 'Mag. I think this was our first tourney where we all had Automags....

[cledford]

Started playing in '86. Dad bought me my first marker - it was a Nelspot 007. First time I shot a marker was about '84. It was my uncles brand new 007 that he had bought for the "survival game." Back then they didn't even have pumps - they were "bolt action."

I remember PORING over issues of APG in high school - I literally "looked the ink off the pages" and read each dozens of times.

The Nelspot got upgraded with a valve tube (4 thousandths over) a Barrel extension, "speed wheel" for 12 gram changes and a host of other stuff. It later was robbed of it's guts to build out a bushmaster pump clone my mother bought for my birthday in '88. Funny about the valve tube - back then there were no chronos. I didn't ever even SEE one until about '89, and it was optional. Someone brought it as a "novelty." I chroned my pump and it was shooting 430fps. I remember one guy I tagged that day with a grape fruit sized black bruise that appeared within minutes of when I shot him. Man, things sure have come a long way...

Took a break while overseas for 2 years with the USAF from 90-92. Got home, bought a SL68, and then fell in love with the super sexy automag. I'll still never forget the first time I pulled the trigger on one. Could never afford one and bought a used 68 special as my first semi. It wasn't until late '98 I finally got my dream gun - a mini-mag. Since then, have built 3 mags, bought an Emag, 2 Vikings, a classic Timmy, a 2k Shocker, a right-feed cocker, built another cocker from scratch, and built a Racegun from scratch.

-Calvin

[RRfireblade]

You guys have some good memories,I couldn't come up with a specific date.I started in high school sometime,so I guess that's '86-'87.Wasn't that serious about it then,played on and off for a while.Unfortunately I've moved around the country 3-4 times and don't have much left to show.Do to some business connections and other ties,I'm more serious about playing now then I was back then.

Old paintballers don't die,thier balls just turn grey.

Jay.

[toolbott]

ouch! Is that what happened to em?

[RRfireblade]

Sure,if you leave them out in the sun.

[Jackel411]

See Im the freak here...

Ive been playing close to 11 years, But my father has been playing since 83/84. So I basically grew up in the sport..

My first gun was a PMI-1 , I felt bad *** two years later when I bought a WGP ranger... I was like directfeed and tanks woooo... I later slapped a cali air set up on it with a thermo 10oz tank hehe...

Unlike most ballers today I still have that gun and that tank... its the one gun I can never sell..

[cledford]

Man would I love to get my hands on one of the Cali setups. I need the stocj with bottle ring and the thermo setup. Anyone know where to get either? I've tried Ebay with no luck. I heard the Thermo valves were dangerous compared to the pin valve - which is why Tippmann "gave" the pin valve to the sport vs. patenting it. Funny how Tippmann, Tom and other gave freely and if they hadn't SP wouldn't even exist today...

-Calvin

[SMG]

-

I began playing in 1987 (eigth grade). First gun that I played with was called an Uzi and was a pump with a paint resvoir in the gun (terrible). We also used Nelspot 007's, Splatmasters, Crossman revolvers, and I sold my SMG-60 a few years later. I stopped playing when mags and the first semi-autocockers came out and got back into paintball in about 1999.

I love the way the new guns shoot - I have owned just about everyone of them (Angels, Timmies, Vikings, Cockers), but paintball was more fun without all the speed. Paintball used to be more about skill and now its more about which team can keep more paint in the air. I love speedball, but when both teams are all shooting 15 bps, its more about playing tight than really playing. Just my opinion, but I do not really enjoy tournament type play. I am not one of the guys who loves woods ball, just more fun when players can make more moves in a game rather than just laying down paint.

[mag-hatter]

wow........18 years for some of you. thats amazing. i wonder how insane the paintball market is going to be 18 years from now if our guns can already shoot 40 bps and not chop, and fly strait and far!


sorry i couldnt help it

[Jeffy-CanCon]

13 years ago this week I played my first game.
Nelspot 007's & shop goggles, in two feet of snow!

I've got a couple of pics from the summer of '91 I can post later tonight.

[SMG]

LOL

We played with shop goggles as well. Nothing like taking a few in the face from an SMG when nobody ever heard of chronoing a gun.