Advise needed!

[Chris42050]

A-5 =Good gun for money. You got a built in loader and an r/t trigger. Perfect starter gun IMO.

The flatline. If you can hit people and have the paint break then use it. But I am starting to think that that part of the gun is hype myself. I liked them at first but I am now realizing my friends get good range but lots of bounces. Masks are probably your best chance for breaks.

Bounces =Frustration

[Scherdy]

Look at it this way...

...You got a good gun. Especially for learning how to take something apart, mess with the marker and put it back together . A5's are pretty forgiving.

Be sure you check out that link to the a5 owners group. Lots of helpful people there just like here. I have had an a-5 for a year now. It definitely holds it's own and remember it's not the marker that makes the player. Everyone's advice on barrel choice is right on. Lapco and J&J are great barrels and you're not paying for the label, just a good barrel. Be sure to look into regulators on the a-5 O.G. and HPA are always a good investment if you're looking to increase accuracy. But learn how it works stock so you can see how you want to improve it first.

And when you do decide to upgrade your marker....a couple years, 8 months, (ok, 4 weeks) down the road, your a-5 will still be hummin' (as long as you keep it oiled) and will be a great backup or loaner to friends who you are trying to sucker into playing with you! There's nothing worse than while you're getting into paintball spending the day fixing a marker that just won't work. Your a-5 should keep you on the field and playing!

[knuckledragger]

A-5

Wow, that is a lot of great information! Thank you all. As I mostly seem to play speedball I think I may try a different barell.

I still am confused by how I can get hit almost directly between the eyes by some players, while I just wiz paint all around them. It does not seem to be coinsidence or pure luck that the same players are making lots of great shots and others just keep missing. Is there a huge difference between a $200 marker and a $1200 marker as far as accuracy or is it simply skill. Thanks in advance.

[space_weazel_45]

Wow, that is a lot of great information! Thank you all. As I mostly seem to play speedball I think I may try a different barell.

I still am confused by how I can get hit almost directly between the eyes by some players, while I just wiz paint all around them. It does not seem to be coinsidence or pure luck that the same players are making lots of great shots and others just keep missing. Is there a huge difference between a $200 marker and a $1200 marker as far as accuracy or is it simply skill. Thanks in advance.

[Target Practice]

Wow, that is a lot of great information! Thank you all. As I mostly seem to play speedball I think I may try a different barell.

I still am confused by how I can get hit almost directly between the eyes by some players, while I just wiz paint all around them. It does not seem to be coinsidence or pure luck that the same players are making lots of great shots and others just keep missing. Is there a huge difference between a $200 marker and a $1200 marker as far as accuracy or is it simply skill. Thanks in advance.

As you continue to play, your marker will become an extension of yourself. You will just learn where your balls go. Granted, you are going to be getting some performance variance in the paint-to-barrel match and the use of CO2 over compressed air, but you will probably be able to overcome these for the most part. Now, I hold the belief that no marker is inhearently more accurate than another., the exception to this rule is, IMO, the Phantom. Barrels as well are pretty much the same, honed pipes. Rifling the barrel does NOTHING. There is a thread in the Deep Blue forum about paintball spin physics that you may want to check out for further info.

Anyhoo, you've come to the right place for info. Oh yeah, Welcom to AO!

[Jeffy-CanCon]

...
I still am confused by how I can get hit almost directly between the eyes by some players, while I just wiz paint all around them. It does not seem to be coinsidence or pure luck that the same players are making lots of great shots and others just keep missing. ...

Inexperienced players tend to point and shoot, and hope to get lucky. Also, they tend to be nervous if someone else is shooting at them. With more experience, a player becomes calmer, ignores the wild shots whizzing by their head, and aims at their target. I actually have one friend who is more accurate when under fire!

[Load SM5]

Part of the problem with speedball and a flatline barrel is the ball's tendancy to veer to the sides if the gun is'nt held exactly straight up and down. Tilt the gun to the right a bit and the balls will curve that way a little, due to the barrel's design. That could partially explain your accuracy issues. Plus, do you really need distance on a smallish speedball field? Just tilt the gun up a bit. Accuracy is also by product of consistancy. If your using CO2, old, misshapen or cheap paint it affects your shot to shot consistancy. It's usually not a terrible issue in woods and recball, but it can be darn frustrating in a speedball game when you're trying to hit an elbow or a hopper. Shots just don't seem to hit in the same place. Of course taking into account, that your basically trying to get blinding accuracy with a fluid-filled musketball, stacking balls right on top of each other, on a square inch area, at a good distance is, a tough thing anyway.
That's where the e-gun "accuarcy by volume" thing comes into play. While shooting 20bps is not always a needed thing, the ability to pop, send 4 balls at that elbow or hopper, and pop back in before anyone returns fire is a pretty helpful ability. That's the real beauty of a light mouseclick trigger. Also the lighter the trigger, the less the gun is jerked when firing, and that helps accuracy out a good deal, too.
Sooooooooo.... my suggestion is to start off with a decent barrel to match the bore size of the paint your tend to use, buy some decent paint (Bigball is'nt bad for the price), and if you can, a decent preset N2 tank. That should get you on the road to having better shot to shot accuracy. Speed will be helped buy picking up the Tippman e-grip upgrade or passing the tippy down to your son and buying another e-gun. All the expense, may or may not be justified, depending on how serious your desire to play serious tournaments or just fling paint on the occasional weekend.
A-5's are'nt bad guns by any means. They're tough, can be fast, and usually easy to fix. Tippman sponsores a serious tournamnt team that shoot exclusivelly 98's and A-5's and does really well with them. Never let anyone tell you that in order to be a better player, you have to sport the latest wallet-burning $1200 gun.

Welcome to AO.

[temps]

There is a guy at my field with an a5 that holds up just fine against the high end electros..

And that proves to me that its mostly skill..

[lbonettosd]

I've got on very imoprtant word for you to remember..... "practice". Practice will increase your accuracy and IMO often more than a barrel will. The better you are at using your equipment the better player you will be. Some people say that a flatline isn't accurate, some say it is, I say it's up to you decide what you deem accurate. Just remember the old saying "practice makes perfect", your game will improve just give it time. I've been playing for 12+ years and (to this day after I get shot out or eliminated) I always analyze how it happened, what I was doing, etc... Odds are that most of the time when you get hit in the goggles you were looking over the top of the bunker, its. a very common thing for new players to do,. Neat time try going out the side instead, this will might just keep you in the game a little longer.

And i know this was probably covered somewhere in this thread, but the A-5 w/ a flatline is an extremely popular gun for scenario play. Matter of fact I'm thinking about selling one of my mags to buy an A-5 just for that reason. Good Luck with your game and Welcome to AO!

[No sKiLLz]

We just picked up a BKO for my friend for a little over $300. It has a much shorter profile than Tippman 98s or A5s but is electro with a much higher ROF. It's autococker threaded and we put a Kaner barrel kit on it. With a LP crossfire tank, it's probably the best speedball bang-for-your-buck I've ever seen. It will work on CO2 as well but move away from CO2 ASAP

All you who are about to argue, TK said it himself, it's a numbers game. The more paint you sling the better chance you have of scoring the hit.

[knuckledragger]

flatline

Wow, great advise. I am overwhelmed. Thanks all!! I think I may try a ceramic barell and possible a e trigger. Is a response trigger better or would an Electric trigger be the way to go? Thanks in advance.

[TeamNausea]

go electro!

[kungfuhampster11]

if you sod the flatline, and wanted to get another barrel in the 150 price range, the jj edge kit is a wicked good it, it has different bore sizes so you can have better paint-barrel match and is just like the ceramic and it will clean itself

[Load SM5]

Wow, great advise. I am overwhelmed. Thanks all!! I think I may try a ceramic barell and possible a e trigger. Is a response trigger better or would an Electric trigger be the way to go? Thanks in advance.

The electronic trigger would be better than the response. Due to the the fact that it can be dialed to runaway (basically firing itself by lightly bouncing off your finger) it's not usually tournament legal.