I suck with a pump.

[AGD]

Congratulations, you have graduated to learning a paintball SKILL which is in short supply these days.

When faced with overwhelming odds, (ramping guns) you need to pick one thing and do that well first. Take satisfaction in executing a plan that gets a man out with one shot. Its worth about 50 spray and pray kills.

As an example (not pump related but similar situation) I was talking with Tom Cole captain of Bad Company. He knew that his team was not good enough to beat the crap out of the top pro teams. This was a similar problem to going out with a pump against semi's. He noticed that pro players would spray out one side of the bunker for many seconds and then take a peek out the other side, usually without the gun. He would set up his guys to key on the empty side of the bunker and just wait-for-the-peak.

This is a great example of something that a pump guy can do to kill suckers. You see, it becomes a brain game, your strategy against his, you have to read, analyze, plan and then execute. This is the reason old school ballers keep saying "it's not the same". Paintball has degraded into high speed checkers when it used to be "chess with finesse"


AGD

[KingCocker]

Hi Lenny and Pumpmag, thank you for the warm welcome as I enjoy communicating with the paintball community here. Unfortunately it seems like the cocker forum has been pretty dead lately so I thought I'd try and join the automag community eventhough I don't own an automag and really a diehard autococker fan. Hope the automag community don't mind me joining the AO being that i am from the WGP religion.

[Lenny]

Hi Lenny and Pumpmag, thank you for the warm welcome as I enjoy communicating with the paintball community here. Unfortunately it seems like the cocker forum has been pretty dead lately so I thought I'd try and join the automag community eventhough I don't own an automag and really a diehard autococker fan. Hope the automag community don't mind me joining the AO being that i am from the WGP religion.

Dude, don't worry about it. We love all different types of guns and are widely accepting of that! I, too, am a fan of 'Cockers. I just prefer them with pumps.

Lol.

[turbo chicken]

what works for me is practice snap shooting get some practice balls (yes i know they are expensive) the investment is worth it ... my wife lets me use the hallway and into our bedroom i've gotten pretty good at hitting pop cans within 2 shots ... and in an effort not to duplicate more info ill just say look here there have 2-3 recent post with the same type of info posted in the past couple of months ...

[mag_lover05]

what works for me is practice snap shooting get some practice balls (yes i know they are expensive) the investment is worth it ... my wife lets me use the hallway and into our bedroom i've gotten pretty good at hitting pop cans within 2 shots ... and in an effort not to duplicate more info ill just say look here there have 2-3 recent post with the same type of info posted in the past couple of months ...

DFW huh...come out to ao tx.


anyways... i use to do the same thing...only my mom let me. im not married, it worked well

[neppo1345]

Yeah, it's not a skill easy to learn.

I still remember my first pump games, the frustration and anger.

I thought I was a half way decent player; I was wrong.

It's made me a better player (in my eyes at least, and thats all that counts).

It's made me more friends. Theres just something about meeting someone else at the field shooting a pump.

The biggest thing I can emphasize:

When you're snapping, Aim before you shoot. Eye down the barrel, pop, squeeze, pull back in. If you have to wait to aim before you snap you're either going to take to long and take a walk to the dead box, or just miss.

Just my $.02

[wanna-b-ballin']

i mainly play pump now.
it all about snap shooting and posting. literally. if you can't snap, you will get shot first.
being a ninja also helps. so dont go leaning on your bunker and **** unless you really need to. if your in the snake, you dont want the bunker your at to be moving and telling the whole field where your at ya know?
paint to barrel match is also important.
then there is patience and practice too.

[geekwarrior]

You see, it becomes a brain game, your strategy against his, you have to read, analyze, plan and then execute. This is the reason old school ballers keep saying "it's not the same". Paintball has degraded into high speed checkers when it used to be "chess with finesse"


AGD

I haven't played alot of pump yet, but the more I play pump, the more I see the truth in this statement.

Another thing to watch is the players dominate hand. Most players that shoot right-handed will come out the right side first after their first move. (if their right handed) It's little things like that that can make a difference.

I have to say, I had alot of fun watching Pump Mag play at Socal:AO SC village. You don't know how many times I saw him suprise the crap out of a player. The guy would move up close, post up on the side of the bunker, wait for the guy to come out, and it was over. He has inspired me to play more pump.

[JimmyBeam]

Good post, I'm considering picking one up just for the hell of it.

[Lee]

try adjusting your stock to different lengths: see if you shoot better and feel more comfortable.
some people prefer and do well w/ a longer "reach" regarding the stock length, others like it tight.
it does make a difference when shooting a phantom.

also, try a right or left off set feed stock class breach. between finding my ideal stock length and an offset breech, my shooting improved.

instead of 12 grams, go to a 3.5 oz tank for awhile. shot to shot will stay consistent longer and you'll learn the "feel" of your phantom without having to change 12'ies in a tight spot.

when snap shooting: take an imaginary picture of where you want your shot to hit. set your self up behind the bunker with your gun in a line so that all you have to do is pop out and fire it off at that spot. takes some practice, but it's doable.

don't be afraid to snap out when your being shot at. pop out at a spot on your bunker higher than where the opposition is targeting. many players expect to see a stream coming back thier way and they won't key in on just one round headed at them.

as was said earlier: paint to barrel match is important. i have found that phantoms work better when the paint is pretty snug in the bore. and, the higher quality the paint, the better. your buying less paint when playing stock class, so you might as well buy the best you can afford.

for all your pump and stock class needs: www.wevopaintball.com

^ shameless plug for my homie!

[StygShore]

snap shot practice

practice you snap shot like half the people in this thread have stated.

I set up 2 Liters on their sides in various spots throughout the field ( woods ball ) I figure the bottom end of a 2 liter is roughly the space you have to hit to hit a hopper and that's what most of my hits are. Practice shooting the bottles from different positions throughout the field - this helps you practice snap shooting, and teaches you some decent angles of the field. If you have a willing volunteer, get someone to lift the bottle from the bunker and shoot at it for a variation.

If you have a buddy that wants some practice, or you don't have access to a place to set up 2 Liters. Get a 4X8 sheet of plywood, cut it in half. Set them about 30-40 ft apart and you both get behind one and snap shoot at each other ( over and over until one of you goes home crying ) this teaches snap shooting, teaches you not to telegraph your movements ( makes you use the whole bunker and not keep coming out the same spot ) and teaches you to shoot your pump under incoming fire.

Lastly... when you are bored, your friend wont let you shoot at them anymore, and you cant get on the field for practice. 20 oz pop bottle, throw it in the air and shoot it as many times as you can before it hits the ground. This teaches you some snap shooting at moving targets.

These are the best drills I have come up with to practice, but I'm sure there are many alternatives. I built a sniper II pump to use for the end of last season, and it was configured differently than the pump I had previously sold to my cousin ( god that was stupid - I loved that gun ) I got TORE up for the first 3 months trying to get used to shooting the gun in a different configuration. I got better, but the other pump I shot for 6 years - so I have a ways to go to get as comfortable with this gun. As for phantoms... I can't shoot them to save my life, but the owner of the paintball field I work at can throw a 20 oz up and hit is 2-3 times before it hits the ground ( I've made about 120.00 bucks in bets on that one)


Styg

[SR_matt]

ok well to tired/ lazy/ in a bad mood to read through everyone else psots so ill just give my 2 cents

pump will take you back to your skills that you had when you started, it will also bring back that extream rush at first too.

pratice pratice pratice is what you are going to have to do. some good ways to start out will just be doing some basic target shooting keeping the gun up and steady and a decent sized target, then go to draw and shooting. try to keep taking the size of the target to smaller and smaller items. then try snaping shooting at it.

also you might need to adjust the stock or adjust other things on the gun to get used to the marker. ghost rings might help you aim better since it will narow down the view of your targets a lot. but remember your used to your other guns that didnt have another tube on top of the tube the barrel is connected to so you will have to adjsut you aim slightly.

it takes a little tiem and pratice but once you get good at it your semi game will get better... but now you do realize you have no excuse for shoting more than 1 ball at a time at a pump player when you get in a snap shooting battle.
-matt

[paintballfiend]

I have another question. Is it worth getting a barrel kit for my Phantom? I mean, are they any better than the stocl barrel? I was thinking about getting a J&J Elite barrel system.

[SR_matt]

from everythign ive heard over on scp and mcb just get some detent rings and you should be good to go
-matt

[RavishingEddie]

If you want a pump veterans advice then I will give it to you. I have been playing pump since 1999 and I use a SL 68 2 with a J&J ceramic barrel and a 68/45 nitro tank. Yes it works much better with air as good as anyother pump. I see that you are using a Phantom. That is a very very good pump the accuracy of it is amazing and if you got the CCM phantom kit for it you should have the advantage, but that is not as important.

Basically you have to go where no one goes. When I play scenario I try to stay away from the semis on my team, because they usually are gung ho and love to shoot and give away their spot. If you are near one then you will be part of the fire fight. Basically try to stay away from fire fights. Although this does not apply to speedball IMO it does for scenario ball.

Don't shoot at anything you see either. If an enemy is at your range, but it is a hard get a shot at him be patient and wait. Usually more will pop out since they think its safe since no one shot them from where you are at.

Be agressive but not too much. I used to just rush in the beginning of the game but I found out that it got me in big trouble because several rec ballers on my team thought I was from the opposite team. I let several go before me and then I make my move where I know I will not get so much heat. On my way to my location I talk to my team mates and let them know where I am going so I don't get friendly fire and get hints on enemy locations in the same time.

Last thing is to imagine yourself as a hunter not a fighter. Hunt them but don't let them spot you moving.