From: jseymour@medar.com (James Seymour)
Subject: Re: Info on F-1 Illistrator
Organization: Medar, Inc.     Farmington Hills, MI
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 17:11:33 GMT

Might as well post it - I like a good debate anyway :-).

(Translation: if you're going to reply, do it here so everybody can
 benefit from the discussion!)

In article <1992Sep28.123835.2758@wkuvx1.bitnet> hargijk@wkuvx1.bitnet writes:
>
>	I'm posting this for a friend who doesn't have access to
>e-mail. He is interested in purchasing an F-1 Illistrator by PMI.

Keep in mind: all the following is "IMHO" (got to be humble, I get
painted a lot :-)), they are comments relative to semis only, and
I own an Illustrator.

>He wants to know about accuracy, gas usage, durability, warranty, and
>other aspects of the gun.(price,etc.)

Accuracy - is very good with the stock barrel.  Especially after
break-in, which takes a few hundred balls.  Indeed, I've found
the gun to be amazingly accurate with the stock barrel.  Further,
I've found that after a barrel-break, the barrel cleans-out with
a squeegie (sp?) and regains it's accuracy after a couple of shots.
I'm told that accuracy and range can be much improved with a
Smart Parts or Armson barrel.  (I haven't had enough experience
with my Smart Parts barrel on my F1 to comment yet.)

Gas usage - is excellent.  I typically get around 500 shots
out of a 7oz.

Dependability - depends on what you mean by this.  For starters,
this gun is not for lazy/messy players.  It absolutely MUST be
kept clean, *properly* lubed, and in-tune.  Also, since it is
one of the lighter-weight guns it probably won't take as kindly
to being bashed into trees, rocks, etc. as well as, say, a
Special would.  Provided you take care of it, it should prove
very dependable.  For the most part I've experienced a very low
ball-breakage rate.  (Normally well less than 1/100.)  I know
one player that swears his son has had only a single break out
of over two cases of paint and I've heard stories of players
that have *never* had a break.  (In all honesty, I suspect these
last two are a bit of an exaggeration.)  I've been hearing, and
it has been my experience, that it may well be the most dependable
semi on the market in cold weather as well.

Warranty - I don't remember how long it is.  I've had very
positive experiences with the distributor, Direct Connect,
in IL. though.

Price - I've seen 'em priced from U$350 (I *think*) to U$400,
usually around U$380 these days.

In general, I'm pleased with my purchase.  I think that if you're
going for maximum bang-for-the-buck in a semi presently, the F1
Illustrator is your best bet.  The alternatives I considered at the
time of my purchase were the VM-68 and the AutoMag.  While the
VM-68 now has a (lower) price advantage, I don't care for the tank
up front (nor do I like hoses), and the F1 is more accurate (stock)
and a bit more dependable in cold weather.  I liked the AutoMag's
balance, feel, rate-of-fire, and lack of recoil, but it has a nasty
reputation for unreliability and it's much more expensive.

That ought to trigger some debate :-).

There's some accessories your friend will probably want:  I found
the trigger to be too narrow for my taste, so I added a trigger
shoe.  I also added a hex-wrench adjustable thingy (replaces the
screw-on cap on the bottom at the back) so as to avoid having to
play around with the washers at the chrono station.  (Note that
some fields may not allow this externally-wrench-adjustable
adaptation, so be prepared - keep the original part and washers
handy.)  I understand there's now an adjustable bolt available that
also eliminates the need for fooling with the washers and  should
be acceptable to most fields that would object to the modification
I'm using.  If your friend is going to be playing in cold weather,
a "two-groove" valve-pin is *highly* recommended.  Lastly, your
friend should have the normal stock of spare parts, especially
the small stuff that gets easily lost when you take the gun apart.

>                                      Please either post the responces
>here or send them to me via e-mail. I will relay them to him. Thanks
>from both of us.
>

FWIW, there you go.  You are most welcome.  Good luck to your friend.

>Joey Hargis 
>Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green Ky 42101
>"I'm paintball starved at WKU!"
>
>


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Jim Seymour				| "If NT is the answer, it must
...uunet!medar!jseymour			|  be a really silly question"
jseymour@medar.com			|      Warner Losh
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