From: mtnbiker@singletrack.EBay.Sun.COM (Daniel Abernethy)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.paintball
Subject: Re: How do you like your semiauto?
Date: 16 Nov 1992 19:44:33 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Distribution: world
Reply-To: mtnbiker@singletrack.EBay.Sun.COM
NNTP-Posting-Host: singletrack.ebay.sun.com


Brendan,

Of the three painters you mentioned, I would go with the Pro-Am.

I have a biased opinion of that one because I have one.
 
The PMI3/VM68 is a very durable painter, but I found it to be front heavy
and a gas pig.  It is an okay painter though.  It requires quite a bit of
modification to make it really good, IMHO.  And then it is STILL to heavy.
cleaning the barrel requires a pig-tail muzzle type squeegie.


The Illustrator is light, efficient but seems to be prone to failure after
extended play (6 mos.)  Accuracy/range is not up to the level that I like. 
Hence, I did not buy one. It also has too many little delicate parts, very
flimsy. Pig tail needed here also. 

My Pro-Am has had its share of teething problems (sear/trigger springs, 
foregrip,o-rings) but Tippman has been totally helpful in getting my 
problems solved.  I called them up on a monday and had parts by friday.  
That is what I call service.  Range and accuracy are good with the stock 
barrel, but is killer with a Smart parts rifled barrel.  I am almost on 
equal ground with auto-cockers, and have the range on automags, pmi/vms, 
and illustrators.  As far as reliability, there are very few parts to go 
wrong on the pro-am, it is efficient, sturdy, well balanced (big plus for
me), has a high rate of fire, and doesn't require constant care like an
auto-cocker.  Cleaning the barrel on the tippman is one of the reasons 
I went with it.  Breech type barrel cleaning, slide the fore-grip forward
and run your cleaner through.  very quick and in an emergency, you can 
slide the grip back fast and start firing to stop a push.  I broken very
little paint in my tippman 100 out of 10,000 rounds of paint, most of the
breakage came from bullcrap turdo paint.  I shot 2000 rds of nelson last
weekend and didn't break a single ball, traccer works ok, and so does zap,
RP is excellent also.  Those are my Paints of choice Nelson and RP.

If the pygmies got my pro-am I would go with an Auto-cocker, while it is
very intricate/complex and needs TLC, I think the benefits make lots of 
the care worth it.  I had the opportunity to play with one for a day and
was duly impressed with the rate of fire and accuracy(laser beams).
Cleaning the barrel can be done two ways muzzle or breech/bolt.  For the
latter you must remove the bolt to run your cleaner through, a potential
elimination situation.  The nice thing about the cocker is that you can
get enough paint out by just shooting a few rounds through it.  They don't
break very much paint if the timing is right.  They are complicated guns,
like a ferrarri or porsche, they have to be dialed in to work right.  I 
ran 2400 rds of fireball through this cocker and broke maybe 3 balls.
The thing with the auto-cocker is that on top of the care needed, it also 
has to have lots of aftermarket stuff done to it to make it really good, 
things like regulators, bolt work, machine work, trigger work, etc...
I am getting into tourney play and any advantage is appreciable.  I will
keep my Pro-am as a back up because it is like a toyota; gas it and go.

good luck in your decision

Danimal

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Newsgroups: rec.sport.paintball