For about a week now there's been a rumor going around that Smart Parts will be closing its doors at the end of the year.  Similar rumors have popped up in the past, especially when they laid off numerous employees earlier this year.  Previously, though, Smart Parts released an official statement that discounted the rumors, but nothing has come up this time and store owners report an inability to order products.  If Smart Parts has an official statement to make about the status of their company, I'd be happy to publish it - just contact me.

Whether or not Smart Parts is dying, the fact that the rumor seems so plausible is just another indication of the current troubles of the paintball industry.  A few years ago it would have been unthinkable for one of the largest and longest-lived paintball companies to close its doors, but now I almost expect a major manufacturer to announce plans to end its operations.   When Smart Parts released the Ion a few years ago, it really was at the top of the paintball world.  Of course, at that time, GM was also still the world's largest auto producer.  Times have changed.

Many paintball guns are created with the idea that they will later be customized to suit the individual user's preferences.  Each person, though, has different reasons for customizing their gun as they do.  Now you have a chance to share your customized paintball gun with the world and explain exactly what you did to get the results you did.  Additionally, feel free to share advice and tips to people who might want to copy some of your work.  It's cool to look at customized guns, but it's even better to know the story behind them.  Share your customized gun with others or view what others have done with their guns.

I frequently get asked which brand of paintball gun a beginner should buy.  While it always depends on the individual person and the situation, I do have a general answer.  After talking about Tippmanns, Piranhas and the like, I usually suggest a Spyder paintball gun for a few reasons.

Continue Reading This Article

68 Caliber has a video featuring the Cal State Northride paintball team. It's a simple video, but it's a great summary of the sport and a good introduction for people who's never played. Plus, what better school project is there than working on paintball?

It's time to think, once again, about paintball gifts.  If you're a regular player, you (hopefully) already know what you want for Christmas.  If, though, you're shopping for a paintballer and you don't know the difference between a Revy and a Rotor, take a look at the paintballer's wish list to get some ideas.

Backyard woodsball can be lots of fun with a chance to play a variety of different games, play as much  or as little as you want and no requirement to pay field fees.  There are some drawbacks with generally no designated referee, on-site air or well-developed bunkers.  Also, there can be a big problem with people not chronoing their guns.

When I play woodsball on an outlaw or backayard field I always take a pocket chronograph to make sure the guns are all shooting at a safe speed - usually around 280 feet per second.  While this works fine the vast majority of the time, there are occasions where people switch to an unchronoed gun or even intentionally increase their velocity as soon as their away from the chronograph.  Sure, shooting at 350 fps increases your range and almost eliminates bouncing balls, but it can really hurt and a new player who gets hit by a hot gun might never come again.

There's a reason that paintball manufacturers always say to shoot less than 300 fps - any faster and a shot that otherwise might leave a small bruise can leave a painful welt that might take weeks to heal.  I still have three paintball-shaped scars on my back from getting hit by someone shooting hot and if I didn't already love the sport I probably never would have played again.

If you're out playing with friends, make sure you're shooting slow enough.  If in doubt, shoot even slower.  It's always better to have a few bounces than to shoot too fast.

Excelling at paintball takes a combination of practice, skill, talent and luck.  Not everybody has time to practice to develop the requisite skill and even fewer have the innate talent to really be the best.  But for one game, everybody, from the professional paintballer to the first-day novice, can have the luck they need to win.

My favorite example of luck is the run-through.  When you're down numbers and you are out of options, just run and see what happens.  I've played games of base capture where I was all that was left on my team and so I ran.  The typical result is that I end up getting hit in record time and the game is over (as you would expect), but there have been games where luck was with me.  I remember one time where I was down four players to one and I was not in a good position to run for the flag.  The opposing team, though, was more interested in shooting me than moving in on my flag so I had a second to roll the dice with lady luck.  I internally counted to three and started firing like mad from around a bunker and I got the other team to duck their heads for just a second. I dropped my gun and took off running through the trees in an indirect path to the flag.  I could hear paintballs whizzing past me, hitting trees and one bounced off of my leg as I grabbed the flag.  In my few seconds of running there were probably close to a hundred shots fired at me by four different players, but somehow, luck lead me to victory.

Luck, though, is a very fickle mistress.  For all of the stories I have where I was down big and somehow won, I have many, many more about what usually happens - I start to run and within two seconds I've been hit half a dozen times from multiple directions.  Those times where I defied the odds, though, keep me asking for luck to lend me a hand.

Paintball manufacturing is a cutthroat business as evidenced by the many manufacturers that have come and gone over the years.  In the never-ending fight for consumer's dollars, manufacturers are always searching to do something a little better or a little different than their competitors.  The problem that I see, though, is that all of the manufacturers have lately seemed to be doing about the same thing.  What really differentiates Planet Eclipse from APS?  Both have a new high-end gun out about every year and are available at the same stores.  How about Tippmann from Kingman?  Both can be purchased at Wal-Mart and both just released a new line of paintball pistols.  Then Kee, which now seemingly owns one out of two paintball brands, really is just one company with different faces.

The problem with each of these companies is that they don't distinguish themselves in any meaningful way.  Sure, you can prefer an individual brand or gun, but that usually just boils down to gut preference; nothing seems to really differentiate comparably priced paintball guns.

My question, then, is what would make you choose one manufacturer over another?  Do you care if the gun is made locally as opposed to being produced abroad?  Do you want top-of-the-line customer service?  Do you want a network of local, certified airsmiths?  Do you want a butt-to-barrel warranty?  Do you simply want a manufacturer to produce something that's different while still being fun to play with?  Or, are you just so in love with a certain brand that nothing anybody else can do will ever make you switch?

There are manufacturers who read this blog, so now's your time to tell them what they can do to get your money.

Paintball news can be pretty frustrating.  Rather than focus on the pros of the sport, most media coverage is still based on the negative - primarily acts of vandalism and mischief.  Whenever I go to a news reader and search for paintball the primary stories are not about the results of tournaments, the camaraderie of teams or individual experiences playing the game, it's about stupid people messing around and causing problems.  I'd count how many negative stories come for every positive one, but I'm sure I'd get depressed doing the math.

Paintball is a very constructive activity and the world should know about it.  For some reason though, too many boneheads drop all common sense whenever they pick up a paintball gun.  It's frustrating and it's not helping the sport grow.  Unfortunately, when all somebody knows about paintball is that they got shot in their car while driving home they often don't have any desire to try the game or learn more about it.  I can't say that I blame them.

Whether .50 caliber paintballs and paintball gear will catch on remains to be seen, but another manufacturer has bought into the idea.  Kingman has announced the Spyder .50 line of equipment.  It appears that they're planning on releasing similar guns to what they already have, just in the .50 caliber format.

I'm still undecided whether I think the .50 caliber format is a good idea for paintball or if its just an attempt by manufacturers to get existing players to spend more money on new equipment.  Either way, I'm very interested to see which other companies announce new .50 caliber gear and how much support is given to the smaller format.