As much as I love playing paintball, I wouldn't enjoy the sport nearly as much if all I ever did was play on the field. While many players simply enjoy playing the sport and like a hassle-free gun, I'm not one of those players.
My first few times playing paintball I either rented or borrowed a gun. When I got my first gun (a basic Spyder), it wasn't long before I had it apart and was figuring out how it worked. Since then, I've spent countless hours fixing, modifying and generally tinkering with my guns. It's amazing how many nights I've been up until 2 or 3 in the morning, just trying to get one last thing to work. In fact, my biggest regret from college is that I never took a circuitry class so that I really understand the circuit boards I mess around with.
If you've never messed around with your paintball gun, I encourage you to change your ways. Messing with your equipment is a whole side to the sport you've been missing.
Comments
Good point David but as an airsmith unless you know what you are doing don’t go and mess around with your marker unless you know what you are doing, You can potentially break the marker causing you to have hefty costs fixing the marker or worse replacing it. Now I don’t know about you but I don’t want to break a 1300 dollar marker….Keep up the good blog.
Andy Leeck
I agree completely with Andrew. Start small and build up – a basic blowback marker is a great way to learn how things work, but don’t assume you can fix any problem just because you know how to disassemble your gun. A good rule of thumb is that if you can’t afford to replace the part, you shouldn’t mess with it.
Loved this one. I’ve been playing for about 5…maybe 6 years, and when I get a new marker the first thing I do is break it all down and rebuild…..I hardly even look at manuals anymore just for the challenge of memorizing everything the first time…So after I know how to break every thing down to fix/tweak on the field, I go shooting trees in the yard…..my Spyder MR1 has a nice trigger pull stock, so I didnt mess with that, but just shooting trees out back made me realize my A5 and 98 needed clicky spring mods…..After I get my marker tweaked so it feels right at a stand still, and rolls up correctly I got play a full game of paintball…With my new markers, I usualy carry 200-300 bucks in my buddies truck because I know I’m going to want that micro honed barrel, or even the pump kit I just got for my first Autococker…Tweaking, and tinkering are almost just as fun as playing the game, and if you can add “cosmetics” that dont hinder your preformance, but actuly help, you can end up getting all the noobs on your team to help them be like you: The Paint-Zen master XD
Again you may still break your marker if you “tinker” with it, i am a veteran of 12 years and ive been an airsmith for 6 of those years. And rebuild? excuse me but that really is int a good idea when the creators of the marker didn’t expect you to go and fiddle with things, now one experience comes to mind when i was a new player i broke down my tippman 98 custom and it took me a whole week to get the thing back together, now if you are like me and go and spend whole paychecks on paintball i don’t particularly take kindly to my markers breaking, and if you do tinker with guns usually the manufacturer will void the warranty and you are royally screwed. IF ITS NOT BROKEN DON’T FIX IT!