Most influential paintball gun by decades?

[ATBen]

I seem to remember a few topics about most important, influential, groundbreaking markers of all time on the old MCB 1.0. So I thought I'd revive it and try it by decade. I'm going for the most obvious choices to me, but obviously I'm not Velcor or ancient paintball god, so I get that guns influentialness varies depending on location, budget, technology etc. Anyways, I'm excited to see what some of you come up with.

I tried to choose mine based on groundbreakingness and accessibility to new players. For the 2020s I just made a hopeful wish!

1980s = Nelspot 007, Splatmaster
1990s = Autococker, Tippmann Model 98
2000s = Ion, Gen E Matrix
2010s = P.E. Etha, Empire Axe
2020s = New 40th Anniversary Tom Kaye x Bud Orr CockerMag, A MacDev Tactical Prime XTS

[VonBraun63]

The 90s is a rough one to do in my opinion.
important- 1000% the autococker
influential- I’d have to say the angel
groundbreaking I feel would be split between the automag and the shocker.

I would hands down say macdev has been the most innovative paintball companies in recent times. Most “new” marker improvements that other companies come up with can usually be traced back to them years earlier.

[jerryjjackson69]

I would disagree with the Macdev statement. I think the Droid/Clone engine from the 2000's was cool and innovative, but what other examples are there? The last 5 years has been using a very basic blow forward engine with a copy of the IV core upgrade (Clone 5), or an even more basic blow forward with a shut off (Prime series). I think the most innovative companies in recent years would be Dye (DSR, M3), or Eclipse (CS2, EMEK). I do agree that the Angel was extremely influential, and that Autocockers were important.

[Brokeass_baller]

How the heck is the Automag not even mentioned in the 90s section?

[ATBen]

It was an obvious choice, it was hard for me to get it down to 2. Mag is up there on par with the cocker imo

[MrBarraclough]

I second this.

And in terms of design influence, I would actually include the Automag among the most influential markers of the 2000s and 2010s, despite their relative rarity post-90s. The influence is indirect and underappreciated, but it is there. In an important sense, all blow-forward spool valve markers are to some greater or lesser degree descendants of the Automag. The idea of using a piston inside the bolt to plug a dump chamber so that the same charge of compressed gas could both cycle the bolt and propel the paintball was revolutionary in 1990 and continues to underpin the design of most markers today. Tom Kaye is paintball's Nikola Tesla.

[Brokeass_baller]

Tom Kaye is paintball's Nikola Tesla. I like that.

[flyweightnate]

I think the early blowbacks have to figure in for the 90s. Without the Cats, VM/PMI3, and later Spyders and Tippmanns, I doubt the sport would have come this far.

I'm actually curious about the timeline on blowbacks. What was first, what was popular, how long did it take for Chinese clones to perpetuate... I didn't buy until 1999, and had only played with an SL68 and a Pro-Carb by then.

[MrBarraclough]

I happen to have one of the very early blowbacks, a Tippmann 68 Special from the late 80s. It was my first marker, bought used and beat up in 1994.

The 68 Special was the semi-auto-only version of the SMG60 / SMG68, Tippmann's first marker. The SMGs were blowback operated full autos fed by a horizontally-mounted fixed box magazine (think MP34). The magazines were loaded with three 5-round reusable clips that looked like you cut a 10-round tube into 1" sections and glued them side by side. They were loaded in through the ejection port which had a spring-loaded latch to keep them in against the pressure of the magazine spring. There was no bolt. The cycling of the hammer/striker would drop the latch momentarily and allow the clip to advance to the next round. There was an optional wire frame attachment with a little canvas pouch to catch the clips as they were expelled from the marker every 5 rounds.

The 68 Special used the same lower receiver but replaced the upper with one that had a feed neck and partially open breach like the SL-68s and included a nylon bolt and linkage arm that connected it to the cocking handle of the hammer/striker. Internally, the auto sear of the SMG was replaced with a resetting semi-auto sear in the Special. The receivers were cast aluminum and they shared barrels with the SL-68 pumps, even having the same triangular cross section pump handles, just glued in place as a foregrip. The 68 Special is the daddy or granddaddy of all the inline blowback Tippmanns, from its successor the Pro/Am to the Pro-Lite, Pro-Carbine, 68 Carbine, Model 98, and beyond. Arguably, all inline blowbacks might be some kind of descendant of the 68 Special. I don't remember encountering many other 68 Specials in the mid-90s, so I don't have a good sense of how popular they actually were. Most old-timers back then recognized mine and commented on it, so I assume they were at least well known in the late 80s/early 90s.

By my recollection, the Sheridan VM-68/PMI-3 is the earliest exemplar of the stacked tube design blowback. While I believe the VM-68 was the first, I could be wrong and the F-1 Illustrator might've predated it. I certainly remember that when the Spyder burst onto the scene my first impression was that someone had made a smaller, lighter clone of the VM-68 and simply integrated common aftermarket upgrades as standard features (powerfeed, muzzle brake, bottomline).

[JonM]

I'm running through my head where something like the Gmek would fit here. On one hand, it was technically released in the late teens, but its impact has pretty much jump started the mechanical movement we're seeing today. PE took a real gamble releasing that frame at the time. They really didn't even know if there would be a big market for it. Fast forward to today and we're now seeing a resurgence in the mech movement with more modern markers like the Emek, M170R, MG100, and the CVO.

[ATBen]

That's why I threw the etha in there. I've heard some fields even use the Etha 2 as a rental. Lucky rental kids these days...

[Grendel]

Really comes down to what you mean by influential. Are you saying from Recreational Play, Tournament Play, Business Perspective, Technical Ingenuity....???? The question is so subjective to make any general ranking irrelevant.

From a new player entering the sport perspective this is what I would rank them:

1. 1980s - Splatmaster (far from the best but it was the first paintball as a sport where the product was aimed at getting players into the sport)
2. 1990s - Spyder (STBB of the 90s by far did the most to bringing in new players, I hate to credit Spyder in particular because the really were not the first STBBs but their marketing did the most "damage")
3. 2000s - Smart Parts Ion (complete leveling of the technological field for new players to the point today Ions still are viable, again it hurts me to list the Ion but I have to give SP their due on this.)
4. 2010s - Enemy/Etha simply best bang for new player's buck (not including Mini/Axe because they really are rooted in the 2000s)
5. 2020s - Who knows too soon most of what we are seeing this year are just variations of something that came in the previous decade or two.

From a Paintball Field (business) perspective:

1. 1980s - Nelson Clones - bang for your buck improvement due to competition
2. 1990s - Tippman 98 (and all variants) - Relatively Cheap, easy to maintain and stupidly reliable with a little maintenance. ROI (Return on Investment) very short.
3. 2000s - Tippman 98 carried over into this decade
4. 2010s- Still saw a lot of Tippman 98 but they were being replaced by Enemy/Etha/EMEK which I expect are even easier to maintain and get best ROI from
5. 2020s- Again who knows...

From a Technology Standpoint:

1. 1980s - not a marker the AGD Six Pak - killed CO2 cartridge requirement in tournaments in less then one season opened up widespread use of Constant Air. If you insist on a marker then it would be the Autococker it actually existed before the 90s.
2. 1990s - PGI Shocker brought the arms race to a whole new level
3. 2000s - WDP Angel refined the concept of an Electronic Marker
4. 2010s - I have no idea I'm pretty much stuck in pre-2010 experience/technology
5. 2020s - who knows

[glaman5266]

For your 2010s technology standpoint I'd maybe say the Gamma Core. After stacked tube poppets plateaued manufacturers went almost exclusively to spoolers. No one nailed it as well as PE did with the Gamma Core.

Otherwise I pretty much agree with your post. Hardcore players often forget what Kingman did for paintball in the '90s in terms of making things cheaper & getting people into the sport.

[Grendel]

Thought about mentioning the Gamma Core markers but that would be my opinion on something I have no actual experience with so I would have been just parroting others' opinions.

[ATBen]

I like this break down. Constant air, affordable semi-autos, direct feed, and spool valves were all epic game changers.

[2hits]

I think a lot is going to depend on where you were, especially in the 80s and 90s. In the upper midwest it was PGPs for the 80s and Automags in the 90s. Autocockers seemed more popular in other areas.

[VonBraun63]

Agreed. Started playing in Arizona in the 90s and it was autocockers, Tippmann and Piranha/Spyder. I remember shooting a few automags but they were far between.

[ATBen]

Agreed. I don't think Southern Ontario paintball would have grown without the prevalence of Brass Eagle, and later, PMI and Tippmann, at major retailers. They got so many people into it around me.

[SignOfZeta]

Yeah, paintball distribution was very regional in the 80s/90s.

I’m not sure if this really works by decade honestly. From the 80s to 90s you saw different stuff have its lifecycle of domination rise and fall on the field just over the course of a single summer. Development was constant and fierce and then there is the regional aspect of things. By the time you get to 2010...I mean, does anything made in the last decade actually matter? Not as much as the difference between 1984 and 1994, for example.

And then what way are you trying to be influential? The Splatmaster probably outsold every gun of the 80s but frankly sucked and wasn’t even well priced. Is it the king of the 80s? Or how about the Sniper, too expensive and complex to outsell much of anything but essentially a scratch built PGP who’s main design is still in production today from multiple companies? The gun of the 90s, the one that got 12 year olds playing, was either the 98 or crappy clones of crappy Spiders so again, embarrassing for the sport. Which is more influential? The gun that got you into paintball when you got into it or the one that you left because you got sick of repairing or being overshot by?

[ATBen]

True, we can't discount the mass production of low end semis while the highest end pumps were still being produced and improved upon.

[Skipdogg]

90's = automag

[ATBen]

Automags and autocockers

[Chuck E Ducky]

I’m not sure how they breakdown buy decade but the Tippmann 98 was hands down the most influential marker for anyone getting into the sport for many decades. Lots of fields still use them for rentals lots of people still shoot them. Who hasn’t shot a 98 at some point?

Only up until recently the 98 was the go to marker introducing people to the sport what’s more influential than that?

[Chuck E Ducky]

Exactly there are tons of markers that sparked certain parts of paintball. But as a whole what really has been the marker selling the paintball experience..(The 98)

[Brokeass_baller]

Let's all be honest; the 98 was the pinnacle of blowback technology. It was cheap, efficient, fast, and modular. There may be "better" blowbacks, but the 98 was the most easily adaptable.

[kevdupuis]

I still have a first gen 98, bought it new in the spring of 99 and only added a double trigger, rear cocking, a PTP power feed and expansion chamber. A little oil and it still works.

[Tarsun2]

i HATE the 98C. absolutely. and i hate the reputation it got as one of the most reliable, solid, workhorse markers out there. BUT credit where credit is due. Any paintball list should have a 98C on there at some point for some catagory.

i LOVE spyders but they weren't innovative, ground breaking, or the 1st to really do anything new really.

the 98c was the ford model t.

there were a bunch of other "better" cars out there but they were more expensive and didnt have the same production potential...

i also think the angel should make the list for the move from co2 to air, the roto breach, and the evolution of eyes from blind to cops to eyes...

[Siress]

98c was a lot more expensive compared to the spyders as I recall. I may not have gotten into the sport had I not been able to pick up a Spyder for <$100.

[MrBarraclough]

The only thing remotely innovative about the Spyder was that it took several common aftermarket upgrades (powerfeed, bottomline, barrel with muzzle brake, etc.) and made them standard in the base model of a sub-$200 marker. That's not technologically impressive, but it was hugely influential in the market. I must credit them with raising consumer expectations about what a marker should deliver right out of the box. In a sense, they were the Ions of the 90s.

[vijil]

Definitely the ion for the 00s, the tippmann for the 90s.

I'll nominate the DAM for the 2010s. It was the first magfed to do the bleedingly obvious by giving an innately choppy platform... antichop. And a modern drivetrain. At least here in our local magfed groups it became and still is the most sought after magfed by far, despite being non-replica.

It's far from perfect and arguably nearly sunk the company in RnD costs, but it had more impact than many realise.

The 2020s? Nothing really. I'm not sure the industry can support the RnD to come up with anything interesting in the next decade.

[ATBen]

It nearly sunk them to cram a PMR in a magfed milsim body kit? I hope it turned out better than their current crop of spaceguns that get $hit on all over the interwebs.

[BrickHaus]

To me the ion should be mentioned. I recall the ion really being hated because it equalized the field with the high ends of its time for a fraction of the cost.

Then to think the engine is still widely used today much like the others mentioned tells me it has its place on this list.

[the_matrix_guy]

The Matrix should definitely be in the top 3. It was the first fully electro-pneumatic system back in late 2000. It gave birth to the spool valve based system and gave way to the many variations of spool valve based systems which we see today. Which BTW, do not differ all that much in essence from one another or from the original Matrix fully electro-pneumatic spool-based design. It's hard to think of a more transformative paintball platform. Today, at the top of the game, it's 90% spool valves and that's all due to the original Airtech Matrix and the design improvements brought on by Aardvark and Gen-E with the second generation bolt engine in 2001. The Matrix is the grand daddy of all spool valves. And it has aged rather well.

[Brokeass_baller]

Nobody is being an ass. Just asking for clarification. Spool valves aren't more electropneumatic-er than any other. On a technicality, the Shoebox Shocker had a pneumatically actuated bolt AND valve. It wasn't a traditional poppet like later markers. So, I don't know where I'm going with this anymore. I guess it just seemed like a strange thing to say.

[the_matrix_guy]

I misspoke. I meant to say it was the first full-spool valve based marker and was extremely influential in that regard. And I was talking about Siress being an ass with the digs.

[MrBarraclough]

Let's start with how spool valve paintball guns operate. In layman, spool valve markers use a bolt the slides forward, shoots the round down the barrel and then the bolt slides back. As the bolt is sliding forward, the air is dumped through it.

Yes, that is a nice, succinct definition of a spool valve. It's also a perfect description of how an Automag bolt functions. That is the original spool valve marker, designed in 1990. The term "spool valve" wasn't in use then, but that's exactly what the Automag bolt and power tube assembly does.

The Matrix did not invent or introduce the spool valve. But it did apply it to an electropneumatic design, which was key to really unlocking the potential for fast, efficient, and affordable electros. That's a significant milestone in its own right.

[chrislognshot]

not sure why kings men spyder and automag not on the list. back in mid 90's spyders automag where top guns on field. do to fact easier to dial in then autococker paintgun . that what i saw the most at SC. village