I know Anarchy has made a come backt, curious about Precision which is $40 less per case.
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Used it once at a local field last year. $40/case is about right for it. Shoots average (better than One Star anyway), but the fill is thin & not very bright. Not sure if color matters, but I was using yellow. It’s rec-grade paint, for sure. If the fill thickness & brightness aren’t critical or if you don’t want staining then it’s worth the $40/case in my opinion. If it is important then don’t bother. -
Yes. Precision is the cheaper of the two grades sold at my home field, while Nelson Ranger is the premium grade. Ranger is essentially Anarchy with a somewhat tougher shell and is marketed as specifically for woodsball (and is magfed compatible). Precision is what the field usually includes with rental packages. Many of the regular self-equipped players also buy Precision, which is $45/case. Normally, I spring for Ranger at $55/case. Last month, though, they got a skid of Ranger that really wasn't up to the normal quality control standards, so the two have been flipped for the last several weeks. The field has been giving the rentals Ranger and advising the self-equipped players to use the Precision. I shot Precision in December and earlier this month, and have a little more than half a case sitting in the closet right now.
My experience with Precision:
In terms of roundness, pretty good and on par with Ranger. Some balls look ever so slightly oblate around the seam to my eye, but honestly it is so subtle I am often unsure of whether I am seeing anything at all. Only when I put it up against something super round, like D3FY tourney grade, does it look a little wider at the seam. While the seam is visible, there is no appreciable dimple that can be seen or felt.
As glaman5266 mentioned, the fill is thinner. It's actually quite bright initially, but it does fade quicker as it more readily absorbs into clothing. It's on par with other field grade paints; meant to make cleanup easier, not catch cheaters.
How does it shoot? Quite well, and generally about as well as Ranger. Ball on ball consistency is good for its grade. Having a thinner fill, it seems like there is a little bit more shot dispersion at range. Again, maybe I'm seeing things because I expect there to be a difference. It breaks pretty well on target. The weird irony at my home field is that the cheaper paint grade is the more fragile. Not as fragile as tourney grade paint, though. Precision will tolerate being shot through FT-12s and 20 year old 98s. I did get a few barrel breaks a couple of weeks ago, even using a modern, low pressure electro. Some of that I chalk up to poor storage on my part.
Speaking of which, I do think one of Precision's shortcomings is sensitivity to storage practices. It needs to be rotated, and will deform if it sits still too long. I played on December 18th and then on January 8th, the last weekend before and the first after the holidays. Had about a case of leftover Precision that sat in the closet in between that I failed to rotate or even check on. The result was a few flattened, rubbery balls in the bottom of the bags, one of which I didn't notice until I had to disassemble my Rotor mid-game to get that bastard out. Again, mostly my fault as I know better than to let paint sit undisturbed, especially paint that has already been exposed to atmosphere.
I've shot a lot of D3FY in the past year too, of all grades. I'd agree that D3FY level 1 and Precision are fairly comparable. The D3FY is smaller (usually low .680s) but a bit more round, and consistently so. Precision is at or close to .688, as all Nelson paints are. The D3FY is noticeably tougher, though, getting more bounces (and complaints from opponents). They're both decent paints for rec play. I'll probably continue to shoot the Nelson because it is convenient and I don't mind paying a few more bucks per case to help support the field.
Side note: I had the ANS subscription for a few months where I got two cases of D3FY tournament grade for $90/month. Pretty good stuff. Very fragile and I was getting eliminations at ranges where I would previously have expected bounces. I cancelled the subscription simply because (1) our field has a lot of heavily wooded areas and tourney grade paint cannot shoot through underbrush at all; it was frustrating never being able to get that one ball that passes through, and (2) I couldn't break out the Automag without blowing up paint in the barrel, a lot.
The Automag: Not as clumsy or random as an electro. An elegant marker for a more civilised age.
www.reddit.com/u/MrBarracloughComment
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The big difference in Nelson paint (and paint in general, in my experience) comes from whether the shell is reconstituted or virgin. Virgin-shelled paint tends to be more consistent.💀 PK x Ragnastock 💀Comment
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Serious question, How would you know? I thought all companies ran the extra through 2-3 times -
latches109 I would only know because the company advertises as such. It could absolutely be placebo for all I know, my experience is anecdotal. Nelson is the only current company that advertises it, though I’m fairly sure Proball was virgin shell too. -
While no company is likely to just discard usable gelatin, whether the shells are made with virgin gelatin or recycled scraps is usually one of the points of differentiation between the grades of paint offered. Premium grade might be made with only first run, virgin gelatin while field/practice grade may use recycled scraps, either on their own or mixed into some new gelatin. By varying the virgin/recycled ratio you could produce different intermediate grades. Of course, you could also use a bit of recycled to pad out the gelatin for a premium grade run, but too much and players are likely to notice.
Unless I am much mistaken, I believe the gelatin gets more rubbery the more melt/cool cycles it experiences. That would explain why white box made with primarily recycled gelatin tends to bounce.
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