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**Cyberpyr8** · 02-22-2023, 05:41 PM

Yeah that's a good summary. The Emek is a terrific marker. I currently am sitting on 4 somehow. For bonus points (and a lot more money) go for the Inception body kits. That's where I like to spend my money I don't use playing paintball. I keep telling myself to quit buying electrics because my Emek is really better for rec play. I wouldn't go play speedball with it, though I might if I didn't have to lane off the break.

PunsihersPB, Mazens, and a handful of others are good places to buy. That being said, I still buy from ANS for a lot of things. I wouldn't have them do anything custom for me. No color swaps or annos. But for regular stuff they're fine.Facebook has a lot of places to buy and sell but it's not easy. I hate it because I can quickly lose a post by someone and never find it again. Plus it reminds me of the old days when Ions were the rage and you had a bunch of kids posting about them. It was just noise and not a lot of real value. I still prefer the forums over FB all day long. They do legit checks and there are scammers on FB all the time. Never buy anything with Paypal or Venmo without paying the fees and doing goods and services. No matter how good the sob story is!

It depends on paint. I just overbore for now and call it a day. But the paint is smaller than the early days for sure.

Welcome back!

**Painthappy** · 02-22-2023, 05:42 PM

Welcome back!

Old/rare guns have become harder to find and more expensive to boot. So yeah.... Less demand, price goes up. No idea how that's working, probably because less people playing so the supply has dried up and are just sitting in closets right now.

Hacked, yup. Ransomed actually. The old database was backed up, but without knowing where the hack was or backdoors, it was scrapped out of safety. Rebuilding the old fashioned way, plus it allows us to tell our same old stories people have gotten sick of over again.

Yes, mechs are very popular and the race to make the fastest gun is long over.

If you find a good place to buy stuff, let me know, I am in need of a new HPA tank.

**superman** · 02-22-2023, 06:22 PM

AGD is still around.
Cockers are back. Inception, shocktech, freeflow and others are still around. Still people doing custom milling, feedneck mods etc.
If you need a cocker tech choose wisely, or come to mcb. Since covid there has been a rise in guys thinking they know what they are doing and trying to make a business of it.

anodizing has gotten more expensive likely do to the increase in demand from cockers and such that were released in the last few years.

you can always find many nice used things here. as far as new stores I always recommend local as well as, paintballretro.com, committedpaintball.com, Inceptiondesigns.com, Shocktechusa.com, freeflowtechnology.com.

If you don't want to deal through a website, I am also a shocktech and inception dealer.

**Trbo323** · 02-22-2023, 06:38 PM

Originally posted by Levi View Post

ANS sucks (nothing new), but now they have bought up several other stores. Not sure how many, but these are all aliases for ANS?

ansgear.com
hustlepaintball.com
actionvillage.com
paintball-online.com
any others?

Who do you recommend buying from?

Not that I'm an expert but action village is the only one on that list that I know ans owns for sure

Also check out paintballgateway.com usually they have a pretty good assortment of cocker parts

Originally posted by Levi View Post

The electro craze seems to have moderated to a healthier level. Mechs have become much more popular.

Yes, 10man is coming back in mech formats

Originally posted by Levi View Post

The EMEK looks like a really good value and solid recommendation to new players looking to get into the sport.

Somewhat, I still maintain that it's a little too expensive for most new players but I can't argue that it's a good marker. I have one myself

Originally posted by Levi View Post

Paint has gotten worse and smaller. I should probably pick up a couple of the smallest freak inserts to prevent rollouts on my Cocker. Due to inconsistent paint size, it's probably better to overbore on my Mags.

What else have I missed?

Decent plan.

Mags are coming back around as well. Luke is now making full markers, valves included.

Sent from my motorola edge 5G UW (2021) using Tapatalk

**nerdcore** · 02-22-2023, 07:26 PM

I've recently ordered from Paintball Wizard, Punishers PB, Time2Paintball, Pittsburgh Paintball Supply, & iiSports. Mastersconi has a lot of cool parts. I've also purchased 3D printed stuff from Super Stanchy & PaintballDNA. I don't buy through the local field, mainly because the majority of stuff I get is new old stock & out of production, or used. Local field is FPO and they get TONS of rentals, so I don't feel too bad.

Empire sho nuff doesn't have the Revvy listed on their site anymore. I'm not surprised that they phase out everything we love (RIP the Hammer 7 & the "modern" Trracer). Their current parent company, Kore, is just a business conglomerate, so all the shots are being called by suits & not players or anyone who cares about PB. Empire & all the brands under that umbrella get bought out by someone new like every 7 years.

EMEK is pretty amazing, but I agree with Trbo, bringing the price just shy of 3 benjamins kinda kills the value. The least PE could do is include the POPS asa. Glad I bought mine when they were still $220.

Paintballs. Crom help us. I haven't used a bore larger than .678 in a decade. Glad I only have to care about it on 2 of my markers.

**nak81783** · 02-22-2023, 10:18 PM

Paint: It sucks. Overbore. No sense spending money on barrel kits and sorting through barrel inserts/backs that vary .005" or less when a single paintball commonly varies over .020" between its polar and seam axes (fit depends on how each ball gets pushed into barrel); I've seen .040" variation. If you try to bore match or underbore with today's paint, you'll still get some paintballs that roll out (in Autocockers and pumps), some that break from being squeezed too tightly, and everything in between.

Barrel: I like .693" Custom Products Advantage barrels - $40, one-piece (no thread/insert/ two-piece seams or steps), no worries about banging up relatively inexpensive barrels. Overboring is less efficient and a little louder, but you are less likely to break paint.

For closed bolts (Autococker and pumps), use the aforementioned barrel with RedLeaderSB's barrel detents. Yes, there's still a chance of breaks with these detents, but it's greatly reduced. They have give, are ever so slightly "cushy", and they don't go the whole length of the barrel's control bore (e.g, sized backs/inserts) - https://www.mcarterbrown.com/forum/b...barrel-detents

Marker: If you have an Autococker and Automag, just start with that. Emeks are great, but so are Automags and Autocockers. If you have twistlock Automag barrels, Superman offers modern detents that work with today's smaller paint and force feed loaders. https://www.mcarterbrown.com/forum/b...barrel-detents

Hopper: You can probably find a used Revvy if that's what you want. I like Dye LTR's. Just turn the tension way down. There's a set screw on the back of the battery pack. Two turns out from flush easily keeps up with 10.2 bps and eliminates problems with too much tension. Dye doesn't publish this in the LTR manual, but it shows it in the Rotor R2 manual.

Tank: I've always used basic 68/4500 carbon fiber wrapped tanks without issue. The features on the Ninja regulators are nice, and I may splurge on them in the future, but I've done without for 20+ years.

Mask: JT Proshield thermal. Cheaper than a Flex. Solid plastic protection won't warp over time if stored wrong. I did add dense foam on the ears for comfort. I also cut slots in the ears for easier disassembly (i.e., getting the strap out). The newer ones don't come with ear foam or slots in the ears for the straps like the old (aka Spectra) ones did.

As far as where to buy, support your local field/store if you can. Even if they're higher priced, if you buy a bunch at once, they may give you a deal. Plus, it'll start building a relationship with them.

Probably more info than you wanted or needed, but once I started, I just kept typing.

**Myrkul** · 02-23-2023, 12:51 AM

Everyone has done a great job covering most of it. The one tip I have is that if your old gun seems to be breaking a lot of this small ass shitty paint, cut a ramp in the top of the bolt, kind of like the old planet eclipse cure bolts. This has literally saved most of my collection from just being wall hangers.

**Levi** · 02-23-2023, 01:38 AM

Originally posted by Painthappy View Post

Welcome back!

plus it allows us to tell our same old stories people have gotten sick of over again.

Honestly, I almost never posted on the old board because all of my questions could be answered by searching what had already been said. It'll force us to interact again, not a bad thing.

OH! and one more thing... MCB is still honoring Chad Thompson Day! I was lucky enough to be here in real time for the original, what a hoot! 😂

**Levi** · 02-23-2023, 02:10 AM

Thanks for the warm welcome everybody! Lots of good tips & info here.

Originally posted by nak81783 View Post

Paint: It sucks. Overbore. No sense spending money on barrel kits and sorting through barrel inserts/backs that vary .005" or less when a single paintball commonly varies over .020" between its polar and seam axes (fit depends on how each ball gets pushed into barrel); I've seen .040" variation. If you try to bore match or underbore with today's paint, you'll still get some paintballs that roll out (in Autocockers and pumps), some that break from being squeezed too tightly, and everything in between.

Man, that's pretty bad. I guess anything like the old RPS premium is probably a pipe dream right now.

And the JT flex stuff right now... I guess it has become some sort of fashion statement? My old Spectra flex masks are perfectly fine, so I'm good there... but I just can't make it make sense.

**Trbo323** · 02-23-2023, 09:19 AM

Originally posted by Levi View Post

Thanks for the warm welcome everybody! Lots of good tips & info here.

Man, that's pretty bad. I guess anything like the old RPS premium is probably a pipe dream right now.

And the JT flex stuff right now... I guess it has become some sort of fashion statement? My old Spectra flex masks are perfectly fine, so I'm good there... but I just can't make it make sense.

Yeah, marbalizer has really gone down hill as well, they are basically selling the name at this point. While the paint isn't bad, it is nowhere close to what it used to be

And yes, all the agglets need to be leet and what better way then paying insane prices for gear that was made when you were not alive?

If you have any clear parts, they go for bonkers prices these days

Sent from my motorola edge 5G UW (2021) using Tapatalk

**Cunha** · 02-24-2023, 12:40 AM

Paintball wizard is a good independent online store

**cellophane** · 02-24-2023, 11:45 AM

Someone else mentioned it earlier, but PunishersPB is great. I've also been able to call the store and have them bring stuff to events to pick up as well.

**Levi** · 02-25-2023, 09:34 PM

Went through a bunch of my stuff today and found old faithful (2002 vert feed Cocker), a couple tanks that still had air in them. Screwed a tank on, yup just what I expected from 20 year old seals. Gonna tear it down and replace all the seals.

My 4 year old looking over my shoulder as I'm going through boxes & totes, she picks up an empty pod and asks "Dadda, what is this?" I explain and then pop the lid open. She immediately sticks her nose in and takes a big whiff.... then looks at me real seriously and says "This doesn't smell very good" 😂

**Brokeass_baller** · 02-26-2023, 12:08 AM

The old fish oil smell. 😂

Your Autococker is still quite competitive, I'm sure of it. My go-to Autococker is a 2003, with a few little amenities.

I still feel competitive with my mag, too. Old stainless center feed body and Freak, classic valve, etc.

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