What's going on with the A-5 and 98 Custom?

[The Jayster]

There are rumours that they're both being discontinued. Some evidence would be that they're increasingly out of stock here and there online. OTOH, I asked at my local pro-shop in the summer if they had heard such rumours and was told no. FYI, that pro-shop is well connected with the folks at GI Sportz (which owns Tippmann and is based out of Montreal). The head tech added that he'd be surprised that Tippmann would discontinue their flagship markers. Yet, with the current state of paintball and the rising costs, I would not be surprised if Tippmann tried to cut costs and focus on its cheaper offerings.

Opinions?

[Ecapnation]

Unofficially discontinued from what I've been told. The production numbers to make a new run total profits wouldn't be able to cover production costs.

[Trbo323]

They have been out of stock in a lot of places for about a year now. It looks to me like production was pulled fairly soon after gi bought tippmann but there was such a back stock of them everywhere that players didn't start noticing right away.

They basically trimmed the whole line down to the stormer which is just this week's name for the gryphon. For a while they had the TMC which is just a mag feed stormer but I'm not sure if they are even keeping that.

The tipx might stay but I find that an odd choice as if they are looking to cut costs that pistol needs a whole production line dedicated to it since it is so different internally than the stormer. If they are going to keep it it would make sense to also keep the phenom since they share a lot of the same parts but that one was cut a while ago

Tippmann kind of fell behind the ball with mag feed, sure they had the tipx but the TMC being restricted to round ball really didn't help them. They had the tcr for a while but it was more of an up sized tipx than anything. The tipx from the factory can't shoot FSR without a new breach and I think a lot of players just looked around and decided to not buy tippmann because of all these small things.

I truly think the reason tippmann did NOT make the tcr FSR capable and the tipx came with a round breach was tippmann was hoping to force players to upgrade down the road, but too many other markers came out with FSR capabilities from the factory and didn't need upgrades to function how the players wanted so players ended up leaving tippmann. They basically shot themselves in the foot with those choices.

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[FlightMedic938]

I messaged them about a particular valve for a 98 Custom and received an email from them last week that stated that valves are no longer in production.

[Schultz98]

Thats sad news, but even more sad to hear that Tippmann was bought out by GI/Smart Parts. I never realized. Luckily there are so many older parts floating around, I plan to rebuild a couple 98s into old versions of my 98 before I changed the frame.

[Siress]

I think it's remarkable that they held on as long as they did, to be honest. Probably the most durable and recognizable* paintball gun for ~2 decades ('98-'16), only surpassed by the EMEKs about a decade ago ('16).

* by virtue of cheap durability leading to it being the predominate rental for it's entire tenure.

...I bet the resale value of the old 32deg M98's with RT and everything just shot up... definitely the coolest example of the platform, as far as I am aware.

[Jonnydread]

Dude I have no idea 32° did an aftermarket 98, that's sweet!

[Siress]

Look at you with your fancy degree symbol... *alt+0176, got it* The 32° version really had nothing technically special about them, but that blue powder coat (?) and bolt windows made them look a heck of a lot cooler back then

[The Jayster]

So, the flagship Tippmann marker is now a cheap plastic gun (the Stormer)? I'm not saying that the Stormer is a bad gun, I'm told it's ok, but I'd always think that Tippmann would keep a flagship gun that harkens back to the quality and finish of past models. My first gun ever was a Pro-Am back in '92. While not as refined as an Autococker or Automag, it was well-built and well-priced. Even when they switched to some composite materials with the Pro-Lite (which was a smart move), everything was high-quality.

I'm not so sure that Dennis Tippmann Sr., rest his soul, would be happy about what happened to his company.

I think that PE will reap huge benefits from this with the Emek platform. From what I saw by hanging around in pro-shops, it often boiled down to an A-5 vs. an Emek with an electronic loader (often the Speedster), with the A-5 often coming on top (while I like my A-5 I'd choose the Emek in a pinch).

[Trbo323]

I'm not so sure that Dennis Tippmann Sr., rest his soul, would be happy about what happened to his company.

Yeah seriously. He was around long enough to see companies like brass eagle go from industry power to Walmart sale items

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[Ecapnation]

Yeah seriously. He was around long enough to see companies like brass eagle go from industry power to Walmart sale items

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Lest we forget that he was around long enough to witness his own cousin steal his company's ideas and start an offshoot to compete with them.

[The Jayster]

Lest we forget that he was around long enough to witness his own cousin steal his company's ideas and start an offshoot to compete with them.

BT - "Battle Tested"
Hehe..

[Trbo323]

Lest we forget that he was around long enough to witness his own cousin steal his company's ideas and start an offshoot to compete with them.

I mean I would argue that bt did a better job with the base design by that point.

You ever compare a bt4 slice to a tippmann ft12 fliptop? Same idea behind both but the bt was done way better

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[Ecapnation]

I mean I would argue that bt did a better job with the base design by that point.

You ever compare a bt4 slice to a tippmann ft12 fliptop? Same idea behind both but the bt was done way better

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No. Never had a need to. Irony was when they came out they were both owned by the same company still.

[markdem]

As a die-hard 98 enthusiast, this troubles me. I have noticed more and more pieces from tippmannparts.com slowly disappearing.

Cant confirm anything but the lack of products makes me think its the end of the line

[$L!mBo]

if thats not a recession indicator idk what is

[Trbo323]

They are still making the Cronus/stormer. Those valves should be the same.

All of their blowbacks outside of the A5/x7(non phenom) operated on the same platform. Parts are pretty interchangable.

Don't have time right now but I'll go open up a manual tonight and see what part numbers cross over

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[RPP]

That might prove very fruitful. One can hope.