Your favorite marker. And why.

[wunderbarsafari]

M170R. I love single triggers and always wanted a “fancy” paint gun. It’s the only gun I own anymore. Worth every penny.

[Millar156]

I have a love/hate relationship with my M170R. Mostly because I have several other guns that I love to use but the M170R is so good there's no reason to use anything else. It's infuriating.

[wunderbarsafari]

Ha, I feel you. It has definitely saved me from buying some angels, mags and cockers.

[EvilCreature]

My CS1 with CS2 grips is my current favorite as it has perfect ergonomics, works all the time, and is just satisfying to use. I also shot it at a number of national-level events, usually as a borrowed back-up because my gun went down (that is, until I bought it from my teammate) so there is some history. It replaced my Axe with extended foregrip, which I still have and will not get rid of.

My EMF100 is gaining ground though as I play with it a lot. Got a hAir trigger assemble to put in so maybe I will like it even more.

[JeeperCreeper]

Current favorite, my single shot PG. First of all the attention it was getting. Everyone kept calling it the Golden Gun from 007. Then I started shooting it and that classic *ploooop* got everyone giggling. Then I threw in a first strike round someone gave me and fired it, and that got me really giddy. I ordered a case of first strike because of this pistol alone. Running around shooting this thing was a blast. Its such a light setup that I can snapshoot quicker, albeit one shot every 5 seconds or so.

[Meleager7]

Iron sights? Or will you figure out a way to get a nice red dot on top!

[RAZRBAKK]

I did that with a PGP2k a few years back. A lot of fun, kinda wish I had kept it. Cockerpunk used one with some shotgun sights and it looked pretty good.

[JeeperCreeper]

I'm going to make some kind of open brass sights eventually. But for now I'm getting a clamp on rail for a green dot

[Hp_lovecraft]

I have always loved the early 90s blowbacks.

I started in the 80s, but I have no nostalgia for that period. I hated fumbling with 12grams, and 10rnd tubes. Guns jamming, and uvex fogging.
But when the 68-special came out, that changed everything for me. Especially once I got a 20oz, and VL2000. I could just fire and fire and never stop.

Once the mag and cockers came out, most of my teammates switched over, but those early guns had so many problems. It was a constant frustration for our team as we went to tournaments. They would ALWAYS have to being backup guns, because they would go down at some point. I realize that once the bugs were worked out, mags and cockers became phenomenal guns, but I'll never own them.

Instead, I loved the rugged reliability of the early 90s blowbacks. 68-Specials and especially Pro/Ams, Illustrators, VMs, and IconZs. Put them on siphon, and they would likely never stop shooting. Even with a bad chop, it would still cycle. Out of those, the MegaZ was my favorite for tourmaments because it could be easily field stripped in game, and was very efficient on liquid. But all those early blowbacks were great.

This was the era when I was most involved in tourmament play. At least once a month, plus events, etc. All weather, all year. By the mid 90s, blowbacks got lighter, less reliable, generally unappealing to me. Spyders and PIrahnas looked cool. But I had no interested. They got cheaper and cheaper, and you could tell. By the time electros came out, it seemed like the soul of paintball had vanished.

[Meleager7]

Its fun to pick up different, interesting guns and test them out in the field . I had a great time shooting a montneel and pro-lite (mini lite) at a fall big game last year, but I wasn't too upset when I ran out of co2 and was forced to pull out old faithful: my 1996 minicocker !! This gun has been my favorite since putting it together in 2018, and was my first cocker build . It's not very period correct , a weird mix of modern inception parts (ram ,3way, hpr ), and classic parts like a palmers rock lpr and maddman rocket valve. It has the unpopular shocktech hinge frame on it, but I love it, smooth and fast enough for me. Anyhow, its still the gun i'll keep if I have to sell the rest !

[glaman5266]

WGP Trilogy. WGP's fixed regs & pneumatics are rock solid, even today. Those, coupled with the integrated front block & 3-way, made for an almost idiot-proof cocker. They're basically the 98C of the autococker realm. If I had to have one & only one paintgun it would be a Trilogy. The PE Emek & Tippmann Pro Carbine would be next in line.

[DiamondDave]

I have an autococker and a Minimag. But I really really like my 68 carbine. It’s such a no bullshit platform.

[scottieb]

This is a sad topic for me and it almost brings tears to my eyes. My favorite marker is this Dark Angel LED. You see, it isn't mine, it's my wife's. It's my favorite marker because it got her into the sport and took her from a position against paintball and upset with me spending even the least amount of time on it to one where she enjoys it and is excited that we have something we both can do together. It's sad for me because I sent it in to Brad at East Coast Angel over a year and a half ago and paid for the services, and he has stolen it. I don't believe he will ever return it.

[Cdn_Cuda]

Oof, man that hits right in the feels. I once got a 2 guns stolen from my house back more than 2 years later. I hope one day it finds its way back to you!

[glaman5266]

I'm surprised it isn't a Spyder. But after reading this I know why. I remember you posting in the ECA thread, but I didn't know the full story. I'm so sorry to hear.

[Chuck E Ducky]

That guy has ripped so many people off what the hell he do with them? Was this resold? It looks unique and would be hard to move. He still has all these stolen markers sitting on
a wall somewhere or what. How come you can’t compile a list and have someone local knock on this guys door. Pretend you want to have something fixed. Get the cops involved.

[Euphie]

There are alot of markers I really like, the Automag, Blazer, Angel, and Nelson action pumps but, if I wanna pick my favorite I suppose that it kinda has to be the Shocker
This is the marker that has earned me more eliminations than any other:

I lost that one at some point, I also had an Eclipse Shocker that I won some 1v1 events with that is close, but I am pretty sure that Shocker S/F with the OTB frame, 18" Boomstick, long cap maxflo and the Evil part is the one that has scored the most eliminations.

Of course, now I have two right feed Shockers a Sci-fi boarded one and a Turbo board one. I also have that nice yellow with black/silver brush V-sport with a Sci-fi board too, so I have lots of Shockers to use still. Someday I will buy a PVI Shocker, and a CVO.

Edit: I suppose I didn't actually say why I like it so much.

The first is the accuracy: The maxflo is a very consistent regulator and the marker has alot of weight relative to other electros making it very stable, the precise electronic timing seems to result in a very predictable shot too. It is closed bolt too, which may have at least some effect on first shot accuracy as the ball is out of the chamber before the mass of the bolt moves, though admittedly this is of limited use as functionally closed and open bolt are exactly the same by the second shot. If you play with the Shocker in Sniper mode (one shot fire, second shot reload) it becomes a bit more pronounced. Sadly despite the marketing the shot isn't any flatter or inherently more accurate only less mass moving to throw off the shot leading to accuracy.

The second reason I like it so much is reliability: These markers are dead simple in operation, a ram in the top tube, a piston that opens a poppet via a rod in the bottom tube, I have actually had more mechanical trouble with Automags than I have with Shockers. I have an intuitive sense of how they work, which is something important to me as it allows me to troubleshoot problems quickly when they do happen, but honestly just a bit of grease and occasionally changing O-rings in the cap of the maxflo and these things are bulletproof, even on co2.

The third reason I like it so much is upgradability: There is a decent aftermarket, but the real thing is that there is tons of room on the tray, the Regulator isn't limited in where it can go, and there is no complicated electrical system. This means if you want to relocate the switch to a new grip frame, it is fairly easy. Want a toggle switch to turn on and off? Easy. Want to make it back bottle? Easy. Unlike many markers where you would have to drill new holes into the bottom the tray facilitates lots of customization. Internally there isn't all that much that can be done, the Evil Shocker part replaces the poppet with a flow restriction valve that effectively leaks (keeping a pressure differential) rather than allowing essentially a dump chamber to happen between the the fire piston and poppet. There is an Eclipse firing piston, but as best as I can tell it performs the same as stock (though perhaps is lighter?). There are Delrin bolts as well.

The Fourth reason why I like it is performance: It actually shoots rather fast, with proper timing many claim 13 shots a second but, I just keep mine set to 11.25, 10.5, or 9 bps depending on which board I have installed because anything over about 8 bps is fast enough to lane with and much more than that is wasting paint. It is also pretty quiet, it is a very low pressure marker so it has that sort of low hiss as it shoots. Efficiency sucks bad, but that isn't a serious concern of mine, if I go through my 90ci tank, I will just refill the tank no big deal as I don't play outlaw ball anymore and if I did, just 2-3 20oz tanks is enough to shoot a days worth of paint and doesn't take up too much bag space.

The fifth big reason why I like it is prestige: Or rather lack thereof. When I take my Dark Angel out, there is a certain amount of prestige associated with the marker, same with Vikings, mags, etc. People expect alot out of them and have opinions about them, the shoebox is something only players of a certain age know about, and almost no one has a very strong opinion of them and if they do it tends to be negative. I want to be underestimated, I also don't want to spend $300 for a grip frame looking at you fancy cockers and fancy mags.

[Cdn_Cuda]

Guns I’ve built. Those I’ve taken the time to find the parts I want then assembled and put the time and effort to build it as I want. It’s the effort. I’ve bought a few nicely built guns, but they’re just not the same.

[Phantom87]

My VSC Phantom. The saying couldn’t be more true, “There are many like it, but this one is mine!” The memories alone that are tied to this marker make it my favorite. It should go without saying as to the other reasons why I love this gun; its reliability, accuracy, simplicity, versatility, aesthetics, history, ease of use, fun to tinker on, etc . I love it so much so that it is now the only one I wish to have and want to play with. It may just be a paintball gun, but it will be something I pass down to the next generation and help keep stock-class paintball alive.

[Dusty Bottoms]

Mine would be my Automag RT Classics. I'm down to four now, and they're all setup a little differently, but it's hands down my favorite marker design and was my dream gun in high school in the late 90's. I love the mean look of them, their weighty feel, and the ability to take their performance from tame to balls out insane if I choose to. They were AGD's first stand alone, premium flagship model, and were only in production for 2-3 years. If you equated paintball markers to cars, the RT Classic would definitely be something like a big block Chevelle SS, a muscular badass. I love the history of the RT Classic, and it's unique place in the AGD lineup. They were labeled as one of the new breed of 'superguns' in magazines at that time, along with the Shocker and Angel, and represented a new era in marker performance. Of course, unlike the other two electros, the Automag RT was mechanical and had a BPS performance ceiling that was both insane, illegal, and practically unusable given the technology limitations of the era. To me, they represent both the pinnacle of AGD's place in the paintball market, the hopes of the company for it's continued success, and unfortunately the beginning of it's downfall amid the emergence of the electro era. When I use one of my RT's alongside my Emek, it makes me love them even more for all their comparative flaws compared to modern mech's. There's something inherently interesting to rebuilding and then using a high quality marker made by a legendary paintball company, a product of a completely bygone era that will never come around again.

[djeclypse]

I've always been a Tippmann fan but currently my favorite marker is one of the Emek platforms. I use an MG100 for magfed and Emek 100s for mech. Aside from that my Phantom is a wonderful all-platforn marker. With some mods I've gotten from makers here, Rainmaker, flyweightnate, paintballDNA and shooter311, I use it as a VSC, open class pump and magfed marker. The Emeks just work. Reliable, simple, effective and have a decent amount of customizability. Same with the Phantom, with so many options!!

[ChuckLove]

Currently my favorite marker is my Mini Orracle Sniper. I've really come to enjoy this happy accident of a build. It was put together with mostly spare parts that came off other cockers and snipers that I've purchased. I typically play with it using a F/S 15/4500 Tank and Jolo 50rd loader. It is my favorite because it feels very natural with the setup mentioned above. The pump stroke is smooth and the handle has almost no play on the guide rod. It’s really consistent and can shoot any paint I try to use.

[Magmoormaster]

WGP Trilogy. WGP's fixed regs & pneumatics are rock solid, even today. Those, coupled with the integrated front block & 3-way, made for an almost idiot-proof cocker. They're basically the 98C of the autococker realm. If I had to have one & only one paintgun it would be a Trilogy. The PE Emek & Tippmann Pro Carbine would be next in line.

Yuuuuup. Trilogy all the way. You get all the fun and all the character of a cocker, but at a fraction of the cost and with way better reliability.

I’ve owned some fancy space guns (cs1, ego10, dp g3, and more), som really cool pumps (avratech falcon, R7, a phantom, superstocker) but at the end of the day, my trilogy will always be my go-to. Granted, I’ve put about 10 times the original cost of the gun into upgrades, almost nothing is stock anymore. But it’s still my trilogy, still the first gun I ever bought myself. The day I can no longer play with my trilogy is the day I stop playing altogether.

[glaman5266]

"Granted, I’ve put about 10 times the original cost of the gun into upgrades, almost nothing is stock anymore."

Considering what people can dump into Tippys & Spyders I think we're allowed to do that, lol.