The Evolution of Paintball Guns: 1987-2009

[The Inflicted]

So this is an old thread I created in the Before Times, and I thought it was worth recreating. Flipping through some my old magazines, it occurred to me that the catalog ads did a pretty good job of documenting what guns were available at various times of the sport's brief history, and how much they cost.

I had the idea of scanning a couple ad pages from one magazine taken from each year in my collection, in the middle of the summer, where possible, in the hopes that a kind of visual history of available gear and prices would be created.

It goes without saying that this is not a full and complete representation of the guns available in each time period, nor what was actually in popular use in the field, nor even when certain guns became available, but it is a good general overview of how the sport has progressed.


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1987
(At this point the Tippmann SMG-60 and Splatmaster were already available, but the field was ruled by modified Sheridans and Nelspots.)


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1988




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1989



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1990


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1991


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1992


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1993

[The Inflicted]

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1994


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1995


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1996


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1997


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1998


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1999


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2000

[The Inflicted]

2001


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2002


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2003


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2004


2005



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2006


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2007


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2008


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2009



2010

[XEMON]

That's a great representation of the spot. Thanks for taking the time to put it back together!

i just scanned a 1990 catalog, I need to post it up to add to this treasure trove of goodness.

[Pumpytrilly1]

Thanks for posting! I love looking through old paintball magazines.

[JasperStout]

Love these scans. Man automags were a good deal cheaper than cockers in the early 90s that’s kind of crazy.

[punkncat]

Wow. This was really a walk down faded memory lane. In my mind I "think" I started about 98-ish. According to the pics I may actually have started closer to '95. I recall that Spyder being new...and some time later the Model 98 being new. Surprising me the most is recalling the Ion in '05...I really didn't recall it being THAT long ago.

[MrKittyCatMeowFace]

Feel bad for the poor sucker who bought a raven nexion and payed double for a espyder.

[The Inflicted]

Ok, I've gone through and updated all the images with nice, high-res versions.
I wonder, though, if it might not be possible to go through and create some "virtual" magazine scans for the years after 2010-
To go to paintball websites like XPaintball, ANSGear, and others to create some layouts of the popular guns available and how much the cost at the time.

Anyone up for the project, or just me?

[Trbo323]

Damn, more than anything this makes me miss print magazines.

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

[Hp_lovecraft]

Love these scans. Man automags were a good deal cheaper than cockers in the early 90s that’s kind of crazy.

Automags came out a couple years before autocockers. They started off pretty high, but gradually came down. But those early cockers were money pits. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY used them out of the box. The regs were total garbage requiring constant adjustment during the game. You were expected to send it out to be "game ready", ie Skip Swift was popular. BBT, etc. Dont believe me? try and find an early 90s cocker that still has its factory LPR.

But this is a great list. I played nearly every week from 1987 to 2008 or so. Then just a couple big games a year.
One thing I might add is in 1991, the 68-special was everywhere. It was easily the most popular gun by far. It was the only semi that had a good reputation in 90-91, so everyone bought them. But by early 92, there were many choices, and tippmann was releasing the proam. and by 93, it disappeared completely. weird to me.

[The Inflicted]

Automags came out a couple years before autocockers. They started off pretty high, but gradually came down. But those early cockers were money pits. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY used them out of the box. The regs were total garbage requiring constant adjustment during the game. You were expected to send it out to be "game ready", ie Skip Swift was popular. BBT, etc. Dont believe me? try and find an early 90s cocker that still has its factory LPR.

But this is a great list. I played nearly every week from 1987 to 2008 or so. Then just a couple big games a year.
One thing I might add is in 1991, the 68-special was everywhere. It was easily the most popular gun by far. It was the only semi that had a good reputation in 90-91, so everyone bought them. But by early 92, there were many choices, and tippmann was releasing the proam. and by 93, it disappeared completely. weird to me.

I didn't start playing until late 1995, so one thing that's always puzzled me is why the VM68 became so popular when the F1 was so much lighter and more efficient. Why did the VM find such a following if both guns were released around the same time? Was it more reliable at the time or were its drawbacks just not considered particularly offensive? Or did it have more to do with marketing and availability?

[MrKittyCatMeowFace]

I didn't start playing until late 1995, so one thing that's always puzzled me is why the VM68 became so popular when the F1 was so much lighter and more efficient. Why did the VM find such a following if both guns were released around the same time? Was it more reliable at the time or were its drawbacks just not considered particularly offensive? Or did it have more to do with marketing and availability?

The F1 was significantly more expensive when released.

[OpusX]

Oh man, that 1995 I&I ad brings it back for me. That got me to buy my first Spyder.

[The Inflicted]

The F1 was significantly more expensive when released.

It boggles the mind that a price difference would be a reason to buy one stacked tube blowback over another but it's the only explanation I've seen offered.
After all, a $110 difference in 1993 is equivalent to $204 2020 Funbucks.