The Evolution of Paintball Guns: 1987-2009

[Hp_lovecraft]

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.

The VM68 was expensive when it first came out. I think my first one was $410, but the VM had major backing from sheridan and PMI, and were able to get prices down through mass production. Semis were all pretty expensive up until the BE Poison. The $300 barrier seemed unbreakable until the poison, and later stingray and elliminator. Both those guns were cheap for a reasdon


But you are right, the F1 was a better gun in every way. I can tell you at the time, the general opinion was it "felt flimsy". Too light, and small. I know that sounds crazy today, but at a time when the 3 guns were : Golden Eagle, 68-Special, and VM68.... The F1 seemed too small to do the job. Opinions changed by 93 or so, when lighter guns became main stream.

[iamthelazerviking]

97 - 2003 is my favorite timeline

[lew]

Preach it, homeboy. For me, that was the Golden Age.

[The Inflicted]

People may find these interesting too- it's a collection of early-2000s 888-Paintball catalogs:

[lew]

888's '98 catalog was the first one I remember thumbing through. Very cool, and thanks for posting these.

[Arthur]

Oh man, how many times I lurked those 888s.

[MrKittyCatMeowFace]

I confused about the revys? So whats the difference between the viewloader 2000 and revolution? Both had the ir eyes and spin when it sensed a gap right?

[OpusX]

I confused about the revys? So whats the difference between the viewloader 2000 and revolution? Both had the ir eyes and spin when it sensed a gap right?

Yep on the IR beam. The 2000 was just an IR switch, motor/gearbox and a 9v directly wired to it via an on/off switch. The motors were best opperated at 12v. To speed them up you could add another 9v in series, with the Shredder extension, but the 18v input would burn out the motor.

Enter the revy which now had a 12v power regulator on a circuit board, and nice pressure pads for the batteries, not these cheap 9v snap on leads that would inevitably tear off. More speed, no burn outs, better longevity overall.

[MrKittyCatMeowFace]

Me on like every page especially the ones with raptor xtremes on them.

[The Inflicted]

Yep on the IR beam. The 2000 was just an IR switch, motor/gearbox and a 9v directly wired to it via an on/off switch. The motors were best opperated at 12v. To speed them up you could add another 9v in series, with the Shredder extension, but the 18v input would burn out the motor.

Enter the revy which now had a 12v power regulator on a circuit board, and nice pressure pads for the batteries, not these cheap 9v snap on leads that would inevitably tear off. More speed, no burn outs, better longevity overall.

There were a couple of other improvements from the VL-2000->Shredder->Revolution, especially with the impellor design.

[glaman5266]

Good god I feel old. Even the more recent ads... The 2008 ones showing the Rapper, Marq 6, Tiberius pistols, etc. I mean, those just came out a few years ago... Right? RIGHT?! Tell me I'm not losing my mind!

Looking at those scans brought me back. Thank you for posting these.

[MrKittyCatMeowFace]

1991 will be 30 years ago in 2 weeks .

[glaman5266]

You shut your face.

lol jk

[Midnite-Penguin]

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.

My brother was a decent bit older than me and him and his friends played in that early 90s era.

I remember him yelling at me for screwing around with his VM68 , and how heavy the damn thing was for a scrawny ~9 year old like me to hold up.

I also remember the best player of his group used a Line SI bushmaster, and a couple of them had Sl-68 IIs. Always wanted to pick up a clean used bushmaster, still do.

By the time I was old enough to play outlaw ball with MY friends, it was brass eagle paintballs from wal mart in those plastic 200 count jugs, i believe my dad still has a few empty ones in his workshop holding screws and wood plugs.

My first “real” marker was a tippmann pro-lite. I remember ordering a 21” barrel for it because back then I believed longer barrel = more accurate(of course!)

I also remember being intrigued by pump guns and ordering a Phantom from my local paintball shop to the bewilderment of the guy behind the counter. This was ~2000-2002(ish?) and he was trying to sell me an auto-cocker for not a great deal more money then the puny phantom.

Those old images from APG magazines are certainly a trip down memory lane.

I just ordered a phantom and im looking to start playing again now that im in my 30s and have a little discretionary income. But im not sure what fields are open anymore with covid and the seeming decline of the sport’s popularity.

[Extreme Max]

ohhh these scans deseve high resolution!


Enviado do meu iPhone usando Tapatalk

[Tinybear]

Awesome!!!!!!!!! Trip down memory lane.

[Painthappy]

This is great!! I remember buying my autococker in 92 and picking up my F1 in 93. The F1 was a great gun for its time

[The Inflicted]

ohhh these scans deseve high resolution!

Try right-clicking and opening them as new tabs.

[Bang*Bang**]

This is an Epic-level sticky!

The Inflicted, I don't know what caused your infliction, but I do know paintball is all the better for it.

Keep doing your thing, my man. Props for the work you put in on this!