Your Sentimental Gun Story

[Chappy]

So a post it he tippmann section had me a bit nostalgic about sappy pb gun stories. Share your sentimental schlock about the one that you won’t let go because memories…ill start, I know I’ve shared this before.

When my sister graduated college she gat a new car for her efforts. 14 at the time I just assumed that’s how my life would progress as well. Life had different plans and my father passed when I was 16. Mom busted her butt to make sure my sister could finish college and I could stay in private school. But at graduation time, a new car was out of the question. So I asked for a new paintball gun. I picked out a Montneel Z1 that we were able to get wholesale price from a gun dealer in the family.
My sister’s ford probe is decades into the scrap heap. The Z1 still airs up and shoots 280. I still use it on occasion.
Thanks Mom, miss you.

[Jimmydee]

My first marker was a stingray 2, with at the time in my area, had the hard to come by longer barrel. After a couple years of using that and knowing more I decided to upgrade and my cousin-law found me a model 98. I saved up for it.

My mom drove me 2.5 hours one way to buy it and the entire ride back home I just stared at it in the case smiling for the entire ride home. I always think back to that day because it was my leap for entry level to a good entry level lol.

[DocsMachine]

One sentimental tale I have is, there was a local secondhand shop- a glorified Salvation Army. The owner would buy out estate sales, and take in donated stuff. I could occasionally spot things like 12-ounce tanks or unpowered 200-round loaders, and very occasionally a whole marker would show up. Although it was typically something like a Gryphon or some Wal-Mart bubble-pack blowback.

Anyway, one day I'm in there, and lo and behold there's a complete Automag. Looking closer, I see it has a stainless DYE, a Sumo T-stock... and one of my foregrips.

One of the very first products I ever made- that is, a product intended to be sold. And this one was THE first- I'd scratched my initials and the date on it- 1996, to be exact.

I had sold the whole marker off right at the beginning of launching this biz- 1998- because at the time I needed the money more than I needed (at the time ) three Automags.

I of course bought it- like $45- and still have it in as-found condition.

Oh, and in a similar vein, a couple of years before that, I'd been by an out-of-the-way mom-and-pop auto-parts store. In the front window they had a rack of old paintball guns- apparently selling them for a friend or something like that. Mostly just the same cheap blowback crap, but one of them was a 68 Carbine. Again, looking closer, it had a 2-finger trigger... one of MY custom-made 2-finger triggers.

Back in the day, I'd take the steel original trigger (that I think was MIM, or metal injection molded, kind of like sintering) and weld a second hook to the bottom. I was pretty good at smoothing and blending to make it look factory, and later ones I'd nickel-plate to make 'em look even better, but this was one of the early unplated ones. Probably one of the first four or five I ever did.

Bought that too, of course.

Doc.

[Grendel]

I was convinced to go play paintball by two shipmates, RM2/SS Steve Washington and SN/SS James Warner, to go to Combat USA (Later called Vanguard Paintball) in November 1988. James had a spare set of UVEX goggles, Woodstalk mask and a PMI Piranha Long Barrel that he loaned me. I played my very first game on the field called Antietam (made such an impression I even remember the name of the specific field to this day). We played an Attack and Defend game with the defenders behind an elaborate set of walls and bunker setup in one corner of the field. Long story short; during that very first game I played very aggressively to the point of working my way up to part of the wall and making a dash and leaped over the wall. Then I proceeded to eliminate 3 opponents allowing my teammates to mad rush and finish eliminating the other team. I was immediately hooked on the game. On my way off the field and into the staging area I told James that the Piranha Long Barrel was mine and what did I need to give him in exchange. He protested until I offered what I guess was more than he paid for it. I used that marker for a long time and still have it today. Every time I get it out I remember the best day of paintball I have ever played; the first day I played paintball.

It still holds air and has never been rebuilt. I doubt that would be the case if I did not get it out occasionally and put it to use shooting reballs and paint at targets. It has not gone to the field in many years but still and always will be in my possession.

[Cyberpyr8]

If you ever look at my collection you can see I am not sentimental about markers for the most part. But the one exception to that is my first Evil Pimp. I had Omen 2.0's at the time and I really did love them. But I had been on the forums and reading about the Pimp. A local store had one on consignment asking $400 for it. It was in terrible shape and honestly didn't even work. At the time good working used Pimps were going for around $4-500. I offered low and ended up getting it for around $250. I sent it up to Boss Paintball in NY and had him work his magic on it. I added a LPR, and a bunch of other stuff for it. When I got it back it was a monster. It looked like junk but it would rip faster than anything I had shot up to that point. It was so much fun and because it was already scratched up and beat up looking I could run and slide into the snake and slam it to the ground without feeling bad at all. I would dust it off and tear people up with that thing. Since then, I've owned several more pimps including serial number 0005 and another pro used pimp. But I have always missed and looked back fondly at the first one I had that was a parts gun at best, but became my go to for several years.

[Impactfour]

My sentimental piece is actually my Redz gear bag from my NEPL Jr days in 06-08. I was the first of my friends to get into paintball in 06 and quickly dragged two buddies along. One had to make his own money like me, and another had parents that would throw money at any hobby that would keep him out of trouble.

My broke buddy and I used Spyder imagines and CO2 tanks, usually splitting a case between the two of us for each tourney. Our wealthy friend went from an Angel, to a macdev cyborg to an ego07, and would just lay out nearly a case per game sitting in the back since he was a bigger guy and had plenty to spend.

Eventually my wealthier buddy came to us saying he got us sponsored by Redz (our only other sponsor was a pizza shop in our town, and his wealthy father's business). I thought it was odd we got a sponsorship as we'd placed third once at the peak of our trajectory, but was too happy to look into it.


A while later everything arrives. Pod packs, tanks covers, jerseys body kits for ions we didn't even have, backpacks and rolling bag. Without a doubt the most paintball gear I've ever got at once, still do this date.

Time went on as it does, and I became more interested in spending my money on girls, beer and weed than paintball as highschool arrived. Ive given away or sold everything but the massive rolling bag, but I use that every time I play and it brings me right back to being 12.

Years later my wealthy buddy admitted that his parents just bought us all the stuff, but they were too embarrassed so they made up the degree of sponsorship (we got something like a 10% coupon for emailing them begging for shit.) I haven't seen him since he moved to Mexico, but I'm sure he'd get a kick out of this post.

[JonM]

For me the one marker that will forever hold a place in my heat is my Bob Long Autococker. Like many people back in the mid to late '90s, I got into the game with some basic entry level gear, played with it for a bit, and decided to upgrade. I still remember going to Wanna-Play Paintball's old shop back before they even had a field and they moved to their current location. What made it memorable was that I recall still having my then infant daughter with me in a car seat carrier as I looked over what they had on the wall. It's at that point when my eye caught this beautiful blue, silver, and black brush stroked gem gleaming in the shop's lights. It immediately drew me in and I just had to have it. I imagine this is what Ralphie must have felt the moment he first laid eyes on is Red Ryder. It was a lot more expensive than I expected to spend that day, but it didn't matter. I had to have it. And in case you're wondering, yes my wife was pissed.

Still, I played so many great and memorable games with that Cocker. It saw action at my first ever scenario game at Skirmish's Operation Barbarossa. I still recall rushing the field at the start of the game with what must have been two or three feet of fresh unpacked snow on the ground with my heavy-ass Autococker in hand. I also have good memories of using it to hold Castle Aaarrgh from the third floor with nobody else left except for me and a ref at my first ever grail game at EMR. Good times.

Eventually, as time and responsibilities took more and more of my time away from paintball, it sat unused for nearly a decade up in my attic. That is until Lurch brought me back into the game in 2013 to join Hansbury's Horde (later renamed The Expandables). It's at this point when I realized what time and heat did to my baby. It took a long while to get it back into top form again. It even had a brief stint as a pump gun until I could restore it as I envisioned.

Now that it's been fully restored, my Signature Series is back and better than ever before. Even if time and circumstances require me to step back from the game again at some point, I honestly don't know if I could ever part with it.

[iamthelazerviking]

I don't have my first marker ever because I caught the buy/sell/trade bug early on (with bass guitar gear too at the same time) but after my first time playing I was HOOKED. I saved my birthday money and whatever I could earn. This was 2001 ish in Oregon and the original Paintball Online was not far from me. That place was like Disneyland to me...but I forked over all my money on a PMI Piranha vertical feed G3, 20 oz CO2, black JT Spectra that came with a free fan, VL-200, fingers padded tiger stripe camo "Core" gloves.

Eventually upgraded it with a drop forward, 14" Tru Flight barrel, 12v Revy, and blue System X grips that needed to be cut to fit. I thought it was sooo cool and couldn't ever play that often because I was a broke kid and my parents weren't going to pay for anything.

My first super cool pump build was an all gloss black VF WGP body with CCM everything, back when everything was available and affordable. That was my first true build from top to bottom. Had a Stanchy feedneck mod as well. Used it maybe once, that thing was sweet...

ICE EPIC. Had always wanted one and was able to make it happen. It was offset vertical feed with a clamping feedneck mod. Ran a DW barrel and Revy. That was a fun one. Sounded like a .22 when dry firing.

I've owned tons of different things, some I got used some were only unboxed before getting rid of, but those are the ones that stick out and I wish I could hang onto stuff 😂

[cougar20th]

I'm lucky to have kept my first gun. It was/is a bob long Millennium spyder. Last used in 2007. I'm guessing it needs seals it be usable at this point. It's still as it was back then. Nothing has been changed

I've gone through many guns. But the one I see staying above all others is my purple pumpmag. First gun i built from parts.

[Jimmydee]

Cdn_Cuda . Tell them about yours from last year when you first played again in 22 years..

[Cdn_Cuda]

Still remember getting my first paintball marker. My dad drove me to the local Badlands and we had a budget of $200. We looked at a Spyder Imagine, but ended up getting an e-trigger epi2 or PIE2 of whatever the heck it as called. Must have sold that at some point, but ended up picking up another one cheap on the used marker a few years ago.

I go back and forth between being sentimental and not. I’ve owned an A5 in one form or another for close to 20 years but finally sold it off when I got an Emek. My FBM Teardrop is from early 2000s when cockers were cheap. My first cocker build. Was stolen when my house was broken into in 2009 or so, but a few years later it was returned to me. Thought about selling it a few times, but never have.

[Spider!]

The paintball tech wars of the early 90s had me changing markers every year or two. I regretted selling my Piranha LB, but it has since been replaced. I had been playing state tournaments, but my 5mo son got sick right before a game weekend ('93). Luckily it was just a nasty cough, but I ended up quitting the team. I didn't talk about paintball much. When he was 11 his friends were talking big about playing paintball. One night at dinner he asked if we could play paintball sometime. "You bet" I said [AH HAHAAHAHAHA!!!] I set him up with my old F1 Illustrator and a remote, and I used my Automag that had been in the attic (it had about two play days left in the seals. He took to it very well. One of the local guys talked us into an upcoming 26 hr scenario.



We had a great time and ended up playing regularly for about 10 years until that college thing got in the way. We still play together sometimes. Along the way he asked if I could build him a pump mag. Looking for Rainman is what brought me to MCB. We've played around each other enough that I know the sound of that pump mag from across the field. We are both sentimental about that one.

[Psycho91]

Very first marker I had was one of those walmart blue plastic blades that took 2 12 grams and if you broke the loader you were screwed, I think after that a buddy gave me a talon, very first marker i started hacking up and modding was a 98 custom

[Magmoormaster]

Y'all know my sentimental gun.



In 2006, my family was working toward adopting a little girl from China. That's a very expensive process, and my family were not exactly wealthy. Among many of the various fundraising efforts we partook in was gathering unused stuff from friends and family and having yard sales. At one point late in the year we went to my cousin's house to get stuff. Now, I had played paintball once in my life with this cousin. We rented some guns for his birthday and messed around, not really with any rules. He had gotten a few guns and played a few times, but he was a pretty bad sport at the time and was basically rage quitting. As we were driving home, I looked into the back of our Jeep at all the sundry items we had gathered from them and saw the box of paintball stuff on top. I hadn't realized we had gotten that from them. I asked my parents if we could keep it instead of selling. They said "that was the plan." In that box was a Tippmann Model 98 and 2 STBB Piranhas. I started playing right at the end of 06, beginning of 07, and used one of the Piranhas for about a year and a half.

My school library had a number of magazine subscriptions, one of which was APG. They held onto magazines for 3 years, and then every spring filled up a cart and offered them for free to students. In 2007, having been playing for a couple months, I got a small stack of APG issues from 2003. I remember flipping thru them on the way home, specifically the March 2003 issue, and coming across a 2 page ad for the DYE Reflex. Obviously back then, cockers were still trying to hold onto the market. There were reviews of the Orracle, Bonebrake cocker, and so on. There were also lots of articles about pump , which is how I got interested in that. But cockers were supremely interesting to me at the itme.

In the summer of 08, I had saved a little money (like $80) and decided I wanted to upgrade. I remember trying to haggle with a guy on PBN for a splash Omen. He declined. I was mostly looking for cockers, though. I passed thru trilogy ads several times, but wasn't really interested. One day, for no real reason, I looked at one, and was like "even though I've seen this gun several times over the last week, this is perfect and I want it." So I messaged the guy, and bought a Trilogy Competition for $65 shipped. It came in, I played with it once, and was immediately in love. It was my primary gun for the next few years.

In 2011, after having worked at a paintball store for about a year, finally started buying more guns. I got a 99 R/F cocker from a pawn shop, a Toxic Toys Tribal, and many others. But most I'd only play with a few times before selling and moving on. By this point, I've owned at least 75 guns, dozens of which were cockers. Some cheap, some very nice. Most were flips, but I'd messed with them enough to know that my Trilogy was still my favorite gun. Besides being the first gun I'd ever bought myself, something about it just felt right. For most of that time, I left it mostly stock, I had just done a feedneck mod and put a benchmark double slider frame on it.

In 2018, the springs started to wear out. I've come to realize that's a common problem with Trilogies. But anyway, instead of just respringing it, I decided to overhaul the whole gun. I upgraded almost everything (just not the ram). I was going to get it re-anodized in 2019, but decided to use that money to play NXL Vegas instead (which we won!). Here's how it sits now:



I've sold almost every gun I own. I still have the model 98 I was given at the beginning, and I have a high end cocker I'm working on selling. But this gun will stay with me forever. The second I'm not able to play with it is the second I stop playing paintball.

[Riot]

I've been searching for the one special marker for the last "x" amount of years. I'll set a goal, get a marker, then sell it. I've had two of the six lightning mags, gothic this and gothic that, a tarantula impulse and they've all come and gone. I guess it's become the mech rainmaker all along and I never really noticed.