Modern STBB/Spyder/Clone Users?

[flyweightnate]

I've been rocking a Millennium pretty often when I play... so all three times I've played in the last two years. I scored a Diamond Labs valve, put an HPR on it, and it's a proper monster. I love the single trigger, and it's less noisy than the Revvy I have on it.

My other is a Sentinel. I keep it for nostalgia - that Millennium is nearly perfect - but it's a sweet shooter. I made a custom valve body and regged it, and it's also pretty quiet, and ball-on-ball. The double trigger was never my thing, but somehow it's the only gun I shoot accurately with my off hand. Lots of home practice in high school, I guess, with one just like it.

I have put more rounds through those two than any other gun since 2018 - I don't shoot as much with the VSC, and the electros stay in the car.

[glaman5266]

I think it depends on what you want. I think the fit/finish of Piranhas are better (field rental aside, those are hot garbage IMO). However, Spyders tend to be easier to find/buy parts for, in my experience.

It's also worth noting that if you go electro with either I find the Piranhas work better with plain 9V batts than Spyders do. I think the ESP frames really need that extra juice from the 9.6V batts. I personally really like the later model Piranha E-Force frames. Super easy to change firing modes, though not ROF adjustable. No dip switches- just push a button to cycle through them. The frames themselves are more comfy too IMO. However, they don't come with adjustable triggers like some of the ESP frames did.

I prefer Piranhas, but I don't turn my nose up at Spyders. I think there's something to be said about a design that utilizes one o-ring size for every seal in the whole marker. VERY solid design. They're better paintguns than most people give them credit for and are super easy to fix.

Full disclosure: I rarely use STBBs. If I go blowback I use my Pro Carbine. I did, however, build a high volume Spyder last winter & picked up an E-Force Piranha for those odd games that allow burst fire and full-auto.

[Tarsun2]

i always played the last game with my old grey body spyder.
thats about it,

[autococker04]

Its weird that this got brought up. I've actually been thinking a lot lately about playing with my Spyder. It hasn't hit the field in years, and there's really no reason for that.

edit:
I remembered what spurred this urge. I aim way more naturally with stacked tube guns, and play almost all mech or pump. Pretty much the only options for stacked tube mechs are Autocockers or STBBs, and in my old age and with the new reliability of guns I’ve come to appreciate throwing my stuff in a bag and knowing it will work more than having a cool gun. So, Spyder.

[Law]

Maybe a small STBB resurgence is in the air, I was just looking for at Piranhas a few weeks back and ended up impulse buying an Azodin Kaos. It won’t see a game until next summer, but holding it reminded me how much I loved playing with spyders, they really are fun guns.

[shadow191]

I still bring out an Azodin Blitz and Spyder Imagine most days and will usually play a couple of games at end with them. Have a Spyder Compact that comes out here and there too. They're a lot of fun to play with and it's a more tactile experience compared to modern markers. It's nice to shoot something where I can actually feel something when I shoot, there is feedback. My other guns I'm just watching a stream of paint fly but don't feel anything. I mostly use the Imagine because I like the way it shoots for some reason. Need to work on the trigger for Compact as it's so long compared to my other markers it's hard to use. Blitz is mostly a loaner + backup.

[iamthelazerviking]

My other is a Sentinel. I keep it for nostalgia - that Millennium is nearly perfect - but it's a sweet shooter. I made a custom valve body and regged it, and it's also pretty quiet, and ball-on-ball. The double trigger was never my thing, but somehow it's the only gun I shoot accurately with my off hand. Lots of home practice in high school, I guess, with one just like it.



A Millennium would be cool. But the Sentinel...that has been on my list. The "blowback to end all blowbacks" haha. Have a line on one currently, might just have to jump on it.

[autococker04]

Because of this thread I went and shot my spyder on a CO2 tank dated ‘97 I picked up in a Craigslist lot. I wish my air tank would make that PING noise.

[SETHZILLA!]

Since we're all talking about stbb's, i wanted to plug my new in box Walzmas Spyder. Thinking about putting up some other Walzmas giveaways with Piranhas and ACI Griffins as well....

Ok back to the subject, i do like the fit and finish of the PMI's better, but agree with the hpa issues. Kingman did make some reliable guns for sure and parts availability is still out there.

Like others have mentioned, the single trigger frames on any stbb just feel better to me.

[Brokeass_baller]

Since we're all talking about stbb's, i wanted to plug my new in box Walzmas Spyder. Thinking about putting up some other Walzmas giveaways with Piranhas and ACI Griffins as well....

Ok back to the subject, i do like the fit and finish of the PMI's better, but agree with the hpa issues. Kingman did make some reliable guns for sure and parts availability is still out there.

Like others have mentioned, the single trigger frames on any stbb just feel better to me.

Any mech, I think, feels better with a single trigger.

And honestly, I agree with you. Back in the day, running CO2 and a 9v Revy, I think fishies were a better bang for your buck. But now, with the hindsight of age, I think the Spyder was built to be more robust. Simple example, the sear. Piranha sears get chewed up fairly quickly. Spyder sears last ages. But I could never admit that back then. I was a Spyder guy through-and-through, until I bought my first Automag.

But now, I have a renewed interest in Tippmanns. They simply last forever. A 98 that I bought used in 2004 has required zero maintenance (save for one detent replacement), except oil in the ASA. They've replaced Kingman markers as my blowback love interest, as uncomfortable as that is to say. Spyders were always prettier, which made them more likable to young teenage me. But I cannot get over just how insanely resilient Tippmann markers are.

[Cdn_Cuda]

I agree about Tippmann. They are my bread and butter guns. Pick them up from people who haven’t used them in years and usually only need a bit of oil and they’re good to go. Real cheap to buy, I’ve ended up with los of spare parts that are useable throughout the Tippmann line up as they are interchangeable.

[Brokeass_baller]

Right. And when it does fail, it's usually the detent, or the hammer o-ring. That's it. That's all that ever goes bad. They're amazing.

[Cdn_Cuda]

Funny enough I just recently found and bought a version of my first gun, a spyder knockoff and picked up a package with a green Spyder Victor 2. I haven’t shot a Spyder in over a decade, so I’ll throw a little paint with the Victor before I flip it will play a game with my spyder knockoff next time I’m at a field.

[spikeball]

Like pump, there's just something pure about playing with a blowback marker.

In fact, that's why I'm a big fan of the league I am a part of, the PBSL. There are quite a few Azodin markers in our ranks. It also helps that they support the league.

My Spyder is in parts right now while I tweak it, but it's certainly fun to use on the field! This thread made me real nostalgic for an F4.

[iamthelazerviking]

I now have a Sentinel on the way. This STBB talk really got me in the mood.

[Myrkul]

Oh I loved my sentinel until the paint got too small. Other then that, the thing was a complete beast.

[iamthelazerviking]

Myrkul I plan on boring the stock barrel for inserts since the matching anodizing is just too good.

[Myrkul]

Barrel was never the problem. I ran mine with a freak. The issue is the damn stack clipping. Gun works fine at most fields, but at my local field the gun chops 1 in twenty, regardless of the paint I use. The bolt is just too short for the paint I have available.

[Tarsun2]

the valve and valve pin on the spyder is also quite different to the PMI's

old stbb's are like classic cars. (the basic ones too, not the COPO Camaro's or BOSS Mustang's). think about a late 60's camaro RS. bad on gas, heavy, and inefficient. (like a classic car). there are soooo many other markers that are new and cheap that'd run rings around a classic stbb BUT, its the feeling you get when you play with a classic marker and make a great shot, or just having it out there on the field after soooooo many years.

i have a 86 camaro that i enjoy driving 350SB that makes about as much horsepower as a BRZ/FRS 4cy... lol
and im sure a D16 civic will pull it all the way through.
I followed my buddy in his corolla on the back roads and couldnt keep up. (not even in the straights because after all, every straight ends in a turn) and drums arnt all that great.

But still the older stbb's are so much fun to rock.

[Deadmeat99]

Blowback Throwback Tournament Series.

Coming to whatever field we get the chance to visit in 2021.