GOG Enmey discontinued?

[Bow]

The enmey was a decent shooter, but the solenoids suck and fail, that plastic pin was a bad idea and you pretty much had to have an aftermarket metal one just to take a point of failure out of the system. I really liked mine but the emek is everything it was plus more.

Not a horrible marker, but I haven't seen anyone even using one in years.

We use .50 cal emeks. They work alot better oveall than the ft12s imho. The spyder opus can suck it, trash markers and nobody can convince me otherwise.

[Guts]

I'm sad that when Eclipse raised the Emek's prices by 50% there wasn't an effort to clean up the eNMEy design a little and offer it as a viable alternative. Maybe improve the stock feedneck and give it autococker threads (which the Tippmann Raider already did).

My thoughts exactly. When I first came back to the sport after a long hiatus, I picked up an enmey for rec play and really enjoyed it. When the EMEK came out its value was unbeatable. I got some sticker shock when I saw what the Emek price had risen to... I know it's the go to recommendations for new players, but I have a hard time telling them to shell out close to $300 for their first gun.

[martix_agent]

My thoughts exactly. When I first came back to the sport after a long hiatus, I picked up an enmey for rec play and really enjoyed it. When the EMEK came out its value was unbeatable. I got some sticker shock when I saw what the Emek price had risen to... I know it's the go to recommendations for new players, but I have a hard time telling them to shell out close to $300 for their first gun.

For your average player, that could easily be the last marker they ever buy, though. It's still extremely good value because of that.

[Guts]

Totally agree & I do tell them that. Still doesn't stop them for heading to the cheap Tippmann's, in my experience at least

[zinger565]

My thoughts exactly. When I first came back to the sport after a long hiatus, I picked up an enmey for rec play and really enjoyed it. When the EMEK came out its value was unbeatable. I got some sticker shock when I saw what the Emek price had risen to... I know it's the go to recommendations for new players, but I have a hard time telling them to shell out close to $300 for their first gun.

Agreed. Personally I tell a lot of people to rent for a while, and then look at the used market. You can get a used 160r for $300ish if you're patient. Hell, I've seen AMPs with the mech frame go for $400. That will set up any casual baller for a long time. Same with loaders. Spire IR, Dye LTR, and even the HK Sonic are all really good options at/around $100. The used market for hoppers is really advantageous as well, and if the new Halo shells prove to be solid, that's another cheap and very good option.

As for the eNMy, sucks but not surprising. Hardly advertised and burdened with a somewhat uncommon barrel thread, it was a steep hill to climb. Not only that, but there's peer pressure as well when you're at the field. Many times new players are hesitant to get something "different" because they're then on their own when it comes to needing help.

[ThatDude812]

Took a stab at it, I'm sure I'm missing some brands here.

Kore

• GI Sportz
  • KEE
    • NPS
      • Empire
      • BT Paintball
      • 32 Degrees
      • Odyssey/Halo
      • Invert
      • Psychoballistics
      • Redz (?)
    • PMI
      • RP Scherer (paintball brand only)
      • Evil
      • Extreme Rage
      • Pure Energy
      • Piranha
      • PCS
      • Direct Connect (Illustrator)
    • WGP
    • Brass Eagle
      • Viewloader
      • JT
    • Kingman
    • Smart Parts IP (Freak kit, Shocker Bolt design, maybe other things?)
  • Procaps/DXS
    • Draxxus
    • Diablo
    • V-Force
    • X-ball (?)
    • XO (?)
  • Tippmann Sports

Formerly Smart Parts

• DLX
• GoG
• Shocker Paintball

Stand alone Companies

• Planet Eclipse
• Dye
  • Proto
• Valken
  • Sly
  • Milsig (Just the NA distribution rights)
• Virtue
  • BunkerKings
• Field One (formerly BLAST)
• Azodin
• First Strike/Tiberius
  • Bought out by Renatus Group, not sure their relationship to the industry
• HK Army
  • Pinokio
• MacDev

I think that's most of the major brands? Left out the small stuff like Inception or Shocktech.

I know this is an old thread but your post is very helpful in finding out what happened to some companies from back in the day.

Any chance you might know about a few other companies though. Zap (Chronic), Stiffi, & Severe. Those were 3 of my favorites and I can’t seem to find out what happened to them.

[fullofpaint]

GI owns Zap, I think DXS acquired them back in the day?

Stiffi went out of business around in the early 2010's

I don't remember Severe so can't say there.

[ThatDude812]

fullofpaint Thanks! Do you know what happened to Kingman? I forgot to mentioned them in my original post. Id assume GI bought them, but HK makes similar cheap guns soo did they buy them?

I do kind of wonder if maybe Deadlywinds bought the machinery from Stiffi when they went out of business. They’ll make tips for almost anything like Stiffi did.

[uv_halo]

ThatDude812 I'm pretty sure, Deadlywind and Stiffi were direct competitors in the carbon fiber barrel market. If I remember correctly, one big differentiator between Stiffi and Deadlywind was that Stiffi's manufacturing methods left you will a barrel that they explicitly required you to not use a fluffy style squeegie as it would catch the carbon fibers and pull them. Stiffi was a brand of Site Mfg and I think they were a manufacturer for other industries as well.

[vijil]

Ugh, Kore.

Owned by Ironbridge Equity Partners, who bought it from Fulcrum.

"We do not take research, development or technology risks with products that are core to financial performance"

They're all about low risk, low innovation, low effort, win by buying everyone out. They give not one flying poop about paintball, and you can tell. Tom Cole has been doing a few interviews lately but the overall message seems to be basically "we're just going to keep doing what we're doing with occasional minor tweaks because everything is fine".

It also seems like they've got Dye and PE etc. backed into corners. Probably tied up in contract knots and implied threats if they try any real innovation or alternative leagues. Kore have basically pulled the handbrake on the entire once-vibrant industry.

And most of the blame for the current state of the sport seems to sit with one Richmond Italia, alleged fraudster and international criminal.

[The Hobbit]

To the spirit of this thread, it’s odd that DLX/Gog dropped the enemy when they still seem to have a decent inventory of them. They’ve given several away this summer, unless that was just clearing old inventory.

[Ecapnation]

It's that...

[ThatDude812]

Ugh, Kore.

Owned by Ironbridge Equity Partners, who bought it from Fulcrum.

"We do not take research, development or technology risks with products that are core to financial performance"

They're all about low risk, low innovation, low effort, win by buying everyone out. They give not one flying poop about paintball, and you can tell. Tom Cole has been doing a few interviews lately but the overall message seems to be basically "we're just going to keep doing what we're doing with occasional minor tweaks because everything is fine".

It also seems like they've got Dye and PE etc. backed into corners. Probably tied up in contract knots and implied threats if they try any real innovation or alternative leagues. Kore have basically pulled the handbrake on the entire once-vibrant industry.

And most of the blame for the current state of the sport seems to sit with one Richmond Italia, alleged fraudster and international criminal.

Care to elaborate on Richmond Italia? I took a break from 06/07 until a couple years ago and I’m still trying to catch up on the history I missed out on. Heard someone say awhile back that he personally owns a lot of the old formulas for top tier paint. Also heard someone say he left paintball and wants nothing to do with it. So I’m not really sure what to believe.

[vijil]

Not sure on those details. Could easily both be true.

[uv_halo]

He showed up on my radar when he partnered with the Gardner brothers to found GI MilSim in 2009 and, proceeded to try and directly convince the playing community that .50 paintballs had better accuracy and range than .68 paintball. I think he was banking on the fact that the majority of players at the time wouldn't be aware of, or remember .50 paintballs. In short order, I used external ballistics to prove him false.

[ThatDude812]

uv_halo I heard a story about that. They were demoing the 50 cal at cup or something. Everyone was amazed at the range it was getting, but someone thought something seemed off. That someone then went and got a chrono, came back and it turned out the demo was shooting 350 for or something like that. Is that what you’re referring to, & was that you that did that?

[uv_halo]

uv_halo I heard a story about that. They were demoing the 50 cal at cup or something. Everyone was amazed at the range it was getting, but someone thought something seemed off. That someone then went and got a chrono, came back and it turned out the demo was shooting 350 for or something like that. Is that what you’re referring to, & was that you that did that?

I would've laughed at that if I had heard that, I did my work I think before it showed up anywhere (based on projected weights of a .50 ball), and later firmed it up with actual GI Milsim ball weights (which has been re-posted in my External Ballistics thread).

[vijil]

Here in NZ we have no insurance-based 300fps limit, so we had this thought that we'd use .50 at 350+, and test 400.

But the US dictates paintball internationally. If it didn't take off there, it wasn't going to here. And you've got this whole 300fps issue.

[ThatDude812]

I thought 300 fps was just a safety standard pushed by the industry. I didn’t realize it was also insurance mandated.

[vijil]

It is, but you'd think it could be modified for joules. 300fps (I'd thought) was about impact force. A 50 cal has far less, so it would make sense to allow a higher fps. I think you have to crank it all the way up to 450fps before you're getting close to .68 impact energy, but we figured we'd tone it down a bit to compensate for the smaller impact area.

But hey, never took off, so whatever. I still think .50 at 300 is perfect for rentals. 50 at 400 would be great for milsim. 68 however has a second advantage: it's easier to see, both because of the size and the naturally slower velocity, not to mention the bigger splat, so it will always make more sense for tournament ball.

[uv_halo]

Here in NZ we have no insurance-based 300fps limit, so we had this thought that we'd use .50 at 350+, and test 400.

But the US dictates paintball internationally. If it didn't take off there, it wasn't going to here. And you've got this whole 300fps issue.

NZ and the U.S. I think are the outliers internationally. I believe most countries settled on a joule limit which then translates to differing speeds to different projectiles (airsoft to paintball). If I remember correctly the number of countries that would allow .50 based on their joule limits was somewhat greater than the number of countries that could allow .68.

ThatDude812 the 300 FPS limit actually comes from the ASTM, which publishes their guidance (for guns, safety equip, park configuration, rules, etc), and the Insurance companies rely on those guidelines- I participated in the ASTM when FS rounds were seeking approval.

vijil I think the better, more interesting usage of .50 would be in a multi-caliber / multi-projectile game format. This would have to be rental-based as very few people would have all of the right equipment. Imagine:

• .50 being able to be full auto, hopper (or Box Rotor based) with a full tourney loadout of pods (lowest point cost)
• .68 being semi-auto only, with a limited number of magazines (depending on numbers of players, playing area, and game length) (moderate point cost)
• FSR- bolt action only, and an even greater restriction on the ammo. (highest point cost)

Each team gets a number of points to allocate towards equipment. A team's performance in a match can influence the points available for the next match (to a limited extent). This would change the way the game is played in a huge way that could even be obvious to a spectator.

All that being said, the more you increase the velocity of .50, I'd have to run the numbers to be sure but, IIRC the.50 will also slow down faster. In short, muzzle velocity will be closer to the .68 but, it will bleed energy much faster.