Electronic Guns:  People inside the manufacturing segment of the Paintball industry tell us that there are no fewer than six [6] electronic paintguns in the development stages, and three may be released as early as this summer. This does not include Bob Long's Defiant or Indian Creek's Bushmaster 2000. We've heard that Kingman International has three electronic guns on the drawing board. We're told that Pro Team Products is working on an electronic semi as well.

When asked directly about an Airgun Designs' electronic gun, Tom Kaye told us, "I can not confirm or deny it, but right now we are waiting to see where the rate of fire issue goes." We had the opportunity to get a close look at Bob's Defiant last month at the PCRI/AGD/Pev's Technical Conference in Dallas. The gun appears to have a very simple design (no 14-way valve, etc.) and looks and shoots great--at least the two prototypes do. The gun should be available from National Paintball Supply East any time. One pretty cool feature of the Defiant is you can side-tap the trigger and it fires--a full trigger "pull" is not required. You probably have heard that Tippmann Pneumatics will soon be releasing their new "Pro-Carbine" soon. We're guessing that this will replace both the Prolite and the 68 Carbine in the future.

Miscellaneous:  Look for a new high pressure system to be released by mid-summer from one of the top companies in paintball. That's all we can tell you right now. On the Viewloader situation; Brass Eagle, who recently purchased the company told us that they are going to make the "Vlbow" fit both 7/8" and 1" feed ports on future runs. Speaking of Brass Eagle, don't be surprised if they purchase another top paintball company sometime this summer or fall.

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Product Evaluations

Extreme Rage Gear Bag
Extreme Rage of Fort Meyers, Florida (1.888.880.0911) has a new line of butt packs, and apparel, and has recently introduced their new Extreme Rage Gear Bag. This is not your average run-of-the-mill gear bag. It's a well thought out, feature rich bag that will hold most anything you have in the way of Paintball gear.

Design/Construction
The Extreme Rage Gear Bag is manufactured from the usual materials found in a gear bag. However, this one is padded on the sides, top, and bottom, and holds its shape even when there is nothing inside the bag. All stress points on the bag are double and triple stitched. The bag measures twenty-eight inches in length, twelve inches wide, and sixteen inches high. There are two straps which velcro together, a detachable (heavy duty zipper) goggle compartment, two gun sections, an end compartment, and a main compartment. The two gun sections are velcro'd in and can be removed easily at any time. The top closure is a double zipper type with a six-inch flap. When closed, the zipper can be covered with another flap that velcros to the center. The Extreme Rage Gear Bag is probably the best made bag we've seen.
Design/Construction rating [4]

Performance/Versatility
When you're talking about performance from your gear bag, there's not really much to say--the Extreme Rage Gear Bag is very well padded, has many different compartments to keep gear from hitting against each other, and it's large enough to hold two complete gun set-ups, your goggles, shoes, and accessories. The gear bag is also versatile in that components can be removed or added easily, to fit your needs on any given day.
Performance/Versatility rating [4]

Price
Here's the sticky point--At around $150, the Extreme Rage Gear Bag is one of the higher priced bags out there. However, it is easily one of the better, more versatile, protective bags you'll find anywhere.
Price rating [3]

Conclusion
The more serious you get about playing Paintball, the more and better quality gear you'll get. Hence, protecting and hauling your stuff becomes important. $150 may not be too much to spend if you're hauling two $1500 electronic semi-autos and a trunk full of accessories.

PCRI IS PLEASED TO AWARD THE EXTREME RAGE GEAR BAG OUR FOUR STAR SEAL OF QUALITY.

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G-Force Feed Handle
Feed elbows. Unless you have a center-feed paintgun, or a gun with a built-in elbow, they're a necessary evil. If you have a slip-on elbow, it can twist around and come off in the middle of a game. But if you have an elbow that clamps tight around your feed tube and hopper neck (like the Armson elbow), if you break a ball in the neck or breech, you're screwed until the end of the game. The G-Force handle is a screw and nut set designed to allow you to have the best of both worlds by allowing you to tighten or loosen the clamp ends of your Armson elbow without tools.

Design/Construction
The T-handle is an extremely simple design. It replaces the stock screw and nut that clamps the elbow down. The screw replacement is a stainless steel Phillips-head screw with a square nut threaded all the way on and is fixed in place. The nut replacement is a tapped cylinder (available in stainless steel or brass) with a small rod through its top that acts as a handle. Just install it in place of the stock nut and screw. Rather than tightening down the screw, you tighten the cylinder down over the screw. The small bar through its top makes this very easy to do by hand. Apart from the obvious advantage of being able to adjust the tightness by hand, the T-handle offers another advantage. Anyone who has used an Armson elbow for any extended period of time knows that the plastic can get worn out such that when you try to tighten down the screw, the hex-nut can spin around in the worn out space and not allow you to tighten it down sufficiently. The square nut on the screw-end of the T-handle completely eliminates this problem as well, holding the screw tightly in place as you tighten the collar down. Despite the fact that this is a small and simple part, G-Force has really designed it very nicely. The parts are beautifully machined, constructed, and fit the Armson elbow perfectly. If I had to nit-pick, the only thing I could come up with to criticize is that the cylinder part of the T-handle seems to be about twice as long as it really needs to be.
Design/Construction rating [4]

Performance/Versatility
I've been using the T-handle for a few months now, and in all honesty, I can't imagine how I lived without it. There really isn't much to say about it. It works perfectly as advertised. It's very easy to hand-tighten the elbow down enough to keep it from ever twisting around or coming off. But when I want to take the hopper off, all I have to do is reach up and give the handle a quick 1/2 turn and it comes right off.
Performance/Versatility rating [4]

Price/Warranty
The brass version of the T-handle retails at $11.00 and the stainless version retails at $17.00. This might seem pretty expensive given that those prices are two and three times the cost of the already expensive (for an elbow) Armson elbow. On the other hand, these are a completely unique and I've come to see them as absolutely indispensable (Editor's Note: As of this writing, Viewloader has also introduced hand-locking, thumb screw elbows as well.) . This is such a headache-saving product, you just might save that much on reduced aspirin purchases anyhow. G-Force warranties the T-handle for 1 year from the date of purchase. That's more than long enough to cover any manufacturing defects that might crop up. If they go longer than a year, they'll definitely outlive your elbow, and very well might outlive your ‘gun.
Price/Warranty rating [3]

Conclusion
The G-Force T-handle has got to be the coolest product I've seen in years. It is a simple, clever, perfect solution to a problem that a huge number of paintball players experience all the time, but which most probably thought they would just have to live with. If you buy a pair of the brass ones for your elbow, I think you'll find that it's the best $22 you've ever spent on paintball equipment. You can contact G-Force Racing at: Tel: 905-477-1338

PCRI IS PLEASED TO AWARD THE G-FORCE T-HANDLE OUR FOUR STAR SEAL OF QUALITY.

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On The Edge

Where was the first NPPL event of 1999? Did you say Dallas? Vegas? Who knows? Well it was in Las Vegas after all. And yes, it was be hosted and promoted by DYE Precision Products for the third consecutive year. Unfortunately for Dave Youngblood and DYE, the first event has been reported to be held in Dallas, and one magazine had the first event in Vegas, with dates of March 5 - 7. This probably could have been an even larger event.

Here's a quick look at the NPPL's 1999 schedule:
Las Vegas March 12 - 14
Dallas April 30 - May 2
Chicago June 25 - 27
Boston August 27 - 29
World Cup October 19-24

Pro Stuff...

Vegas NPPL Winners, Avalanche

Bad Company has definitely lost some key players from their starting roster again this season. Rumor is Rick "Rah Rah" is taking some time off, and Steve Robinson is retiring. Steve Pisek will be moving back to Ohio, but is remaining with the team, Tom Cole told us. Bad Company Reffed Vegas. As you read earlier, the Vegas event is the first NPPL tourney of the season. Best guess is that Tom Cole, Bad Company's Captain is buying some time to get his team together for 1999. More Bad Company notes: Justin, Chris Cole, and Turtle of Team Imagefame attended a Bad Company practice last month we were told by a member of Bad Company. "It went well.....they were a little rusty, but they blended in real well with us." The "Tombstone" indoor tournament in Montreal was pretty hot we've heard.......in fact it was so hot the fire department had to be called. You see, it seems that Tom Cole was drying his pants in the hotel room oven, and went he left for the night playing session, he accidentally turned on a burner instead of turning off the oven. Twenty-one floors had to be evacuated at 1 am thanks to "Tommy the Torch." Avalanche won the event. Team Image is making some major changes this year--Greg Maliszweski is leaving the team, as is brother Tommy (maybe). Image is recruiting some players from the recently defunct Revolution (don't ask us to name more than two Revolution guys) and have also picked up Ralphy who was cut from the All Americans. Contrary to popular belief, Lane and "L.D." are staying with the team. It looks like the All Americans have gotten a facelift as well, with all non-Pennsylvania players getting cut. If you haven't been in the game of Paintball long, you might not know this....Greg, Ritchie and Tommy Maliszweski, Lane, "L.D.", Ralphy, all played for the All Americans at one time in their careers. Eric Felix and Erik (don't call me Eric) Ward are playing with Bob Long's second team the Diggers. Felix will Captain the team, but don't look for him to be there all year. We're predicting that by Chicago, Felix will join Bobby on the Ironmen. Look for Aftershock to pick up right where they left off in 1998. This team hasn't changed much in the past two years. Oh they've lost a player or two, but the nucleus remains the same. There is an east coast pro team recruiting Todd Adamson as we speak. If Todd does move on, that will leave a pretty major hole in the lineup.

Amateur Stuff... Does anyone know who the hot amateur teams will be this year? We sure don't. We received a call from Thunderstruck today....they will be playing all five NPPL events this year. You'd have to put them near the top of the pack going into this season. T'Struck finished third in the 1998 NPPL World Cup, and has enough tournament experience to know how to make things happen, especially given the state of the amateur A division. Look for OBR to be strong again this year, especially if Steve Pisek takes over the reigns again. Other teams to watch are Fusion, Ground Zero, Team Xtreme, the Bushwackers, and Personal Vendetta.

Major events in 1999
This years major events look to be all five NPPL tournaments, Toronto's Skyball (Focus), the Splat-1 Indoor Championships, the Music City Open, the Masters, the Zap Amateur Open, and the UK's Mayhem Masters, which makes its return after a three year hiatus.

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Tips from the Workbench

Coming in the next issue: Issue #2 May 10th, 1999

From Square One

Hi again and welcome to "From Square One." Before we get started, we need to make a correction. Last month we said that RP Scherer Big Ball paintballs had a larger bore size than other labels or brands. This is actually not true. Big Ball's bore size is in the average .678-.680 range. This month we're going to be discussing the "Spyder" clones, and how they differ from one another. The first thing we need to discuss is the fact that these guns are not really Spyder clones--they are F-1 Illustrator clones as far as we can tell. As far as we can see, the F-1 Illustrator was the first gun with this type of internal over/under bolt/striker design. If anyone knows of an earlier paintgun with this design please let us know.

F-4 Illustrator: The F-4 is a totally revamped version of the original F-1 Illustrator which debuted back in the early 1990's. The F-4 features a bottom-line air set-up, 45-grip frame, power feed design, "quick slide" cocking design with no exposed internals, sight rail, and wide trigger shoe. The F-4 is available in black, red, green, and grey. A custom "S/X" version of the F-4 is available as well. This one comes with matching splash components, including a twelve-ounce C02 tank.

Spyder: There are several versions of the Spyder available, including the Compact "A" or "P" (vertical C02 set-up), the Spyder One, Spyder Elite, Spyder Special Edition, and the old standby, the original Spyder. Without dedicating this entire article to the Spyder series, here are the basic differences--the "Compact" is a vertical C02 setup, with "P" being the designation for "plastic", and "A" for "aluminum." The Spyder One features a 45-grip frame with rubber grips, a modified receiver (for aesthetics only), plastic frame, bottom-line C02, and a power feed design. The Spyder Elite differs from the Spyder One in that it has a metal (aluminum) frame. The Special Edition has an extended main body, expansion chamber, double finger trigger, bottom-line C02, 45-grip frame, raised sight rail, and power feed system. All metal parts are splash anodized in a "camo" green color.

Scorpion: The Scorpion is an all aluminum gun (externally), that features a rear cocking design, thumb screw velocity adjuster, thumb screw (2) disassembly, lightened bolt, aluminum barrel with interchangeable tips, and bottom-line C02. For more information on the Scorpion see page eight of this issue.

Bob Long Millennium: The Millennium probably has more features than any other gun we're looking at here, but it costs quite a bit more as well. The Millennium features a vertical feeding system, ported barrel, low pressure design, expansion chamber, rear cocking system, molded aluminum 45-grip frame, all aluminum design, locking thumb screw velocity adjuster, and a totally uselesssight rail.

PMI Piranha: The PMI Piranha is probably the newest of the class. The Piranha comes with a 45-grip frame, is rear cocking, has a power feed, vertical-bottle set up, carbon fiber frame, sight rail, and "push pin" quick release for super fast field stripping.

The Diamond GT: The "GT" features all aluminum construction with a 45-grip frame, bottom-line C02, power feed system, raised sight rail, side cocking, and wide trigger shoe.

The Stealth: The Stealth semi-auto is top-cocking, and has a rear thumb screw velocity adjuster, power feed, carbon fiber non-45 grip frame, back-bottle C02 sat up, and ported barrel.

Brass Eagle Raptor: The Raptor has a unique ambidextrous cocking handle, 45-grip frame, power feed system, bottom-line C02 set up, sight rail, and is finished in satin green. There you have it--one more thing, if you're looking to buy one of these paintguns, the prices range from around $110-$300.

That will do it for this edition of PCRInet, please check back with us regularly.

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