The new Tippmann X7’s with the factory installed E Grips are finally here.  We sold about 20 of them in the first day.  For those of you waiting for the X7 eframe by itself, it should be out in about a month.

What’s the difference between a High Pressure paintball tank and a Low Pressure paintball tank?  Well the LP or HP refers to the output pressure of the regulator on your tank.  The Regulator on your tank takes your tanks stored air volume of 3000, or 4500 PSI and lowers it to a useable air pressure for your paintball gun (850 PSI or less).  On a pre set regulator the pressure will be lowered to 800-850 PSI “High Pressure” or less then 450 PSI “Low Pressure”.  There are adjustable tanks out there that allow you to customize the output pressure, usually anywhere form 200-900PSI.

“That’s all fine and dandy, but what tank do I use on my gun?”  That just depends on the guns design and the inline regulator your gun uses. To make things simple for you, read your guns manual to see what type of tank to get.  Angels and the Invert Mini need a low Pressure tank, because their regulators are not designed to accept 800PSI going into them.   

All guns that accept CO2 need a HP tank like Spyder and Tippmann guns, most guns out their will need a HP tank.  Guns like the Ion, Ego, and DM7 can operate with a LP tank however the manufacturer wants you to use a HP tank so their is no chance of shoot downs (your gun not working due to the lack of propellant pressure)

Its pretty easy to figure out what size a compressed air tank is. If your a noob to paintball it could be a little confusing. Let me break it down for you.

The first number is the cubic in of the tank, that’s how large the tank actually is. Usually sizes are 45, 47, 68, 70, 72 and 90. The second number tells you how much air the tank can hold inside read in PSI (ponder per sq. inch), this will read 3000 or 4500. There are 5000psi tanks out there but its more of a gimmick than anything else because most fields will not be able to fill to 5,000 PSI.

So for an example. a 68/3000 holds less air than a 68/4500 becuase the 4500 can hold more air in the same amount of space than a 3000.

People always call in and say a 12″ barrel isn’t long enough for them. Then they precede to tell me that they are a front player. That’s when I slap my hand on my head. The fact of the matter is the a 12″ Paintball barrel has a very specific home in paintball. It will never die. If your a front player, that means you run, dive, crawl and maneuver in VERY tight places. These tight places are where a 12″ barrels is home, because it allows you to function and snap shoot while staying burried in your cover. A 14″ or longer will not allow this, and a 10″ is about as accurate as a sling shot. A 12″ barrel can also shoot very accurately from mid field to your opponents gate. So its not a usless POS as most people think.

12″ Barrels also come in handy in woodsball for the same reasons. Long barrels get caught up and tangled up in ground cover and brush. If your playing in a castle or building scenario game, if you have anyting longer than a 12″ barrel your opponent will see you coming form around a corner. In most cases he already shot your barrel, which means your out. So for most players out there the 12″ barrel is the way to go. Check out these paintball barrels!

We have a limited edition TACAMO QCB A5 Body kit.  The kit is a great looking kit at around $200.  It includes a barrel, shroud and site (all in one), magazine well, steel 20rd. curved magazine, and folding rear stock.  Its a very mean, stream lined look. 

www.warpig.com reviewed the Tribal Stix barrels.  Their conclusion was “Operationally the Tribal Stix barrel performed as one would expect a well honed, ported barrel to perform. It’s light weight conveniently was not a burden when carried on the test marker (Matrix LCD.)”  We think its an incredible value at the $39.99 price range.  You can read the whole WARPIG Tribal Stix review here.

With paintball manufacturers waking up and starting to cater to the needs of the “Scenario” paintball player, you are seeing more and more people buying the Mil-Sim paintball guns. These military simulation style paintball guns, like the Type 68 and BT Guns, look exactly like real guns (to the untrained eye). The other day, I was at the field and their were grown 40+ men in full battle dress (boots, camo, vest, hydration pack and helmet). I couldn’t help but wonder….Is this good for paintball?

Rules- Open discussion, this is not about if woods ball is fun, or woods ball vs. speed ball.   Stick to the topic of is Scenario Play Good for Paintball.

So after a good 4 weeks of breaking in the Invert Mini and at least 5 cases of paint, it purrs like a kitten.  It first it was a bit of a struggle with chopping balls during the break in, but as I went threw case by case I noticed a considerable difference in the way the gun sounded and handled the paintballs.  During break in, I also stuffed a possum tailed squeegee into the barrel and dry fired (to save paint).  I’m not sure if that was factory approved, but I figured it couldn’t hurt.  Most paintball guns do not need to be broken in, however the Mini is one of the rare exceptions, and its because of the revolutionary design of the valve.

Over all, the gun shoots fast, is quiet and pretty air efficient. I have been shooting a 14″ Tribal Stix paintball barrel with it and the gun has a nice flat trajectory and even has a decent long ball to it.  Once you get the gun broken in for the ease of use and performance the $398 price tag I think is worth it.  Not to mention the gun itself fits in the palm of your hand.

Here is a review of the 07 Ego by 68caliber.com its a decent review, with a few pictures of a beat up ego. With any $1000+ gun of course it will shoot well, and fast. That’s basically what your paying for, that and size of the over all marker. Check out more pictures of the EGO 07 and other Planet Eclipse guns.

Should I use Dow 33 or Dow 55 on my paintball gun? This has been a very common question since the Bob Long Intimidator’s and Smart Parts Impulse has been out. These guns were the first guns to use Dow 33 as a lubricant as opposed to normal paintball gun oil (which is also synthetic) They needed to use a heaver weight lube that didn’t burn up as quickly as oil during the high rates of fire the guns can achieve. Some where along the line some genius said hey I’m using Dow 33 now Dow 55 must be better. So that’s how this question began.

Dow 55 and Dow 33 both have similar properties, however as stated on Dow’s web site, Dow 55 can swell orings slightly. The fact of the matter is you should follow your guns manual.

The Speed Feed Halo and Vlocity Hoppers lids really helps you load faster without looking and they actually keep the paintballs secure in your hopper.  The Speed Feed is a one way feed gate, that allows paintballs to fall into the hopper and not bounce out.  It installs like any replacement lid, and snaps securely in place.  This is great for any tournament player.  The down site is, it does not keep the weather out.  So if its raining, or sprinkling, you might want to put your stock lid on, unless you are really blowing through paint.

The NPPL (National Professional Paintball League) is coming to Boston July 13-15th. This year the fields will be set up at Brockton Fair Grounds in Brockton, MA. SAKworldpaintball.com is a Boston based paintball store so we are always excited when any National Event Rolls into to. Expect to see all sorts of Manufacturer trailers which will be full of products to purchase, and best of all expect to see some great paintball action. Although I was unable to see it last year, I have been to other NPPL events and they are always a good time. The Boston area has a large number of paintball fields and players around so I would imagine it there will be a pretty good showing.

You can check out the field layout here, if you wanted to play you better get on it because registration is coming to a close.

There is a new 1st Annual paintball cruise (www.paintballcruise.com ). Ollie Lang, Matty Marshall & Nicky Cuba will all be there offering a paintball clinic. There will also be a big party with them and a few other people on the boat. The $499 price for 4 nights includes food and entertainment. I’m not sure who thought of this but I think its going to fail for 2 main reasons.

1) $499 is a lot of money for any paintballer, this price also does not include air fair or transportation.
2)There is no paintballing or equipment allowed on the boat. The “clinic” their offering is a classroom based Q+A type thing. For $400 or so go sign up for a paintball camp offered by your local pro team. At least there you will get hand on training and you actually get to play.

Tech T just came out with their Gun Sav synthetic lubricant. Its so pose to be a super slick direct replacement to Dow 33, which means you can use it in any gun where Dow 33 is required.

Initially, with the way Tech T was pushing the super slick properties of the Gun Sav, we were concerned that the lube would burn off as quickly as gun oil, and not have the viscosity to continue lubricating a high end paintball gun for the duration of a tournament. To test the new Gun Sav paintball gun lube, and compare it to Dow 33, we developed a very advanced set of procedures. On one pointer I put some Gun Sav on it, on the other hand’s pointer finger i put about the same amount of Dow 33. I then used each thumb respectively and began rubbing the lubes in between my thumb and fingers.

Initially the Sav Lube was much slicker and thinner than the Dow 33. After about 5 min of vigorous rubbing the Gun Sav exhibited the same slickness and consistency as the Dow 33, and held it until the end of the 10 min test. So it is some pretty slick stuff at first and will definitely lube your gun. Although further testing is needed to discover the long term endurance of the Gun Sav however, our results look promising.