Slow Motion: Montage

A sample of things to come, here's a montage of slow motion footage shot using a Casio Exilim EX-FC100:



While not exactly riveting subject matter, it just goes to show that the most mundane things look interesting at 210-1000 frames per second. Plenty of paintball related slow motion material soon to come! I hope to be out taping some new stuff tomorrow morning.

CADPAT Comparison

Shown below are three samples of CADPAT material. One item is the real deal, one is from RAP4, and one is from CPGear. But which one is which?

The three items side by side:

Still can't guess? Maybe this will help, this is a 1st gen. night vision shot of the three items under infrared light:

Please feel free to comment and guess!

Goblin Solo Videos - Old Man

Here a couple of videos of the Goblin Solo Launcher from Old Man of Wolverines Tactical Paintball. Should answer a few questions as to the mechanism/operation of the Solo.

RAP4 GOLF Paintball Review: Water Test

One of the advertising points for the RAP4 GOLF Paintballs is that they are "Impervious to water", so I decided to put that statement to the test. Seen above is one Draxxus Custom paintball and one GOLF paintball, both in separate ziplock sandwich bags filled with a small amount of water.

After 7 hours, they looked like this:

Here's a video of me cutting the ball on the right in half after the exposure to water:

They're not kidding when they say "impervious", there wasn't a hint of moisture in the powder when the ball was split in half. If there was ever a paintball to be used for an Over the Beach Test, it should be these.

RAP4 GOLF Paintball Review: Shooting

So I finally managed to make it out to the local field to shoot some of RAP4's GOLF Paintballs using my Milsig K-Series. I went through about fifty rounds and have formulated a few impressions.



I noticed a definite change in average trajectory between normal paintballs and the GOLF rounds. I verified this by filling a Milsig magazine with an equal amount of interspersed GOLF rounds and paintball rounds. The GOLF rounds seemed to have a flatter average trajectory... when they didn't go crazy. Many of the GOLF rounds seemed to dance through the air when fired. If you've ever thrown a wiffle ball you may know what I'm talking about.

As for getting hit by the GOLF paintballs, two of the four shots broke on me, one hitting my right wrist and one hitting my left forearm. One shot that bounced hit me square in the stomache. The first shot missed. All three shots felt equivalent to getting hit by a paintball at the same temperature (-19 degrees Celsius outside at the time). The powder left a distinct mark on my jeans and sweater. While it wasn't super easy to wipe off, it came off easily using a small amount of water and didn't stain.

I thought I would never say this, but luckily I had break while I was shooting the GOLF paintballs.

This is what my magazine feed neck looked like when a round broke in the receiver:

And here's what my receiver looked like inside:

I found the fill relatively easy to clean from my receiver (have yet to clean my magazine). However, the question that came into my mind when I looked at this was, "Would firing while there was GOLF fill in your marker cause some abrasion on internal parts?"

For my next shooting test for the GOLF rounds, I hope to procure a cheap mask (if you're in Canada and would like to send me one of your old beaters, I'd love to have it), shoot some GOLF paintballs at the lense and see what happens.

Slow Motion: X7 Cyclone

The first installment in Grey Ops' Slow Motion Series...

A slow motion video of the Tippmann X7's Cyclone feeder in action, courtesy of SAS-Necro:


This video showcases the "popcorn effect" experienced by the Cyclone very well.

Siberian 5 Tournament Media

Sorry for the inconsistent updates as of late, I'm right in the middle of exam season.

Here is some media from the aforementioned Siberian 5 Tournament. All pictures and videos courtesy of Marked Paintball.

Marked's staging area.

Spy Versus Spy course.

Onion Rock Valley.

Patrick (bottom) and myself (top) during daylight.

Patrick (bottom) and myself (top) at dusk.

Easy Company (L-R: Patrick, Jordon, Dippy, Nick, Connor) - First Place

Play on Onion Rock Valley. You can see me reloading at the very start, and some good shots of Patrick around 45 seconds in.

Breakout on Spy Versus Spy.

Weighing RAP4 GOLF Paintballs

I weighed five Draxxus custom paintballs, and five GOLF Balls, and the results are a bit surprising on one end (sorry for the low quality, didn't look at the setting until it was too late)...



If you can't see the numbers here are the results:

1st GOLF Ball weight (g): 4.20
1st Draxxus weight (g): 3.26
2nd Draxxus weight (g): 3.29
3rd Draxxus weight (g): 3.29
4th Draxxus weight (g): 3.30
5th Draxxus weight (g): 3.30
2nd GOLF Ball weight (g): 2.93
3rd GOLF Ball weight (g): 4.00
4th GOLF Ball weight (g): 3.45
5th GOLF Ball weight (g): 4.02

Average GOLF Paintball weight (g): 3.72
GOLF Paintball standard deviation (+/- g): 0.52

Average Draxxus Paintball weight (g): 3.29

Draxxus Paintball standard deviation (+/- g): 0.02

Unordinary Paintball Masks

A look at a few paintball masks that are a bit out of the ordinary...

The CM120 goggle system from Eye Tactical

Not exactly sure what this is, made by a deviantArt user.

Not exactly a mask, but more of a mask add-on. The Toxic Black from Psycho Scenario.

There are no words.

This is why you're fat.

You'll have to excuse me for the offensive title, "This is why you're fat." is in fact a blog showcasing artery-stopping culinary creations. It's probably my favorite blog as of late, and is frequently updated with mostly amazing but occasionally disgusting looking food.

Pictured above is a Chocolate Covered Bacon Maple Donut Bar. Here are a few more select items:

The Scotch MegaEgg

Eggs Benedict Poutine

Milsim Laser Tag

To continue what Connor was mentioning in a previous post, there is a game that actually hybridizes paintball and laser tag... it's exactly what you would expect: Paintball Laser Tag. This system uses a radio frequency unit, an infrared barrel, and a traditional paintball marker. The RF unit replaces the hopper and sits in the hopper feed neck. This is connected to the IR barrel via a small cable. The IR barrel is sound activated and fires when the marker is dry-fired using CO2 or HPA thus giving the blowback feel of a traditional marker. Scores and statistics are sent to a wireless router via the RF unit which also displays information to the player on a small screen. Pictured above is a Tippmann 98 Custom fitted with a laser system by Predator Games.

I'm not quite sure how hits are detected as it isn't explained anywhere on their site. My guess is the red RF unit has IR sensors along its body and acts as the hit detector. This remains questionable to me just because the unit is so small and leaves not much of a target for players to shoot. Videos of this system in use seem to show a very responsive hit detection which means either the players in the video are shooting very accurately, or some other hit detection system is in use.

Here's a picture of a prototype from an album on the Predator Games website.

You can see in this picture that there are two devices in use with a Tippmann X7. My guess is both units are hit detectors while the black unit in the cyclone feed opening serves as the RF unit and also powers the IR barrel.

Here's a video of the Generation 1.0 in action (taken from the Predator Games website):

In the above video you can see the RF unit attached to their tactical vests and for one player, his marker. This brings up even more questions regarding how the IR barrel fires without the RF unit providing power. Predator Games has indicated that they will be releasing tactical vests and helmets which will enlarge the target area by providing more sensors on each player.

In January of 2009, Predator Games teamed up with Tippmann as an exclusive distributor for all their product lines. Tippmann markets the Eagle Eye System and the Barracuda System; the former runs CO2 or HPA through a paintball marker while the latter takes a paintball marker and permanently converts it to just a IR transmitter and receiver.

Take a look at this video posted on their website:

I've contacted Predator Games for more information on their products. I'll update this post when I get an answer.

Pimp My Gun

If you're into firearms and weapon systems you should check out Pimp My Gun. This flash application allows you to combine various weapon components and accessories to create your own custom gun. There are over 40 base rifles and pistols to choose from, each having a handful of accessories to go along with it.

Here are a few I made:

RAP 4 GOLF Paintball Review: Intro

UPS left me a little present today, a sample of RAP4 GOLF Paintballs from RAP4 (along with some nice promotional bonuses). I will be doing an extensive review of these paintballs over the next little while, including: performance, stress testing and safety. I have a total of one hundred of these little guys, which should be more than enough for everything.

 

I probably won't be able to get out and shoot these guys till at least this weekend, at which point I'll compare them to Draxxus Custom (Gold Formula). If I can I'll try and shoot them through a smooth bore barrel, a rifled barrel, and an apex equipped smooth bore barrel.

Here's a little video tidbit of me breaking one of the rounds in a ziplock bag:

Update - Dec. 8th 2009: Added a video per Fan Dam's request:

Update (Dec. 12th 2009) - Weighing some GOLF Paintballs

Combat Sports Laser Tag

The block of metal above with a CAR stock and some kind of scope is in fact a laser tag gun. Those B-Movie thought control globes on the player's head? Sensors.

Bridging the gap between indoor laser tag and woodsball, Combat Sports provides an interesting alternative for players that aren't ready/comfortable with paintball.

Black Goblin Solo Pics

The title says it all...

RAP4 GOLF Paintball Composition

After hearing a few people ask what the RAP4 GOLF Paintball was made of I decided to do some investigating. I saw that Psiworx from M. Carter Brown stated in one forum post that, "The shell is polyethylene wax, calcium carbonate, and a polyethylene powder. The fill is barium sulfate and silica."

Reading this made me a bit uneasy, as while those are all inert ingredients, inhaling some kinds of silica can lead to disease called silicosis. So, I went straight to the source, emailing APS Paintball (the manufacturer of the GOLF rounds) asking about the composition of the balls. They sent me the complete MSDS sheets for their product.

Here are the details:

Shell material: PE dip plastic powder, Polyethylene Wax, Heavy Active Calcium Carbonate, Plastic Pigment

Inside material: Barium sulfate, Non-crystalline amorphous precipitated silica

Now lets take a look at the health effects of the individual components:

Polyethylene wax - Nothing to worry about, but from an environmental standpoint it's not that great (does not fully decompose for centuries)

Calcium carbonate - Active ingredient found in over the counter antacids such as Tums, perfectly safe.

Barium sulfate - Very insoluble in the human body and is eliminated readily. You probably shouldn't eat it, but there aren't any real issues with it.

Non-crystalline amorphous precipitated silica - Non-crystalline, amorphous silica is not linked to silicosis, so it isn't dangerous in that regard.

All that considered, I'd say the GOLF paintballs are perfectly safe to play with given normal paintball play. If anyone is interested in reading the MSDS sheets for themselves, I'll gladly send it to you.

Update - Dec 7 2009: I have been in further contact with APS, and the weight of the GOLF Paintballs is 3.5g/ball. This does not exceed the ASTM standard.

Milsig News

Some Milsig news tidbits...

Milsig has announced the launch the official start of its gear line, entitled Milsig Solid Gear (MSG). For the initial release (which will be at Shot Show 2010, along with the A-TACS launch), Milsig will be releasing pouches that will perfectly fit Milsig mags (held upside down), 2 vests, and an HPA bottle pouch. Patterns/colours that will be released include: Ranger Green, black, and Multicam. It has been stated by Milsig that CADPAT will not be used.

Milsig will also be releasing AK accessories in early 2010. These accessories are relics of Tacamo, and will only be released in a limited fashion, as Milsig has a very small number of acquired products to work with.

Tactical Race Gun Compensator Review

A cool add-on for the Tiberius T8, the Tactical Race Gun Compensator (TRG) from Underground Mod Shop fits on to the front of the marker with a single screw.

Accesory: Underground Mod Shop's Tactical Race Gun Compensator

Price: $70.00 US + shipping

Options: UMS is all about customization, if you want something special, just ask.

Specs: ~150 grams, black anodization, 5" picatinny rail, attaches via a single screw, aluminum.

My add-ons: None

Pros: Provides a long undermount picatinny rail for any accessories you'd like to attach. The aluminum construction and placement of the compensator adds very little felt weight to the T8. Like a muzzle brake, if you stick your marker into the dirt accidently with the TRG attached, your barrel won't get all fouled up. This thing is rock solid and really completes/fixes (depending on your view) the look of the T8.

Cons: A bit pricey. You'll need a longer barrel if you want to attach a muzzle brake/apex/dishka/fake supressor. Standard length barrel is a bit of a pain to remove once you have the TRG attached. Some holsters may have an issue accommodating the TRG.

Overall: I think the TRG gives the T8 the intimidation and cool factor it had been sorely missing. The compensator is a permanent fixture on my pistol, and the quality of TRG is beyond reproach.