GI Milsim Quietly Admits Defeat

...but not quietly enough to escape Grey Ops' Minority Reportish surveillance network.

The "Milsim" aspect of the GI endeavour was always held in doubt by purists and aficionados, but now (as can be evidenced in the image above) the brand confusion has lead to a full blown milsimectomy (or speedballplasty). By closing the social media outlet for their brand, the company sends a definite message, which is just the result of their complete abandonment of their prior name and platform (in a sense). If you go on the GI Milsim website, you'll have to dig for pages and pages before you stumble across anything other than paint sponsorships and similar news. Seeing as how pretty much all the Grey Ops reporting on GI Milsim from the beginning of our coverage till now has been about how they weren't putting their money or products where their mouth was, and now they're flat out quitting leads to me declaring the (rather disappointingly contentless) Grey Ops GI Milsim Case...

Casualties of the Paintball Munition Wars

For quite some time, the mainstream paintball industry was quite content with the ubiquitous .68 caliber PEG spheres. This came after a long series of trials and errors with different calibers used, that I won't go into (if you really want to know a lot about it, ask one of the aging paintballers that populates MCB and I'm sure they'll give you a lengthy speech about ye olde caliber decision [love you guys]), with the masses settling on a .68 inch diameter paintball.

But, people are always looking to make money innovate, and in the recent past we've seen several new kinds of munitions pop up. Ever wonder how they're doing?

Who is the Paintball Manufacturer to Watch in 2011?

"Who is the Paintball Manufacturer to Watch in 2011?" was the question I asked via Grey Ops' Facebook page. Over a hundred people answered, and here are how the results came out:

G.I. Sportz Winter Balls

G.I. Milsim has finally released their G.I. Sportz Winter Balls (Ballz?) to the public. This is great news for us Canadians, stuck in freeze-your-winter-balls-off hell for 3 months or so of every year.

The good folks at PBL Paintball took the time to demo the product somewhere just South of the Arctic Circle (actually I think it's Montreal):

Vindication

I've embedded this video at a specific time frame, if that doesn't work fast forward to 1:15 and then watch.

Finally! In this video, Chris Lasoya (a spokesperson for G.I. Milsim) admits that .50 cal paint does not travel as far as .68 cal paint. This is completely against what G.I. Milsim has been trying to tell us thus far (seen below in one example), despite physics and testing telling us that .68 travels further. It's nice to see the company has finally given up on trying to convince us that physics is wrong.

The FM50 Mag-Fed Version Approaches

Check it out:

Source: Pro Paintball

The magazine is very PMAG-esque, with the winder different from the recessed format of RAP4/Milsig mags. Thoughts?

News From The Front: D-Day 2010 at Voodoo Paintball

September 5th, 2010 saw Voodoo Paintball hosting their annual D-Day event at their thematic field in St-Etienne-Des-Gres, Quebec. Nearly 300 players showed up at the event to re-enact the battle of Normandy, and the 101st Airborne Regiment's assault on the French town of Carentan.

Voodoo is close to the city of Trois-Rivieres (Three Rivers), which is about 1.5 hours East of Montreal by car. Trois-Rivieres is a noteworthy heritage site, featuring many monuments with a lot of history behind them. As the intersecting point of 3 major waterways in Eastern Canada (as its name suggests), it was strategically important outpost with a strong military connection.


With this area being of such historical and military significance, it's the ideal place to re-enact a battle recognized as a turning point in military history!

Throughout this review I'll be using stock photos from the Voodoo Paintball web site to illustrate, as I was too busy keeping my head down under heavy fire to snap any pics of my own! Although Voodoo Paintball normally posts photos of every event on their site, for 2010 they posted only one short but intense clip (above), and offer a DVD featuring photos and video footage for $10.

More .50cal Montreal Info (and Arnold Big Game review)

As promised, I headed out to the Arnold Paintball Big Game in Havelock, QC this past Saturday. Between a lot of heated firefights and scanning the ground for loose bars of Kuwaiti bullion, I ran into Arnold and asked him some questions about what motivated him to adopt .50cal paintball equipment at his indoor field.

First, Arnold was quick to correct me in that they now ACCEPT .50cal paintball guns, but have not "adopted" them as official field markers or field paint. They simply allow owners of .50cal markers to bring them into the facility, and being a field paint-only operation, they sell the balls to go along with them. As for his motives, he said that he and his business partner Ken have been friends with Richmond Italia since they were toddlers, and when Rich asked them to start allowing .50cal equipment, they obliged. Although the paint isn't selling like hotcakes, he admitted it was "moving" fairly well.

.50cal Gains a Foothold!

Okay, more like a "toehold".

It seems that Arnold Indoor Paintball in Montreal, Quebec is now allowing the use of .50cal paintball markers on their field. Given that they're a field paint-only operation, they also sell .50cal paintballs to go with the markers.

Does this mean that .50cal is starting to catch on? Only time will tell. But given that GI Milsim, the main pushers of .50cal, are based in Montreal as well, it may just be a local deal struck between the two companies.

I'll be at Arnold's Big Game, Saddam's Gold, next weekend. I'll see if I can catch up with Arnold himself and see what brought on their acceptance of .50cal paintball gear.

More to come...

Valken and G.I. Milsim Get Friendly

Some of you may remember G.I. Milsim. Some others might not, and you certainly won't be faulted for it. Many of you will know who Valken is, as they've exploded on to the paintball market with great success. Well now Valken will be distributing the elusive G.I. Milsim products to the masses in the United States. The full release can be read here.

Here's the question I put to everyone out there: Good move or bad move for Valken? Do you feel that the revolution is upon us?

Who Killed G.I. Milsim?

If you've followed the blog for a while, you may remember that I interviewed Richmond Italia way back in January (and if you've done some digging you may have even seen one of my first posts, looking at the FM50). Even then, I had done the interview because it had seemed like forever since anyone had heard anything from this fledgling company. Well it's been five months, and we have heard little to nothing further from them.

G.I. Milsim in 2010

I realized a little while ago that it had seemed like forever since we had heard anything from G.I. Milsim, or their FM50. My regular forum and blog haunts yielded no new information, so I decided to go straight to the source.

Here are some questions I asked Richmond Italia, and his responses:

Will Smart Parts' current difficulties affect the future of G.I. Milsim?

G.I. Milsim and Smart Parts are separate companies.  Smart Parts’ financial difficulties do not directly or indirectly affect the day-to-day running of G.I. Milsim.

However, when any large company within a small industry like ours hurts, it affect us all.  G.I. Milsim wishes Smart Parts continued successes and a quick restructuring.   Our industry needs innovators like the brilliant minds behind Smart Parts in order to drive paintball forward.

When will the FM50 be released?

The FM50 is available now for players in the UK.  US players will see the FM50 in stores just after Paintball Extravaganza (February 9-11, 2010).  For more information about your area, email info@gimilsim.com . 

Any hints as to what we can expect to see from G.I. Milsim in the near future?

G.I. Milsim will be continuing to launch new products over the coming year, including loading systems, barrels and more new clothing.

When we launch a new product, there will be an official statement on our website at www.gimilsim.com. 

You can also keep up to date with all the news about G.I. Milsim, as well as contests, on our social networking sites www.twitter.com/gimilsim and www.facebook.com/gimilsim.  Please be sure to fan or follow us. 

Will G.I. Milsim be running/sponsoring any events in Canada this year?

G.I. Milsim is looking forward to becoming a main sponsor of the NAX league and supporting players participating in the CXBL in Canada. 

Any advice for teams as to how to go about obtaining G.I. Milsim as a sponsor?

Our focus this year is .50 caliber paintball and bringing these products to the market.  We strongly believe that when a company sponsors a team -  a relationship of constant communication and involvement is needed for all parties to benefit from the sponsorship.  Currently, with our focus on the products, it would be difficult to forge these building blocks    We will revisit the potential for team sponsorship opportunities for the 2011 season. 

G.I. Milsim is always interested in hearing from teams and players – update us, tell us about your team, share your successes with us.  Start a dialogue today, email us at teams@gimilsim.com. 

A few things I found interesting about this exchange include how G.I. Milsim (a joint venture between Italia, and the Gardner brothers) is seemingly unaffected by the failings of the Gardner Brothers' company (Smart Parts), and that the FM50 has already been released in the UK. This is a bit suprising as G.I. Milsim is based out of Montreal.

G.I. Milsim FM50

Although I have reserved any vocal judgement on G.I. Milsim to this point, I have long been a tacet opponent of the .50 cal movement. Up until now I have thought that the .50 cal movement would do nothing but harm the industry and the game for milsim players. I won't discuss my rationale for feeling that way, as it has been spouted countless times on various milsim forums.

All that being said, yesterday, my opinion changed. And it wasn't because my opinions on the caliber or G.I. Milsim's motivations have been altered, it was because of G.I. Milsim's FM50 marker.

Take a look at these pictures (from G.I. Milsim's website):

What G.I. Milsim has done is create one of the more faithful non-replica AR-15 style markers on the market. I thought that G.I. Milsim was deaf to what the milsim player wants, but now I believe they have been listening.

So, keep your eyes peeled on the above pictures, I'm going to pull a Bill Nye. Consider the following:

1. First off, we're getting closer to actual caliber, but we already knew that, so that's not such a huge point

2. A T-style cocking handle. Tippmann doesn't have one. BT doesn't have one. Milsig doesn't have one. I love those companies, but I don't understand why their AR-15 style markers are still stuck with side cocking handles.

3. 20 round mags. While Milsig has great mags, they are rather bulky. From what I've heard, the FM50 mags will be close enough to real steel to fit comfortably in any actual mag pouch.

4. Check out the space between the trigger guard and the mag. Wait... there isn't one. Those milsim players who have often complained about the gap between these two components will love this.

5. It disassembles like an M4! Sure, a small bonus, but very cool nonetheless.

6. Available in black, sand, and camo? Other than BT, I can't really think of anyone that offers that range of colours.

Alright, now let's look at a few concerning aspects of this marker from a milsim perspective.

1. A picatinny underneath the ASA? Really? What would you possibly mount there?

2. It would be really disappointing if the feed port covers used in mag mode covered the picatinny rail like the ones used for the feed neck do. I think I can speak for mag-fed owners everywhere when I say, "We like our rails undefiled."

I can't wait to try out one of these puppies, and I think this marker has great milsim potential. I'm already thinking of how awesome a MAGPUL FM50 would be :D

Now a final word to the wise...

I like the FM50. I remain skeptical of the .50 caliber movement, as I think everyone should be. This is our game, and we choose how we play it.