No Money November Draws to a Close

Thanks to all of you that followed No Money November! Hopefully some of our tips prove useful and your wallets feel a bit heavier. Theme months are fun for us, and from the recent survey, the vast majority of you like them as well. That being said, December won't be a theme month, but expect lots of Christmas cheer floating around.

If you like free stuff, be sure to connect with Grey Ops in the different ways shown below. For most of our contests you need to be connected in some way or another, and I think I'll try and run an unannounced contest sometime around Christmas (i.e. you won't hear about it until one of our readers wins).

No Money November: Memberships, Coupons, Gift Certificates, and Loyalty Programs

Paintball is by no means a "budget" sport, but there are ways to cut costs here and there. In this post I'll go over some, and show you how to save money in the long term at local fields.

No Money November: Buying Used Paintball Gear

Paintball gear is generally pretty sturdy and built to last. Markers and tanks are built to take a pounding from high pressures, while Paintball apparel and Milsim accessories are usually pretty rugged and made to stand up to slides, dives, and lots of kneeling behind cover. With this in mind, members of the No Money Nation may be tempted to buy second-hand paintball gear to equip themselves. But before you lay down your hard-earned cash for used gear, there are a number of things to consider.

First, before jumping at an opportunity to buy something second-hand, it's important that the seller accurately describe the items he's selling, with no hidden secrets about it. The manufacturer's own ad copy already goes into detail about how great the product is, but an honest seller will tell you if there's a problem with the one he's selling, whether that problem is a scratch, a busted O-ring, or the need for a new ASA. If there's an issue that needs to be fixed, you can often subtract the cost of the replacement part PLUS extra for the hassle and tech work you'll have to do to bring the item up to working condition.

Next, it's important for price-haggling reasons to know WHY the seller is trying to offload his gear!


Types of Sellers

The Deserter

This seller is getting out of the game, and you can usually get the best deals from him. The Deserter is usually a noob who played paintball once or twice, bought a full set of gear, then just couldn't find the time to play after that. He thinks it was a bad decision and just wants to recoup some of his cash. Or it may be a hardcore player whose wife just gave birth to triplets and he needs quick cash, or who suffered an injury and decided that the adrenaline rush of Paintball just isn't worth another ACL reconstruction. And occasionally, someone with little or no interest in Paintball will get a marker for Christmas or his birthday, and he wants to sell it for some cash to buy the gift he REALLY wanted.

The Deserter's asking price is usually highly negotiable, and he wants to sell his stuff "yesterday" so he can get access to some quick cash and move on with his life.

No Money November: Paintball Gear at Thrift Stores

In a couple of previous posts I revealed some handy paintball items that you could pick up at your local dollar store (in case you missed them, you'll find them here and here).

Now, in this post I'll reveal another little-known spot where you can pick up milsim paintball gear on the cheap: Thrift stores! Thrift stores may go by different names depending on where you're located, but I'm talking about stores like the Salvation Army or your local swap meet. These are stores where people donate clothing, household items, or sporting goods, and these in turn are sold, with the profits usually going to support any number of charities. In my neck of the woods the biggest chain of second-hand goods stores is known as Value Village (I believe it's known as Savers in the States). The sheer department store scale of these outlets means you have more selection and items to choose from, and a better chance of lucking out and finding some good gear for milsim paintball!

No Money November: T-Shirt Winner!

No Money November: Special Ops Paintball Goes off the Deep End

Warning: Rampant sarcasm present.

No Money November had been going so smoothly...

Numerous paintball retailers are lowering their prices or offering great deals leading up the to the Christmas Holiday Non-Denominational Festival end of the year end of the Gregorian calendar (PC enough for you?) and many paintballers are feeling the economic love.

However, one of the more popular custom paintball gear manufacturers has, lamentably, gone batshit crazy. Observe:

Dragon Scale Tactical Paintball Battle Pants

Price tag: $275 USD

No Money November: Flasc Christmas Promotion

Flasc sells BT, Tippmann, Tiberius and Azodin markers and has an amazing array of awesome barrels. Get in on the promotion before December 25th and get a free barrel and tip (of your choosing) with the purchase of any of these popular markers. Yet more savings for No Money November!

Here are some articles on FLASC products.

No Money November: Last Minute Giveaway Contest

Scroll down to the bottom of this post if you don't care about words, only free t-shirts.

Those of you that follow the blog on a regular basis may already know that I've had some t-shirts in the works for a little while. Well a short while back I received a shipment from Deadbox Paintball (I'll be doing a piece on said company this week, but short version is they're awesome), containing some goodies. I'm not looking to make any money from these, and the pricing should be about $21 shipping included to anywhere in the U.S. and Canada.

I'll have a sale thread up soon, along with pictures of the shirts on real human beings, but for now here's what the front of the shirts look like:

Apologies for the crappy picture, photoshoot soon to follow.

No Money November: More Dollar Store Paintball Gear

Since my first post on useful items for paintball found at the dollar store, I've come across other handy items there for paintballers.

First of all, in the comments section of the last article, our readers left some tips on other items you could find at Dollarama that are useful for paintball. Be sure to check out their suggestions!

Here's a compact, folding Allen Key tool that you can find at Dollarama for only $2. It's very small, and can fit in a pants pocket for emergencies in the field:

No Money November: RAP4 Under Armor BDUs

Flecktarn

Much alike the Helikon shirts Mike recently talked about, RAP4 has produced an affordable alternative for those wanting BDU style Under Armor fabric shirts. What makes RAP4 stand apart though? Look at this pattern list:

• UCP
• OD
• Black
• Flecktarn
• Multicam (unofficial)
• DPM
• MARPAT
• Woodland
• CADPAT

Milsig Polymer Upgrades + Christmas Sale

Milsig has some polymer (I'm guessing Delrin) upgrades available for existing K-Series owners, in the form of a new nozzle and bolt. Any new K-Series purchased will come with the new nozzles and bolts already installed. I wonder if this is a move towards making the Milsig line more technologically advanced in general, if so that would be great.

No Money November - Discount Paintball Black Friday Sale!

The American Thanksgiving holiday is bad news for turkeys everywhere, but great news for paintballers looking to get equipped. That's because Discount Paintball is having a Black Friday deal in which you can get a free Invert Halo Too loader OR free Empire E-Vents SN goggles, with the purchase of a BT marker from their online store!

With the BT-4 Combat marker selling for $109.95 USD, or the new SA-17 Pistol selling for $129.95 USD, this is an unbeatable deal for the No Money Nation. Be sure to check this sale out!

The Black Friday sale runs from 12am Thursday November 25th, until 11:59pm Monday November 29th (all times Central).

No Money November: Carnage Paintball Road Trip

If you live in the Ottawa area, and have been meaning to try Arnold Paintball's indoor facility in Montreal, there's never been a better time than this coming December 17th. That's when Carnage Paintball is taking Ottawans on a road trip to the field for an overnight session!

At $125, the trip includes bus transportation to Montreal, admission, rental equipment if needed, and 1 case of 2000 paintballs. This is a golden opportunity for the No Money crowd to try out Arnold Paintball Indoor, as the usual price of a case for non-members is a whopping $210!!!

The bus leaves for Montreal at 8:30pm on the Friday night, and returns early Saturday morning, so be sure to rest up in the afternoon (or on the bus on the way over). To register for the trip, or for more information, e-mail info@carnagefields.ca, or reach Charles by phone at (613) 229-3207.



**EDIT**

I've just received word from Carnage staff that the road trip will be postponed until mid-January. The December date was conflicting with too many Christmas schedules! Stay tuned to Grey Ops for more info as the date approaches.

No Money November: Cheap Paintballs

This isn't a particularly inexpensive paintball, I just like how the picture turned out.

It's been mentioned multiple times over No Money November that one of if not the biggest costs associated with paintball is the price of paintballs themselves. The shortest term solution to this is buying cheap paintballs for either BYOP or outlaw play.

No Money November: Dollar Store Paintball Gear

As unbelievable as the title may sound, it's true that you can find some useful gear for paintballing at the Dollar Store. I took a trip to my local Dollarama and picked up some items to show you just what a treasure trove the place can be for a MilSim paintball player on a budget.

For starters, and considering winter's coming up FAST, let's look at the winter gear I found. Here's a pair of fleece gloves in woodland camo, nice and toasty (and also nicely priced) at $1.25.


There were also fleece tuques (that's beanies or skullcaps for you non-Canadians), as well as fleece scarves in woodland camouflage. Not to mention that there are cold weather socks, underwear, and other goodies (like Hot Paws hand-warming packs near the cash register), all at $1 or $1.25.

Ok so that's it for the winter gear. For those of you who choose to stay indoors this winter (and I don't blame you!), the rest of this post will deal with items that are good for paintballing in nicer weather (or indoor paintball in the cold months).

No Money November: Make a Video, Win a FLASC Kit

Milsim Empire is giving away a FLASC kit via a video contest, here's what you can win:

"The Flasc Paintball Micro Bore Barrel Kit Includes:

• .678 Bore size barrel
• .681 Bore size barrel
• .684 Bore size barrel
• .687 Bore size barrel
• .690 Bore size barrel
o 9" Barrel Extension with gen2 porting
o Apex ready adapter
o Blaster Tip
o 4 Prong Tip
o Wirecutter Tip
o Cannoniser Tip
o Bullpen Tip
o *BT Apex*
o Flasc Paintball carry case
o Flasc BBD    "

Milsig Remembrance Day Weekend Sale

From Milsig's website:

"MILSIG REMEMBRANCE DAY 15% OFF PROMOTION
We at MILSIG Canada are proud to be Canadian and we are thankful to live in this wonderful country and forecer grateful to all the Canadian men and women sacrificed so much to make Canada the free country that it is today. We would like to personally thank our veterans and soldiers currently overseas for all that you've done to protect our country and ensure a secure and free nation for ourselves and our future generation. Please stay safe and sharp out there and God bless Canada!

No Money November: Cheap Sniper Veil

 Example of a commercial sniper veil (A-TACS).

If you're in a protracted and slow paced game, one of the best pieces of camouflage you can pack with you is a sniper veil. A sniper veil is simply a lightweight piece of fabric (that may or may not be semi-translucent, but is often very well ventilated) that is used to disrupt the form of your marker/head/torso when you're lying in wait. Many paintball and airsoft websites sell veils (for upwards of $20), but it's easy to find or make a cheap or free version yourself.

No Money November: Camo Scrubs

Pants and tops can be amongst the most expensive pieces of gear worn by paintball players, but there is a ridiculously cheap alternative out there.

Camouflaged scrubs, available through Nurse Joe, are available for $15 a pair of pants and $15 a top. So for $30 you can have a complete set of camouflage, including such patterns as Multicam, ABU and MARPAT (to name a few) made of Rip Stop fabric. Nurse Joe ships to the United States and Canada for reasonable rates, and entertains offers of custom work, so if you're thinking of outfitting your team with some cheap camo drop him a line and ask him about team logos etc.

Special thanks to JP for pointing this gem out!

No Money November: DIY Rembrance Day Poppy Mod

Next Thursday marks an important date for every Canadian, Remembrance Day. To honour our nation's veterans, we typically wear a synthetic red poppy, paid for through donating what you can at various retail locations throughout the nation. These poppies are typically attached with a straight pin. November also marks the appearance of Gore-Tex coats and jackets, as it is often a cold, rainy and snowy month. This makes the attaching of the poppy's straight pin difficult, and the attached poppy will often fall off. Here's a cost effective modification for those of you that want to wear your poppy without having to pierce it through a tough winter jacket only to have it fall out.

What you'll need:

• Remembrance day poppy (purchased through donation at my local Tim Hortons)
• Black pen (I'm sure you have a Sharpie or equivalent lying around)
• 2 small rare earth magnets (Maybe 10 cents each)
• Alternatively: A hot glue gun

1. Remove the straight pin and felt center from the poppy.