The accuracy of this review is disputed. Please see discussion below.
Period of Product Use:
Only tested
101 of 145 people found this review helpful.
Paintball Experience:
More than 5 years
Similar Products Used:
Spyder Xtra, TL-R, and Rodeo, JT Excellerator 3.5e and TAC-5, Tippmann 98 and A5, more...
Marker Setup:
* Spyder TL-R with a new Phat feedneck and PMI Razzor 14" barrel.
* Spyder Sonix Pro with a new ACPball feedneck and a 12" J&J Precision barrel
* Game Face Vexor Eye with a custom ACPball delrin bolt
Recommended Upgrades:
1. Feedneck / elbow.
2. Barrel, but not necessary.
3. Red dot dight and other decorative junk.
Strengths:
Slick styling, simple yet effective design
Weaknesses:
Cheap plastic feedneck elbow. Lack of volumizer or expansion chamber may hurt CO2 users.
Review:
11 FEB 2006 - Added a comment under the Detent section, changed rating from 8 to 7.
The MR1 is the electronic MR2's little brother, but it's an odd design. It's not as scenario-heavy as the JT TAC-5 but it's not as easy to use or as well-equipped as lower-cost mechanical markers like the Xtra or TLX. The rundown:
BARREL - 12" ported barrel with no muzzle break. Matte black so there's no glare to give away your position. Not very quietest, but that's normal for Spyders. Good internal finish, and better accuracy than average for a stock barrel. There is no volumizer shroud like on the MR2, so replacement barrels will be easy to add. Looks like a 2-piece but isn't.
FOREGRIP / EXPANSION CHAMBER - Foregrip is metal and vertical, shaped off the old AMG molds. It's just a gas-through foregrip, so there's no expansion chamber. No way to add a regulator since there's no front block to replace - the foregrip bolts directly into the body of the gun. Grip is a hair loose even with the bolts tightened.
VOLUMIZER - None. The body is capped where a volumizer would go.
TRIGGER / FRAME - Standard mechanical metal Kingman trigger frame. Trigger pull is 3/4" and not adjustable. Frame is all metal with very nice rubber grips. Safety is standard crossbolt for mechanical markers. Trigger has a little side play and is squeaky.
DROP / ASA - ASA works well enough and has an internal filter. Drop is short but angled. BIG HOORAY: The MR series uses IN-LINE SCREWS ON THE DROP FORWARD!!! No more offset Kingman-only holes! The line is black-coated stainless braided line.
DETENT - Integrated under the angled feed port's braces. Not a standard Kingman left-side ball-bearing. *** EDIT 11 FEB 2006 - This will cost the MR-1 a rating point. I played with the MR1 today, and through 4 games it successfully fired maybe 20 balls out of 500. The problem was the detent - the bolt sheared it clean off! The MRs use a tiny rubber finger as a detent and the MR1's aluminum bolt cut it right in half. It began double and triple feeding, which any marker with no detent could be expected to do. I didn't discover this until much later, when I got home to disassemble the marker (the detent is installed underneath the feedport plate). Why, oh why, did Kingman stop using their standard left-side ball-bearing detent??? ***
BODY - Minimal milling. Feedneck is an angled 45-degree stub with a cheap plastic adapter/elbow. Field stripping is a standard Kingman pull pin (held by a ball bearing, not a cotter pin). Body is all metal, but the marker is no heavier than a TL-R. The top of the marker comes with built-in 7/8" Weaver rails, interrupted by the feedneck and cocking knob. There are no bottom or side rails. Body is uniformly matte black with a tough finish; the cocking knob is also black.
STOCK - Shared with the MR2. Stock is open-frame skeletal design but is very stable and tough. Makes the already heavy MR1 even heavier, but it's worth it. The stock insertion is o-ringed so the marker may perform even better with it than without.
INTERNALS - Top-cocking marker (stacked-tube blowback) with an open rear end (unless the stock is attached). Internals may be shared with the TLX, TL-R, and Sonix Value / Sonix Pro, but I'm not 100% certain yet. Bolt is a standard Kingman aluminum venturi bolt. Interior finish is excellent. Velocity is adjusted via a rear set screw, not by the old Kingman thumbwheel.
Conclusion:
Marker feels good but it's not as well-equipped as lower-end markers - it's basically a dressed-up Victor or a stripped Sonix Value. The finish is good but the short rail (the main attraction for scenario / milsim buffs) is barely useful. CO2 users may be hurt by the lack of expansion chamber and volumizer. It's a good, solid marker, but only if you're dead-set on a mechanical or really need a blasted-black paint job. Maybe if someone added the e-frame from a $60 refurb Imagine then this would be a contender. Otherwise it's an 8 out of 10, and I'm generous because I'm a Kingman geek.
Rating:
7 out of 10
Last edited on Saturday, February 11th, 2006 at 8:50 pm PST
quote:Originally posted by matts hey i am thinking of getting either this or a pilot acs, but i am mainly a woodsball player and i really need a stock and a right handed sight wat is ur suggestion be thnx alot
Dispute: The ball detent problem is bogus. the bolt is notched on the lower corner, and if it is installed correctly would not ever chop the detent off. unless installed upside down, backwards or without orings, i do not see how this detent issue is any problem with stock bolt.
I haven't tried this gun but I have owned an A-5 and it is a superb marker. Unfortunately it is also very pricy. The MR1 is cheaper and can be upgraded almost as much as the tippy's. The tippy's have more cosmetic options tho. I'm getting back into woodsball and my dream scenario marker is an A-5 with M82A1 shroud, A-5 Fluted Sniper Barrel, M82A1 Muzzel Break, M82A1 gas through magazine, with a red dot scope of some kind. :D You can look it up on pbreview too.
Unfortunatly getting this A-5 setup this takes cash which I do not have
Dispute: No way of putting on an expansion chamber/regulator?
I recently got an upgraded MR-1 for free from a good friend who doesn't play paintball anymore, and it has a custom-fitted regulator attached with adapters that his dad added and it works great. My current set-up is an MR-1 with 14" J&J Ceramic and customized regulator/drop-forward set-up and my shots are very consistent and accurate. Also a J&J Ceramic coupled with a regulator or expansion chamber significantly quiets any Spyder marker down.
I'm buying an older X-tra body from a friend for $50 to drop my upgrades on because I've heard you can't put a Superfly bolt in an MR-1.
Point is the MR-1 can be upgraded to perform like any other Spyder. Not as fast because of the side-feed though.
Last edited on Thursday, November 16th, 2006 at 4:18 pm PST
I think the review is actually pretty accurate - seeing as it's definitely possibly for the bolt to move just enough to hit the detent, and shear it off..
Really, the bolt must have been installed upside-down, or you pushed the bolt too far when you took it off, or something. I've shot at least 10000 rounds with mine, and 'Lafawnduhh' still gives the enemy facials.
Their is no ball detent issue with this marker. Its plain as day. When you take the marker apart make sure you reinstall the bolt correctly. I'm a newb and I figured it out in 10 seconds. Definitely user error and not the marker
Last edited on Friday, December 29th, 2006 at 3:22 pm PST
First off, I LIKE the MR1. I have played woodsball with one myself, even while owning my Tippmann A-5 (primary marker), which I also love. I have experimented successfully with hopping them up, and I have plenty of good field experience with them. I think the MR1 provides a very good no-hassle shooting experience right out of the box, and, dollar for dollar, is probably the best woodsball marker value, period. Better even than an A-5 or an Ion (which I consider the second-best marker value out there). There are certainly nicer guns, but you won't get more for your money (only $89 at one online vendor!).
This somewhat controversial reviewer took a lot of flak for this particular review. While there are some comments I consider to be factual errors or serious overstatements, some of the people offering rebuttals are making arguments contrary to my own experience with the gun.
Currently, I have a total of five working MR1s, which are my "guest guns" for whenever I bring friends out to play paintball who are new to the game and don't have their own equipment, since saving three days of field rentals will actually pay for an MR1 and cheap e-loader! I have seen cases and cases shot through these Sypders now, and I have seen what can go wrong with both stock and modified MR1s. I also know most of the necessary simple solutions, so I was inclined to comment here and address two issues that came up following this review.
First, of course you can put an expansion chamber, a gas-thru foregrip, or even an inline regularor on an MR1 if you want to. I had a setup with a nice gas-thru grip and an electronic trigger frame from a Spyder Imagine. All you need is a Spyder vertical adapter that screws into the receiver where the stock airline does after you remove the stock foregrip. I found one from Northwest Paintball Products for around $15. Install one nd then screw your foregrip/reg right into it.
Second, the review was disputed because the reviewer said the bolt could shear off the ball detent on the MR1. People contesting this said that because of the channel milled into the bolt. The early MR1s had softer rubber ball detents, and sometimes, even with the stock channeled bolt in place, these detents would fail (for whatever reason) and not hold the ball in the breech. There was the recommended fix was that you replace MR1 detents with longer, higher-durometer (that is, stiffer) Bob Long Intimidator detents, which happened to be made for Bob Long by Kingman. With the new Timmy detents in place, whatever woes the MR1 had in this department were almost completely fixed. However, the longer Timmy detents made contact with the bolt as it cycled, even though the channel milled in the bolt saved it from most of the potential shearing impact. Very, very occasionally after some wear, the longer, stiffer Timmy detents would shear off. Most of the time they would break way up near the tip and still function fine, no longer touching the bolt as it cycled but still holding the ball. Sometimes they would break off low enough to lose a ball and cause problems. As far as I can tell, the new MR1s all ship with black hard rubber ball detents identical to the Timmy detents, and while the channel milled into the bolt protects it for many, many cycles, it is not impossible for MR1 detents to fail. I do not consider this in any way a flaw or significant problem with the MR1, especially at, like, $4 for a 10-pack of extra detents which you probably won't use for the life of your marker...
I've had my MR-1 for about a year and haven't had a problem with it...Its a great gun...I would recommend it for anyone who is wanting to play woods ball or scenario play...By the way I haven't needed to change anything on it...The stock barrel is fairly accurate but i went ahead and put a J&J 14" ceramic on it..Fine marker in my book..
quote:Originally posted by WeedWacker I haven't tried this gun but I have owned an A-5 and it is a superb marker. Unfortunately it is also very pricy. The MR1 is cheaper and can be upgraded almost as much as the tippy's. The tippy's have more cosmetic options tho. I'm getting back into woodsball and my dream scenario marker is an A-5 with M82A1 shroud, A-5 Fluted Sniper Barrel, M82A1 Muzzel Break, M82A1 gas through magazine, with a red dot scope of some kind. :D You can look it up on pbreview too.
Unfortunatly getting this A-5 setup this takes cash which I do not have
What the heck do you mean when you say you can upgrade it almost as much as a tippmann. HA HA HA .What are there maybe 20 upgrades for a mr1? There are now over 200 upgrades for a tippmann!
An x-chamber can help greatly with gas consumpsion but for the MR-1 you need to get a vertical adapter. There is a really nice one at lapcopaintball.com for $16 and the you can put any x-chamber or reg on.
