Beginning gun?

[antiramie]

Yes...I am a newbie, though I have played a couple of times.
I am looking for a beginning marker(new, not used) in the price range $60-110 for just the marker. I've looked at the stingray II (I know from reviews that Brass Eagle seems like crap). I have also looked at the Barnett Rhino Spitfire F/X. Can anyone give me any info on these two guns or steer me to a gun around $60-110 to start with? Please dont tell me to get a spyder or tippman cause i cant afford either. Thnx.

[Counterfeit]

A spyder compact 2000 is better than all of those in my opinion. It is only about $90 retail.

[Andrew]

Yah I started with a spyder compact. They are good guns!

[BLiNDMAN]

spyder compact is a good way to go (for less than $100 u cant beat that)

[paintballdude_13]

i'd go with the compact 2000 to

[Phaelon Veritas]

I can tell you from experience the BARNETT RHINO SPITFIRE is the biggest piece of ever loving dog sh*t you will ever set your hands on you cannot get parts for them because no sells this gun.. no one carries parts for them and they are not interchangable with any gun on the market no barrels about the only thing you can do to them is get an expansion chamber if you happen to have the bottomline model which I believe the fx is.I have a barnett spitfire sitting in my closet with a cup seal problem after waiting several weeks to get the parts comapny direct it fixed the cup seal problem but when fired the gun goes full auto the sear was checked and was found to be in good shape so the next thing I checked was the stirke and in the spitfire rhinos case (the only design of it's kind I know of) the sleeve for the striker and it appears that because of the sleeve and the way the set screw hold it in place the set screw can actually loosen and the the striker sleeve can slide back and fourth causing the aluminum to wear down because the sleeve is steel and once this happens I have found even apoxy cannot make a tight enough seal to the body of the gun making it virtually worthless (WANNA BUY ONE REAL CHEAP????) I also have a stingray II and it has been generally a decent gun it's only big hang up is that it is all plastic except for the internals there are after market barrels available if you look hard enough but it cannot accept an expansion chamber for cold weather play and the velocity screw that the gun has does not seem to thange the velocity at all but rather simply can turn the gas off... as these guys were saying do yourself a favor and but a spyder compact there are litterally thousands of parts available for this gun for upgrades hundreds of barrels and expansion chambers as well as selectable fire rate full auto electro triggers and parts for this gun can be found virtually anywhere they sell paintball suppplies excluding walmart. I believe these guys were telling you the truth when they said a spyder is your best bet i just figured I would explain why

[Edited by Phaelon Veritas on 12-20-2000 at 11:03 AM]

[BaD AnDy]

Compact 2000 and upgrade to yur delight later. :P

[blades of ice]

save up a bit and buy the spyder clasic there are some upgrades avable for it that you cant get for the compact

[Dawson]

i would say get the compact 2000 they are pretty sweet lokkin after u put a 6 stage expantion chamber on them they look like a tl plus.

[fitz]

I heard that the ACI Griffin was a pretty good gun I see alot-o-newbies playing with it. I work at my field proshop as a "Apprentice Airsmith" and I have only seen one of them in the shop they're basicly a Spyder clone once I had repaired with the help of a more expirenced Airsmith I went out to the chrono see if we had fixed to problem. It shot surpizingly well for a Sypder Clone.I would take a serious look at it.

[ElectricHead]

Perhaps a targa?
my friend has a targa, which is just another spyder clone and its just as good, takes all the same parts and stuff

[Watupi]

Hmm, I wouldnt get a Spitfire. I think Barnett has dropped out of the paintball market, it will be hard to get parts now. You can get a compact2k for about $90, thats fairly good. A used model98 can be around $100, too. I havent got to shoot a Griffin yet, but they seem a lot like the F4s. If it is anything like their F4s are, it is a very good gun. A Stingray is alright for the money, but the upgrade road is short. A Raptor is about the same as a Spyder, but a little bit on the heavy side.

And, to clear something up, a Griffin is not a Spyder clone. If anything, its a low cost copy of an F4. Jerry Dobbins released the Pro Master in 1990, around the same time ACI released the F1s. Both of these are the fathers of stacked tubed blowbacks. If compare a Spyder to a Pro Master, they are very similar. So, a Spyder is in its self a clone.

And, a Targa isnt a Spyder clone. Its a Spyder. It was originally called a Compact P, and was marketed by Kingman for a long time.

[fitz]

ACI's Griffin takes many of the same parts as the Spyder I should know I worrk in an AirSmithing Shop here in Virginia and we take parts out of Spyder parts kits to replace parts in the Griffin. Take apart a Griffin and a Spyder at the same time you will see the simularity I'm not aying that they are exactly alike but they are similar.