How long to pantball guns last?

[AKS74U]

I was wondering..How long do paintball guns las?, Say for example a Tippmann A5, When will the A5 be considered an "old" gun. ANd how long do you think the A5 will be around untill it is an "old" gun? It would totally suck if they stopped making upgrades for it. But how long has the 98 been out for now? They still make upgrades for the 98 dont they?

[ICU117]

The 98 has been around since.. 1998, making it 9 years old. And yea they still make upgrades for them. The A5 has been around for 5 years now. And a paintball gun will last as long as you want it to. If you maintain it well it could last a lifetime.

[babustos]

Paintball guns will last as long as you make them last. I guess a gun will be considered old once the company stops making them.

[TheSpy11]

The A-5 has been made since 2002, and it looks to be running strong for many more years. It's already an "old" gun by years, but it's still a "modern" gun as far as Tippmanns go.

[mmmoose]

TheSpy11, may I ask how long you've owned your A-5? I've heard that the A-5 has gone through some changes over the years, but I don't know what exactly. I'm more curious as to what types of changes the marker went through in terms of its outside materials, because the first thing I noticed from your sig link ("My fully-upped A-5") was that your A-5 seems to be made out of a smooth metal-like material.

The A-5 I bought two weeks ago (and the A-5s I've found in stores recently) seem to be made of plastic/polymer. Maybe the newer ones have metal too, I don't know it's hard to say what exactly (seems like a mix of everything). But I can tell you right up front that my A-5 is nowhere nearly as smooth looking as yours.

Mine has more of a grainy texture, which seems to suggest more plastic. On the other hand I've been told it is in fact metal. It's weird... I can't really tell exactly WHAT it is. And the box is advertised as having a more durable finish or whatever. Although in my opinion I think I would've preferred to have the smooth metal one.

[park bench]

well, old for woods/scenario is different than old for speedball. a new, highly popular woods marker comes out like once every couple years. speedball markers are being constantly updated. i would call the a5 pretty modern though, its got the cyclone system and can swap parts faster than a flea market. id say the 98 is old, they lack many of the features that come standard on today's scenario/woods markers. but, they are still great for whatever you need.

[-Viper-]

TheSpy11, may I ask how long you've owned your A-5? I've heard that the A-5 has gone through some changes over the years, but I don't know what exactly. I'm more curious as to what types of changes the marker went through in terms of its outside materials, because the first thing I noticed from your sig link ("My fully-upped A-5") was that your A-5 seems to be made out of a smooth metal-like material.

The A-5 I bought two weeks ago (and the A-5s I've found in stores recently) seem to be made of plastic/polymer. Maybe the newer ones have metal too, I don't know it's hard to say what exactly (seems like a mix of everything). But I can tell you right up front that my A-5 is nowhere nearly as smooth looking as yours.

Mine has more of a grainy texture, which seems to suggest more plastic. On the other hand I've been told it is in fact metal. It's weird... I can't really tell exactly WHAT it is. And the box is advertised as having a more durable finish or whatever. Although in my opinion I think I would've preferred to have the smooth metal one.I have the exact same A-5 as you and my friend has one of the older one's like thespy11. Yours is made out of metal, it just has this powder coating on the outside that makes it seem different. Both are metal.

[irobotnic]

I don't know when they will be considered old, but Tippmanns will last you a lifetime. (please don't try to prove me wrong by running it over with a car)

[mjr_paranoid]

TheSpy11, may I ask how long you've owned your A-5? I've heard that the A-5 has gone through some changes over the years, but I don't know what exactly. I'm more curious as to what types of changes the marker went through in terms of its outside materials, because the first thing I noticed from your sig link ("My fully-upped A-5") was that your A-5 seems to be made out of a smooth metal-like material.

The A-5 I bought two weeks ago (and the A-5s I've found in stores recently) seem to be made of plastic/polymer. Maybe the newer ones have metal too, I don't know it's hard to say what exactly (seems like a mix of everything). But I can tell you right up front that my A-5 is nowhere nearly as smooth looking as yours.

Mine has more of a grainy texture, which seems to suggest more plastic. On the other hand I've been told it is in fact metal. It's weird... I can't really tell exactly WHAT it is. And the box is advertised as having a more durable finish or whatever. Although in my opinion I think I would've preferred to have the smooth metal one.

I declare Shannanigans on you. If you had an a-5 you would see that it is indeed metal. It is just a difrence in the finish.

To answer the question on how long a marker lasts... I still have a mokal mirage. I don't use it often at all, but it is fun to pull it out evrey once and a while when i need a good arm workout.

[mmmoose]

Err... I don't know why you'd think I'd be lying about owning an A-5. I'm new to paintballing and don't know much about the different finishes and materials used on some markers. Disassembling mechanical devices isn't my strong point either, so for the time being I don't know much behind the materials of the A-5 besides what's on the outside (which is why I asked).

Before buying the A-5 I had a JT Tac-5, and that was clearly made out of metal because it was smooth with a crappy coat of paint that would scratch easily (in addition to being so damn heavy). The Spyder Xtra I also handled could easily be identified as having a metal body as well, because of its weight and smoothness.

The Tippmann A5 is what confused me, because I've never handled any metals with a grainy texture like that before. But I guess as Viper pointed out, it's a powder coating that differentiates between the old and new models. I've never handled anything with a powder coat on it, and to be honest I'm still skeptical about its durability. I guess time will tell whether I find this to be true or not.

[Evil_Wayz]

I declare Shannanigans on you. If you had an a-5 you would see that it is indeed metal. It is just a difrence in the finish.

To answer the question on how long a marker lasts... I still have a mokal mirage. I don't use it often at all, but it is fun to pull it out evrey once and a while when i need a good arm workout.

Boo on your shenanigans. :P To a person not familiar, powder coated metal could feel like plastic. I had two guys who went through the academy with me swear that their Glocks were all metal. Incidentally, you can get all metal Glocks as of this year, but when I went thru police academy you couldn't.

The point is with the strength of polymers and the lightness of new metals ( magnesium? ) anyone could get confused.

[mjr_paranoid]

Oh come on now...
If you take off the grip, the tombstone, or look inside the rear cap or down the barrel plug hole it is clearly metal.

[Evil_Wayz]

Oh come on now...
If you take off the grip, the tombstone, or look inside the rear cap or down the barrel plug hole it is clearly metal.

And how many people do we know that are afraid to take their markers apart even for maintenance? I know quite a few.

I think it could be an honest mistake, you think it's shenanigans. Either way i think he got his answer.

Incidentally I think we are the only two old people that CALL shenanigans.

[wablez]

Classic mags last forever, RT's last a week before forever.

[mmmoose]

Thank you. *pistol whips mjr_paranoid* <- obscure?

I guess getting back on the topic of "How long do paintball guns last?", does anyone have any horror stories of their Tippmann going through trauma and surviving (or not surviving) through it? For example, "Oh yeah, my Tippmann accidentally got run over by a steamroller TWICE and STILL worked after!"

PS: I can totally believe these things lasting a lifetime (and beyond). Regular guns do, and considering the fact that most of these paintball markers are composed of the same materials, why not? Proper maintenance is key. Finding spare parts later on might be tricky though.

[TheSpy11]

TheSpy11, may I ask how long you've owned your A-5? I've heard that the A-5 has gone through some changes over the years, but I don't know what exactly. I'm more curious as to what types of changes the marker went through in terms of its outside materials, because the first thing I noticed from your sig link ("My fully-upped A-5") was that your A-5 seems to be made out of a smooth metal-like material.

The A-5 I bought two weeks ago (and the A-5s I've found in stores recently) seem to be made of plastic/polymer. Maybe the newer ones have metal too, I don't know it's hard to say what exactly (seems like a mix of everything). But I can tell you right up front that my A-5 is nowhere nearly as smooth looking as yours.

Mine has more of a grainy texture, which seems to suggest more plastic. On the other hand I've been told it is in fact metal. It's weird... I can't really tell exactly WHAT it is. And the box is advertised as having a more durable finish or whatever. Although in my opinion I think I would've preferred to have the smooth metal one.

No problem. I bought my A-5 in the fall of 2004 (shortly after I joined PBR). It was one of the last models before Tippmann tweaked their paint job in early 2005. The metal itself didn't change, but the paint job changed a lot. Mine has the old style paint that is thick and glossy. Unfortunately it also has a tendency to chip off. The new style paint is a flat black that has a bit if a matte finish. It's more resistant to chips and scratches. It kinda looks like plastic, but it's just the new paint job. Underneath it's the exact same aluminum as far as I can tell. Friends of mine have newer A-5s with the new paint job, and it's just as good as mine (if not better). I wouldn't be worried about it. It doesn't change how the A-5 performs.

[Stan the HitMan]

Actually the new a5’s are a bit different for the following reasons:

Marginally Smaller body
non-reflective black finish as you said
New lighter hammer with polymer internals

As far as paintball guns, I have a splat master from the 80’s and it still works famously.