As many paintballers as you talk to will have as many (sometimes very strong) opinions on which paintball gun type is the best.

Because personal preference often takes precedence over form and function you must be careful to seperate advocacy for a particular style or brand from fulfilling an actual need or performance trait.

This isnt an article that will go through every brand or upgrade, but rather from a scenario or woodsballer's point of view the pros and cons of each style of marker and some of the more major upgrade styles.

Rule Number One - Just because someone else loves the marker doesnt mean it's the right one for you If your buddy is an autococker-aholic for example, theres a really good chance if you ask him which gun you should get he will tell you "If you cant afford an autococker get a cheap gun until you can. They are the best gun.". This kind of advice is probably the worst kind of advice that you can get. No knock on autocockers, my point is that the statement (and many others like it that you will hear on and off the paintball field) makes no statement as to what style of paintball that you are going to play, how you personally play, and whether you will be needing flexibility to play other styles of games. First take a look at your budget - in two ways. Of course money will factor into any purchase. However you need to look at two money factors. First, how much money you can spend on this paintball gun purchase, and second, how much money you're going to have on a regular basis to spend on paint. The Ion is cheap, and has a high rate of fire, but dont expect many single shot kills For example, the tourney style marker often has a very high rate of fire AND high air efficiency. Some of them like the ION even come at a reasonable price for the base model. If you've got lots of money to spend on paint (or you get really cheap paint) and you only play short 15 or 20 minute games, this may be the marker for you. However the tourney style marker, while it has its advantages in out-of-the-box high ROF and low pressure air efficiency has some serious shortcomings for scenario or woodsball style play. The grav-fed hopper mounts directly on the top of the gun, it comes with no rails (so mounting a sight on it is mickey mouse if possible at all), so while the gun is fairly accurate, dont expect to be hitting nearly anything on the first shot unless you are lucky or practice with the thing several times per week. You'll be needing to walk your fire to your target (the gun doesnt even come with the basic iron sights!) so you may be opening up at 5-15 balls per second for a second before you're bearing down on your target. If you need to move, duck, or cover, you'll need to do that again and again. Just the balls wasted on walking to the target can easily be a 200 round hopper's worth in a few 15 minutes games. If you're paying rental field rates of $150 per case, that could be almost $50 bucks per day extra in paint costs. For longer scenario games, this marker, while it is quite reliable and efficient on air, will force you to carry a lot more paint. Its not effective as a snap shot gun at all; its very effective as a rapid firing weapon on the field. This means you're going to have to bring a lot more paint on the field. For a 15 minute rec field game you can get away with 3 or 4 pods of 100, about two hoppers worth. However multiply that by 5 hours (the average game being 15 minutes) and you're going to see a whole different picture. 400 rounds for 15 minutes, multiply that by 4 x 5 = 20 and you're looking at 8 cases of paint. Nobody can realistically carry 8 cases of paint on them. Now obviously thats an extreme situation but you may be wanting to carry at least 2 cases of paint (while conserving ammunition) and you can see that this is a great short game marker (it WAS designed with speedball in mind) it is a horrible long game marker. So the tourneystyle high ROF gun regardless of brand should NOT be your choice if you plan to play very long games or if you want the flexibility to play at expensive fields or if you dont have a lot of money to spend on paint. This tippman was modified for high ROF and looks but the tourneygun will blow it out of the water The X7 or A5 are classic woodsball markers, but if you see an e-gripped snubby mag modified Tippmann remember that all of these mods are just for looks. The Tippmann is a high pressure marker. While most tourneystyle markers can shoot at as low as 150 PSI the Tippmans without a low pressure modification pretty well require 500 PSI or higher just to operate. So with these markers you're getting the features of a tourney style marker (lower accuracy, high rate of fire) without the air efficiency. The only thing you're getting is that cool look of a sub machine gun. Performance wise, you're better off with the ION or another tourney style marker than this because your air will last longer. However this configuration as well is not the best for long game play. An A5 E-Grip or even RT being used in auto fire mode can have the tank run low after as little as 500 rounds (compared to over 1000 for the tourney style). You'll find your gun will be finicky on paint (high pressure markers and the cyclone are harder on paintballs), you wont get much in the way of accuracy, you have all of the disadvantages of long game play that the tourney style gun has plus an additional problem of shooting through your air twice as fast. Looks cool and for 15 minute games at a rec field you'll be fine. It does have an iron sight at least so you may be able to aim better however that snubby barrel wont do you much good for the single shot kills. You might not need as much paint as the tourney style marker for a long game but expect at least a case and a half for a 5 hour game, more if you're ripping it up on the field. Flatline and Apex barrel modifications increase range at the expense of accuracy The flatline or apex modifications for your barrel while they do give you additional range (which is a plus for a long scenario game on a large field) do signficantly reduce your accuracy. For long range suppression they are quite good. However remember a flatline or apex has virtually the same effect as angling your barrel up about 15 degrees. There is a negative about these barrel mods - that is RAIN. These barrels function so poorly in the rain that you will experience pain and suffering at the poor performance of your marker. So as a modification, for long style scenario games, you may want to either bring a straight barrel just in case as a backup or avoid this modification altogether if you are to be playing in adverse conditions. Milsim rail kits and upgrades come in handy sometimes, but avoid extra expensive parts that can break Milsim markers have the advantages of mimicing actual military hardware. Howver beware of extra modifications like flashlights, lasers and optical scopes that you may find that you never get to use on the painball field. Optical scopes, unless they have a high releif, you wont be able to see through with your mask on. Lasers are notoriously hard to see during the day and if you get someone in the eye with it you may cause eye damage (some fields ban lasers for this reason). Flashlights, unless you are playing in the dark (and a smart player would turn the flashlight off at night so they didnt stick out like a beacon anyway) are just extra weight and something else to get broken. Rail kits are great for adding things, but you should only need one or two rails. One for a sight (red dots are best for paintball ranges) and one for something else like maybe a bipod, handgrip or other personal feature related to your style of play. There are many misconceptions about barrels and their effect on accuracy You will need to choose your barrel based on two factors inherent in the barrel. The barrel's smoothness inside or bore quality, and the barrel's length. The smoother the bore the more air efficient the barrel at various lengths will be, and the more accurate it will be. The longer the barrel the tighter the shot cluster will be, especially at long ranges, but at the expense of air efficiency (longer barrels require more air to push the ball down the barrel). There is no quick and easy answer for which type of barrel you should use. Obviously for tourney style guns, the lengths of your barrel will be somewhat limited, and since your gun has no sights a long barrel wont help you much. If you're into close quarter combat you'll have to trade off the smaller shot cluster for a more maneuverable shorter barrel. If you're looking for one shot kills at long ranges you'll want a longer barrel. Regardless of your barrel length look for the barrel with the smoothest bore possible. Hold it up to the light and look at the reflection inside. Shinyer the better. There are terms like micro-honed and ceramic barrel, check reviews on the particular product from actual paintballers who have used them (PB review is full of manufacturers and many of the reviews are of dubious quality although there are some good ones on there). Barrel porting is also something to consider. Ignore "rifled" barrels because they cant really make the ball spin like a bullet as the paintball is a sphere. The more porting you have the quieter your barrel will be. Silencers in paintball are usually just for looks, and may be restricted. Check with your vendor. A stock can vastly improve your accuracy and reduce strain on your arms. A stock is not just for looks. If you notice almost every real rifle that values accuracy has one. This is because its quicker to aim, quicker to steady, and easier to keep on firing with a stock. For short games, the two handed no stock gun can be great for CQB and close bunker-to-bunker fighting. However for long games not having a stock can make your arms tired after a few hours and once your arms are tired your accuracy will drop like a rock exponentially as the game progresses. If you dont beleive me, grab your paintball gun and hold it at aim for 30 minutes, never letting it down and only adjusting your stance but never taking your eyes off what it's pointing at. Your arms will be undeniably tired. Even if your paintball gun is light or even if you arent holding a paintball gun at all in this posture your arms will get tired. With tired arms a stock can take a lot of the jelly out of your arms alone because you can couch the gun into your shoulder and pull it towards you instead of holding it as a dead weight. For long games you will certainly want a stock. The remote line can take the weight of the air tank off your arms - at the cost of making it difficult to switch hands. Even if you have a fibre tank, after a while the extra weight on your arms can make them tired, especially so if your tank is steel. A remote line can take all that weight and put it somewhere more efficient, like on your back. By dropping this weight from your arms you also make your snap shooting faster because your gun is lighter overall. If you have a stock as well it allows you to make use of your stock more effectively because you wont have a tank in the way. In a long game, the more weight you can take off your arms the better. Playing for 3 4 or 5 hours or more you will very much notice the difference. There is also an air-thru stock option, which will give you more line to play with, this is an added bonus because the coil won't get in your way. In a 15 minute game you may not notice the weight difference very much and prefer the added flexibility of not having your gun literally tied to your body. In a 5 hour game you will definitely prefer the remote line. A slide check can make it easier to take off your remote line - but they can be very fragile The slide check can be very very handy if you do have a remote line. This lets you take the air off your gun so you can put it down without turning off the tank valve which may be on your back. A slide check is a great thing to have but remember this one caveat - keep the thing very very clean and stock extra O-rings for it. The fault tolerance of the o-rings is very small, much less so than for an air tank or many other parts. If the o-rings in the slide check valve get nicked the slide check will begin to leak. If you dont have a second remote line or if you're not ready to take the remote nipple off your gun so you can place the tank on directly (you may have worked hard to get it on tight for a good seal) you may be out for the game. Personally I love my remote and slide check. I try to religously keep the thing clean, I store it in a seperate plastic bag. I accidentally let it fall in the dirt once, it got dirty. I tried to clean it but it started leaking because an o-ring got nicked. I was out for the day as I had no extra O-rings. So while slide checks are good for convenience remember their hazards and take precautions. Red dot sights are perfect for paintball ranges A red dot sight, if your gun can take one, can turn you from an OK shooter to a great shooter literally overnight. It's a great investment to make. Dont spend too much on the sight though, because in paintball it can get dirty, break, or get water in it. Having a red dot is a great way to conserve ammunition - because often you will only need to take a single shot to make the kill, and it will pay back in spades on paint costs. Watch out for open housing red dot sights - often one paintball hit and they are toast Try to get an enclosed model. The open housing models can break, the light source can get dirtied by paint (and be very difficult to clean) and the glass can even be broken by an unlucky paintball hit. The key driver to look for in a red dot for paintball is brightness. You need to be able to see the dot through your goggles. It may look good in the store but through your goggles will be the most important test. Bring your goggles if you aren't sure. The nicest thing about red-dots over optical sights is that you can keep both eyes open while using them so you dont narrow your field of vision. Optical magnifiying sights are of little use in paintball Some may disagree with me but the optical magifying sights in paintball are of little use. Paintball ranges are short, so if your scope is magnifying the natural range of the scope may be after gravity is causing the paintball to fall to the ground. You can adjust for this with the scope, but then you have to take eye releif into account. If you're planning on using an optical scope in paintball, ensure it has a high releif so you can see it though your goggles. For long games a tactical sling is a must For long games a 3 point tactical sling or 2 point sling can be a godsent. Being able to carry your gun without holding it in your arms can dramatically reduce the strain on your arms. With a 3-point sling you can also use the sling to shoot one handed with reasonable accuracy if you have a stock. You can do this by couching the stock in your shoulder and using the sling to steady the gun, keeping your non trigger arm free. If you're to be playing at a long game of 3 hours or more in the field, this investment will pay back in spades on your arm strain. Whatever you buy remember you will want to be winning So whatever you end up purchasing, remeber function over form, look at your style of play and how you'd want to play, and what traits the different markers have before you purchase. Also factor in not only how much the marker costs but also how much money you will have to play on a regular basis, and what types of conditions you will be playing in. If you're planning on playing 15 minute games in the summer, and you have lots of money to spend on paint, you may want to go with a tourney marker with a gun rag and play some woodsball with a high ROF. If you're into long scenario games you will want to work on getting something that's fairly accurate and air efficient. You'll want to factor in upgrades as well, long games are tiring and you'll need to carry more paint and air if you plan on shooting a lot of balls over a 5 hour or longer game. Hope you enjoyed the article. A caveat here is that I'm not even trying to cover the scope of guns not for woodsball or scenario ball uses. Speedball is a whole different beast with a whole different sets of criteria so I'm not trying to even address that in this article.