[Greywolf]

I remember in 2004 , attacking at Spring Castle, in deep mud, my VM actually jammed up on me. I could see the ref's eyes bugging through his goggles as I proceeded to beat the #$%@% out of it against a 4x4 fence post, calmly put it back to my shoulder and return to shooting people on the walls.

Played the rest of the weekend. Went home and filled the bathtub and threw my paint and mud-encrusted gear into the hottest water I could muster.

Got a phone call that my grandad was in hospital; flew out to see him. He passed away, and I stayed for the funeral.

Got home almost a week later and found a nasty tub full of mud/paint and gear. Rinsed it down real well, and decided to field-strip the VM. I found 2 torn o-rings, a 3" twig, and a lot of mud well up in the bolt and hammer.

There aren't many guns that will play out a weekend with that sort of abuse. I don't always use a VM, but I always have one on hand...and that same VM will probably be my backup at Castle next month.

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And as for cleaning the field...that's why I bought a PMI-3 back in 1991. I mowed down hordes of kids with splatties, as long as I could afford air and paint. My job was more of a threat than other players (just didn't pay enough!). Usually I'd cleaned them up before they could land their paint at my feet.