Paintball

[SHAG]

Hi,

I needed to get some gear together for the upcoming group game at Skirmish. So this woman and her two sons come into the shop to buy some accessories for his new find. He bought a DYE DM series off Ebay for 200 bucks or something with a Halo loader. However the seller elected not to ship it with the air lines and ASA.

So the kid picks out the parts he wants for his gun. Then asks the owner to install them. He said no problem. He proceeds to ask where the gun came from and so forth. The minute the kid says Ebay the owner, a friend of mine and myself all look at each other and said oh boy. Lately my local shop has been hit up by players who were buying gear from E bay only to not work. The latest thing with the local playing population is DM4/5/6s. So my dealer has picked up a couple to re sell them to locals. The ones without ASAs always leak air. Well sure enough my dealer installs the air line and ASA. This thing is leaking air all over the place. The look on this kid's face was shock. I thought he was going to cry! The mother was the same way. So my dealer gives the kid his options. The mother is not to pleased to find out her son just bought a non working gun from Ebay The best part is coming up...

As the kid is mulling over what he should do my dealer asks when he was going to play. The said he would like it for next weekend. He was thinking about letting the kid play with his personal DM if he could not fix it in time. Next you know the mother and all of us are talking about the field and the kids playing on it. My dealer asks if they use a chrono. All of them asked what is a chrono. One of the kids said they make the guns shoot in a straight line! Then my dealer asks if she has anyone sign a waiver or something releasing them from any lawsuits in case someone gets hurt. She said no. My dealer tried to sell her at least a chronograph in which she didn't seem to concerned about. It was more important to make sure little johnny's DM was working and he could hose the forest.

What amazes me is the fact these people let their kids friends play unsafe and unsupervised for the most part and be so lazy about it. The mother said about 15-20 of his friends come over to play. This sounds like a recipe for disaster.

[PJ]

I wish the shop owner had given them a demonstration of 280 fps vs. 400+ fps. Maybe keep some watermelons on hand? "Here's Johnny's head at 280 fps <splat>. Here's Johnny's head being hit at 400 fps <SPLAT + hole>. Any questions?"

[BigOldSkool]

Oof and spool valve guns can get pretty damn hot... Ive seen DM's shooting at near 400 FPS before the top hat oring gives out.

[RealtorTommy]

I talked a friend into paintball and his two sons so the went to wally world and bought some setups....ok for first timers....Well the night before they couldn't wait to play and was shooting up the back yard and themselves....They get to the field the next morning and they are like "man this stuff hurts"....."I don't know about playing"....ect...One lifts up his shirt and low and behold some nice bloody welts.....yep chrono doen't lie...375 fps to 397 fps.....ouch... for a small back yard fire fight.....

[Smitty]

I've played like that before. Of course I never had a DM, but it was still fun. As long as no one is screwing around it's safe. Of course there's the time I slid into a pipe and had to get 10 or so stitches...

[pizzaluvr]

Originally Posted by Smitty

I've played like that before. Of course I never had a DM, but it was still fun. As long as no one is screwing around it's safe. Of course there's the time I slid into a pipe and had to get 10 or so stitches...

The problem isn't the gun/screwing around, it's more the fact that they don't know what a chrono is and could be shooting at 300+ FPS.

[Robertsr]

Precisely why I will NEVER again play at a renegade field. When the property owner waves his un-bagged gun around in the "safe" zone, it's time to leave.

[Drum]

That is also one of the reasons that I will be avoiding those mod scenes at Skirmish. The first time I went to ION (the first one at Skirmish) there were adequate chrono stations and refs, but no apparent effort to ensure that each player was chrono'ed before going on the field. The reward for successful chrono was a piece of tape for the lid of your hopper. Might have been a "paid" sticker now that I think of it.

That was it.

The second ION that I attended (might have been their second or third) there was still that main chrono station in the woods behind the tech/rental shed. Well, it is really more of a target range. I looked around for a ref in there and finally went to the rental shed and asked where to find the "official" chrono station with refs, etc. and was asked whether I was shooting a rental or my own gun. When I responded that I was using my own gun, I was informed that the chronoing of private guns was on the HONOR SYSTEM at Skirmish. They only cared to make sure that their rentals were at field speed.

Needless to say, I was aghast.

I played anyway (I was getting paid at the time to report) but not again. If I ever show up at another field with such lax enforcement again, I will decline to expose myself to the result.

D

[John Satclaire]

Originally Posted by BigOldSkool

Oof and spool valve guns can get pretty damn hot... Ive seen DM's shooting at near 400 FPS before the top hat oring gives out.

Heh. I've had an unregulated backbottle Vector fire consistently in the 420-430 range, and it was blowing paintball-sized holes through the loose tarp we had hung up to catch and return the balls (basement chrono). Scary.

[pillage]

Back when chronoing was done by how much bark was knocked off a tree, it was typically only adults playing a realitively expensive and obscure game. Times have changed, more little kids, more firepower, and less supervision. The use of chronos is a good thing. When I play outlaw everybody chronos as getting hurt sucks.