Paintball

[D_Rek33]

I couldn't really find a recent full review of the BT TM-15, so I decided to write one myself.

A little background about myself: I've been playing paintball for 10 years now and have been working as a ref at my local paintball park for about 4 years now. I've played everything from woods ball, speedball, and scenario, and have used every type of paintball gun from pump to electronic.

Before I bought this gun I owned a tippmann A-5 and swore by mechanical guns because of their durability and strong reliability. I also owned a mini because I was trying to get into speedball and liked the mini a lot. I am mainly, and always will be, a woodsballer and the BT TM 15 is geared specifically that.

Quick review:
I've owned this gun for a full season now, and have beaten the hell out of it.

Pros:
Extremely air efficient
Consistent
Accurate
Quiet
Durable
Lightweight
Batteries last long time
Good in all weather

Cons:(and im being picky)
Isn't as quiet when you use non stock barrel
Velocity adjustment can be a pain
Need a remote, otherwise tank makes stock useless and throws weight off
Fire modes need 3 shots to activate

Full Review:
So I bought the gun back in March of 2010 and played many times throughout the season and in all weather conditions. I have to admit I quickly fell in love with the gun from the moment I took it off the shelf and fired it.

First thing I love about the gun is its air efficiency and consistency. I carry a 68cu/3000psi tank out with me and can fire approximately 900-1000 rounds before I run out of air, although I rarely use that much. I go out with a full load of paint, and air but I'm never worried that I'll run out during the average 20-30mins of play time when I go out to my local paintball field. I also never have any chrono issues, and I am able to keep it at about 270fps +/- 3fps. After I chronoed it to where I liked it, I usually don’t have to re-adjust my velocity (as long as I didn't mess with anything) for months at a time. My only complaint about chronoing is the adjustment can be a pain because you'll need a small allen wrench or screw driver to work the crank and it is hard to do that while shooting on a chrono... but it isn't a huge problem to me.

Next is accuracy, the TM 15 has a 14 inch stock barrel, and It is very accurate up to good distances compared to other woods ball guns (on average I’m out shooting my opponent anywhere from 20-50ft, depending on what they have). I also believe that it is more accurate than a flatline barrel and only shoots slightly less further than it (about 10-15ft less), which impressed me a lot because I was used to the flatline distance I had with my A-5 and didn't want to lose it. From what I have found that on the average woods ball fields I play at, I can outshoot most markers out there and only reason I cannot shoot any further is because there are trees in the way. The marker is also very accurate at these long distances (as accurate as a paintball can be at least) Always hitting a target area about the size at a pie plate (even at max range). Ball breaks are a rare occurrence with this gun (as long as you keep it someone clean). I’ve only had a few barrel breaks because some dirt got in the barrel, and was able to quickly shoot it out in game without issue, and have had no ball chops, even with dirty eyes… the marker just doesn’t shoot with every trigger pull. Quick fix for that is just make sure to keep your eyes clean (applicable to any electronic marker anyways) and you won’t have any issues.

Another great thing I LOVE about this marker is how god damn quiet it is! Of course as the user firing this weapon you’ll never be able to really understand how quiet it is, and I never knew how quiet the gun really was until I was reffing a game and saw some other player with the same gun playing, I was standing next to another player when I started hearing paintballs break around us… I looked around for a few moments until I noticed he was in a castle bunker 60-70ft away. I was really impressed how I could barely hear the gun go off until after paint was breaking around me, and that was only because the majority of the other players had lifted their fire, so in a nice firefight with a lot of other people constantly shooting, this gun is extremely difficult to hear. This marker is durable as all hell, I literally have beaten the hell out of my gun from crawling around in mud, dropping it, diving into the ground and slammed it into a rock… barely a scratch. I was worried because Electronic markers typically aren’t as tough as a mechanical one, but the TM 15 has proved itself to be “soldier proof” in my opinion. One last thing I was really worried about is weather conditions. I’m and ‘all weather’ paintball kind of guy and I know rain and electronic guns don’t mix, so sure enough it rained on a day I took off to play. I decided to take the risk and play anyways. It was raining moderately, and granted I was in the woods it was still pretty wet and the gun worked flawlessly. As long as you don’t submerge it or expose it to excessive amounts of water you should be good because the gun seems to be built very water tight. Last few comments on good things; it’s not too heavy for those of you who think weight is an issue, and works great in all weather conditions, from hot, cold, and even rain. The battery, extra battery, and tools are stored in the magazine which makes for quick and easy change of battery in mid fight (which I have done a few times), and provides practical use for the magazine which is a plus for me.
I have only one real complaint about this gun, and it is about the fire modes. It has safe and 3 fire modes (semi, 3 round burst, and fully auto) which sounds great, but they added this ‘safety feature’ because of the TM-7 which means in order to actually fire the burst or engage fully auto, you have to first 3 shots semi auto before the mode kicks in… to me that totally defeats the purpose of 3 round burst and makes firing fully auto just annoying. I understand the reasoning behind it, so people don’t accidently pull the trigger and let off 10 rounds, but a 1-2 shot MAX would’ve been better… It just pisses me off sometimes when I pop up, see a target, fire 3 rounds at it so I can fire a 3 round burst… on the other hand I use semi auto a lot more than I would’ve normally. One actual problem I did end up having with my gun one of the first times I played with it was the on/off button fell out…yes fell out as I was walking to a game. I was baffled on how it was even possible as I didn’t even take the gun apart yet… luckily I had an allen wrench set and was able to turn it on/off that way. I went up to the gun tech at the Paintball Park I was at afterwards, and he ordered me two replacement buttons that cost me like 25 cents total so I wasn’t too concerned and haven’t had a problem with that sense. If you plan on upgrading the barrel at all (which it takes cocker threads, and I find it unnecessary) it makes the gun much, louder as the stock barrel was designed to stay with the gun. Velocity adjustment is a pain as I have to crank the gun, then put it on the chrono, adjust, rinse and repeat until I reach desired FPS. The sights the gun came with I took off because it made it harder to see, and in my humble, but entirely correct opinion sights on a paintball gun are useless and are just there to make the gun look ‘cooler’. I added a BT front grip to the gun because I was sick of grabbing the magazine and accidently hitting the mag release button shutting off the gun in the middle of a firefight. One last ‘negative’ comment and, if you’re someone like me it isn’t a real issue; a remote line is recommended with his gun as it is well balanced without the tank, and I think adding the tank directly to the gun throws the balance off, and it makes the stock useless if you ask me.

Overall, it’s a great gun with high performance and very durable and reliable. I have played a full season in all weather conditions with it, and never had any major problems. I bought the gun with the intention of buying a good quality woods ball gun, which is accurate, air efficient, consistent, reliable, and durable without having to spend extra money on upgrades to make it better; That is exactly what I got with the BT TM 15, and if that is what you are looking for, then this gun is for you!

[Kermit]

Great little writeup bro! I've always preferred just the plain Mini or Axe, but I know some people who love the TM-15. Nice job!

[R_Os]

Its much easier to chrono if you turn the air off before you adjust it. That's the biggest negative I encountered.

[Kermit]

I noticed that as well with the Mini.

[D_Rek33]

Thanks guys, and i'll have to try turning the air off and then chrono. I've always just left it on.

[bond commander bond]

to actually fire thé burst or engage fully auto, you have to first 3 shots semi auto before thé mode kicks in… to me that totally defeats thé purpose of 3 round burst and makes firing fully auto

Same problem with the tm7: by the time burst opens up the opponent has ducked.

[D_Rek33]

Ah, well I was unaware of that, just what I heard on why they did to the TM 15 was to make a change from the TM-7

[R_Os]

Originally Posted by D_Rek33

Thanks guys, and i'll have to try turning thé air off and then chrono. I've always just left it on.

Go move the adjuster with no air on it. You will see how much easier it is. You shouldn't need to move it much when you adjust it anyway, once you have it set. Removing the air pressure just makes it so much easier.
If you add a relay it will be easier still, as you would be able to put the tank directly on to chrono. Then flip the relay off to make adjustments, and back on to test.

That's the solution to that. My other peeves are the safety shots. There doesn't appear to be a solution forthcoming for that particular problem though. Also the red flasing light, flashing in the shadows like a warning beacon, on the side of my sneaky-quiet milsim marker... I have thought about taking a sharpie to it but don't want to make it hard to adjust the board.

[D_Rek33]

Ah yes the blinking light... if it bothers me too much i just put electrical tape over it, but sense i play during the daytime i haven't had too much of an issue with it. And yes I looked up maybe replacing the board hoping the safety features were not programmed into that one, and couldn't find one, nor any other solution to that as well... guess we'll just have to make due

[DSA]

Great review I love these BT Gunz. My TM 7 is crazy lite and scary fast.