Paintball

[Murph]

So, I won this at AG paintball on the 20th of July and tried to whore it off. That didn't work, so I decided to keep it, and finally dumped a couple pods of paint with it how it came from the factory. it is a VERY nice marker. Here's a picture, sorry it's so bad but you get the idea of what it's like:



The best first impression of how nice a marker is is how nicely it's packaged. This marker comes packaged in a hardshelled gun case made for and cut out for the marker and all the tools and oil you need for it, along with the factory barrel (A nice one by the way.) A barrel bag, and the owner's manual. Everything fits snugly minus the barrel bag and manual.

This marker also has an AMAZING feel to it. It uses a .45 frame with the eclipse pattern grip holes. The grips that come with it are somewhat thick, but they feel fantastic. The Trigger guard is wide open, not so huge like a Fusion's trigger guard, but you will not have trouble walking the trigger with this marker. The stock trigger is a less pronounced scythe profile. It's also spring return (Not my preference, I like a snappy magnetic pull-return) The Factory trigger setup is for 2 millimeters in length, 1 before the switch and one after. I probably cut .7 from the forward travel, and I didn't touch the after travel, and it's a much nicer trigger feel. The Frame is wrapped up by a reverse dovetail mount on the bottom of the trigger frame. That means the ASA is held in place from the sides instead of being held on by the sides. I've broken off a few ASA's using the standard rail system. Eclipse's setup is quite nice.

The stock regulator has the macroline fitting mounted on a swivel, which is real nice because most regulators have the macroline swivel in a fixed position. A side-mounted input on the regulator jabbing into your hand wont' necissarily screw up your accuracy but having a comfortable marker is VERY nice. And that's what this is. I don't have performance numbers yet because I don't own a chronograph.

The stock barrel is Eclipse's shaft barrel, in a .693 barrel back. That's a considerable overbore considering most paintballs I come across these days will just roll out of anything bigger than .684 (apart from Diablo formula 13. which usually comes out to .689) That's probably putting a good dent in the efficiency, and accuracy if you're using 'practice grade' or white box paint.

Now to the good parts. The Test firing. Like I mentioned I do not have a chronograph so I can't give any accurate numbers. I took 2 pods into my backyard and fired them as the marker was set up using a VL Force hopper (Yes it's a 30 dollar wal-mart force-feeder, but it's the fastest hopper I own.) The Rates of fire I was achieving with this marker were nothing short of astonishing. I'm not really a big trigger walker, but I'm starting to get what people are talking about by 'shooting ropes.' It looked like I had a blue string (Blue shell paint.) attached to my barrel when I got going full bore. I'm kinda suspicious that I was in semi auto even. I'll have to read through the manual again and make sure Debounce is actually working. I did, however chop a paintball somewhere in the firing. I know that it was a chop because there was a little paint on the ball detents and the eyes. It is very possible that the QA testing did not include setting the LPR and that may just have been too high, resulting in the chop. (I have never chopped with my fusion having the eyes on.)

8/23 addendum

On the field today I field tested it, but I didn't get to play rough as the speedball court was closed. I don't play rough in the woods because that's a great way to get yourself injured.

When I chrono'ed the gun I was getting +/- 6 feet per second with the occasional one way outside of that. I'm sure with a couple more cases of paint the reg will break in, and it'll shoot better.

Gunplay was amazing with this gun. The feel of the marker is just outstanding, with my 68/45 nitroduck tank it didn't feel like it needed to be wrestled into any position so I could snapshoot properly, just get it up and shoot. And you don't need to dump all that much paint with it, though the gun pretty much begs you to lay down ropes. I can hit what I want with one shot just as easily if not easier than I can with my phantom. And that's saying a lot. I intentionally played today with a Revolution loader so I wouldn't waste all my paint in one game. That didn't help much, even with a revolution it was possible to hit obscene fire rates with this marker. There's almost no blowback with this marker, which says a lot about the tolerances the parts are machined with, the factory bolt is o-ring free. Using Stingers, I never had any chops either.

After the game, the manual had in depth instructions on how maintain all the different aspects of the marker, made it simple on what parts to strip and clean, and how to get at them the most easily.

All in all, this marker is absolutely amazing, I now understand why Eclipse has such a following. Eclipse's Ego and Etek line of markers are definitely ones to give close consideration to when looking for a high end marker.

[TheAznInvazn]

Oh coolie, I wish I could win stuff like that

I'm going to be waiting for your skirmish report, so make it count!

[CertifiedPaintballer]

My dad picked one up at I.O.N. 08 this year. It's pretty nice, and I don't think he chopped at all.

[Murph]

Just go to enough big games, play clean and help people out. Good things will come to you.

[BigOldSkool]

FYI.. that chopping issue is because the ball rolls back a little bit in the breach if you look at the bolt where it sits in the breach its a good 1/8th of an inch back behind the feed neck opening.

Quick and easy fix if you pick up a cure bolt.

And just for good merit.. my 1 of 5 made for Buffalo NPPL Leopard Etek 2



Only upgrades I put into it is a cure bolt and a zick kit.. the gun is a beast and shoot just as good as my 07 ego except its slightly less air efficient.

[Murph]

BOS - you need grips with a picture of Quagmire in his leopard speedos on that gun lol.

[BigOldSkool]

Nah those SPD grips are way to tacky for me. Plus they offer absolutely no grip what so ever.

[Murph]

Okay, I'm back from the field, updating the review.

[Fluff]

Somebody buy this to help Murph pay for obedience school!

[enzosrock]

pming.