Paintball

[Boomer1]

I just received last week the first of the Macdev Tactical Drones to arrive. I had the chance to shoot mine yesterday, so here are my impressions on it so far.

For those who haven’t heard of these yet, this marker is a mid-price (MSRP $550) electro from Macdev, an Australian company that has been making high quality tournament guns for a few years now. This is their first venture into a mid price gun marketed to non-tourny players.

I won’t bore you with the official stats, you can look them up for yourself here:

Tactical Drone


What’s in the box? The Drone comes with the marker (of course), a single-piece barrel, allen key set, small tub of militia lube, a couple of spare screws & o-rings, and an instruction booklet.




Initial impressions. It’s the quality milling that stands out when I open the box. This is what I’ve been looking for in a paintball gun for two years now. I’ve owned and handled most of the “milsim” guns out there, and out of the box, 99% of them just feel cheap. It’s like the manufacturers have decided that only the tourney players deserve a quality gun, and every one else gets plastic, cheap castings and a clam shell.

Fit and finish. The milling and quality of the assembly is top notch. It reminds me of my RX when I took it out of the box. But then it is a woodsball gun, so that will change- I have already put two scratches on mine.

Heft and feel. This is where it’s at in a gun. If the point of aim is not spot on and feel natural, it will be much harder to be proficient with it. And for me, this is where the Drone really stands out. I tried it with a back bottle and Special Ops T2W stock, and the best natural point of aim was with the T2W. After shooting about a hopper through it, I could pick it up and hit the end of a fence post at 50’ the first shot, every time. That is far better than I’ve been able to do with any paintball gun I’ve ever taken out of the box. Anyone who picked it up Saturday, from diehard speedballers to first timers, agreed that it pointed and felt great in their hands. It is that ballanced. The weight distribution and natural point of aim will let you get those long ball one-shots to the gogs that make you smile.



Shooting the drone:

Trigger. The trigger will eventually get replaced on my Drone. The straight blade has some side play in it, and I prefer a crisper or mouse-clicky feel. That is a personal preference, and did not a performance issue. Others thought it was fine.

Quietness. The Drone is on par with a Cyborg in quietness. There are no internal parts noise or excess venting, just a cough as the ball leaves the barrel. Not quite as quiet as a Droid, but still more quiet than most of the paintball guns in the woods. For some, having a quiet gun is a feature. For me, I would just as soon make it louder. So I put a diska on it.



Accuracy. I was using rec grade paint this weekend, but it did well and about on par with my tuned 07 Cyborg in the accuracy department, which is outstanding. As with any paintball gun, quality paint and a practiced shooter make far more difference in accuracy than the gun does.

Velocity consistency: I couldn't really get any tight velocity consistency with the rec grade paint I was using. 10 shots would spread between 265 and 280. I assume that with better paint and more break-in time, it will improve, if not, that is ok too. Consistency is nice to measure, but what really matters is that it hits what it is pointed at. I had one player complain of over shooting when I drilled him with all 3 balls in a 3 shot burst in the chest, from over 100’…. Oh well.

Air efficiency: The Drones we have been using are getting 1500+ from a 68/4500 tank, and are not broken in yet.

Kick and smoothness. This varies noticeably with the barrel used. The sharktooth needed a higher regulator setting to achieve 280 fps, and it kicked more. The factory barrel did the best, and was satisfactorily smoother and quieter with its lower regulator setting. I haven’t had the chance to shoot it with a matchstick or shift kit on it yet.


Functionality: Everything on the gun adjusts with allen wrenches, which are provided. The feed neck is short, compact, and tightens down nicely. The board buttons are on the back of the grip frame, out of the way and easy to use with gloves or paint covered hands. The barrel shroud has a cap that can come off if you want to use a barrel that is larger in diameter than the stock barrel, which is a very nice feature.

Adjusting the velocity. This is done at the bottom of the regulator. It is very sensitive, so you don’t have to crank on it to get the velocity to move. A quarter turn moves it about 25 fps. No climb or creep with 3 cases through it in a day.

The board: The board is a cool feature on this gun. It has the ability to change modes of fire on the fly by simply pushing the selector on the grip. It cycles through semi, three-round burst, and full auto. Note that it is not a “safety” full auto. If you pull the trigger, you better mean it because you’re getting lots of paint.

One word of caution with the Drone, though. That bottom button is entirely too tempting to use and go to 3-rd or full auto during a game. It is so fun you will empty every pod you are carrying before you realize it.

Programming the board is typical, and has user adjustments for everything. I really don’t see the need to play with them, so I left everything as shipped. The only thing this board is missing is a response trigger setting (my favorite), and an OLED display. Still, it is a full feature board at its price point.


Cleaning the drone. The internals are incredibly simple. You remove the back cap, then push the keg out the back with a swab. Wipe it down, re-lube, and put it back. If needed, you can remove the eye covers and clean the eyes and detents. That is really all that is needed routinely from what I could tell. There are no clamshells to throw springs and parts out, no hoses or wires to pinch, swivel connections to make, etc. You can easily clean the filter on the regulator if you are getting dirty air or running a remote line and it drops in the dirt. Just the way it should be.

Reliability: I have decided to shoot it until it quits, just to see what kind of punishment it can endure. As of now, it has 3 cases through it and has not been taken apart. The only thing I will do is ensure the eyes are clean and maybe look at the regulator filter. I have had no chops or malfunctions of any kind yet.

Summary:
The Tactical Drone is marketed to us woodsballers and scenario players that want a quality paintball gun that doesn’t compromise performance for looks. It is not dumbed down, cheapened, or stripped of features in any way. It is simply a quality new paintball gun that comes in a matte finish and has accessory rails for those that want them.

Quite simply, I see this paintball gun replacing many speedball guns in the woods. There are a lot of players like myself that use a tourney gun but would prefer something that doesn’t look like it came from a science fiction movie. It offers all the quality and features that a woodsballer needs at a reasonable price.

[ForeverSpyder]

Glad it performs well, looks like a solid shooter. My initial rant when it first came out was with the rails. Do milsim'ers/scenario types like the rails regardless of their use? This isn't nit-picking the scenario crowd, you can compare cosmetic things in any aspect of play, but I'm just curious.

Personally, I would have preferred it just a nice matte black finish with some creative milling that didn't go over edge.

And I am surprised at the price, it's quite a deal.

Thanks for spending the time to make a review

`Fs

[PistolRogue]

Myself, I like the rails even if I'm NOT going to put anything on them. To me, they make a pretty cool aesthetic point, and are there IF I ever do need to mount a light or a sling swivel, etc, to them.

Boomer, since you have a better connection with MD than most of us, have you heard anything about a single trigger conversion/option coming down the pipeline for these? They've managed to peak my interest, but I'd more likely be sold on it if it had a single trig.

[Daliz]

Originally Posted by ITSPB-Rogue

They've managed to peak my interest, but I'd more likely be sold on it if it had a single trig.

Absolutely, single trig would be great.
I'm not that interested in e-guns but I must say Macdev guns are quite attractive.

[ebe9]

Is mounting some sort of a stock a possibility with this marker? I imagine some setup making use of the rails or a different back section.

I know most of the people my side of the world would be very interested, but for the most part they run a remote and would need a stock of some sort to compensate.

[Boomer1]

Originally Posted by ITSPB-Rogue

Myself, I like the rails even if I'm NOT going to put anything on them. To me, they make a pretty cool aesthetic point, and are there IF I ever do need to mount a light or a sling swivel, etc, to them.

Boomer, since you have a better connection with MD than most of us, have you heard anything about a single trigger conversion/option coming down the pipeline for these? They've managed to peak my interest, but I'd more likely be sold on it if it had a single trig.

Our team, the Irregulators, is sponsored by and a dealer for Macdev and we get our stuff directly from Australia. There was talk of a single trigger frame for these at one point, but I cannot confirm that they will be available any time soon. I would like one myself. I know the factory is very busy with these and the new Clone, so I wouldn't assume that one is coming immediately. Oh, and I don't plan mounting anything on the rails either.

Originally Posted by ebe9

Is mounting some sort of a stock a possibility with this marker? I imagine some setup making use of the rails or a different back section.

I know most of the people my side of the world would be very interested, but for the most part they run a remote and would need a stock of some sort to compensate.

Yes, though I cannot confirm availability on the stock either, though one is promised. I prefer using a remote bottle, and always use a stock in the woods. I must say that the Specops T2W stock pictured above was quite comfortable for me and anyone else that tried it. The prototype stock pics that I saw had the back cap replaced by a stock adapter, so it was integral with the gun

[BigOldSkool]

Good review...

Im debating picking one of these up to compliment my Droid, maybe.. I want to see what the Clone is first.

[sniper97]

Good review! I just picked up an 07 Borg. Shot her outside in the back yard with crappy paint (a friend when to a bachelors party and another friend brought Reaction/Brass Eagle paintballs, I was not invited---the balls sucked many were 3/4 filled, some were maybe 1/4-1/2 filled). The borg was super fast...Nicely made. Shot 500 rds and not one break! Mac Dev stuff is top notch!

[masternater1217]

nice review! im very tempted to pick up one of these around christmas, ive been wanting a nice spoolie and the droids just a bit too high for me to buy new

[Boomer1]

Thanks for the kind words. I've had some questions about the new regulator, so here it is. It is filtered, easier to adjust, and quite a bit simpler than the gladiator. No more stack of washers, screws, and ball bearing to lose. I suspect that we'll be seeing this reg again.