Gold Evolve bolts are back… sort of

Comming soon from Peegee, one of the guys who brought you Evolve paintball and the infamous Gold Matrix bolt… an all new for 2010 GenE / DM3 matrix bolt.

Yes it is true. 

A few weeks ago an old friend of mine Peegee (Paul Gerry) contacted me for some measurements for some 50 caliber stuff.   To get me motivated (not that I wouldn’t have been anyhow) Peegee offered me one of his new Matrix bolts when he was finished with them.   A brand new Gold Matrix bolt?  

See way back when the Matrix came out, they became very popular with a certain crowd in London England, where i was living at the time.  Peegee played with Campaign Power along with Andy Scutt, and we were big into matrixs.  They were fast and accurate, but not very efficient, but then came Evolve.  Along with the vertical grip frame, Evolve made Gold Matrix bolts that had a larger Top Hat which increased the pressure of the gun making it more efficient.  The matrix still wasn’t great on efficiency, but it was actually usable in a 7 man game with an evolve bolt.

But it’s not evolve, that company has passed on.  Now Peegee is back to make a limited edition of a new Matrix bolt.  The design has changed with more parts integrated, but it’s still made from High Grade Aluminum (Series 7), and should cost about $100.

And there will only be 100 made.

Want Proof.  Have a look at these drawings…

No ETA yet, but as soon as i know i’ll post it here.

So the Nano50 showed up and he brought a little friend…

I was going to save this for tomorrow, but this is also unbelievably cool.
Joey also brought home one of the GI Milsim FM50 markers, with some cool addons!

 

 

You probably saw all the marker’s features on Richmond’s video on www,Buypbl.com ,
if not head on over and check it out.

First impressions, the gun feels really good to hold. It’s very solid and weighty like a real gun. THe receiver feels very close to an M4, and the shroud is a nice touch. I’m not sure where the stock came from, it’s a nice stock though. The gun can take a variety of existing stocks. The balance is very nice.
The cocking lever is a nice touch.

The offset loader is also a nice feature, and on this one is a GI Milsim gravity fed loader. My feeling is the sight will need a riser to be used with a paintball mask.

Keep in mind this gun is designed to be used as a rental marker, i think customers will really love to live out their army fantasy with a paintball gun like this…

The trigger feels very nice for a mechanical gun. I think this is going to be a pleasure to shoot, and will be highly upgradable.
I can’t wait to shoot it with the clip, i think that’s going to be pretty rad to shoot a paintball gun with no loader. That’s the one thing i just loved about my qloaded matrix. I think Milsim and recball players are going to find this gun appealing, we’ll see how others react when they get a chance to shoot it.

The Nano50 has arrived

After my train being an hour late, i arrived home to find a new gun sitting on the sofa.   A nice new Nano50, in blue.

First impressions:  It’s inconcevibly tiny.  I mean i heard it was small, but it’s mind boggling how small.  You have to hold it to really appecitate it.

2nd Impression,  It’s sturdy!  The body and grip feel rock solid, the trigger feels very nice and light, and the grip is pretty thin (not DM Ultralite thin, but close)

I think this is the gun that was in all the videos at world cup, it’s got a few scratches on it, and it looks used.  

I modded a Torque loader to fit the feed neck.  It has to go back to the office tomorrow, but hopefully i get to shoot it this weekend.

So here’s a couple of shots to compare the size, compared to a PM6 and a Micro50

 

Bottom line, it feels very solid, very light, and well made, especially for a $600 gun.  Can’t wait to shoot it!

EDIT: I just gassed it up to dry fire it, and i’m amazed. When dryfiring the gun has absolutly no kick. You can’t even feel the bolt moving inside the gun… it’s erie!
I’m going to get up early in the morning and shoot it in the back yard before i go to work.

Comming (the day after)tomorrow … why I think 50 caliber will become the new industry standard,

…and why it has nothing to do with Tournament paintball

Wednesday… I promise.

 

An on the spot interview with Richmond Italia.

Here’s a very interesting interview with Richmond Italia about his ideas behind 50 caliber

 

He’s saying it has basically the same flight characteristics.  It’s a lot less energy, so it hurts less and makes paintball legal in more countries, including Italy and Japan.  It will also cost less to produce.

One thing that is clear to me from this interview is Richmond Italia sees paintball in a more global way, and in a high level industry perspective.

 

A little bit of gossip for you all:  Today Richmond Italia did a series of interviews about 50 caliber paintball for PBL.  The interviews include some answers to the top questions and comments that are being posted on the internet.  Not sure when they’ll be up (probably by the end of the week), but I’d keep an eye on www.buypbl.com

I’m just sitting around, wasting away an afternoon, catching up on the latest news and gossip on the Internet.

I stumbled across this picture, and it put a smile on my face.  I have a real soft spot for Nexus.  About 5-6 years ago when Nexus was comming on the scene, i was fortunate enough to know some of their founding members.  In fact some former team mates joined up to create Nexus, and the feeder team Nexus Eclipse.  Jamie Abbot was a regular down at the Campaign Paintball park, and Pete Robinson was coaching Nexus and doing a lot of clinics.

What i truly loved about Nexus, was that they were a group of amateur players who were collected up and specifically trained to compete internationally.  They didn’t care about the English rankings, they didn’t even really care about Europe, they had one goal and that was the NPPL in the United States.   No one had an over inflated ego, everyone worked hard, and they put a strong emphasis on skills, including Snap Shooting.  In addition to training hard every weekend, we would often find the guys down at the Campaign site with us during the week snap shooting and training gun skills.  Sometimes alone.  These guys were committed.

Now skills alone can’t win games.  You have to play as a team.  But when two teams are relativly equal in team work, then skills will make the difference between winning and losing.  Nexus, a group of Amateurs, worked hard and became Pros.

Along the way over the years they picked up some other players that i trained.  In fact i modeled our team Campaign 2K4 after the Nexus philosophy:  develop skills, play as a team.  Some players who came through my camp and went on to Nexus were:  Robin Warman, Ash Chaplin, and Kyle Milton.

So this picture is Legendary.  Bowen Pratt destroying one of the Tontons with his magnificent Nexus Autococker (DC1 I think).  Nexus and Tontons were bitter rivals, both European teams in the NPPL, and they always seemed to draw each other.

I think this photo symbolises that rivalry, and embodies the bitter fighting spirit that drove both Nexus and Tontons in their fierce battles.

There’s something about 7 man.

well, we didn’t win the Ham.

(that was the prize for the team who finished last – 7 hams)

In fact we finished 3rd, the winning team being Cowboys Paintball, a team of old school 7 man players who really play a solid tactical game…

I really liked 7 man, i think it’s a much better game for me.  I wanted to use Joey’s brand new Pink Etek, but as always one of the kids on my team broke his gun, so i had to lend him that and shoot my Ironmen DM3

(it’s not actually a DM3 – it’s a Gen-E matrix that has been custom Milled) 

This gun isn’t great for 7 man, because it’s not that efficient, however it is ridiculously Accurate, and great for setting up a trap and catching other players off guard.  In one game i managed to get 3 guys to run into my trap in about 10 seconds… basically destroying their offence.

One thing i had forgotten:  it’s been so long since i had to walk the trigger in Semi, that i actually had trouble the first few points.   I really had to think about rolling the trigger.

Anyhow the day was fun, i was able to pull out a couple of wins for the team, and get back in time to pick Joey up from the Airport.

I think i will try to play 7 man more often… it really is fun.

Another shot of the GI Milsim Nano 50

This time the pic comes from Pro Paintball.

I think it’s really nice looking, and i think it’ll probably be the gun i end up shooting next year.

The efficency tests on Pro paintball are wrong
I have the spec sheet in front of me now, and it says this:
48/3000psi Compresed Air
Nano50 – 50 caliber = 1540
Rail. 68 caliber = 425
Invert Mini = 564

These test were done by GI Milsim in Montreal, Smartparts has nothing to do with them. These are the results of the tests posted on Youtube.

There’s a rumor in the comments of the Propaintball article regarding a Pro team that has already signed with GI Milsim. It says “It’s Aftermath. Mike Hinman told aftermath signed with GI milsim to guns at the webcast” – We will see, but i have a good feeling about this…

Going back to the Old School

Tomorrow I’m going to play a 7 man tournament at Paintball Mirabel, noth of Montreal
I just set my gun in Semi, which will be strange because i havn’t shot semi in quite some time.

Should be a lot of fun though, i’m shooting my Ironmen Dm3, Upgraded with a DM Nox chip:

Click to access nox-dm-manual.pdf

Looking forward to it!

 

yeah maybe i’ll rock the Tactical Barrel too…

Mike from Tech PB gets shot with 50 caliber

part 2

From Mike’s Post on his forum:
http://www.techpb.com/forum/Index.php?showtopic=60773&st=0
Sup fellas

I’m putting this quick blog in the news section, just because of how heavy the questions have been coming in about .50 caliber

If you want to read a good “hard sell” on the .50 caliber, pick up the latest facefull magazine. Richmond Italia definitely does a great job of answering the questions in regards to .50 caliber, and certainly make a great case selling it.

GI MilSim had a shooting range next to their booth, but I wasn’t interested in shooting it in an enclosed environment. I wanted to shoot it on the XBall field, where I know distances and range VERY well, due to 6+ years I’ve been playing XBall

GI MilSim has assembled a very strong “guerilla marketing” effort, in terms of young players, going around and spreading the word

They are not “in disguise”, they are definitely wearing GI MilSim shirts, but they are doing a great job promoting the booth, talking to people about it, shooting video, etc

That aside, I got a phone call from Chris Lasoya telling me that he was going to be shooting the .50 cal on the XBall Field, behind the Valken booth. So I walked over there, and saw a small crowd of people, taking turns shooting the 50 cal marker.

This was my first experience shooting the 50 cal marker. The gun they handed to me was a tiny spool valve marker, unfortunately I can’t remember the name of it. My first impression shooting the gun, is the gun has zero recoil. You know how your gun feels when you don’t have any paint in it, and you’re dryfiring it? That’s what shooting 50 cal is like. No kick, none. How could it? The ball is smaller

The gun was shooting about 300fps, from the chrono that was brought out to the field by Jack Rice, who took some time away from the Empire tent to come out and test it out, to consider if he wanted to start making parts for a 50 cal Alien. It was actually VERY smart of him to bring out a hand chrono, and he chrono’d the gun before he shot it to ensure the proper speed

Now, I’m not drinking the 50 cal kool-aid. I’m making an unbiased, observation. I have no financial gain or loss from 50 cal succeeding or failing, I have no interested in lying about how good/how bad it works. As a professional “paintball product tester”, I went into this with a completely open mind, trying to feel this new shooting caliber out.

With that said, I will say that I was very surprised how it shot. I was expecting the rounds to “flutter”, kinda like how a .68 does after 150 feet when shot out of a flatline barrel or apex. You know how the round just goes…. then kinda dies out really quick? I expected that from 50 cal. This didn’t happen. The balls came out, and pushed the air in the same predictable arc as normal paintballs. Corner to corner on the XBall field, the balls were still zipping in with good speed.

I asked “How is that possible? That a smaller, lighter ball can travel with what appears… to be the same predicatable arc as a normal .68 paintball?” Richmond answered “Wind resistance. Yes it’s smaller, yes it’s lighter, but there is less wind resistance for the same speed”.

Very interesting….

So after shooting it a few more times, I asked Chris Lasoya to shoot me with it. I wanted to feel against my skin, how the round feels when it hits at 300fps. So I stood a little more than halfway across the field, and Chris shot about 30 balls at me. Most broke, some bounced, but the impact was noticably lighter than the 60 cal. The “thump” followed by the “sting” that you get with normal paint wasn’t there. I felt the impact, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as .68 caliber in terms of pain.

I actually walked up, took the gun from Chris, and shot myself from point black range about 6 to 10 times on my arm and calf, to REALLY feel how the round from close up. Yes, it left a welt from an inch away, but considerably less pain, less trauma, less sting, and less bleeding than what a .68 would do

Right now, I was a very pleasantly surprised how it performed. Still not 100% convinced, I notified them that I wanted to do further testing, and I was told that at the end of the event, I will be given some guns, some paint and possibly a loader to test this new caliber out in REAL life, on the XBall field and in the woods.

Right now, my gut feeling is more of relief than anything else. Why? Because my first impression is the round performs pretty damn well. It’s accurate, the guns don’t kick (at all), the range APPEARS to be there at first glance. The paint manufacturing is going to be the challenge. Wall thickness, paint thickness, colors, etc. As far as “marking”, the balls indeed left a nice sized paint splat. You can easily tell that you have been hit. Since the hit is MUCH less lighter than a normal round, if the industry goes this way, players are going to need to be ALOT more careful about not playing on. Because when it hits, it’s a VERY light impact that could easy be interpreted as a “graze” or a bounce.

So right now, I’m still keeping an open mind on the issue. My first impression is the guns shoot pretty nice. Luckily, Gordon (Cockerpunk) also shot the gun, so I’m curious to see his impressions also.

More details to follow…