US Army Carver One Review

Back when I first started really getting into paintball, I only rented guns or borrowed from a friend. Eventually, when I figured out that I wanted to do this every weekend, I decided to buy my own gun so I won't have to rent one. I looked for a cheap and reliable gun and I found the US Army Carver One.

The first thing I liked about the gun us the fact that it's simple. The body of the gun isn't bulky and it's easy to carry around. While most people have elaborate setups that include bi-pods, flashlights, laser pointers, etc., this gun served its purpose without the fancy upgrades.

One thing that paintball players look for is accuracy. Of course, in paintball, accuracy is affected by different things like the type of paint you buy, the time of day, the bore size of the barrel, wind, etc. Sadly, the Carver One is disappointing in terms of accuracy. The stock barrel is a .690 bore barrel. Needless to say, it's too wide and causes are to go past your paint before it shoots it out of the barrel, affecting accuracy and air efficiency.

It's also good to remember that this gun is e-grip ready. Meaning, you can install an electronic trigger on it to make it fire 3-round bursts, 10 balls per second or 15 balls per second. Another disappointment for me though is that this gun is not able to take the cyclone feed system upgrade. It would have been much cheaper if it was able to, but I guess that's what you get for the price.

I went out with this gun at my local field and I had to unload almost 10 rounds at a target that was exposed before I hit him with even one round. I was using Empire Premium paintballs at around 12 noon. In a situation where I move fast and am able to get behind enemy lines and strike them from behind, I want to be able to unload no more than three shots and be able to hit the enemy. This gun, although reliable in most cases, just does not do well for me with its stock barrel.

But all in all, this gun does its job well. It's light, its accuracy is tolerable, and it's durable. I've done rolls and dives with this gun and I have yet to have any problems with it. I maintain it after day of use to make sure the parts are clean and well lubed. While it can't compete in terms of design and technological advancement with other guns out in the market, the Carver One performs well.

Since I bought it, I have made a few upgrades to it that made it a little more fun to use and looks more like an actual military issued weapon.

This is the end result:

I've added a CP 14" barrel with a .689 bore, a folding foregrip, a red dot sight, a collapsible buttstock, and installed the e-grip upgrade on it. Since then, I've used this gun only in games where there are big groups. I normally go out with just my pistol.

I'll do a little review on the things I put on it later on.

So if you're looking for something to start out with, I suggest getting the Carver One. Sure, there are cheaper options out there, but this gun will last you a longer time than conventional looking and cheap paintball markers. The inner mechanisms are simple, the gun is easy to maintain, it's durable and, of course, it looks like you're ready to do some damage on a beginner level when you go out with it even with the stock parts.

I'm done.

-X-

Tippman TipX Review

Well, the Tippmann TipX Pistol. Light and reliable. Truly for the type of paintball players who want a dependable sidearm as opposed to only having a bulky primary weapon.

The one thing you need to know about the Tippmann TipX is that you won't be able to find many holsters in regular gunstores. If I set my iPhone horizaontally next to it's nozzle, you'll find that it's just about as wide as the iPhone. So finding a holster for this gun is best done in actual paintball pro shops or online. The same is true for the magazines. You'll need to buy the ones specifically made for them.

Now, onto the review.

I've always wanted a good paintball pistol. Many people referred me to the Kingman trainer and some referred me to the Tiberius 8.1. But I had my eye on the TipX. First of all, if you are an aesthetics kind of buy, this gun looks cool. You feel like you're Christian Bale in Equilibrium with this gun in your hand. It's light, has good range and easy to maintain. It only uses a Tru-Feed system, utilizing spring loaded magazines to feed your paintballs, making it as close to real gun as you can possibly get.

It uses a 12oz canister to propel the paintballs. It can be upgraded to have a remote line adapter if you want. You'll only need a couple tools to do so. The best thing about this gun is that the CO2 canister is loaded underneath the barrel. You don't have to fiddle with the magazine like the Tiberius 8.1. And you only need to pull the trigger to puncture it. So when you are in a firefight and need to use it, you don't have to pre-puncture your gun. All you have to do is unholster it in the fight, take the safety off, then pull the trigger once and TADA!!!! You now have air. Your next trigger pull will fire your first paintball that is fed from the mag.

As far as reliability, this gun is accurate. It's as accurate as it can be even with cheap paintballs you buy from walmart. If you want to make the most out of the accuracy, I suggest you buy decent paintballs like Formula 13 or Heat. Get it as close to .68 caliber size as you can so it won't end up bouncing in the barrel while it is being launched.

The velocity adjuster is located at the back of the receiver. Easy enough. You will also find a small circular indent right next to it. This is where you would drill a hole to be able to use a remote line adapter if you don't want to be changing CO2 canisters every 14 shots. On the top of the receiver is a small peep hole so you can check if ammo is loaded into the chamber or if you're out. The iron sights are pretty damn good and are properly aligned.

Those who have used real hand guns before will know how the magazine works. As long as you seat the mag properly, it won't fall. My only complaint is when I have to remove the mag and I still have a couple paintballs loaded into it, two or three just fall off instead of staying in the chamber or the mag.

As you can see from the picture, it has a rail on the bottom of the barrel. You can stick a flashlight or a laser pointer if you want for scenario based games. I would not suggest putting any on it if you're only using it for regular field games.

As far as it's reliability, this gun is great. I am an avid parkour practitioner. To be able to have the gun holstered while running and not worrying about a bulky weapon is a big plus for me. I used this pistol in a couple of my games and it was great. It performed well and did not break balls in the chamber. This gun performs adequately enough for my standards. Though I can't compare it to any other paintball pistol since this is my first one, I would say that this one makes it so that you do not need to try others out there. It's reliable, has an intimidation factor because of how it looks, and best of all, you are challenged to use limited paintballs and not just fire hundreds at a time like some trigger happy, wannabe Terminator.

I would rate the gun 8 out of 10.

I'm done.

-X-

Paintball Session : 06OCT2012

I went to a paintball field called Air Warriors Paintball in Lemoore, CA. It was a decent size establishment with very friendly staff. The staff were mostly the owners of the field. They're a nice family who are knowledgeable in paintball maintenance. The father is a very nice man who is in the United Stated Navy.

I've been to the place before, but only to test out my gun. They were nice enough to show an amateur like how to troubleshoot some of my equipment, free of charge. Normally, they would charge people for troubleshooting, but since it was my first time, they helped me out for free.

But, onto the day's experience. This was my first time using their actual field. I brought my souped up Carver One and a Tippmann TipX pistol Sadly, I did not get a holster for my pistol so I would have to leave it out for the first couple games.

Their fields were nice. Not too big and not too small. I had prior experience in paintball when I visited my friends in LA. We would go on an all day paintball session in SC Village in southern CA. So I was not really new to the experience and I had a good sense of what to do and what not to do. Together with my friend, we would move as tactically as we can without really getting too serious about it.

The first few games were fun. A couple wins here and there. My only complaint is that I have a full upper body armor and all I got it on were the vulnerable spots. What was the use of all that padding???

Anyway, my games showed how much better it is to upgrade a gun rather than to stick to the stock parts. I changed my barrel to a smaller bore to the paintballs would not bounce around and would fly much more straight. This proved to be useful in scenarios where I would have to fire more than 20 yards.

After a couple games, I decided to try out my pistol. This would be my first time using it and I had to improvise to be able to have a holster. I had 4 clips so I would be playing with limited paintballs, a challenge I gladly accepted.

First and foremost, I am a parkour practitioner. It was a great advantage to not have a bulky weapon like my souped up Carver One. I was able to utilize my speed and my skills as a tracuer in order to traverse the field without having my speed reduced and my movements hindered. If there were a stack of boxes that I need to get on the other side to, I'd vault over it.

The great thing about the gun was the fact that my first trigger pull would puncture the 12oz CO2 canister. No twisting like that of the Tiberius 8.1. So as soon as I got to my planned spot, I would take out my pistol and puncture the canister, then start firing when possible. It's very challenging to be able to only use a limited amount of paintballs. In my case it's 28 paintballs. And I have to change the canister every 14 shots. So accuracy and timing is key.

I was able to get a few kills with only a couple shots. It was fun and rewarding.  The experience in using only a pistol will be useful in my future games. I'm leaning towards just using a pistol as opposed to using my normal, bulkier weapon. I like the amount of skill involved in using limited paintballs and the look on opponent's faces (after they take off the mask) when they realize I'm only using a pistol compared to their big, electronically upgraded guns.

I'm done.

-X-