Airow Gun

At first glance, the Airow Gun looks awesome and easy to use. Yes, it looks cool and will probably grab the attention of the field when you bust thins badass out. But this marker has very significant problems.

One problem you will have is the fact that this is only good to be mounted on a compound bow. Now I know it looks easy when you watch it on TV, but if you have no prior experience in wielding a bow, even a 45lb draw weight will be hard for you to pull and you will quickly get tired after a number of pulls. You’ll have to make sure that the string does not leave the cams (pulleys) or else you will get whipped by your own bow’s string (which is not fun). I suggest that you go to a nearby archery range and rent a compound bow and try shooting some arrows to get the feel of a real bow. Because, let’s be honest, the package for the Airow gun comes with a real compound bow made the Diamond.

Next would be aiming. If you are an experienced hunter using a bow, you know that you can use sights, quivers, etc and attach it to your compound bow. With the Airow attachment, you may not be able to attach the same things. More than likely, you will be trying to aim down the barrel like you would for a speedball marker. Even then, it’s still not very accurate to do it that way. So it’ll be up to you to find that sweet spot for aiming.

A major problem, in my opinion, is the FPS. The bow that comes with the package is a 45lb – 65lb draw weight. At 60lbs, the FPS goes up to 240 if you’re lucky. I used Empire Premium paint to test this marker and it never went over 250 FPS. If you’re fine with that, then it shouldn’t be an issue. But you have to keep in mind that this was at 60lbs of draw weight at the longest string pull which is at 29. Shorter people like myself are going to be uncomfortable drawing it that far to get it up to 240 FPS. Plus, you have the fatigue factor. You WILL get tired pulling the string back.

The package comes with an 11 round tube as your stock loader. If you want more paint to fire without having to reload too often, you will have to buy a small, gravity-fed hopper. I bought a 50 round hopper and a feedneck because it would not fit in the Airow’s feed tube. But you don’t buy a hopper, you will be stuck having to lower your bow and insert paintballs one at a time through the small “speed feed” (which are really stiff and sometimes will pop brittle paint).

Another issue is the stability. If you look at the set-up, this is front heavy. The barrel protrudes so far out that you have to use your strength for pulling and stabilizing. When you carry this bow around, even just walking to the field, you will get tired. You will probably have to switch hands every now and then while carrying it, then switch again when you’re about to fire since it’s not an ambidextrous set-up.

The plus for this is that you can actually take the Airow attachment off the bow and use it as a normal bow. This means that you can buy a stronger bow and attach the Airow Gun to. Or if you already have a good compound bow, you can just buy the attachment and go from there. You may even get it up to 290 FPS with a compound bow that has a draw weight of 70lbs and above.

You also never run out of air. The air chamber underneath the barrel acts like your normal bike pumps. As you pull the string back, the plunger inside the chamber moves back and fills it with air. When you let go, the plunger goes forward and pushes the air through a small tube and to the barrel to propel the round out. Pretty useful in long scenario games where you have to ration your air to be able to stay in longer.

Even with all the negatives about this set-up, it is extremely fun to use and it will catch a lot of attention. I remember walking into a game and people were saying “I want Hawkeye on my team.” It certainly will intimidate newbies, but veterans know you will not be able to snap them out. You’ll have master a certain rhythm to be able to even post up on someone, let alone snap them out. You do score coolness points and it will increase your field awareness, but don’t expect to get many people out or anyone at all.

This is definitely a marker that will make you celebrate when you hit someone. I have had this marker set-up for over 5 months now and I have only gotten 18 people out with it. That’s how difficult it is to land a hit with this. You’ll have to maintain you barrel, have good paint, have enough strength for the maximum poundage as well as stabilizing while firing, master a certain rhythm to be able to pull and shot smoothly, and be able to snap in and out effectively when needed. That’s a good number of variables to consider when using this marker.

Other than that, it’s a cool experience. I won’t guarantee that you won’t get frustrated. I won’t even say that it’s worth your money. If you think you will like the act of using a bow full time on a paintball field, by all means, buy it. If not, I suggest steering clear of this marker. I have it for my collection, but I barely use it. I mostly use the bow for hunting than for paintball.

I’m done.

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