I recently got a 98 Custom with a whole slew of upgrades, so I'm gonna
give you the pros and cons of each piece I've tested and seen played.
First off, you need to decide where you're going to be playing more
often. If you play behind your friend's houses in the woods, then you
want one setup, if you play at tournaments you might want another.
Also, you can get a whole batch of extra stuff and use whatever you
feel like at any given time. Now to the parts.
If you are going to be playing with any regularity I'd reccomend
purchasing an additional co2 container. One large (20-24oz) container
will last you about 1 1/2 days, or 1100 shots. This is well and great
if you are going to be playing only on Saturdays, for example.
However, if you plan to do multi-day bashes than another co2 tank is
essential. I would suggest an additional 16oz tank, as they are large
enough to last but not too cumbersome. As the tank gets lower and
lower the pressure behind your shots decreases, so that the last 1/5 -
1/4 of the tank is not that fun to play on. Another tank gives you the
freedom to always be shooting top performance.
Secondly, you'll probably want to upgrade your barrel. The barrel you
choose majorly affects how your gun will respond, so choose an option
that suits your playing style as well as the terrain you play on.
The best sniper barrel I've seen is the Tippmann Flatline System. It
has an excellent range, and will outperform a non-flatline barrel even
when your co2 is getting depressingly low. The problems with the
Flatline are twofold: Firstly, it is a pain to install if you aren't
used to opening paintball markers, and secondly it is hard to put back
into the gun accurately once it is taken out. The Flatline System uses
a shroud piece that installs over your 98 Custom's sight rails. This
gives the barrel room to curve, and it also raises it up. The curve
adds backspin to your shots, making them claw the air as they shoot -
for massively increased distance. The bad thing about this barrel lies
in the way it is positioned. When you install it, you slide in into
the shroud and align it by eye, then you use an allen wrench to
tighten a bolt and lock it in place. If you happen to break a ball,
then you have to get your wrenches and take it off in the middle of a
game. If I had a quarter for every time I've died.. Anyway, since the
barrel is aligned by eye, and it is curved it is trivial and quite
common for you to insert it cocked to one side. The result is
paintballs that fly in every direction they choose, up down and no
where near where you aimed them. If this isn't a turn-off, the
Flatline is an excellent barrel for most conditions and I heartily
reccomend it.
If any of these is too much of a down-side for you, get a 16+ inch
Whisper Barrel by 32 Degrees. They almost completely muffle the sound
of a gun shot, giving you 4-5 shots before anyone realizes you're
shooting. The Whisper Barrels really don't have any downsides except
that they don't fire the paintball as far as a Flatline will, and they
don't look quite as cool with a trench coat. :-)
There's two schools of thought on the best sniper method in paintball:
One involves spending a bunch more money and getting a remote coil,
stock and belt for yourself and moving your co2 off the marker
completely. The other believes that leaving the co2 on the marker in
it's default position, or with a drop forward is the best way to go
due to compactness.
Personally, I've tried both and I think it's less tiring to shoot with
a remote coil. However, for woodsball or close combat, the coil hose
can get tangled on stuff and slow you up. It also is a bit
uncomfortable to have it on a belt at your side due to chaffing. This
is a decision you'll have to make based on where you intend to play.
For all-purpose I'd leave the coil, stock and belt off, for speedball
or open play it will help more than hurt.
If you do decide to go with a coil and belt system, I suggest Tuff's
CORE 4+1 Paintball Harness. It has a spot for co2, as well as room to
hold more paintballs. The coil you purchase is pretty much irrelevant,
but avoid metal braided cable. Finally, if you get a coil and belt but
no stock you will find your gun is unsupported and hard to shoot
consistently. Avoid the 3-4 position M16 Stocks, unless you never want
to use your sights. They work great for no mask target practice but in
games it's a major nuisance. I reccoment a stock that is small and
simple. Something L-shaped so it won't get in the way of your mask
when you try to sight is cruicial if you want to snipe.
Now on to what you should get if you don't feel like playing a sniper:
I would recommend a either a shorter Whisper Barrel, or just sticking
with the stock Tippmann barrel. Once again, it's your call on whether
or not you get a coil + belt + stock system, but it's less useful in a
fast moving role. I play with my co2 attached to my gun when I play
speedball or when I don't feel like wearing a belt.
Now you've almost certainly seen some of the massive number of parts
available, here's a list of some good ones and why they're useful.
PsychoBallistic's Rocket Cock:
It attaches over the standard bolt and keeps paint out of the interior
of your marker. It is definately worth the 25-30 dollars you will pay
for it because it keeps paint out of the gun. Without it I opened my
gun after every game, to clean it. With the cocker I just opened my
gun after a summer and it was clean. Keeping your gun in good
condition is crucial and alot easier with this nifty little hack.
Electronic Hoppers:
Basically a small motor is stuck inside the hopper to feed the paint
faster. This is useful if (and only if) you get a response or double
trigger. With the standard trigger there is no way you'll be firing
fast enough to need one of these. Out of the available hoppers I have
had the 9v Revolution line recommended to me more times than anything
else, and everyone I've seen who uses it loves it.
Response Trigger:
This mod adds a mechanism that pushes the trigger back into position
with excess co2. It lets you fire at insanely increased speeds with no
penalty but that you balls with occaisionally break if you don't have
a Electronic Hopper. Another down side is that it is a pain to
install, so if you don't have a Pro Shop near or you just don't want
to mess with innards, avoid it.
Double Trigger:
This smaller, cheaper, easier trigger mod extends the trigger so it's
easier to pull in rapid sucession. Pretty much all Spyder guns use
this so you can try it out before deciding. The trigger is easy to
install, just pop it in place after opening the gun, and I think it
can be used with a Response Trigger system. I'm not too sure on that
because most people go one way or the other, it's your call.
Expansion Chamber/Low Pressure Kit:
This wins the award of being the most expensive for the smallest
change in performance. It adds a chamber onto the gun and changes the
bolt and firing system so your gun will operate on Compressed
Air/Nitrogen. The advantage (so I hear) of Compressed Air is that it's
more strictly regulated, so you'll get the same psi per shot until the
tank is empty. This is useful for sniper roles when you don't want to
have to worry about checking your co2 level. The Expansion Chamber
alone runs at about $100, and Compressed Air tanks run at about $200.
Combined with the fact that fewer places can fill them, this option is
for the uber-hardcore.
Scopes:
It's a common misconception that a scope on a sniper type paintball
gun will increase accuracy. What's closer to the truth is that players
will spend too much time looking through the scope at a much smaller
field of vision and not enough scanning around them. If you absolutely
hate using the sights for some reason, get a scope that does NOT zoom
in at all. Paintball markers don't shoot far enough that zoom is
useful. It's better if you learn to shoot without sights and extremely
rapidly than you learn to put one paintball within 3 inches of the
last one.
Full Auto Conversions:
I can't honestly say I've ever tried one or seem someone using one on
a 98 Custom. This alone says something to me, basically if you want
full-auto get a Spyder Electra for less than the price of the
conversion kit.
A final fun mod is painting your gun. I bought two cans of camo spray
paint, olive green and a brown and I did my gun completely up. It
looks cooler (yay) and it was extremely cheap for the massiveness of
the mod. When I play in the woods I look for solid black, usually a
hopper or mask. With my gun painted there's one less thing that sticks
out easily. |
