Brands

This may seem like an odd organization, but before I get into details, it makes sense to talk generalities. There are two companies that you can buy from and know that you're getting a good product, good customer support, and a good price. They are:

• Lapco

  

  Lapco's machinists are perfectionists. Their products work right, they work every time, and they sell for reasonable prices. If there's a better combination than that, I don't know what it is.

• Palmer's Pursuit Shop

  A legend in the business, Glenn Palmer's shop knows paintguns like few others. Their prices aren't cheap, and Glenn has some opinions that I don't always agree with. But when you order from them, you're getting personal attention and the best customer support going. Or, as the shop's slogan puts it, "Custom Still Means Something."

Autococker Barrels

• J&J Performance 10 inch chrome w/ stairstep muzzle ports

This is the barrel that came with the gun when I got it from Bad Boyz Toyz. It's quite a bit shorter than I think is optimal, and (based on other guns I've seen with J&J barrels) these work best in longer lengths. I rarely use this one and wouldn't recommend it.

• DYE 12 inch stainless Steel

A very solid barrel with larger paint, like RPS Premium. It cleans well and shoots straight. For shooting Marbalizer (my preferred ammunition), it's a little too large-bore and doesn't work so well. However, knowing that it's as solid a big-bore barrel as it is has allowed me to focus on collecting smaller-bore barrels.

• LAPCO Aluminum

I have three of these- two 10 inch and one 12 inch. The grey 10 inch is from an older run that had some problems, and doesn't shoot all that well. The other two are black and shoot like absolute dreams. If you don't mind sticking to RPS Premium Gold or Marbalizer, these are the undisputed value leaders for the Autococker at around $70 each.

• LAPCO 12 inch Stainless Steel

Stainless steel has two advantages over aluminum when Colin Thompson is doing the work: It's very cool looking (if you don't mind drawing attention to yourself) and slightly smoother. This barrel seems to shoot a hair better than its aluminum brethren, and clean a little better, but I wouldn't spend the extra money unless you have collector's interest. For rec play there's one problem with these- the stainless steel has a pronounced ring to it that makes it *very* loud.

• Smart Parts 16 inch All-American Tightbore

Now that Smart Parts is selling these in variable bores, I've grown to like them quite a bit. For accuracy they're near the top of the heap- perhaps not quite as good as LAPCO, but close. More importantly for rec play, the massive ports on the barrel work almost like a silencer.

Autococker Bolts

Stock rules!

Well, OK, I haven't tried the real premium ones like the Lightning or Evolution. My gun came with an OTP Slingshot, and I always thought well enough of it until I had a chance to try the stock bolt. The stock bolt *radically* outperformed the OTP with my LAPCO barrels, and doesn't seem to be holding back the other ones either. Given that result, I'm not real eager to experiment on this subject.

Regulators

I've tried two different regulators, unfortunately not on the same guns, and that makes it a little bit hard to compare them. I can, however, talk about the difference in regulater vs unregulated performance of those guns, and my perceptions of the value of each reg for the price.

• Sheridan RG-1

I picked this one up for under $70, and I've heard you can get them for even less now. I installed it mostly to have a vertical grip on my Autococker.

Before I installed it, I was getting +-7fps on CO2 from an anti-siphon 12oz tank. Now I get +-5fps. With very good paint I sometimes get +-3fps, but that's unusual. So for $70 I went from adequate performance to good performance, but not great.

• Palmer Stabilizer

These are available direct from Palmer's. Prices vary, depending on what sort of mount you want. Expect to pay at least $80, possibly as much as $125.

Out of the box, with a standard 12oz CO2 tank, I was having some real problems with my Houndstooth. One game I chrono'd at 285 going on and 350 coming out. Something clearly needed to be done. So, I ordered the Stabilizer and got the tank anti-siphoned to match.

The first time onto the field with the new reg, I was shooting -1fps. The omission of the "+" is intentional. Three shots over the crony, 288 288 287. I more typically get +-3fps, but still, there is no doubt in my mind that this is *the* regulator for CO2 users.

Wish List

I always keep a mental list of what I'm going to buy next. For a while this list was all Autococker mods, but now that mine is finally running an 100%, I'm reluctant to change it. These are the guns I'd love to buy, given a fat budget but the same fields I currently play at (ie, no 4500 psi air systems until Colors gets 4500 psi fills).

• ATS-Tagline AT-85R

It's a fully automatic paintball gun. It never breaks balls. And now it works with nitrogen and Viewloader hoppers. How can you go wrong with that?

Dream Configuration: Unported 12" Glenn Palmer barrel, on-gun Smart Parts Max-Flow 68ci HPA system, Viewloader Revolution with adapter, 45 grip with Smart Parts wood grip panels.

The unported barrel is to make sure it's loud enough that everyone around *knows* I'm shooting full auto at 'em.

• Glenn Palmer Nasty Hurricane (AKA "The Paint Engine")

It's got two barrels, nickel plated works, and a big ol' wooden stock. For sheer looks, I can't think of anything nearly so intimidating. I'm talking about serious enforcement power here, especially with a fast trigger.

Dream Configuration: Dual ported barrels, Pro-touch trigger job, double-finger trigger, remote Smart Parts Max-Flow 114ci HPA system, dual Viewloader VL3000s. With a 6+1 harness, that's 1200 rounds of paint at the ready. Which, figuring a 6bps trigger speed, I could shoot through in less than two minutes. If I could somehow load that fast.

• Wildside Paintball / AKA Low-Pressure Autococker

Like I said, my existing 'cocker is shooting pretty durn good right now. So if I want to check out this newfangled low-pressure craze, I need a new marker. The guys at Wildside are great sports and they really know the system inside and out.

Dream Configuration: VLFX Autococker with mill work to lighten the body, P-block, Clippard ram, Palmer 4-way, Rock regulator, trigger job, Nelspot kit, the full AKA low-pressure treatment, 14 inch Javelin barrel, and HPA. I'm occasionally tempted to grab a Minicocker instead, but I like having a full-size ASA to anchor the vertical grip.