Darkfreedom Paintball

This page will mostly include comments, reccomendations, insults, praise, and all around general mention of different models of paintball guns. Not just my favorites (stock class) but all paintball guns either I or others have reviewed, used, seen used, or read up a whole lot on. Please enjoy...

(Note: The author of the british look at paintball guns is rather cynical, perhaps a relation to Simon Cowel even, But as a treat for reading the review, {or more likely skimming and scrolling through it} there's something special just on the other side, please enjoy.)

Pump-Action:

001 : Nelson 007/008



Calibre : .68 /// Powered : 12grm Powerlets Shots Per Second : 1 if your lucky /// Origin : USA

The Nelson 007 bolt action pistol was probably the earliest ever design paintball gun on the circuit, which had a bolt on the side of it which needed to be cocked every time you wanted to fire the gun. The basic working internal's of the Nelson 007 became the standard for every pump gun to follow for years to come.


002 : Splatmaster



Calibre : .68 /// Powered : 12grm Powerlets /// Shots Per Second : 1 or less /// Origin : USA

If old school players or anyone who played in the 80's or early 90's was to remember a piece of paintball history it would be the Splatmaster. Most paintball sites have used the Splatty and some still do. It is a true pistol which comes with a holster, which is cocked from the back and considering it has a moulded plastic barrel the accuracy of these things was brilliant.


003 : Daystate

Calibre : .62 /// Powered : Air /// Shots Per Second : 1, 2 or 3 depending on age of gun /// Origin : UK

If you weren't playing with a Splatmaster in the early days then you probably were using one of these old dinosaurs. The Daystate hung around like a bad smell with various different upgrades right up until the mid 90's. I know there will be old site operators jumping up and down swearing by these heavy built guns, but it is fair to say that may the Daystate rest in peace as man hole covers which I believe is where most of them now lay.


004 : PGP



Calibre : .68 /// Powered : 12grm Powerlets /// Shots Per Second : ? /// Origin : USA

The exact point of this gun is... I'm not quite sure. It takes ages to gas up, and even longer to fill with paint, which is a meager 10 balls only. The range from the ones we've seen has been around the length of baby's arm. I think the idea that it looks quite good is merit enough for a few sales. Not quite paintball's worst ever designed gun but very close.
(Note from DarkFreedom: This bloke has obviously never actually used a pgp as it is easily a useful, rigid weapon of choice here in the U.S.A.!!)


005 : Bushmaster



Calibre : .68 /// Powered : 12grm Powerlets or Constant Air (Co2) /// Shots Per Second : Up to 5 /// Origin : USA

During the height of the tournament pump age you used either a Bush or a Phantom and players generally wouldn't be seen with both in their kit bag. Manufactured by Line SI the Bushmaster was the gun to be customised with a removable barrel and a host of powerstems that slotted into them. Once fitted with a set of 45 grips the bush was probably one of the best looking guns out there. One of the first nelspot design guns to have a slam fire feature which allowed you to keep the trigger depressed and keep on pumping.


006 : Phantom



Calibre : .68 /// Powered : 12grm Powerlets or Constant Air (Co2) /// Shots Per Second : Up to 5 /// Origin : USA

Available in any colour as long as it's black. With the exception of the colour options the Phantom is the height of precision pump guns and the marker to be reckoned with. No hefty pump arms, slim, sleek and stripped with just two thumb screws. The distinctive sound of the Phantom is a quiet thud. There are many copies of the Phantom to follow, none of which has really made any impact.

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007 : Reb Line



Calibre : .68 /// Powered : 12grm Powerlets or Constant Air (Co2) /// Shots Per Second : Up to 5 /// Origin : USA

If the bushmaster was ever to be bettered the closest contender would probably have been the Reb Line. Every part of the gun was quick to strip and it looked the business. It's only downfall being it hit the pump market in its height and struggled carving its market.


008 : Budd Orr Sniper



Calibre : .68 /// Powered : 12grm Powerlets or Constant Air (Co2) /// Shots Per Second : Up to 5 /// Origin : USA

The pump version and the predecessor to the much loved Autococker which is still in use today, the Sniper has seen more changes and more custom versions than any other gun on the market. The original version was ugly, heavy and was not slam capable. It hit the market about the same time as the Phantom and the Bushmaster and compared, it was the inferior marker. But it's robust and flexible design has allowed it to be fitted with slam triggers and more recently into state of the art semi autos.

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009 : Brute

Calibre : .68 /// Powered : 12grm Powerlets or Constant Air (Co2) /// Shots Per Second : Up to 4 /// Origin : Brazil

I think this gun originated in Brazil where they tried to mass produce a cheap site gun based of the nelspot design similar to the Bushmaster. It looked OK but had ability to fire the power stem (valve) out of the barrel, making it more of a spear gun rather than a paintball gun. A fairly inferior marker. Fitted with a phantom power stem the performance and reliability of the Brute improved 100%.


010 : Sterling



Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Constant Air (Co2)/ Compressed Air /// Shots Per Second : Up to 5 /// Origin : UK

If one pump gun was ever to be crown the king of pumps it is with out a shadow of a doubt the Sterling. It has been seen in it's basic form on many of the big UK sites and in its STP form it was used buy the Predators to consistently win tournaments throughout the mid 90's. It's domination of the pump scene carried on well into the semi era with teams not willing to drop them. A semi version was always promised but never really arrived. If you're looking for a pump gun to play with the Sterling should be your first choice.

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011 : KPM Shotgun

Calibre : .68 /// Powered : 12grm Powerlets /// Shots Per Second : 1 at most /// Origin : USA

The original KPM came out of the box and looked just like a real gun. Fitted with wooden stock and integral gas and paint storage this paintball marker could fool even the most clued up Post Offices ( and there were a few ). It could hold about 15 paintballs along the brass tube mounted along the right hand side of the gun. A Co2 powerlet was dropped down the bottom barrel of the gun and screwed in to gas it up. To fire the gun you had to use a pump, wiggle and fire motion allowing a very slow rate of fire.


012 : Deuce

Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Constant Air (Co2) /// Shots Per Second : Up to 8 or more /// Origin : USA

A doubled barreled paintball gun. The exact point of this can only have been to S*iT your opponent up when faced with the Deuce. Mounted with two hoppers and slam fire it was probably possible to fire 8+ balls per second.

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013 : Tippman SL68



Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Constant Air (Co2) /// Shots Per Second : 3 /// Origin : USA

I remember stories of people reversing cars over the old SL68's and they still worked like new. If there is a totally indestructible gun it is definitely the SL68. The body was cast and access to the valve was only through the front of the gun. It had a distinctive window on the left hand side of the gun where the ball looked like it was going to fall out of every time you pumped the gun. Also it came with a built in elbow allowing you to fit a hopper straight to it which seems to have become Tippmans trade mark.


014 : Cobra



Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Constant Air (Co2) /// Shots Per Second : Up to 3 /// Origin : USA

The Cobra was the choice of many of the Simulated Activities Sites over the UK. Fairly robust like all Brass Eagle guns with a distinctive sound as the internal hammer bounced of the valve. The Cobra led the way for the design of many of Brass Eagles blow back semi's to follow. Unfortunately the Cobra did not come slam capable meaning a slower rate of fire than a lot of its competitors.

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015 : Ranger



Calibre : .68 /// Powered : 12grm Powerlets or Constant Air (Co2) /// Shots Per Second : Up to 5 /// Origin : USA

A slam fire capable, wrap round pump gun similar to many of it's predecessors. It was built well and made good site guns. They weren't really seen as a tournament option, probably because the age of the semi was upon it. The good thing about the Ranger was that it always seemed to have a shorter pump travel than most other similar guns allowing a marginally faster rate of fire.


016 : Nightmare

Calibre : .68 /// Powered : 12grm Powerlets /// Shots Per Second : 1 /// Origin : USA

Another gun with an integral paint and gas supply. The Nightmare was one of the best looking guns Brass Eagle made. The paintballs are loaded into the top tube where they fell into the breech when the gun was pumped. Most of the time these guns were fired they generally blew bark off trees, it wasn't known for it's subtlety. Later models were fitted with hopper and constant air attachments.

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017 : Razorback



Calibre : .68 /// Powered : 12grm Powerlets or Constant Air (Co2) /// Shots Per Second : Up to 4 /// Origin : USA

WWP's Razorback was virtually the industry standard site gun for many sites throughout the UK. It was a based on the nelspot design with slam fire option and finished off in a gun metal grey. It's long power stem was prone to breakage's but other than that they were a good rental site gun. Following on from the Razorback came the Black Widow which apart from being black was exactly the same.


018 : Traccer



Calibre : .68 /// Powered : 12grm Powerlets or Constant Air (Co2) /// Shots Per Second : Up to 4 /// Origin : USA

Pmi's oddly spelt Traccer is probably the final design for the nelspot styled markers. Many manufacturers have taken the nelpost gun and redesigned it, but none quite so much as PMI. The 3 major differences that the Traccer had to all of its predecessor was its two part cup seal, it's stumpy power stem and it's ability to lock once it had been pumped. The only problem that it suffers from is the bending of the body when a bottle was mounted straight to the donkey and used heavy handedly.

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019 : Patriot

Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Constant Air (Co2) or Air /// Shots Per Second : 3 /// Origin : UK

Heavy, hard to pump and often broken would sum up Daystate's Patriot. We should really be kind to Patriot because it one of the few British guns. But every one we have come across has just been pants so unless anyone knows any different ! C- must try harder.

Semi-Autos:

020 : Splatmaster Rapide

Calibre : .68 /// Powered : 12grm Powerlets
Shots Per Second : 1 /// Origin : USA

From the humble Splatmaster comes the Splatmaster Rapide. It's not really an improvement, in fact I think most people would still opt for the original bolt action Splatty. The Rapide had a tripper pull as long as the M25 and many times when you did finally get to the end of the trigger pull the gun wouldn't go off. Although this humble pistol does fall under the category semi that's the last thing it going to give you.


021 : Barracuda



Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Constant Air (Co2)
Shots Per Second : 3 /// Origin : USA

The biggest paintball gun ever manufactured would definitely be the Barracuda. It came with a 22 inch barrel, carry handel and many other bits of not much use bolted on to it. Short of this the Barracuda was the gun to strut around the safe zone with. With a gun this big who needs a penis. The semi-auto mechanics was one of the best bolt action designs on the market with a trigger pull of about half an inch. You could fire a good 3 shots per second with this thing, but unfortunately you were left with a blister at the end of the day. If paintball guns ever become collectors items I'm sure this one will be one of them.


022 : Advantage



Calibre : .68 /// Powered : 12grm Powerlets or Constant Air (Co2)
Shots Per Second : 2 /// Origin : USA

Line SI's launch into the semi market came in the form the Advantage. Unfortunately owning one of these things was more of a disadvantage. Luckily when it hit the market there were few semi's to compete against it and it's looks alone sold some of this model. To be honest it wasn't all that bad but it suffered from a huge trigger pull and it consistently broke trigger springs. On top of this someone at Line SI designed the shortest feed stub (where the hopper connects) which meant that when you were running around the woods the hopper would fall off.


023 : Golden Eagle



Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Constant Air (Co2)
Shots Per Second : Up to 5 /// Origin : USA

Brass Eagle were not worried about conserving weight when they built this gun. It weighed a ton and had the longest body of a gun you've ever seen. Unfortunately it had a tiny little barrel. It wasn't a great gun but it was the first real blow back semi-auto to hit the market which made it a great gun. It would chop and smash balls quicker that you could reverse you car over a box of paint, but it was a blow back which meant the trigger pull was short and you could paint the woods what ever colour you so desired. The advent of this gun meant paintball was about to change. The Turks were the first team to fully use the Eagle and there are still people today suffering from the canings that were dished out. Following this the fully sponsored Eagles team hit the scene and there was no turning back.

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024 : Poison



Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Constant Air (Co2)
Shots Per Second : Up to 5 /// Origin : USA

Another marker from Brass Eagle's range of blow back semi-autos is the poison. It was the cheaper option to the Golden Eagle and one that was seen on many sites as a good rental semi. As with all blow backs it consumed heavy amounts of gas and wasn't the most agile of guns.


025 : Brutamatic

Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Constant Air (Co2)
Shots Per Second : None /// Origin : Brazil

Not many people would have come across one of these disasters, but there are a few site that tried them and several shops that sold them. Where do you start with a gun that comes straight out of the box broken, and when you do try and fix it you are presented with bolts that strip allowing no access to the internals. If you did manage to find a working model it had this habit of turning perfectly good paintballs into liquid before they even left the barrel. If there is a worlds worst paintball gun the Brutamatic is it.

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026 : Icon Z1

Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Constant Air (Co2)
Shots Per Second : 5+ /// Origin : USA

When the Icon Z1 hit the scene it showed how good a blow back semi could really be. The Z1 was capable of consistently firing ball after ball with a fairly low breakage count in the breech. It was robust if not a little ugly but a gun you could pull out of your kit back day after day. The weakest part of the gun proved to be slide rail which was fitted underneath the sight rail. The Icon went on to be copied from all corners of the world.


027 : Illustrator F1



Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Constant Air (Co2)
Shots Per Second : Up to 5 /// Origin : USA

The F1 was a good looking gun, which weighed very little and when the pin didn't break it was a good marker. Heavily advertised in the paintball press the Illustrator went on to be a good seller and since the F1 it has gone through many changes and is still seen around today.

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028 : Automag Lvl 7



Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Vapour Co2 or Air
Shots Per Second : Up to 7 /// Origin : USA

The gun to be customised, the gun to be seen with and the gun which changed the thinking of how good semi-auto can really be. Whilst everyone had been customising blow back semi's and trying to make them perform all the more better a man called Tom Kay was waiting to release his final design of his Automag. Manufactured by Airgun Designs the Automag used a totally different blow forward valve system. It was faster than a blow back and used less gas. There wasn't a gun to touch the mag until the Autococker matured.


029 : Minimag



Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Vapour Co2 or Air
Shots Per Second : Up to 7 /// Origin : USA

Based entirely off the design of the Automag, Airgun Design's Minimag was actually bigger than the Auto mag with the exception of the barrel. It is however a better looking gun with its vented body and stumpy little barrel.

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030 : Autococker



Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Vapour Co2 or Air
Shots Per Second : Up to 6 /// Origin : USA

Budd Orr's early pump gun the Sniper has literally been given an auto cocking device where the pump used to sit. If you like guns that look the part Autococker is your gun. It makes great noises and the bolt at the back which slams back and forth everytime you pull the trigger is more than entertaining. The basic Autococker was probably not a better gun than the Automag, however it's ability to be customised launched it above the mag on the pro tournament scene.


031 : Evolution Autococker



Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Vapour Co2 or Air
Shots Per Second : Up to 6 /// Origin : USA

Keith and Steve Belsey the Farnborough boys at Belsales took the Autococker threw most of it away except the body and then rebuilt it to present us with the Evolution Autococker. To say this gun was good would be an insult. The Evo out shot every other gun on the field, with its smooth rapid rate of fire and ball on ball accuracy. The only downfall if any is the price, they are not cheap, don't expect to pick one of these up for less than £800 if not £1000 and second hand ones aren't much cheaper. The Evo is still a contender even with today's electronic guns.

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032 : Eclipse Autococker



Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Vapour Co2 or Air
Shots Per Second : Up to 8 /// Origin : USA/UK

Paintball Planet's version of the custom autococker was always far more cosmetic than the Evolution. A first class gun capable of fitting in to any pro players kit bag. Most of the Eclipse's came splash anodized with all sorts of improvements over the original Autococker.


033 : Inferno



Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Constant Air (Co2)
Shots Per Second : Up to 5 /// Origin : UK

One of the first true built British guns is the Inferno. Manufactured by the same guys who brought us the Evolution Autococker so the gun was bound to be of high quality. Still available today and used by many top paintball sites over the UK, the Inferno is a rapid, well finished semi-auto that allows first time players to play with a gun that gives serious accuracy.

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034 : Tippman M98



Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Constant Air (Co2) or Air
Shots Per Second : Up to 4 /// Origin : USA

The Model 98 Tippman is proving to be one of the biggest selling site guns. It competes directly against the Inferno with a similar price and performance but that's where the similarities end. To fix the M98 it splits in half like the old Splatmasters used to and its body is cast making it a very robust gun. It comes complete with a fixed elbow, ported barrel, hopper and spares kit which makes it an ideal starter gun.


035 : PMI-3



Calibre : .68 /// Powered : C/A
Shots Per Second : 4+ /// Origin : USA

Now as a rule we shouldn't slate the PMI-3 as it was one of the early blow back semi-autos which led the way to the guns that we use today. But, I reckon the design team should have been shot for some really basic errors when designing this thing. The most obvious fault was the forward mounting donkey which means that you either screw the bottle in the front making the gun enormously front heavy or you spend loads of money converting it so the bottle is mounted like a normal paintball as pictured here.

Electro-Pneumatics:

036 : Shocker



Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Vapour Co2 or Air
Shots Per Second : Up to 11 /// Origin : USA

One of the first electronic guns that used a brain to load and fire the ball. The gun is still powered by Air but the timing is done through the micro chip located within the body. The only down fall of the Shocker is that it is big and stocky, but many players prefer this. Other than this the Shocker is an awesome piece of kit that fires huge amounts of paint in a dead straight line. Heavy gas consumption is a trait of the Shocker.


037 : Angel

Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Air
Shots Per Second : Up to 8 /// Origin : UK

Conceived in Birmingham by the WDP boys the Angel is the British Electro-Pneumatic paintball gun that is slightly smaller than the Shocker and more cosmetic. It's probably fair to say that the early Angels were not spot on with reliability and were released prematurely to compete with its American counterpart.


038 : Angel LCD



Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Air
Shots Per Second : Up to 12 /// Origin : UK

The latest Angels are the much improved gun that the original wasn't. They're reliable, accurate and probably the best paintball gun on the planet to date. It has 24 different modes of fire from one pull of the trigger for 3 shots to fully auto. Not only does it count the amount of balls you shoot per game, but it counts the amount of balls it's shot from day one. The only thing that now restricts the Angel is the law (fully auto is not legal). LCD Angel set up is likely to cost you around £1500.

039 : E-Mag



Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Air
Shots Per Second : Lots /// Origin : USA

I'm sure that from past performances the E-Mag will be one of the hottest contenders to the Angel LCD. We haven't had the chance to test it yet at the paintball .co.uk office but as soon as they send us one we will do just that. Teams are already winning tournaments with them in the States so we await to see which UK team takes it on.

I saw these and had to share. As I wipe the droll off my chin, enjoy these pics and join me in dreaming of ownership of these weapons that just scream "I PWN YOU!!!"

Short N' Nasty

(Dare i guess this is a double barrel pgp of sorts?)

Doc Nickel's one of a kind, milled from scratch, double barrel "Vee Twin" Cocker!

Ken of KPCS built this double barreled Cocker named Ma-deuce-a.

The Bandit Cocker built by Bandit Paintball.

Very rare Wintec Thunder Bolt 2 pump. Only 15 were sold to the public!

The rare Deuce pump produced by Gotch-Ya!.

A custom double barreled gun made by a very talented Tippmann tech.

Weltman's custom double barreled Sheridan KP pump.

The Dual Mag!

Rainman229's double barreled Rainmaker.

Ryan 'Knobby' Barnett's Brute Gun. Cam driven dual VM-68s.

A custom dual AT-85.

And for the parting shot, true overkill at it's finest!!!