PBMansion.com | Paintball

Thanks to Bobby French from team L.A. Ironmen for the inside info.
This information has only been released publicly here, and on our Paintball Forums as of 7/17/07. All I know so far is that legacy has dropped themselves from the NXL due to money issues, and with a world cup title nowhere in sight, continuing on against teams they cant compete with is seen as a waste. Gary shows was supporting the team, but getting nothing in return, and decided to pull the plug paintball completely.

I will post more information as it becomes available to me.

Nick Marmol

Dyanasty continues their domination of the NPPL with their win in Boston, proving once again, they are a great team with or without Oliver Lang. And coming off of a fresh win in the Chicago NXL event, X-Factor takes first in semi-pro division. Pittsburgh All-Americans gave Dynasty a run for their money in the semi-finals, but could not hold on. They lost and ended up getting the 4th spot. This allowed Dynasty to get the chance to take another first place victory in the 2007 season. Meanwhile, Infamous played Joy, and came out on top which left Joy and All Americans competing for third. Infamous and Dynasty were left battling for first place, and $25,000.

Joy division defeated All Americans in two straight games, Joy takes third place, and All Americans finish with fourth. The first game between Dynasty, and Infamous results in a draw, but in the two games following, Infamous put up a good effort, but fall short to Dynasty’s onslaught and lose their next two games. Infamous end up in second place, and dynasty takes first and the grand prize of $25,000.

Check out the scored from the boston event.

Pro

1. San Diego Dynasty
2. Los Angeles Infamous
3. Stockholm Joy
4. Pittsburgh All Americans

Semi-Pro

1. SA X-Factor
2. SD Aftermath
3. Boston Paintball
4. Redz Infamy

Division 1

1. Rock-It Kids
2. Naughty by Nature
3. Dynasty Entourage
4. Miami Devious

Division II

1. SCP Epic
2. NEX
3. Splat Kids
4. STD Factory

Division III

1. FYT
2. Team RNT
3. Air Assault Factory
4. Storm Riders

Keep Checking back for more event coverage, and player interviews

Nick Marmol

PBMansion

New paintball teams all over the world are looking for an easy “in” for free gear, and a successful tournament team. Though many teams have plenty of skill and dedication, the hard truth is that your team wont make it far without deals from sponsors. PBMansion would like to help every team out there get started, and take advantage of deals to help the teams chances of success, but this is an expensive task. That is why I will give you all the Information you need to get your first sponsorship, and any sponsorship after that.

Sponsors can be a great help to a beginner team, amateur teams, and even professional teams, but be careful which sponsors you choose for your team as they may end up being a demoralizing choice, or a wasted effort. From experience, I can say you will want to avoid hand out sponsorships that offer nothing but insignificant discount percentages. You may be excited to land your first deal, but you don’t want to get caught up in a contract deal for discounts that will not help you at all. One sponsorship I would recommend for your team’s first year is Redz Comfort where your team can purchase matching gear at cheap prices. Never accept a hand out sponsorship just for the sake of collecting as many companies as possible as “Sponsors.” If you did not have to create a sponsorship resume to gain sponsorship, chances are your sponsor is a wasted effort.

Below are requirements a lot of companies consider a necessity in order to earn a sponsorship.

• Team must have at least one team consisting of at least five players.
• Team must compete either locally or nationally, and must have tournament experience.
• Team must provide a full length, in depth sponsorship resume.
• Team must regularly provide in depth team updates to their sponsorship representative.
• Team must have a Website.

When you are a beginner team, try not to stress over getting sponsors, you should try to work out deals with local fields where you can get entry or paint discounted or free so you can practice cheap. Aside from practice, tournaments should be your number one priority. Try to place high in as many tournaments as possible. You should start with rookie tournaments so you have better chances. Once you get some tournament experience, and some 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place wins, you will be more likely to land a good sponsorship deal.

When you finish your first season with some successful wins, and you have picked up some decent sponsors, you will want to try to talk to your sponsor representative to get better deals for the new season. You should offer your opinion on what you think is fair, and ask the representative what he thinks. From there, you should be able to agree upon a reasonable deal. In addition to working out better deals with current sponsors, you may want to sign new sponsors, and drop some old ones. By this time you should have some basic knowledge down on how to approach a sponsor, and what kind of information to put on a resume. You will get better and better at working out deals as you get more experience with it, but dropping a sponsor will always be an awkward task. You should always think of the best way to express how the company is not meeting your needs, and can no longer offer you the assistance you need. remember though to do this in a mature and respectful manner because each and every sponsor should have been an important milestone in your paintball career, and you may run into this company as a sponsor later down the line.

When you send a sponsorship resume, companies will look for all of this information inside.
Top of page:

• Team Logo
• Team Name
• Team Website
• Team Owner
• Team Owner E-Mail Address
• Team Owner Address
• Team Captain(s)
• Date (mm/dd/yyyy)

Body of resume

• Team Summary with action pictures, and off field pictures. (2-3 Paragraphs)
• Team Goals (2-3 Paragraphs)
• Team Roster, include following information:

Picture:
Name:
Age:
Years of Experience:
Marker:
Hopper:
Mask:
Pants:
Pack:

Body (continued)

• Previous tournaments and standings
• Current sponsors
• Any important Information about your team
• Background information on team members (not relevant to paintball)
• What can you offer your sponsors in return.
• What do you look for in a sponsor

End of Resume.

Once you have familiarized yourself with the basics of a paintball sponsorship resume, try submitting your teams resume to these recommended sites:

PBMansion-Paintball Mansion

Redz-http://redzcomfort.com/sponsors.asp

Dye-http://www.dyeprecision.com/sponsorship.html 

Karnage Paintballs-http://www.karnagepaintballs.com/custompages.php?id=16

Good Luck,
Nick Marmol

Here’s a list of guns that you might want to look into if you are new and have never played before. They are all guns in the 1-300 dollar price range because you don’t know if you are going to like the sport until you play it, and don’t want to be stuck with a 600 dollar gun. So here’s a list that you could look into:

THESE ARE NOT THE ONLY GUNS!!!! there are a lot more out there, but these are probably your best bets since they are commonly used and easy to maintain. (most)

Tippmann 98 custom BASE: 139$

The 98 custom is considered a tank due to it being virtually invincible. Being an Open-Bolt semi-automatic marker it lets the user learn to play the game easily. With a simple upgrade, this can turn into an electronic marker, but at a high price (150-200$). The electronic version can fire automatic, semi, Auto-response, 3 shot burst, and turbo. Very reliable. Heavy. Best used for beginning woodsball play.

Smart Parts Ion: $180-$220

This marker is very easily changed to suit your mood, Body kits are interchangeable so you can put on a new color when you feel like it. Customization is decent, and it has an Impulse threaded barrel. With 17 balls a second and four firing modes (Auto, Semi, Burst, and “Rebound”) this is a decently fast marker. An anti-chop system and a light body also make this gun easy to use, a nice choice for a beginner with speedball in mind. It is also very easy to take apart because it has so few parts where as Tippmans, for example, arguably are slightly harder to take apart. This gun can take Co2 with an anti-siphon tube, but it is not recommended.

Spyder Imagine: $100-$115

At $108 this Marker is a bargain. The Three firing modes are Semi-auto, auto, and three shot burst. 14 balls a second and a rear cocking system makes this gun pretty comfortable. Vertical ball feed, tournament velocity adjuster, and an expansion chamber are some handy features too… This is a great beginner gun and in my opinion is probably right up there with the Tippmann as a beginner gun.

Bushmaster B2K4 with PDS: $215-$230

This marker has 36 cycles per second and a “Cocker” Threaded barrel making it very easy to find a aftermarket barrel. It has a dual ball detent to put a stop to double firing. Also, having a four way adjustable trigger makes it VERY comfortable to fire. For 250$ its a decently nice beginner marker.

Diablo Wrath: $250-$275

This is a step up from an entry level marker. Some features:
-Air Ram Operating System
-LCD Trigger Frame
-HPR and LPR
-Quick strip bolt
-Clamping feed neck
-Dual Break Beam Eyes
All in all thats pretty much all you need to know about the wrath, what you get is just that, a step up from an entry level marker.

Tippmann 98 Custom Pro: $140-$175

This is a little bit better than the 98 custom. With a longer barrel, the option of an e-grip (Makes the marker electronic) or a Response trigger, a drop forward, and a double trigger. Not bad if you are planning to put an e-grip on it since it already has a fine trigger.

Tippmann A-5: $230-$260

The Tippmann A-5 is a paintball marker with the patented Cyclone Feed System. The Cyclone Feed System Links the Feeder Sprocket to the Air System. The Faster you shoot, the faster the Tippmann A-5 feeds. Pull the Trigger 15 times a second, and the Tippmann A-5 feeds 15 balls per second. The Tippmann A-5 can also be heavily upgraded, there are e-grips, response triggers, and much, much more, I must say, it is a very hot gun. Like the 98 custom, this gun can be customized to scenario needs as well, with many upgrades to make it look like an AK, or an M-16, it’s a good gun if you don’t mind the bigger cyclone feed on the side instead of buying an electric hopper.

Pirahna R6: $115-$130

This is your average Semi-Automatic paintball marker, with an aluminum threaded barrel. This marker is corrosion resistant due to it being made of aircraft grade aluminum. With a price of only $120 this is a very in-expensive and heavy duty paintball marker.

Triumph XL, XT, EXT: $100-$170
XL: This is a Semi-Automatic paintball marker under the name of Triumph ( A company owned by Tippmann). This marker looks to be designed for the entry-level speedball player. It has a composite body similar to the grip frame of an A-5, and a center feed-neck like most speedball markers.

XT: Essentially the same thing as the XL, but included is an expansion chamber, a longer barrel and a grip on the front of the marker.

eXT: The same thing as the XT only it has an electronic grip built in so you have four firing modes instead of 1; Single shot, three shot burst, Safty full auto at 12 BPS, and Safty full auto at 15 BPS. This would make a very nice Entry or mid level speedball player. Upgrades may come soon but I really haven’t seen anything for it yet except barrels.

Spyder Pilot: $100-$140

The Spyder Pilot is a nice gun for beginners. It is electronic and comes with an anti-chop bolt so it’s harder to chop a ball. This gun is pretty fast for it’s price and is recommended for beginners.. They don’t make a lot of upgrades for this gun but there are always barrels and those types of upgrades.

ICD Promaster: $230-$255

The Promaster is a pretty nice gun if you discovered that you like paintball and you want a gun that still fits your budget. This and the Ion are about equal, I would say the promaster is a little better out of the box. This gun takes “Cocker” threads and like most electric guns, has eyes.

Spyder VS2: $230-$255

The VS2 is a nice gun for it’s price. It’s on the same level of the Ion and the Promaster out of the box. It has been controversial whether this gun can take Co2 or not. Some people say it can and some say it can’t. The VS2 has an On/Off, Clamping feedneck, eyes, 2 piece barrel, and an Infinity trigger. Nice gun for the price.

BT-4: $90-$130

The BT-4 is the exact same as the Tippmann (Basically). In fact, the BT in Bt-4 stands for Ben Tippmann. The creator of the BT series. This is a good gun if you are planning to go into scenarios and want realism as a factor.

Spyder VS1: $130-$150

All the VS1 is, is basically a downgraded version of the VS2. This gun can take Co2 because it doesn’t have the same regulator as the VS2 and the VS3. This gun is a good choice for beginners, it also has eyes so you don’t break a ball.

I would say for all these guns I wouldn’t go crazy on the hopper, at the most get an Evolution II but your best bet is just to get an Viewloader revolution, just because then you don’t have to keep shaking and shaking the gun to get the balls unclogged and mix ‘em up… Some guns like the Ion, VS2, Promaster, Bushmaster, Wrath, would probably need a Evolution II at the least.

Barrels: When it comes to barrels and guns in this price range, don’t go crazy.. try to go for a 20-40 dollar barrel at the most.. If you can find used, that’s even better. Get about 20-50 bucks off just because someone else had it before you. go for a 12-16 inch barrel. I have a 14″ and I like it.

What are eyes?: Eyes are just a detection system that only lets you shoot if it senses a ball is in the breech of the gun. Once the ball passes the eyes, the gun will be able to shoot. THIS IS NOT THE SAFETY/ON OFF BUTTON. I’ve seen accidents happen because people put the eyes on thinking that there is no ball in the gun and it goes off. Just because they are too lazy to put the safety on/ turn the gun off. This is a system that makes it so that you don’t chop a ball in half due to your hopper not feeding fast enough and etc.

You can find all of these paintball products at PBMansion’s Paintball Store