It seems that Milsim gear does not reflect the advantages of paintball over military spec. You might be wondering what advantages? Well it is pretty simple.

- a paintball marker can hold up to 200 rounds with comfort. A military rifle holds about one tenth that ammount on average. Paintball are small. Woot.

- a paintball marker and paintball gear in general can be incredibly lightweight and loose none of its effectivness. Military gear is on average very bulky and heavy, requiring more pouches, straps, weight distribution, etc.

- paintball barrels can be 10 inches long and be about 95 percent as accurate as a 20 inch barrel. A real rifle needs a long barrel in order to be accurate.

- a paintball marker provides almost no kick. Real rifles throw aim of from shot to shot, and require the operator to adjust for this reason.

- a paintball marker makes hardly any noise while firing with a good quiet barrel. A gun is loud.

- you can reload up to 140 rounds at a time in paintball. You only get what is in your clip on your rifle.

- in paintball, lazer beams, magnifying scopes and most other attachments other than the red dot is useless. This means you need many less rails and mounting areas as opposed to an assault rifle.

The list goes on. There are lots of advantages to paintball over military spec. My question is: Why the hell do scenario players keep thinking military spec equipment is going to improve their game of paintball?! The two have two distinct sets of needs. Why not have camoed gear that reflects the needs of outdoor paintball for the 20-30 minute game, without all the bulkiness, weight, heat and cost of the military stuff?

There is a group of people that do exploit the advantages of paintball already, and that is the speedballers.

In my opinion, most outdoor paintball gear and the companies thats sell it follow a trend set by the military. Why cant outdoor paintball gear SET the trend for once, and as a result be even MORE effective in the woods?

So i set out with a simple project to mis the two. Ok I cant put this into perfect context here its part gadget meets functionality... Any way the point was to get rid of the hopper and drop down the profile.

So any way while waiting on parts I decided to do what work I can on the paint stock while waiting. I have sculpted the buttstock part that allows the Q pod to be put in and out of the socket. I used expoxy putty to make a perfect female counterpart to the roundness of the Q pod. Q Pod is a intresting loading system that is like a screw in a tube that is spring loaded.



The CMS kit showed up so I decided to take a pic at that time to show every one a Before shot.



First is the air on config, with the paint under the tank. I can honestly say that if I had a ten inch or shorter barrel and was not in need of that red dot then I would TOTALLY use this setup. VERY comfy to shoulder, and very rugged. That Q pod is safe as hell under that tank, and that Rhino tank cover sticks to your shoulder great. I love those things.

Limitations? You can not get enough mask clearance to sight up with the red dot. Thats the biggie. Yes, you can squeeze your head in there, but it is not fun, and would not be a good and clean action to make with aiming/firing with haste. Another limitation is that this is a back heavy configuration, with no real hope of balancing the marker out. If you dont mind a back heavy marker, or if you always use a back heavy marker anyways, then this would not bother you at all.

Its looks as tho it might be hard to change pods, but it is easy as having it anywhere else. The tank does not get in the way at all.

This setup really gives you a great feeling when the marker is shouldered. It is very streamlined, and VERY tight when shouldered.

The best news is that these are all on-the-shelf parts, and you can easily make this on your own without any modifications. Woot.



So this is the general Idea of what I intended to do. This is my fave configuration. It is worth mentioning that this is not the prettiest way to set it up, but with the CMS bracket being the way it is, and without modifying it, this is as good as it gets for stability and positioning. I can say that this is REALLY comfy, with your whole hand being able to grip and not be obstructed by the Loader in the least.

If I had access to some metal milling Id try to make a nicer bracket to hold the Loader, perhaps on an angle following the t stock. One day I might, but for now I am going to stick with fairly easy-to-get items in case anyone else wants to try to make their own.

The lower one of the two has a little Photoshopped buttplate on it. I made one in foam already. UBER COMFY. Total mask clearance for days. You can snap shoulder this thing and sight up in no time flat. With the remote a little closer to the center it makes it a little easier to go into a ready position, with the buttplate resting on the chest.

It is worth mentioning that I am using the ADCO sureshot red dot, which has a natural raise to it, due to the calibration system. I love it, and it means I dont have to get a sight riser. Double woot. Thanks to Borph for that one.

So, next up is building my buttplate. Shouldnt be to tricky, as I have built prototypes from foam about a billion times while waiting for my CMS!





Now I have to wait for this to harden (about 4 hourse, with a 24 hour full cure time) and then sand it to a nice smooth finish.

Just the first part. There are two other sections to go. I am now in the process of ordering ANOTHER gas thru t stock, as mine has a rounded and worn nipple, and it leaks too easily. Ill have that in a week or two, and then get to sculpting the buttstock, which is the most important peice. The after that Ill do the one peice bolt cover and stock shroud.



Here is a photo spread of the Q-butt I just finished up today. I painted my custom sculpted components black (until they are wrapped in camo) and did up the Q Pods too.

Q Pods do NOT like to be painted, just so you know. I sanded them and they still repel paint. Not fun. Notice the strip left on the pod side. That is to check ammo in your pod. Make sure to do the same if you paint or wrap your pods!

I also added some thin foam rubber to the receiving bottom end of the buttstock, and as a buttplate. The foam on the bottom is to stop the Pod from moving or rubbing on the buttstock. It makes it very snug, and wobble free. The buttplate is nice and comfy, and more comfy than the average buttstock that does not even hold paint! I also carved out the bottom section of the buttstock to lighten it a little.












As you can see the marker sits at a very nice height for shooting, and allows for total mask clearance. The rounded nature of the buttstock allows for super fast shouldering. The low profile nature of hiding the paint in the stock is more like NO profile! This design has far exceeded my expectations for comfort and stealth.

I have still yet to sculpt the foregrip. Oh yeah, and these parts are totally removable. The thumbhole part is friction locked between the Q loader and the gripframe, and the buttstock is just sculpted right on top of the old t stock post. I another post Ill take pics of it all broken down.

Thre was alot of debate on the Special Ops forums about what the best sniper marker is. Obviously, anything that throws a paintball is usefull, but proper gear choices help the paintball "sniper.
- The less there is sticking off the marker the less there is to detect, so the operator of the Pragmata becomes tighter and stealthier.
- The Q Loader operates without any noise at all, and still delivers paint as fast as any noisy motorized hopper. This also adds to stealth.
- The mag under the hood is double-regulated, and when fueled with HPA is one of the most consistient markers in the world. This helps with shot-to-shot accuracy and first-shot accuracy, among other things.
- alot of barrels will do, but the Stiffi does a great job while being quite silent. I might suggest getting the 14 inch however. The 16 is overkill. Alot of stealth and accuracy with the Stiffi.
- the back bottle adapter, t stock and the naturally tall ADCO red dot provide PLENTY of great mask clearance. A must for anyone who uses a buttstock while wearing a paintball mask.
- the warp body allows the operator to aim down the barrel, and not beside it. No offsets needed for your red dot. This is a true rifle feel, and aiming becomes intuative and natural this way. You will get shot in the head more however!



At this point I put some MARPAT on my marker. Not the best pic, but not bad for now. A little shiny for my taste, but the spray varnish ended up a little more glossy then usual. This will tone down after a full cure time.

Changing out Q pods is really quick, solid, and easy. I have noit played a game with this configuration yet, but will do this coming weekend. The 16 inch barrel is a little clumsy and gawdy, but its not all that bad. Ill post a report after this weekend.





The Apoxie Sculpt can take a hit like any other plastic component, as it is a plastic in essence. It is fairly lightweight, and is very strong. Sanding it into the desired smoothness is quite easy and long as you have a fair bit of skill in the area. It is actually ten times easier to just paint the Apoxie parts you make, as it accepts paint very well. The marker and Q Loader do not. Betweent he vinyl layer and the durability of the Apoxie parts I am confident it will hold up to some serious stress.

I hope this serves as a little tutorial to show you guys just how much you can really do with Apoxie Sculpt to make your own little gadget addons for just about any thing.

On another note... Al needs to fix the text and photo limit in a single post so I dont have to make 12 posts to post one artical or tutorial

Very nice custom job there Case, I've only be paintballing twice but if I had a gun like that I'd probably go more often and be the shooter instead of the victim for a change.

On a side not I've increased the max post size to cater for long posts like this (I think images are at 20 at the moment which should be more than enough)

I would only change the rule set for the DIY forums its the only place it will be needed honestly....

I am workin on 2 more projects now for a TAC-ONE Mag in a assault platform and a sniper platform with a electronic feed system that can be hot swaped between two systems for diffrent style of profiles based on your roll you are playing.

barrels can be 10 inches long and be about 95 percent as accurate as a 20 inch barrel?

Could be true in that (assuming 20" is perfect accuracy at 0 degrees off and that 90 degrees is 100% off) that would mean a 10" barrel would shoot about 5 degrees off. that sounds about right.
But for real guns the accuracy dufference between a 16" and a 28" is pretty small it would be about a 2" to a 1" pattern at 100 yards. So would that be half as accurate or 99.95% as accurate?

But nice gun I really like the stock and q loader but try using a copper elbow to get the feed pipe tight against the gun.

In paintball it is... Actual comprehensive tests from our beloved Air Gun Designs (Love their markers) that really all you need is 8in after that it does not really matter much at all. You have to understand that your shooting a round capsule with a gelatin like liquid that will not have the dynamics of a bullet no matter how you dice it. The liquid will settle to the bottom leaving it some what uneven plus your deal with C02 or HPA or N2, c02 is very inconsistent, HPA and N@ arem uch more consistent but its still greatly affected by its environment. SO no matter what a paintball marker will all ways have some what of a spray pattern no matter what kind of barrel. Its more of a question of how tight of a grouping can you actually get.

Also being that i am right handed the elbow is fine. I also have a Warpfeed rig so its right in the sweet spot .

Get out a gun put it in a gun vice (gun rest) or somthing solid and shoot it with and 8" and then a 16" the paterns will be less than half as larg at ranges from 30 to 40 yards.

Ps how heavy is the stock (not including the qloader)?

I have not weighed it but its a lightweight plastic not heavy at all..

That my friend is one killer paintball gun!!!

Thank you

Beautiful work man.
I'm working on something similar, modding an Ion. I don't like the Q-Loader, so it will be a custom motorized loader.
Hey you forgot to post how it performed on the field!