Pro-Team Products gets patent for Tac Cap

Pro-Team Products is pleased to announce the granting of a design patent for its innovative TAC CAP(TM) "reduced profile loader for pneumatic launcher" design by the USPTO.

Pro-Team Products, a leading design and manufacturer of cutting-edge paintball technologies was awarded design patent #D558280 for the device.

The TAC CAP is an adjustable capacity loader cap designed to fit the Tippmann A-5 paintball gun Cyclone feeder. The Tac Cap can be modified by the user to hold 30, 60 or 90 rounds, and is supplied with a flip-top lid for easy reloading.

The product has become particularly popular with mil-sim players and with military and law enforcement trainers; replacing the standard 200 round magazine with a 30 round TAC CAP restricts the marker to realistic magazine capacities.

RECON Magazine Partners with Blast Radius Woodsball Podcast

RECON, the Magazine of Woods Paintball, has teamed up with Blast Radius Woodsball Podcast to bring the paintball community even more in depth coverage of the sport.

The show's host, Wayne Montle, will broadcast exclusive interviews with RECON staff, photographers and reporters to uncover the "inside story" behind selected articles in the magazine.

Montle and RECON Editor-in-Chief Dawn Allcot first met at the 2007 Special Ops Elite Weekend. Montle loaned Allcot a remote line for her Tippmann A-5 paintball gun and the two media professionals became fast friends. With so much synergy between the Podcast and the magazine, Montle devised this creative cross-promotion to benefit the woodsball and scenario community.

"When you pick up a copy of RECON, you are getting the best print coverage available the best articles and the best images in the business," Montle commented. "Blast Radius Woodsball Podcast is proud to help expand that coverage. Now you can get the story behind the story. Listeners can find out how the columns came together, plus learn all the details that didn't get printed." Allcot said, "I've always been a fan of Wayne's show, and I'm excited about this partnership! We're in the age of multimedia. While players still enjoy picking up a print publication for the in depth stories and full color photos, it's great to be able to offer a whole new level of coverage thanks to Blast Radius Woodsball Podcast."

As part of the agreement, BRWP will hold special listener contests to give away free subscriptions to RECON during the show. Additionally, Montle will fill the role as RECON Multimedia Correspondent during the 2008 scenario paintball season.

Blast Radius Woodsball Podcast is independently produced by Wayne Montle of Boulder, Colorado. Montle has been playing paintball since 1990, and began creating the podcast in July 2006. He hosts each episode, which provides interviews, reviews, and commentary on recreational and scenario paintball. A podcast is similar to a radio show available on-demand via the Internet. Listeners can subscribe for free and listen to episodes on an mp3 player or computer. Blast Radius Woodsball Podcast is freely available through http://www.blastradiuswoodsballpodcast.com/, and can be found on iTunes and other podcast directories.

RECON, the Magazine of Woods Paintball, offers readers the best in woodsball and scenario coverage and photography. Created, edited and designed by paintballers, for paintballers, RECON is published four times a year and is sold at Barnes & Nobles, Borders Books, B. Dalton, Waldenbooks, Hastings and Gander Mountain bookstores, through http://www.specialopspaintball.com/ and at select paintball stores and fields. RECON is a subsidiary of Special Ops Paintball, the world's leading resource for woodsball players.

Yankee Division signs with Tippmann Sports

The Yankee Division Paintball Team is proud to announce they have signed a new sponsorship deal with Tippmann Sports and have declared the new Tippmann SO X7 paintball gun as the team's official marker. Tippmann’s line of markers has been the staple of paintball players for two decades with even more exciting ideas planned for the future. The YD is excited and honored to be chosen by Tippmann to help bring the Tippmann family of markers, including the recently released Tippmann SO X7 paintball gun, to even more paintball enthusiasts in 2008.

“This is a great day for both the YD and Tippmann”, says Brandon "Cyclops" Boucher, co-founder of the team. “We will use our style of milsim play combined with Tippmann’s famous brand of marker to elevate both organizations to new heights." He went on to say, "The new SO X7 is an amazing marker! I can't wait to rip up the field with this baby...my only problem is it's so customizable I just can't decide what mods to use, so I may just have to get them all!"

For more than 20 years, Tippmann Sports has been dedicated to quality manufacturing and the pursuit of cutting-edge technology and design. The company serves the paintball industry from its headquarters and manufacturing facility in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Tippmann Sports’ complete line of paintball markers and related accessories can be found at paintball stores and fields as well as mass retail and sporting goods outlets throughout the world.

The Yankee Division Paintball Team, a Massachusetts based scenario team, was founded in late 2002 by Brian "Teabag" Harvard and Brandon "Cyclops" Boucher. The team won their first MVT in 2007 at West Point's "Big Game" and haven't looked back. They followed that up with a Sportsmanship Award at Viper's Blanding game in May, and 2 more MVT's over the summer. You can visit the Yankee Division at their new website, Yankee Division Paintball.

Additional information about Tippmann Sports can be obtained by calling 1-800-533-4831 or by visiting the company’s Web site, Tippmann

Tippmann Terminates Distribution through American Paintball Supply and Archon Paintball Supply

Buffalo Grove, Ill. (December 14, 2007) – Tippmann Sports, the world-leading manufacturer of high performance paintball markers and related accessories, announced today that it is terminating distribution of all Tippmann products through American Paintball Supply and Archon Paintball Supply.

“We truly appreciate the support dealers and fields in the paintball industry have demonstrated to Tippmann for over 20 years,” said Patrick Ehren, vice president of sales and marketing for Tippmann Sports. “And, we are committed to assuring that our customers will have an uninterrupted supply of Tippmann product moving forward.” Dealers and fields located in the U.S. can continue to order Tippmann products directly through Tippmann or through Procaps Direct. Call the company at 1-800-533-4831 for more information.

For more than 20 years, Tippmann Sports has been dedicated to quality manufacturing and the pursuit of cutting-edge technology and design. The company serves the paintball industry from its headquarters and manufacturing facility in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Tippmann Sports’ complete line of paintball markers and related accessories can be found at paintball stores and fields as well as mass retail and sporting goods outlets throughout the world.

Additional information about Tippmann Sports can be obtained by calling 1-800-533-4831 or by visiting the company’s Web site, www.tippmann.com .

Tippmann X7 vs. Tippmann A5

The king of paintball has been dethroned...or has it. For years now new ballers and veteran ballers alike have had a special place in their hearts for the Tippmann A5 paintball gun but the question on the street lately has been will the newest release from Tippmann, The Tippmann X7 paintball gun, conjure up the same cult following that the Tippmann A5 paintball gun has enjoyed for years?

For years now paintballin' guys and gals alike that have just been getting into the sport have gone the A5 route due to its reliability, ease of use and of course the bang for the buck factor. Most people have held onto their beloved A5's as they have progressed in their ability because of the A5's ability to do the same. No matter what your skills are the A5 has the ability to adapt and grow right along with you unless of course your skills have to do with speedball, that's another story).

The recent release of Tippmanns X7 paintball gun came with a lot of hype. It was the first release in history that was a collaboration between a manufacturer and an existing paintball retailer have joined forces to release a gun. The real question is whether or not a collaboration like this is for the best. There is quite a laundry lists of cons that come from a collaboration of this nature, one of the largest is limited mods.

Although Tippmann is claiming that there will be millions of different setups for the look of the actual gun, that is all banking on when Specops decides to release them, because they have exclusive rights to the mods for the X7. Now does "exclusive rights" mean that other manufacturers aren't going to enter the market with some mods of their own, maybe, maybe not. I guess it all depends on the mood of the guys at Tippmann and Specops whether they decide to pursue legal action or not is up to them.

The biggest downside to the Tippmann X7 paintball gun is the lack of control that the paintballers around the world have over the "non-commercialized" customization of the marker itself and that is really where the A5 is still far superior, there are thousands of ways already that you can customize your Tippmann A5 paintball gun and there are no restriction as to who can jump in the market when they create something that is different and possibly cooler than the last guy had created.

With all that said our opinion on the Tippmann X7 paintball gun is that it is overall a good gun. How can you go wrong with Tippmann Reliability right? A couple of the features that we liked the most about it is the scratch resistant plastic, which has gotten some mixed reviews and most especially we like the e-trigger options. Compared to the etrigger options on the A5 where you have to do a lot of holding the button down and waiting for the light to turn and then stand on your head and jump up and down on your left foot, the Tippmann X7 etrigger allows you to switch from safety, to single shot to fully auto while still have the option to fire in three round spurts. Even with all the politics surrounding the gun we feel it is a great gun for beginner to intermediate woodsball players.