new to paintball, what tippmann paintball gun should i get?

"I personally love Prolites and 68-carbines, which can still be found on ebay quite cheap. Most people will point you in the direction of a tippmann 98 custom as a first gun. I'm not fond of their ergonomics but I can attest that they'll go through literally millions of rounds before something goes wrong."

"Out of anything Tippmann has ever made, I'd have to cast my vote for the Pro/Carbine's as well. If you want something that IS still in production, then the Tippmann A5 paintball gun is probably a good choice. I'd steer clear of the Tippmann X7 paintball gun and their newest Army gun whatever it's called. The quality control on those seems to be lacking."

"I agree with all of the above. The Tippmann 98 custom will be the easiest tippmann semi to work on but the SL will be the easiest of all. In my tear down kit for the SL I have a 1/2" dowel rod for popping out the valve and a 3/16"(?) wrench and thats all. I can pull a sl apart in about 15 seconds if I practiced enough. I could have it back together in less than 30 and I am positive about that.

But you might never "need" to take it more apart than removing the barrel and bolt.

The guns mentioned in the other posts are bomb proof.

I cant reccomend the Tippmann A5 paintball gun especially for a beginner."

"Having owned a couple tippmann a-5's i'd honestly recommend them as a beginner (no offence chem-x)

they seem to work well and you just need to put a couple drops of oil in them every once in awhile, and with the cyclone you shouldnt have to worry about out shooting the gun and chopping that way (barrel breaks could happen but that depends on paint)

the only thing ive found complex on some is the vert air adapter with the oring,washer and spring other then that you shouldnt have any problem with disasembly and assembly plus they are very upgradable

hope this helps and if youve got any questions feel free to shoot me a pm"

"Having owned/used Tippmann 98's, A-5's, and Pro/Carbines, I like the Pro/Carbine the best. Better construction (extruded aluminum vs cast aluminum) which leads to better tolerances and thus better consistency and performance. They are absolute tanks. I've never seen one go down. The local field still has a few left in the back as emergency rentals. Recently at a big scenario, they ran out of rental 98's and loaned out some Carbines. They obviously hadn't been serviced or used in ages, and yet they all worked flawlessly. The rental 98's, though used more and maintained more frequently, had more issues. The A-5's I've seen have had more issues yet.

If you are looking for sheer reliability, the Pro/Carbine is champ. But it suffers from a heavy trigger pull (can be fixed with new springs), few aftermarket parts, and it is out of production so it might be harder to find.

My order of recommendation is Pro/Carbine, Tippmann A-5 paintball gun, then 98. The A-5 comes before the 98 because it has the cyclone feed, which when working properly, will allow you to shoot basically as fast as you can pull the trigger.

If you just want to get an easy to find gun, go play, and have some room for the marker to grow with you, then I recommend the Tippmann A-5 paintball gun."

"Not to turn this into a vs thread, but personally, I'd go with a Spyder instead of a Tippmann (since that's what I did when I was new). They're not quite as rugged, nor quite as mil-sim'able (if that's what you're going for), but they are ridiculously cheap (<$100 for an electronic or <$75 for a mechanical on eBay NIB) and SUPER easy to maintain. Personally, the only thing I think newer Tippmann's have going for them is the Flatline (and Apex tips now pretty much bring this to any marker you want), durability and Cyclone feed. They are set up so you can run over them with a truck and they still work, but if you ever do need to field strip them (especially 98s) it's a pain. Spyder paintball guns are pull one quick strip pin, slide out internals, swab, lube, reinsert. There are lots of upgrade and customization options available for Spyders, making them a great newbie marker out of the box and something that can grow with you. Anything from aftermarket bolt-ons to Spimmy (electropneumatic, ala Intimidator) and pump conversions can be done.

If you insist on going Tippmann, I'd spring for the A5 with a Flatline. It's very prolific so parts and upgrades are plentiful, you won't need an expensive hopper thanks to the cyclone feed, and while it's newish it's still pretty well proven to be durable. Older models such as the 98 or prolite/carbine are going to be cheaper, but the older you go the more money you're probably going to want to spend on upgrades or peripherals. Also, parts for anything before 98s can be tricky to find. This part is purely my opinion, but the ergonomics are much better than the 98; the A5 is set up to be aimed, the 98 is set up to be shot from the hip Rambo style. I'm a big fan of the much older Tippmanns (SMG, 68 Special, Factory F/A) but I think they started going awry when they tried to "dumb-down" their markers and relegated themselves to rental/newbie status with the 98 series. The A5 is a step in the right direction, although I'm not sure the Tippmann X7 paintball gun and new Alpha are following in it's footsteps.

How much $$ are you looking to spend? That will determine what you can get to some extent."

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