Nice review.
Very balanced considering the GI guys were jumping down your throat previously for asking questions...
Very balanced considering the GI guys were jumping down your throat previously for asking questions...
Some real world firing observations.
- Thread starter Stee-vo
- Start date
Unless you hold the gun very strange, a smaller hopper would equal more head shots. Im glad the hoppers are the size they are
Thanks for the review!
This review is generally supported by something from the forum that i'm not allowed to quote on here
well turns out i'm not allowed to but what i will say is that their tests seemed to turn out similar results. The exact details i am forbidden from sharing
Indeed....lol what ever
Very interesting though, now is just the waiting game to see whether it takes off or not. Obviously it has it's advantages, mainly the size of the paint and therefore it's ability to get a lot in a hopper. However, at the same time, it does have it's disadvantages in it's inability to hold the kinetic energy accross a long distance. Also, it's inconsistency in terms of fps as shown in this test.
In my opinion, 50cal is better for 'spraying' as such, and .68 is better for getting better range and consistency. I'll just go with whatever the majority to as i find it more sportsman like to keep an even playing field, whether for better or worse.
Well here we are three months down the road and we have used the .50 on a regular basis and have tried it out in a large variety of different types of paintball and our conclusions are as follows.
Woodsball and scenario paintball.
The huge limitation in this type of paintball is range. Quite simply if range is a factor (say as at N v S) you will be massively out gunned by up to about 20 metres. If you combine this with the fact that the .50 is less likely to break at longer ranges and that hits are harder to feel (so players are less likely to know they are hit) and that the splats are much smaller (harder for marshals to call someone out) then in our opinion the .50 is a non starter in this type of paintball. We have tried the .50 marker out on all of our game zones and have taken it to several big games so we have given it extensive testing accross a large number of playing areas.
Having said that there are a few advantages for scenario paintball. Firstly there is the ability to carry a lot of paint with little weight plus the fact you get more shots per air fill so you can stay out in the field longer which can be significant in big games which can last for hours. The tourney quality .50 paintballs are of a good standard and do break pretty well on target at shorter ranges and the FM50 marker looks good and is well made and is also quite light so its easy to carry about for long periods. At several of the big games we have been to younger players (as in 12-14 years old) have loved this marker because it is light. The .50 is also very accurate up to about 35 metres. It is effective in games where close quarters fighting is the name of the game so games like the Bunker which is largly indoors would be ideal for this.
But, as we have already said, when every thing is taken into consideration the .50 is at a huge disadvantage in most sscenario or woodsball situations.
Tactical paintball.
Tactical paintball (milsim) is slightly different as we count bounces as a hit. We have to do this as the players are in full military kit and therefore paint frequently bounces because of the amount of clothing people are wearing. In this type of paintball .50 is at less of a disadvantage as the fact that the paint is lesslikely to break at longer ranges is not an issue. yes it still does not have the range of .68 but ithat is only an issue if you are caught out in the open and someone is sniping at you or engauging you at range. In terms of CQB and shorter range combat the FM50 performed well and the smaller balls and its short range accuracy allowed me to get hits through gaps in barricades that .68 would not have passed through.
So it still has the range issue but it was less of a problem than woodsball or scenario paintball.
Rental players.
I honestly believe most rental players would be hard pushed to tell the difference. We play most of our rental games on fairly short fields so most play is quite close quarters (10-40 metres) and as with rental play we count bounces as a hit (asking rental players to paintcheck is a non starter) the .50 works pretty well. Range is not really much of a issue as they are generally not playing at range and the fact that the paint is less likely to break at range is not an issue as bounces count. Factor in the fact that it hurts less, the guns are lighter and you get more shots per air fill then this looks quite an attractive option. The FM50 has performed with-out a hitch over the 3 months and the tourney grade paint has been of good quality. Still need to see how reliable and hard wearing the marker is (only time will tell) and I dont know if GI Milsim have released a better hopper as the one we have is to flimsey for regular rental use. All in all it ticks a lot of boxes providing range is not a critical factor.
Tournament.
We have not tried it out in a proper tourney environment but I would think it would make for a good front player marker but the lack of range and the fact that the further away you are the less likely the ball is to break makes me think this would be a poor choice for a back player. Sure you could carry loads of paint onto the field and yes you would get better air efficiency but all that means nothing if you cant shoot corner to corner and have the balls break on target. Anyway, till I have actually shot this is a tourney I will reserve judgement.
Velocity.
We still have problems getting this to hold a consistant velocity so any site that insists it must be 280fps or lower would have problem with this marker. We allow it to run at about the 320fps mark as that seems where it is most consistant and as the energy levels are much less than .68 it is well with-in legal guidelines. I would be interested to hear at what FPS other teams/sites are running .50.
All of the observations above have been with the FM50 set to about 320fps.
Hope this helps.
Woodsball and scenario paintball.
The huge limitation in this type of paintball is range. Quite simply if range is a factor (say as at N v S) you will be massively out gunned by up to about 20 metres. If you combine this with the fact that the .50 is less likely to break at longer ranges and that hits are harder to feel (so players are less likely to know they are hit) and that the splats are much smaller (harder for marshals to call someone out) then in our opinion the .50 is a non starter in this type of paintball. We have tried the .50 marker out on all of our game zones and have taken it to several big games so we have given it extensive testing accross a large number of playing areas.
Having said that there are a few advantages for scenario paintball. Firstly there is the ability to carry a lot of paint with little weight plus the fact you get more shots per air fill so you can stay out in the field longer which can be significant in big games which can last for hours. The tourney quality .50 paintballs are of a good standard and do break pretty well on target at shorter ranges and the FM50 marker looks good and is well made and is also quite light so its easy to carry about for long periods. At several of the big games we have been to younger players (as in 12-14 years old) have loved this marker because it is light. The .50 is also very accurate up to about 35 metres. It is effective in games where close quarters fighting is the name of the game so games like the Bunker which is largly indoors would be ideal for this.
But, as we have already said, when every thing is taken into consideration the .50 is at a huge disadvantage in most sscenario or woodsball situations.
Tactical paintball.
Tactical paintball (milsim) is slightly different as we count bounces as a hit. We have to do this as the players are in full military kit and therefore paint frequently bounces because of the amount of clothing people are wearing. In this type of paintball .50 is at less of a disadvantage as the fact that the paint is lesslikely to break at longer ranges is not an issue. yes it still does not have the range of .68 but ithat is only an issue if you are caught out in the open and someone is sniping at you or engauging you at range. In terms of CQB and shorter range combat the FM50 performed well and the smaller balls and its short range accuracy allowed me to get hits through gaps in barricades that .68 would not have passed through.
So it still has the range issue but it was less of a problem than woodsball or scenario paintball.
Rental players.
I honestly believe most rental players would be hard pushed to tell the difference. We play most of our rental games on fairly short fields so most play is quite close quarters (10-40 metres) and as with rental play we count bounces as a hit (asking rental players to paintcheck is a non starter) the .50 works pretty well. Range is not really much of a issue as they are generally not playing at range and the fact that the paint is less likely to break at range is not an issue as bounces count. Factor in the fact that it hurts less, the guns are lighter and you get more shots per air fill then this looks quite an attractive option. The FM50 has performed with-out a hitch over the 3 months and the tourney grade paint has been of good quality. Still need to see how reliable and hard wearing the marker is (only time will tell) and I dont know if GI Milsim have released a better hopper as the one we have is to flimsey for regular rental use. All in all it ticks a lot of boxes providing range is not a critical factor.
Tournament.
We have not tried it out in a proper tourney environment but I would think it would make for a good front player marker but the lack of range and the fact that the further away you are the less likely the ball is to break makes me think this would be a poor choice for a back player. Sure you could carry loads of paint onto the field and yes you would get better air efficiency but all that means nothing if you cant shoot corner to corner and have the balls break on target. Anyway, till I have actually shot this is a tourney I will reserve judgement.
Velocity.
We still have problems getting this to hold a consistant velocity so any site that insists it must be 280fps or lower would have problem with this marker. We allow it to run at about the 320fps mark as that seems where it is most consistant and as the energy levels are much less than .68 it is well with-in legal guidelines. I would be interested to hear at what FPS other teams/sites are running .50.
All of the observations above have been with the FM50 set to about 320fps.
Hope this helps.
Useful info Stee-vo. Do ther insurance companies in the UK allow 320 fps? I know we are limited to 300 fps here in Canada and in the USA as well even with .50 cal.
Insurance
We dont have any stipulation as to FPS on our insurance policy. What we are governed by is industry practice and the law of the land.
Have to say the .50 at 280fps woukld seriously limit is use as the range at that velocity would be poor and it would have a high bounce factor at anything less than close range.
It would seem silly to treat it the same as .68 as it is a totally different product with totally different characteristics and thereffore needs its own set of safety rules and criteria.
We dont have any stipulation as to FPS on our insurance policy. What we are governed by is industry practice and the law of the land.
Have to say the .50 at 280fps woukld seriously limit is use as the range at that velocity would be poor and it would have a high bounce factor at anything less than close range.
It would seem silly to treat it the same as .68 as it is a totally different product with totally different characteristics and thereffore needs its own set of safety rules and criteria.