Re: autococker for 300? good deal?

"ayar-15" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Autocockers are regarded by some as the best paintball marker in the
world.
> Me being one of those people.

I would hasten not to label any marker as "the best".  It's a useless
moniker, mainly because of the old adage:  "opinions are like assholes,
everybody's got one".

> They are designed for durability, yes.  They are well made, by one of the
> older companies in the industry.

I would not agree with this statement necessarily.  Cockers are not world
renowned for their durability, unlike Tippmanns.  You take a Tippmann thru
hell and back and it comes up shooting on the other side.  Blow a pneumatic
tube on your cocker and your gun is down.

> They are also one of the most customizable markers out there.  Yours will
> work fine out of the box, but the more you use it, the more you will
become
> accustomed to what you want out of it, which you can then improve through
> specific upgrades.

You've got what makes the cocker so great, but it's also the gun's biggest
drawback in today's market.

The real quality of cockers that distinguishes them from other guns is their
customizability.  You can do damn near ANYTHING to a cocker that you can
possibly imagine or dream up.  I believe this to be not only the reason for
their massive popularity in the mid 90's, but also the primary cause of
their waning popularity at the moment.

In the formative stages of this sport, participants didn't have many choices
when it came to what you could do to your gun.  If you couldn't do it
yourself, it meant it wasn't done.  That gave the autococker a HUGE leap
over the other guns of the day.  You could do anything to a cocker, trigger
work, milling, pressure mods, feed mods, whatever you wanted.  The other
guns were not as easy to do this to.  Mainly this stemmed from the majority
of working components being located externally.

Nowadays, it's a different story.  With a large selection, many qualified
personnel to make requested mods, and more participants who simply want to
play the game rather than tinker with their gear, the cocker as a tinkerer's
paradise has damn near gone the way of the dodo.  For the most part, cockers
that are purchased today are factory upgraded models, which see no further
modification after purchase.  This is the same for most purchased markers
these days, people just don't want to mess with them, they want to play the
game.  This is one of the reasons for the angel's popularity.  There isn't
much you can do to the thing to make it "better" once it's in your hands.
Just pick it up and go.

>  I don't know what barrels the new ones come with, so that might be an
> upgrade to consider.  Or a waste of money.  I have no idea.  I have a
Smart
> Parts All American on mine, and it is simply stellar.

The stock barrel on a cocker is pretty shitty.  Almost any non-stock barrel
upgrade is better than the original barrel.  My BOA 14" is awesome, but
people swear by most any aftermarket barrel.  Even the cheapest of
aftermarket barrels is fine.  I've found the J&J Ceramic series to be
inexpensive, accurate, lightweight and durable for all models I've used it
on.  40 bucks online, plus shipping.

--
Jeff Goslin - MCSD - www.goslin.info
It's not a god complex when you're always right