Press release excerpt [via Ammoland.com]: “When you absolutely, positively, must destroy your opposition’s morale along with their numbers, you need to take the field with the [Real Action Paintball] RAP4 M249, M60, M240, or the battlefield classic Browning .30 Machine Gun. Both are .68 caliber, compressed-air powered paintball markers…but you’d never know that from their looks, their metal construction, or their suppressive firepower.” Like they say, as real as it gets. At least until it gets real.
There are alrwady quasi-realistic M4 / M16 clone paintball guns. Paintball training can be pretty cool, but its dominated by teenagers.
And I’m thinking that the worst thing that could happen is getting shot in the Bojangles by a real gun if someone mistook your paintball gun for the real deal.
Statistically speaking, many battlefields have been dominated by teenagers.
Brilliant comment, the more so for being so true.
Wholly Crap Batman!!!!
I could use that to keep my kids at bay when they are trying to storm my bedroom!!!
Way cool!
Just don’t get pulled over with it tossed in your back seat!
Some parts of the military use the RAP4 for their training, I just got done paintballing and none of the paintball guns I used looked like that…for competetive paintballing that looks more like a hinderance than anything, just more “cool guy” looking gear
For speedball yeah, but for scenario paintball I can see the appeal. A lot of scenario players like to look the part, makes the scenarios more fun.
I used to airsoft all the time, but I didn’t go tacticool up the wazoo like this guy. Ripped jeans, a sweatshirt, and mags sticking out of my pockets secured with duct tape was the road I took. After I got into real guns, my strict adherence to safety kicked in and changed everything. I couldn’t stand being around people who had such horrible muzzle discipline even if they were carrying what amounted to plastic toys. So I sold my airsoft stuff and bought a 12 gauge with the profits.
I’ve talked to ex-military men who play at a local arena my buddy works at and they all love it. It is a damn good way to exercise. I just find it a bit disrespectful when I see a bunch of kids dressing up in full uniforms and kit with such close proximity to current events. Historic airsoft events along with WWII reenacting guys, many of whom do both, are awesome. But dressing up like a soldier of today with all the bells and whistles because “it looks cool” just so you can play tag at a distance bothers me.
I have the same experience playing with Nerf guns you had with airsoft. My Nerf gun is realistic enough that I make the best of it and practice trigger and muzzle discipline, flipping the safety (on switch), and dropping the magazine and pulling the bolt/cover thingie open when not actively playing and/or hosing the neighborhood kids with darts. Funny thing is, I’ve already had one kid pick it up when I hadn’t given him permission yet and wonder why it wouldn’t fire. Safety was turned on and bolt was locked open. 😀 Tee hee.
I can appreciate the realism, but I let out a sigh of disappointment the first time I saw this abomination.
http://www.amazon.com/Nerf-N-Strike-Vulcan-EBF-25-Blaster/dp/B0013U95U2
Why disappointment? Curious, not defensive.
Speaking for myself, I’d get one in a fit of child-like glee if the money didn’t need to go towards better things, like bills, food, or ammo of the lead and copper varieties.
Edit: Re-read your original comment, and I gather it’s related to what you said about modern-ish re-enactments. Understandable, in that case.
2500 bucks a pop I don’t think we’ll have to worry to much about kids getting shot in the streets across America anytime soon
Road trip to California with one of those in the backseat, and roll tape.
Don’t get too good at paintball. DHS put out a memo warning to report paintball teams that were “too disciplined” and had a “clear leader.”
Link?
Old man sharts at sight of new toy. News at 11.
Rap4 makes horrible products.
They look the part of some designs, but functionally speaking are a disaster much of the time.
I play paintball, not as training but as an unrelated hobby. Rap4 guns have horrid QC, and may or may not work when you want them too. The sad part is they’re based on an extremely simple system (the internals are essentially a stacked tube blowback, open bolt design for those not into paintball) so you would hope they work.
Whenever I see “paintball _marker_” a bit of my soul dies.
Never understood the desire for milsim stuff in paintball…it just adds extra weight. Those fake magazines might look cool, but the guns are awkward enough with the hoppers and tanks.
Anyone I see using RAP4 stuff…its a pretty safe assumption they’re an easy out. The guys with worn Tippmanns or some of the better speedball style guns, they’re the ones you wanna keep an eye on.
Oh, also, RF, I don’t think that’s a complete picture of it. Like all adverts for milsim paintball gear, they seem to have left off the massive awkward unsightly hopper off the top of it — at least, youtube vids of it have hoppers on their guns. So worrying about it being mistaken as a real SAW are even less likely.