50 Cal review

[Random Invert]

Ever since the 50 cal range hit the market I've been keen to get my hands on one and put it to the test.

I love the idea of more paint less air meaning game times longer, I was also dubious about the performance compared to the standard .68, so the first chance i had I bought a cheap set up, this was unfortunately last year and since buying the kit I never had the chance to use them until this weekend

Armageddon 6 at YPC gave me the chance I've been waiting for......

Set Up
Spyder Opus A (mechanical)
Spyder Rapid hopper (force feed)
1.1 fibre wrap
Dark Sports 50cal paintballs
marker set at 280fps although the site rules allowed up to 320fps.

I took the 50cal set up for the morning and my standard mini and rotor set up for the afternoon.

Safe to say the 50 cal set up really impressed me,
a case of paint is less then half the size of a standard case,
one hopper and 4 140pods allowed me to carry 1500 balls,
one 3000psi fill allowed me to shoot the case and still have air left.

The set up was nice and light but not to small, it coped with a decent rate of fire (two separate people commented on the rate of fire especially as it was a mech gun), it seemed fairly accurate to me and it held its own against the big boys.

The only thing I cant comment on is breaks, although I shot people out (they certainly knew they'd been hit) I can't confirm the balls broke so not sure how this would hold up on a tourny field.

The thing I love most about this as I said at the start is the shots per fill, it was great being able to go through a case without queuing up for air - I hadnt noticed how much of a pain it is until I had the mini out in the afternoon. 1500 shots and had to top up the air after each set of 500. :tsk:

Im that impressed with the 50cal range Im currently in two minds about selling all my .68 in favour of 50cal.

 

[MattyD]

The ONLY ONLY ONLY problem that puts me off 50 cal is the UK price on the paint. In america 50 cal paintballs are HALF the price of 68, which makes sense, because the balls are smaller and they are cheaper to make, and I`ve heard they take up roughly 25% less space when shipping, which is a main cost.

I will be staying well clear of 50 cal until this issue is resolved, when it is resolved, I will be all over it!

And in terms of the balls not breaking, obvs this isn`t really recommended with a mechanical gun, but apparently its good to chill them for a few days before hand.

So did you get the paint on a sponsor? Or pay the full whack? If so what price did you get?

 

[Liam92]

can i also just point out that for any supair players that consider .50, millenium series and subsequent tournaments implementing their rules only allow .68, as opposed to NPPL who allow .50 or .68 at their tournaments.

 

[Bambulus]

How was the range compared to .68? Certainly sounds like you didn't miss it, if it were any worse

 

[Random Invert]

Hi Matty I'd have said it took less than 50% of the space if a standard .68 box.

I know what you mean by price but the only way it will come down is if demand goes up, 50cal aren't being produced as much as 68 so they still retail at a high price (atleast that's the way I see it)

I got the case from YPC and not as part of a sponsorship package, cost me £25 so it wasn't to pricey but think it was the standard field paint as the fill wasn't orange.

To be honest Liam I'm not sure how 50cal would hold up on a tourney field. Would be interesting to see how many breaks you can get on a soft target.

Bam not sure on the range most of the game was quite close quarter, but will pick up another box and run some trials on site.

 

[Spike]

can i also just point out that for any supair players that consider .50, millenium series and subsequent tournaments implementing their rules only allow .68, as opposed to NPPL who allow .50 or .68 at their tournaments.

I think you'll find your incorrect in respect of the Millennium Series. PSP I can't comment on as I never read that particular part of the rules, but for sure the Millennium do allow it.

You are correct about the NPPL though

 

[Spike]

It is nice to see some feedback from someone who has been on a recreational site to try it.

To comment on the price issue that was raised by someone - You have to be careful that you are comparing apples for apples here. It's funny as we had the paint taste test at Bricket Wood this last weekend. Let me explain where I am coming from...

PEG (Polyethylene Glycol), which is generally used in the fill formula for higher priced paints, makes up for someting like 60-65% of a paintballs cost. Alternate cheaper fills which, if you disclude winterfills for now, have other ingredients including oil. Changing the fill formula to use less PEG and more oil will make the raw ingredients cheaper and, of course, have an effect on the pricing to the customer.

If you then add in the Gelatin material of which there is very many types available. Virgin gelatin for instance costs more than recylced gel. Recycled Gel (or NET) comes from other encapsulation companies that have already cut a run of tablets or bath gels etc and then they sell the net off. It's called net because it looks just like a piece of netting with lots of holes in. Of course paint companies will also recycle some of their own gels in their process too. So the more recycled gel the cheaper the ball still.

Now if you are comparing GI Sportz 3 or 4 star .68 pricing to a non-PEG, 70% Recycled Gel .68 ball, then there can be a huge price difference. If you then compare the non peg 68 cal ball to the PEG 50 cal ball you will see that the typically quoted 25-30% cost benefit is reduced considerably.

I guess what I am saying is that the ball contents need to be comparable to really compare the price. Don't compare cheapy-brandy ball vs a higher end 50 cal ball - compare it to a similar spec ball. Similarly don't do the same with .68 cal paints, don't compare GI Sportz Imperial to 1 star field grade balls.

Of course not all cheaper brand paintballs are using alternates to PEG but those are the ones that don't pay out the huge bucks to sponsor the tournaments like the PSP and the Millennium series.

It's shame there isn't an alternate fill .50 cal on as the market as it would be very easy to see the cost benefits. However the .50 cal ball of today use those higher rated incredients to ensure the breakability and consistency that is required that the .50 cal of yesteryear did not have, which was one of the original causes of the move to .68.

Now for some more real world data from a customer that has three recreational sites, one of which that he has converted 100% to .50 cal. Given a lower throughput of players last year, through that site he had an inreased turnover and profit in comparrison to the previous years .68cal year where he had larger player numbers. Of course this was a straight comparrison on one site of his.

On a whole 50 cal in the recreational market is starting to show the promised savings to the site owners. Shipping costs are halved based on buying pallets at a time. 2 pallets for the price of one for instance. And if you can reduce your storage area then the costs to maintain temperature conditions are also reduced.

Of course as more and more recreational sites take up the .50 cal ball then tournament ballers may be faced with paint manufacturers increasing the price of .68 based on their increased overheads for switching machines down to produce less paint per revolution of the dies. If this does happen as I predicted when I first got involved in .50 cal - that's when you will see a much larger interest from tourney ballers.

This isn't inside industry conspiracy knowledge, just my general opinion and my 21 years experience of global manufacturing in other industries.

I'm glad you liked your .50 cal experience.

 

[MattyD]

Wow thanks for your post spike, ears alot of things up and it's great to hear from someone with as much knowledge as you, very interesting stuff! I understand things need to change in order for costs to change, but as a customer in a hard economy, I would personally only invest if the cost was considerably lower, but maybe this could come in the future with new inovations!

 

[Spike]

Well Matty it is actually 25% cheaper than the equivalent .68 cal ball - so what you really need for the cost to come down if your used to shooting a non PEG ball is the same non PEG ball in .50 cal. Then you would be able to make an easier comparison as the non peg ball in .50 would be that much cheaper than it's counter part .68.

Of course the is a but here - getting a good breakable .50 ball for tournament use requires very good quality gel. Virgin gel to be precise - so the recycled cheapy ball wouldn't necessarily work well in .50 without some change to the formula and that could affect the price but I do see where you ar e comonjg from bud.

If your coming down to campaign come by the booth and you can have a look at the goodies and try the paint taste test for yourself.

 

[MattyD]

I seeee I seee, so basically as its smaller and flies a shorter distance, its harder to get breaks on impact, hence why a good formula is essential?

I would just love to be able to just maintain a hell of alot of firepower in big games, would be excellent!

On another note, was at Campagin paintball in Cobham a few weeks back and they have got a fleet of 50 cal guns and they had really young kids using them. I think for younger players its an excellent idea!

I would almost go as far as to say that 50 cal for really young kids could potentially become more popular than laser tag for kids!