Paintball Journal

NXe has added another product to their already quality line – the Elevation Series.

The NXe Techna-Flex Elbow Shields are the culmination of extensive design efforts to produce the most protective and comfortable pad possible. Featuring a thumb loop to prevent upward slip, and a bicep strap to prevent downward slip, and three layers of padding for maximum absorption of impacts, the NXe Elbow Shields are sure to keep you protected in the most intense of game situations.

The NXe Techna-Flex Knee Shields have been designed to provide the crucial protection, range of motion, and comfort demanded by the paintball player with discriminating tastes. Featuring a three layered protection, a specialized non slip rubber lining, and elastic strap securing system, the NXe Knee shields provide superior protection for the most aggressive of player.

I know their packs are top of the line, and I’m curious to see how these will do (I assume they’ll perform fine). I really don’t like the looks at all, and they don’t look like the offer much padding, but pictures can be deceiving. Without the thick padding, they look like they’re flexible enough, so that would be a plus. Thumb rings will be a good addition as well, because nothings more annoying than your pads slipping down your arm in the middle of a game.

Paintball, NXE, Elbow pads, Knee pads, Nxe Elevation Series

“Lucky is restructuring and going to be operated out of the UK.�

In fact it has been funded through its expansion to date by UK investment and there is no intent or action to abandon the US paintball community. We are moving to strengthen our product lines and capabilities to deliver good products and good service to the paintball community.

Please have patience with us through this process and look forward to a revitalised Lucky website until then please contact the UK site for product or questions. We hope that the paintball community will continue to support Lucky as it has done in the past.”

My Commentary

AKA No more Lucky PB in the US. This smacks of shadiness, but more facts should come out soon before we jump to conclusions. All US employees of Lucky were let go as of early March. This obviously was not a move made by the US end of Lucky, so we can’t blame anyone but the higher-ups in the UK for the cessation of US distribution, albeit a possibly temporary halt. This is unfortunate, because Lucky was fast becoming one of the most respected and loved paintball companies out there.

What’s really weird is the lack of warning. No dealers were warned, no one knew this was coming. For direct quotes, read on.

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Eclipse Hoodies

You can now wear Eclipse in your time off the field too! Thus making you look at least as half as sexy as the model in the picture.

Russian Legion 07 Sponsors

People are amazed by the Russian Legion’s new sponsors, Kee Action Sports (the merged NPS / PMI), in particular. KAS has a ton of companies underneath it, so RL (and all other teams sponsored similarly) have access to a wide variety of gear, all falling under their sponsorship.

Ironmen Won PSP LAO

But you already knew that, no one is THAT out of touch.

07 Powerlyte Ion Bodies

Apparently Powerlyte was tired of all the Ion owners complaining about the lack of options on the Ion. So they came out with this revolutionary idea of switching out body kits. Pretty sick, no?

07 Rage Jerseys

Rage, who had one of my favorite jerseys last year (because of that gold chain, that was so frickin’ rad) have released the designs for their new jersey. Sick, needless to say. Except this time around, platinum chain, not gold.

Player Paintball “Scenario” Pants

In an interesting marketing scheme, Player Paintball has decided to create scenario pants, because sometimes BDU’s just aren’t enough. The built in kneepad looking things appear sturdy, which would be nice, and I have a huge respect for PP since I saw their “Grab Ass” technology, but are these gonna work out for them? Who knows…

07 VLocity

Seems like just last year a brand new VLocity was coming out. Oh wait. Last year a VLocity did come out. Apparently it’s not enough to come out with reincarnations of guns annually. Oh, no. Now we have to do it with hoppers. Great. The only thing different that I can see is an angled lid. Oh, and rechargeable batteries.

paintball, VLocity, Player Paintball, 07 Rage Jerseys, Powerlyte Ion Bodies, Ironmen, psp lao, Russian Legion, Planet Eclipse

I no longer want the FEP Q7 anymore, I found something newer, sexier, and down right electrifying. Check out this sick “Contract Killer� engraved Shocker! I’ve never seen anything like this before! Not only do the Hybrids have kick ass looks, the artwork on this is frickin’ incredible.

And don’t worry about a hefty price tag – hah! Just messing with you! It has a price of $1,350. That’s not real bad, considering most new guns come around that range, and the regular Hybrid 07 is running about $1,300 right now. So basically you’re paying an extra $50 bucks for a very, very nice engraving.

Yeah, one of those on my dresser would be nice about now – and didn’t I tell you I’m a gun whore wannabe? I’ll be working all summer though, and maybe even before that, so depending on the pay, I hope I can snatch me one of these by the end of summer (and that’s only if they aren’t sold out by then).

paintball, hybrid traitor shocker, shocker, paintball gun, contract killer

So apparently these are the teasers for the new FEP Quests coming out – not there isn’t anything wrong with teasers, because wow, those are nice! Rumor has it that they are the private labels for the Miami Raiders, because they have so many stickers hanging there.

As one PBNationer put it, “Ok that settles it, my next gun = Quest.� I might have to second his action, because I have new sites on a marker. Forget the Shocker, forget the Ego, the Q7 is what I want for now.

paintball guns, FEP Quest, Miami Raiders

Well, well, well. It was only a matter of time before someone came up with the gun that everyone’s been joking about for years. This bow and arrow paintball gun has to be the coolest innovation I’ve seen in a long time. I can already see the Robin Hood Scenarios sprouting up.

I assume the FPS is controlled by the string tension, which would be interesting adjusting at the field. The actual gun is an attachment to your bow, so the set-up is quite expensive. For a decently good bow, it’s around $300, and this attachment is $250. I’d rather have an ‘05 Shocker for the price, thanks much.

For a woodsball type gun though, it has to be hellaciously quiet. Plus, no CO2 or Air fills. And what looks to be a 8 round hopper. After you buy it, there aren’t many more expenses. Depending on how accurate it is, it could well be a scenario paintballer’s dream

paintball, paintball videos, paintball bow and arrow, airow paintball gun

I got my 07 Eclipse Elbow Pads and my Eclipse Tank Cover today. It all looks and feels great and I can’t wait to try it out on the field. I can tell the grip on my tank has gone from non-existent to great, and the pads will be helping me get a ton of bounces. Everything fit just fine, too. Here are some pics, which will suffice until I can show you pics of the gear in action!

Here are the pads.


The pads have thumb holes, keeps them positioned very nicely.

The tank cover.

Put it all together and…

I had been wondering where and how teams got their custom jerseys made. Well, I asked a local team, Junction Boys, where they got theirs and the captain, Big Mike, directed me to Custom Sports Gear.

They offer everything from custom jerseys to tech shirts for your team. And when I say custom, I mean custom. They will allow you to use one of their pre-made templates, or you can go the path of the brave and design a jersey from scratch using photoshop or something of its kind.

I’m not sure on the prices, but from the looks of these sample jerseys, it will definitely be worth it at some point in the future.

Pushing my total of things purchased off ActionVillage over the $1k mark (to exactly $1060.31), I ordered Large ‘07 Eclipse Distortion Elbow Pads, and an Eclipse 06 Tank Cover - 48ci - Grey, for a little under $70. Though they won’t be in for this weekend, they’ll be in by the next tourney at Friendly Fire, saving my arms a little damage, and helping my snap shooting a ton.

Real Action Paintball, popular for their realistic mil-sim styled paintball products, has now developed a fully functional 40mm paint-grenade launcher. It’s based off of the popular AK-47 paintball marker design, and is very accurate in looks compared to the real thing. They claim it can fit any AK-47 style marker as well as fires Thunder Grenade rounds, and has working, adjustable sites and safety.

This is clearly a fine achievement, and I think most people will be impressed by it. This is just one awesome reason why I wished I had the money to go out and buy everything paintball related. I don’t even play woodsball anymore and I’d still like to get one!

Here’s the official release from their site:

Real Action Paintball is proud to announce the new 40mm Grenade Launcher. This amazing new tool is designed for the AK47-style markers, or as a standalone unit. This is the first 40mm Grenade Launcher-style unit designed for AK47-style paintball markers!

The 40mm Grenade Launcher comes in two versions: one for standard .68 paintball markers, and the other, .43 caliber paintball markers. The .68 caliber version can be mounted on all .68 caliber AK47 look-a-like paintball markers!

The 40mm Grenade Launcher is made of aircraft aluminum with a functional trigger and safety switch. It also has an adjustable sight - it’s externally the spittin’ image of the real thing! They are solidly built and made to last, and RAP4 fans take heart: it’s compatible with all Thunder Grenade cartridges!

The 40mm Grenade Launcher is designed to take paintball to the next level of realism! For games with tanks or “rocket launcher rules,” get their special-color paint and prove you took out that tank with a “grenade!” Take ‘em out with the 40mm Grenade Launcher!

This is especially for the opposing force - when you want to play OpFor in realistic scenarios - so you can have a little more fun playing the bad guy. The 40mm Grenade Launcher is the first grenade launcher that is compatible with the AK47 style paintball makers, to help the bag guys enjoy the game and to give the opposing team a real challenge.

NPS* has filed a suit against Procaps Distributors. Apparently, on two separate accounts, NPS claims that Procaps infringed on their copyrights with the Pulse and broke a non-disclosure agreement that they had signed.

Essentially, the copyright / patent infringement appears to be on the RF Chip and trigger activation sensor, being as how it is based around a magnetic system. However, also included in the suit documents is some pretty vague language about the general operating system. The Pulse internals are fairly similar to a Halo’s.

The non-disclosure agreement that NPS claims Procaps broke is a big deal too. This agreement means that NPS* showed Procaps some blueprints for technology that they were developing and Procaps took the technology, added to it, and produced it, without crediting NPS or paying NPS.

This is a claim of intellectual property theft.

The courts will decide in about 2 weeks who wins. Until then, Pulse sale, distribution, and promotion in the US is to cease. If NPS is correct in that Procaps did indeed break these laws, then they’ll probably go for a settlement, and prices on Pulses will jump to $200++. Under a more strict ruling, Procaps may even be prohibited from selling the Pulse at all. All you Pulse owners don’t worry though, because you’ll still be covered for tech support, etc, as long as DXS remains afloat. If Procaps successfully defends itself, then all is well with DXS and its Pulse loaders, and the world will keep on turning, except with a few richer lawyers.

*NPS is now merged with PMI under the name KEE Action Sports, however, for this post, I’m saying NPS because it is a more recognizable name.

NEW YORK – February 2, 2007 – The following Temporary Restraining Orders were issued today by the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey in the case AJ INTERMEDIATE HOLDINGS LLC; and, AJ ACQUISITION I LLC d/b/a NATIONAL PAINTBALL SUPPLY, v. PROCAPS L.P.; PROCAPS DIRECT, INC.; STRATEGIC SPORTS, INC. d/b/a PEV’S PAINTBALL; COUSINS PAINTBALL MT. KISCO, LLC; IMPERIAL CAPITAL CORPORATION; MICHAEL SPURLOCK; WU CHUN MIN; and, MARCASITE INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD, CIVIL DOCKET FOR CASE #: 1:07-cv-00192-JHR-AMD, in connection with the manufacturing, sale, distribution, or advertising of the PULSE paintball loader.

Official files can be found HERE and HERE.

Brass Eagle is soon to release a new marker called the T-Storm tactical marker. I figure I could give them another chance at redeeming themselves from all the other worthless trash they’ve created before, so I clicked on the link. Nope. Not even close. Honestly, why do they even try anymore? They fail at paintball! They don’t even make semi-decent equipment, and yet they continue to crank out more and more junk.

The hopper, what’s up with that? It looks like it somehow defies the laws of physics because it sits a mile above the gun. Actually, looks more like a sledge hammer. Either way, it’s absolutely ridiculous. And the silver barrel? Not hardly something I’d want on my gun if I was going to be “stealthy� and all ninja leet.

I don’t care how poor you are, you do not have to buy Brass Eagle guns to play woodsball or what have you. Buy used, save just a little more money, just do not waste it on BE! You’re going to enjoy the game so much more when your gear works properly, believe me.

Here’s a link to the video ad on Google. It’s hard not to laugh.

I do love ‘07 Eclipse gear, so I searched around to find some more pics of stuff that you’ll be seeing this season.

The Gauntlet gloves sound like they might be cool, but they look like oven mitts. Which, if you’ve ever tried some on, are insanely likely to get bounces. Good thing… maybe. The gloves look comfy at the very least.

The pants look pretty sick, but many people are complaining about the sheer volume of Planet Eclipse logos. Seems like Eclipse is doing that to everything these days.

Last, but not least (especially in my case, because I still need one) are the new tank covers. All camo, they look tight. I’m definitely looking into buying one.

CFOA 2006 had some sick moments, and leave it to DerDer to capture them all on film. “Sticks and Stones” is soon to be released and by the trailer, looks like it’s gonna be a must have. I’m still amazed by “Obscure Influence” after over a dozen viewings. I’m eager to see what the latest by DerDer is gonna bring.

I don’t know, do you? It appears to me to be a Lucky Ion, completely revamped, with new uhm… EVERYTHING.

Grip frame looks like a complete departure from the stock frame, the barrel will probably be UN1tec or something like it, the trigger looks sick, like an old JT Protium or something, and the body looks like one of the best I’ve seen for the Ion.

Other notables: snatch grip, CP reg…, feedneck, grips. All looking like… well, certainly not stock.

My estimated retail price for this complete Ion: $400+.