From a friend new to the sport, the inevitiable paintball sniper question -

I have been playing paintball with my son and his friends- and after about 3-4 games over the last 6 months, things are escalating- time to go semi-auto. One of the boys has a Spyder Victor II, seems like a decent marker at a good price, but I was wondering what you might suggest.

I had a thought- what about making a custom gun? Is that an option? You know, like people build their own computers form parts.

For myself, I really enjoy the strategy of the sport- I like hiding out and letting people get close enough where I have a good chance of hitting them on the first or second shot (actually, this is sometimes the only chance I have when I go up against some of the boys with semi's already). So I have been reading and I like the idea of a more accurate, longer range type marker. I was reading about Tippmans and they sounded pretty good. Is it possible to get a beginner Tippman and get a longer barrel for more accuracy? How long a barrel would you suggest? I have seen them up to 20 inches.

Good to hear from you. We need to get your guys to come play with us - we'd have a blast.

I know all about the arms race - it happens. :) So you're in the market for a semi-auto? For the kind of play you are doing, every couple of months or so, a Spider is totally fine entry-level marker. I had one back in the day and played with it for years. I am a big fan on Tippmann and usually recommend their stuff - hands down. If you are getting a starter set, you can get a Tippmann 98 Custom for a really good price at Academy or a local paintball shop. You can find used ones on eBay, but unless you are wanting to work on it, it's worth the extra $$ to get one new.

As far as custom guns go, yes, you can make one, but your add-on options are limited and you'll still have to buy the base marker. A lot of the pro guns are semi-custom, i.e. you buy the body of the marker, add the barrel you want, new bolts, etc. If you really want to build your own (short of buying your own milling machine and going crazy on a billet of aluminum) you'd still have to pay the price of buying the base parts.

So without saying the word directly, it sounds like you are heading towards the mystical idea of a paintball sniper marker. Due to the ballistics of a round ball/unrifled barrel, there isn't a whole lot of mad accuracy you can squeeze out of a marker. Having said that, if you did start off with a Tippmann 98 Custom, upgraded to a Flatline barrel (so good that Autocockers have a mod for them), kept your barrel clean as a whistle, worked on your woodcraft (sneaking, etc), and practiced with it - you'd probably get as close as you can with a production marker.

The longer barrel works for and against you. The longest you can go is probably 16" before the length of the barrel causes a friction drag and ends up hurting your accuracy more than helping it.

Now that was a mouthful.