Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Alpha Black- Awesome!!, April 14, 2008
When I first set out to purchase a marker I was looking for something that looked and felt like a military weapon. I love Mil-Sim (Military Simulation). Not that I think anything I do truly emulates what our troops do every day for us, but I like to get as close as possible. My searching was gravitating towards the Tippman A5 since it is so customizable and has the most diverse upgrades. But lets face it, A5's are downright expensive. I work in the helping professions and spending $300 to $500 on a paintball marker (after upgrades) is hard to rationalize to my wife.
After about 2 months of searching for the right marker for the right deal I stumbled across a Tippman vendor on an online auction that was selling something called an Alpha Black (AB). *hmm This caught my eye. It is the officially licensed marker of the Army. *hmm So I knew where to go to find good reviews....www.pbreview.com. Reviews were great. Everybody was loving theirs and only seemed to complain about the weight and the maintenance.
The only reason I didn't jump on and hit the "Buy It Now" button was the complaints of marker weight and convincing my wife. After addressing the latter I purchased it. I sweat bullets about how heavy it was going to be and after a very short period of time, it arrived. Now, we are asked not to attack other reviewers and I need all to know that I am not attacking the other reviews, but instead offering another perspective. I did not find the Alpha Black to be at all heavy. But to make sure, I handed it to my wife (I did not tell her anything about these reviews) and the first words out of her mouth were "wow, this is really light."
But, for the sake of attaining Mil-Sim (which incidentally reduced any additional weight I could have had), I purchased a RAP4 CO2 MOLLE mod tank pouch to go on the back of my UTG tactical vest and I inherited a Pure Energy remote line from my brother-in-law. I included in this a 3 point tactical sling.
Please know, I am no paintball guru with no special powers or amazing gift at paint-slinging. I love to play and look professional while I do it, but I am quite convinced that when I pulled out my AB and set up my rig I heard about three people gasp. We took pictures of ourselves and I saw what I looked like. Even though I am not a scary or intimidating person, I looked very intimidating and lets face it, intimidation can come to your advantage. Sure, you need to be aggressive, make continual progressive advances, and utilize flanking maneuvers, but it always helps when the opposing team is scared to get in front of your line of fire.
But enough of this story telling. Lets get to the facts. Accuracy was the most incredible I have ever seen. I have consistently used Custom 98's and Spyder markers. My AB could give me almost 15 to 20 extra feet of distance compared to the 98's I was going up against. This kept them pinned down at much farther ranges. The accuracy was stunning. To originally test it out, I fired the AB at single pipe of a pipe fence (approx. 3 inches wide) from 55 feet (approx. 18 yards). Out of 8 rounds fired, 3 met their target. But before you get bent outta shape, walk off 55 feet and imagine shooting a pipe 3 inches wide. All other shots were near misses. I was firing Xball Recreational Paintballs and Sterling Competition Paintballs. I do not consider either of these to be high grade balls and they preformed nicely. This is particularly beneficial when, like me, you don't play enough to rationalize buying extremely expensive balls.
After turning around from that test fire at the pipe, there were about 8 white faces (they were on the other team) and 6 people asking to shoot my AB. The first question someone asked me about it was, naturally, how much it cost. I got it for $130 (that's shipping included) on the online auction. One guy noted that he had just bought his for $100 and would have gladly have scrounged up another 30 bucks to get an AB. I gave out the information on the seller to about 5 people that day. Incidentally, it should be noted that I am not the seller nor am I associated with the seller in any way. I am just a customer that was genuinely impressed with the marker he/she sold me.
Functionality in the field was awesome. The gun feels as solid as a rock. The aluminum is high quality and feels as durable as a Tippmann should. Telescopic stocks are fantastic for woodsball gaming. I shortened the stock for CQB (close quarter battle) and it was awesomely snug. I noticed that my mask prevented me from sighting effectively down the rail sights, but the way I ball I rarely use or need direct sighting. With the 3 point tactical sling, it fell comfortably to the left side of my body allowing me to kneel or squat (behind cover I mean) without the barrel getting in the dirt
The marker worked flawlessly with my remote line and 20 oz tank. We played 5 scenarios and I fired over 1100 rounds through the AB. It did not chop a single ball. I limited my firing to, on average, 3-6 shot bursts and had no problems with cycling or freezing. With the 20oz tank, I did not have to change tanks at all. As mentioned above, this gun sips on gas like a Japanese car. When I unscrewed the tank at the end of the matches, there was still a significant amount of air left in the tank.
Though no paint broke in the barrel, I was effectively covered in paint from other players and this included my marker. Since I desire to see this marker last me a long time, I've resigned myself to tear it down after every game. There seems to be some fierce debate between reviewers about the difficulty in maintenance. I will admit that it does take a small amount of finesse to get it open and there are a substantial amount of very little parts. However, I have absolutely no proficiency in working on or repairing markers, or any other mechanical devices for all that matter, and I was easily able to get the case off, oil all of the internals, and get it back together. And to answer the question you should be asking yourself...yes, I fired it afterwards and it worked perfectly. I've successfully torn it down a total of three times now and I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of where the internals go and how they work (thanks to Tippmann's very simple Custom 98 internals).
Conclusion: This marker can fit a variety of players and scenarios. If you like woodsball, I most certainly recommend this marker to anyone. If you are a person that enjoys Mil-Sim, I'm not sure you could get a better marker for the price.
And, if you're just a baller that wants to have fun, you don't really care about all the nerd stuff I'm into, and want a reliable inexpensive weapon, I recommend the Alpha Black to you.
If you're wanting that "edge" over your fellow woodsballers I haven't shot another gun that I recommend yet. With the accuracy to be precise, forks or "v's" in the trees become a viable option for head shots. It's no longer an issue of "can I hit them" and more of an issue of "where do I want to hit them" now.
The only reason I'm not giving it a 10 is because the administrators of this forum are right. There is no such thing as a "perfect" marker. So it should say something that I rate it a 9. It isn't perfect, but it got dang close in my opinion. And I'm pretty picky.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Alpha Black Kicks it hard!, July 29, 2008
I paintballed for the first time the other day and my Alpha Black performed nicely. My first round I didn't have the opportunity to even fire my marker; however, the second round I scored myself two kills from 50+ feet; one in the knee and the other was a head shot in the goggles (on the first trigger pull). I didn't have one ball break and my shot groups were pretty tight. There isn't a need to fire 50 balls at someone hoping one will hit. If you see them, you can hit them (once you're familar with your aim). For someone who has never played before, can't run very fast, and has very little experience aiming a weapon of any sort... this marker made me feel like I had a chance out there. Excellent marker for a beginner. It's heavier than other markers, but it's really not that bad.
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