Less Lethal Tiberius Launchers

Tiberius Arms, manufacturer of the T4, T8 and T9, is also a supplier of less lethal pepper ball launchers. Their less lethal products are licensed under several brand names, such as Veritas and Zarc, and are proliferated amongst several law enforcement agencies in the United States. 

Tiberius isn't the first company to do this, Tippmann has been making pepper ball launchers for many years now, but it is interesting to see paintball markers that were made to replicate the look and feel of real firearms used as legitimate less lethal weapons. 

What's even more interesting, is that some of these less lethal launchers are retailed for less than their recreational equivalents. There was a recent flood of forums posts when some members of the paintball community found less lethal T8s retailing for $100.00. It has yet to be found if these launchers are able to fire at a safe velocity for recreational paintball (< 300 fps), but the consensus was that the deal was certainly worth it. 

A-TACS Interview

Picture above is an Emerson knife in A-TACS.

A-TACS, the new and potentially revolutionary camo pattern revealed in the latter part of 2009, has now been formally launched at Shot Show 2010. I have recently been in contact with Steve Hanks and Philip Duke of Digital Concealment Systems (DCS), and Philip was kind enough to answer a few of my questions:

What prompted the creation of A-TACS?

To be honest, we saw what was on the market, and felt like there was something we could add. We like to push the technological envelope. We've been innovators in the world of hunting concealment for the past 15 years so in many respects, it is a logical extension of what we have already done. After much study, we realized that the methodology behind many of the "digitized" or pixelated patterns was wrong. Ask any sniper or tactician, they will probably tell you that ninety degree angles and squares do not effectively replicate the environment. Additionally, small patterns tend to close-up at a distance and create a blobbing effect. A dark or uniform silhouette makes an easy target! These are a few of the conclusions that led us to where we are today.

Who is the team behind the creation of A-TACS, and what is their experience?

The team behind the development of A-TACS is small. Steve Hanks, my partner with 20 plus years of background in fabrics, Richard Howard, my other partner with 20 years of experience on the hardgoods side of the fence and myself, Philip Duke. I have been involved in developing concealment systems for the past 18 years.

A number of environment-specific variations have been mentioned, what environments can we expect to see covered, and when are they expected to be released?

A-TACS is a universal concept. We are currently testing and building pattern variants based on other types of terrain. While the character of each pattern will be different, they will still utilize the same "pattern within a pattern" concept. We will make announcements on new variations in the coming months.

What was the response to A-TACS at Shot Show 2010, and who were some of the interested parties?

Demand at the SHOT Show was overwelming to say the least. We had interest from all facets of the tactical, military and law enforcement communities. Interest is worldwide at this point, which is something we never expected. We are finalizing deals with a number of manufacturing partners but cannot say who they are until the time is right. Expect new announcements in the coming months on our website.

A-TACS appears to be off to a great start, and their strong customer service is an asset to them. Keep your eye on Grey Ops for more A-TACS articles in the near future.

How To: Dhallak's G3 Foregrip Mod

If you want a HK G3 look for your X7/X7 Phenom, but are unable or unwilling to pay for one, Dhallak of the X7OG has kindly uploaded video instructions on how to create his "Battle Rifle Foregrip" to Youtube.

The foregrip on my X7 above was made by Dhallak, with my only modification being a coat of olive drab Krylon Camo Fusion. If you're looking to attain the same look, you need only mark off everything except for the handguard with painter's tape then spray the entire piece according to the paint's instructions...

And when you peel off the tape you'll be left with this:

Lockheed Martin HULC

Photo from Lockheed Martin's website.

Lockheed Martin has recently publicized their new HULC (Human Universal Load Carrer), an exoskeleton capable of carrying 200 lb. As you can see from the video below, it is being marketed with military applications in mind.



I would be more impressed, but the HAL-5, developed in Japan several years ago and already available to rent, assists both the legs and arms of the operator. Not to mention it looks a lot cooler.

Milsim Idiot

With any paintball marker, especially one that could be mistaken for a real firearm, it is the duty of the operator to exercise caution in how they display and use it.

The reason for this is twofold:

1. It protects the user and anyone that may be with him from the actions of responsible and diligent law enforcement personnel.

2. It protects the image of paintball (especially milsim paintball) in the eyes of the public and in the eyes of law enforcement personnel.

In the video below, a Canadian milsim paintballer fails to protect himself, and finds himself in a scary situation.

Here are the things that this irresponsible individual did wrong in this situation:

1. He is either on crown or public land with a paintball marker (and a milsim one at that).
2. He is alone.
3. He is making obvious efforts to conceal himself while in milsim gear.
4. He states, "Wait, it's a paintball gun!". While it's necessary to always refer to it as a paintball marker, in the heat of the situation, one of the officers involved may have only heard, "... It's a ... gun!".
5. He jumps out of the bushes when he sees the officers surrounding him, with his paintball marker still on his person.
6. He states, "I'm part of CSPO, Tactical Paintball Operations". By affiliating himself with CSPO (which was in no way associated with what was going on), he slanders the responsible organization by his irresponsible actions.
7. Despite the suggestion of the RCMP officer, he posts the video on Youtube, further straining relations between himself (and possibly the milsim community) and law enforcement personnel.

The RCMP officers in this video responded to the situation exactly how they should have, and I congratulate them on how they dealt with everything that was thrown at them. Hopefully this video will serve as the perfect "what not to do" example for new paintballers, and not as a posterboy for the vilification of milsim paintball.

CQB2 Announcement

From an email sent by CQB Tactical Paintball:

I couldn't find any bigger pictures of the new field, but it looks awesome nonetheless. I'll definitely have to make a trip down there in the near future.

One little thing did irk me though... "Experience CQB's live version of Modern Warfare 2." That combined with the fully automatic statement makes me worry that the experience will actually be catering to the adrenaline junkies that want milsim paintball to be their own personal videogame. But, there's no way I could pass up a change at multi level entry situations, so I suppose I'll just have to suck it up.

Will and his staff are top-notch, and I'm sure any excursion to the new facility will be made well worth your while.

G.I. Milsim in 2010

I realized a little while ago that it had seemed like forever since we had heard anything from G.I. Milsim, or their FM50. My regular forum and blog haunts yielded no new information, so I decided to go straight to the source.

Here are some questions I asked Richmond Italia, and his responses:

Will Smart Parts' current difficulties affect the future of G.I. Milsim?

G.I. Milsim and Smart Parts are separate companies.  Smart Parts’ financial difficulties do not directly or indirectly affect the day-to-day running of G.I. Milsim.

However, when any large company within a small industry like ours hurts, it affect us all.  G.I. Milsim wishes Smart Parts continued successes and a quick restructuring.   Our industry needs innovators like the brilliant minds behind Smart Parts in order to drive paintball forward.

When will the FM50 be released?

The FM50 is available now for players in the UK.  US players will see the FM50 in stores just after Paintball Extravaganza (February 9-11, 2010).  For more information about your area, email info@gimilsim.com . 

Any hints as to what we can expect to see from G.I. Milsim in the near future?

G.I. Milsim will be continuing to launch new products over the coming year, including loading systems, barrels and more new clothing.

When we launch a new product, there will be an official statement on our website at www.gimilsim.com. 

You can also keep up to date with all the news about G.I. Milsim, as well as contests, on our social networking sites www.twitter.com/gimilsim and www.facebook.com/gimilsim.  Please be sure to fan or follow us. 

Will G.I. Milsim be running/sponsoring any events in Canada this year?

G.I. Milsim is looking forward to becoming a main sponsor of the NAX league and supporting players participating in the CXBL in Canada. 

Any advice for teams as to how to go about obtaining G.I. Milsim as a sponsor?

Our focus this year is .50 caliber paintball and bringing these products to the market.  We strongly believe that when a company sponsors a team -  a relationship of constant communication and involvement is needed for all parties to benefit from the sponsorship.  Currently, with our focus on the products, it would be difficult to forge these building blocks    We will revisit the potential for team sponsorship opportunities for the 2011 season. 

G.I. Milsim is always interested in hearing from teams and players – update us, tell us about your team, share your successes with us.  Start a dialogue today, email us at teams@gimilsim.com. 

A few things I found interesting about this exchange include how G.I. Milsim (a joint venture between Italia, and the Gardner brothers) is seemingly unaffected by the failings of the Gardner Brothers' company (Smart Parts), and that the FM50 has already been released in the UK. This is a bit suprising as G.I. Milsim is based out of Montreal.

New Address

Grey Ops is now hosted on www.GreyOps.net, and several minor technical improvements have been made to the blog, with more to come. Don't worry, any greyops.blogspot.com url will still redirect to the appropriate location.

Trijicon Controversy

As one of the most popular sights in use by various militaries today, it comes as a surprise to learn that every Trijicon Reflex Sight and ACOG comes with a biblical reference. The full story, as reported by BBC, reveals that Trijicon has been doing this for over two decades, but it has only become an issue now. Lines are already being drawn, with some saying that the merchandise used is too useful to worry about the political ramifications of the inscriptions, while others believe that the references send a potentially destabilizing message.

Lapco Big Shot Assault Review

Barrel: Lapco Big Shot Assault

Price: $70.99-82.99 US from Lapco Paintball

Options: A-5, Cocker, Ion, Spyder, T-98 or TPX threading. 8" (TPX), 10", 14" or 16" barrel. 8 different thread-on tips available from Lapco, and more from other manufacturers. .687 or .690 bore.

Specs: Aluminium construction, anodized matte black. Threading on tip for add-ons with friction o-ring. Front porting on last inch or so. Straight bore.

My add-ons: I normally use the bird cage tip, but I also have a mock silencer that is able to thread on to the barrel tip.

Pros: Great anodized finish and a super smooth interior. Threaded tips, including an Apex and a Dishka, provide room for aesthetic and performance upgrades. Any Lapco, Hammerhead or Milsig tip can fit the barrel. Three different sizes.

Cons: Single piece barrel system and only two bore sizes means it's harder to match paint. A little bit on the heavy side.

Overall: While you'll probably never see a Big Shot Assault on a performance speedball marker, it's perfect for the typical milsim marker. The plethora of tips allows you to complement your milsim loadout perfectly. Like any big aluminum barrel, it's heavy, and you should keep this in mind if you're adding it to a marker that is already weighty. It shoots like any other straight bore barrel, and seems to be built to last.

JBern Shooting RAP4 GOLF Balls

I just realized that I completely forgot to link to JBern's video (from NW Woodsball, check it out) of him shooting some RAP4 GOLF Balls even though I contacted him ages ago asking if I could embed his video.

My bad JBern! Anyways, his video does a great job of demonstrating the weird flight patterns these rounds can take. Here it is:

Grey Ops on Facebook

Grey Ops now has a Facebook page. For those of you that prefer Twitter updates, I still regularly update via Grey Ops' Twitter account.

New Logo

And by new logo, I mean Grey Ops' first logo. It's still a work in progress and I'd love some feedback, so fire away! What do you like about it? What do you dislike about it? What would you change?

Event: Operation End War

While browsing through the new releases section of RAP4's website, this item caught my attention. After some digging, I discovered that RAP4 is organizing a potentially large scale mag fed only game. The event will be hosted at T.A.G. on... well I couldn't find the date (Event will run Oct. 2nd to 3rd). Which is only one of the reasons that I'm a bit skeptical of how successful this event will be. The other being that this was announced almost a week ago, but this is the first I've heard anything about it. That's really too bad, because I think a big mag fed only game would be awesome (it's also too bad that it's in Northern California and I'm in Eastern Ontario).

All additional information can be found right here.

Tacamo Lives

Tacamo has made a return of sorts, with distribution of the well known AK-47 markers being handled by RAP4. The prices appear to have risen a fair amount, but this may be the price to pay for Tacamo sticking around. It wasn't too long ago that the Action Gear Canada rebranded Tacamos were selling new for dirt cheap, but I'm unable to find an FX for under $200.00 Canadian now.

If any of you are unfamiliar with the Tacamo line, here's a vid of Hitman Stan shooting a few rounds through one: (don't try and navigate to his website at the end, it's no longer operational)

Coincidentally, if anyone (in Canada) wants a good deal on a Tacamo marker, you should consider this: Tacamo Marker @ Canadian Paintball. It's not a static page though, and the markers are in short supply, so go quick or the deal will soon be gone.

Remington ACR and MSR Videos

As a preview to Shot Show 2010, Remington has released a few videos demoing their ACR and MSR. The existence of these firearms is certainly not news, but the computer generated animations in the videos is worth a look.

Remington ACR:


Remington MSR:

X7 Phenom Marker Builder

The successor to the X7 Marker Builder, the X7 Phenom Marker Builder allows you to mix and match various Tippmann accessories on an X7 Phenom.

The flash page also allows you to throw the marker you've created into a shopping cart and buy the whole package through Tippmann.

Slow Motion: MILSIG Cocking Handle

Ever wondered what the MILSIG cocking handle looks like when the marker is firing? Well with the aid of a Solarforce flashlight (would have been better with daylight, but the sun hasn't shown it's face for a couple of weeks), a pie tin (reflector) and a cardboard box (held marker) I found out.

Milsig Mod Slideshow

Magpul AFG (Angled Fore Grip)

Magpul does most of the work for me and explains the concept behind their new grip above. An interesting alternative to the standard vertical grip, the idea seems sound to me.

An another note, this is my first time seeing the rail covers in the AFG promotional picture shown above. They appear to be Magpul XTM covers with a texturized surface.

DRV Sales Thread

An update to the previous DRV post...

The DRV has now entered the initial sales/down payment phase. The sales thread for the marker can be found on M. Carter Brown. Better get in on it now if you want your own .68 cal revolver!