The Patch Panel

Evan (of the Tactical Survivor Blog) has launched a new store called the Patch Panel, be sure to take a peak and get your patch fix in time for Christmas! Lots of offerings are available including cool paintball specific patches.

Activision and A-TACS

Talk about a cool collaboration!

A-TACS Camo signs deal with Activision in support of Call of Duty®: Black Ops II

Columbus, Georgia based Digital Concealment Systems, makers of the A-TACS Camo family of patterns has signed a deal with Activision Publishing, Inc., publisher of the popular Call of Duty® series of video games. As part of the deal, A-TACS Camo patterns will make their first appearance in the blockbuster Call of Duty®: Black Ops II video game developed by award-winning studio Treyarch. 

RANT WEEK 2 is coming!

Consider yourselves OFFICIALLY warned.

Tiberius T4.1

Often talked about but never acknowledged by Tiberius Arms till now, the T4.1 is the eagerly anticipated evolution of the Tiberius T4. As with their T9 to T9.1 transition, the most notable addition is an air tank in stock, something that truly rounds out the T4 platform in my opinion. To catch new updates from Tiberius Arms, be sure to monitor their Facebook page here.

Milsig MK-III Coming Soon!

The eagerly awaited (well on my part anyway) Milsig MK-III is now available for pre-order via Milsig.ca's online store. The best part? The price point is only $250 CAD (special pricing ends the 31st). For full details, check out the product page, and for an upcoming review check out magfedpaintball.com (with Evan Henshaw reviewing the marker).

Dye Dam - Dye's Magazine Fed Marker

Yeah yeah, I've been AWOL, but I've got some time this weekend, so time to catch up on some milsim news!

Dye (among others) has announced their foray into the magazine fed paintball market as of last week, with the Dye Assault Matrix (or DAM for short, as in DAM that marker's ugly).

New Scarab Arms Videos

Scarab Arms has released two videos relevant to their upcoming marker release (the TGR2), here they are:




Thoughts? Concerns? Plans for the marker?

Paintball Saves Australian Man's Life

Paintball has quite literally saved the life of a young man in Australia. Check out the story on The Canberra Times, which describes how an unfortunately placed paintball hit led to the discovery of two different cancerous growths. Bet you he cussed out the guy that shot him originally, only probably to thank him later.

Good News for DMAGS

From Omar Macy:

"Now that we have Reached an agreement with Carmatech about patent we have resumed production
It will take several days to a week to asses where our suppliers are in their manufacturing capacity before we can give a release date Once all suppliers are booked so to speak
It will further take about a month to manufacture the massive numbers of components that are necessary in order to keep the prices of the DMAGS as close to the number projected
We will give a release date only when we have Confirmations from all manufacturers that they have finished their respective productions and are ready to provide tracking numbers
This will be the only way to have an accurate DMAG release date any other way would just be best guess
Thank you for your understanding
Omar"

Milsim Labs IED

Milsim Labs has released a new IED simulator for use military simulation use that uses a burst tube and a CO2, air tank or bike pump for detonation purposes. Price is set at $50 and the current limit is at one per customer. Be sure to check out some of the other sweet products Milsim Labs has come up with over the years.

PENCOTT-SNOWDRIFT Fabric now Available

I've been long anticipating the release of PenCott's Snowdrift, and am super pumped to see people start making awesome clothing suited for Canucks in the pattern now that it has been released! Here's the press release from Hyde Definition:

We are very pleased to announce that our PenCott-Snowdrift camouflage pattern is now available to order on the first of three planned fabric types. 

A-TACS Grey Ghost Release

Just in time for school to start (if you're looking for a sweet new bag to take to class, or of course for one of its intended purposes), Grey Ghost has released an awesome new Operator Pack in A-TACS FG, check it out:

The Stealth Operator Pack from Grey Ghost Gear is designed as a low visibility recce pack that can be utilized in a civilian or military environment. The pack features a large main compartment as well as a center zip pocket on the outside of the main compartment. Inside the center zip pocket there are admin and organizational pockets as well as a concealed holster to covertly carry a handgun. Also includes heavy duty zippers, grab handle, sternum strap and generous hydration pocket. Designed out of 500 Denier Cordura in A-TACS FG Camo. Volume is 887.5 cubic inches, length is 17 3/4 inches, width is 10 inches, depth is 5 inches. To purchase, visit, www.greyghostgear.com

Special Ops Paintball Forum Back Up

For quite a long time, the Special Ops Paintball Forum was a vast repository of years of knowledge and experience but from what I understand drama and logistical issues have kept it down for some time. Some readers may be happy to know that the forum is now back up, with what appears to be all the data properly archived, including past login information etc.

FEAR Gear D1RT ACU Pictures

FEAR has released some sexy pictures of an ACU made in their D1RT pattern on their Facebook page, check them out:

Paradigm Pro Now Available for Pre-Order

Lots of new stuff coming out of Milsig's stables! Now the Paradigm Pro is available for pre-order through Milsig.ca. Check it out here.

Milsig Fazmag

Milsig has announced the release of some seriously cool fastmagesque pouches under the moniker of Fazmag. Check it out:

Event: Operation Rocket Science

Ottawa's own Danger Close is hosting a scenario this September at Ottawa X-treme Paintball, check it out:

I Spy: RAP4 Edition

I Spy, with my little eye...

Event: ISPG Malaysia Scenario (October 5th-7th 2012)

It's been long established that Malaysia is an amazing place to paintball. The dedication of the players and the amount of play that goes on there is simply extraordinary. If you've got some free time this October and some cash for a flight (or if you're in Malaysia already) you absolutely need to check out the ISPG Malaysia's big scenario event that will take place from the 5th to 7th. Check out the promo vid:


Directed and choreographed by Stanley Tai (who is an awesome guy by the way, be sure to check out Legion Paintball)

Click here for the ISPG Malaysia Facebook page.

Event: Operation Honey Badger

In what will be SAS Woodsball Canada's first organized mag-fed and tac-cap only game, Operation Honey Badger brings a day long scenario to the famed PRZ facility. Players and teams that have been stockpiling their limited capacity markers and gear will get the chance to play with Ontario's best, in what's shaping up to be an amazing event. 

Scarab Arms

There appears to be a new manufacturer on the milsim marker market! Scarab Arms based out of Las Vegas has the following to show off:

"The Scarab TGR2 MILSIM Magazine Fed Marker is constructed from durable light-weight T6 Aluminum Alloy and Nylon Fiber with fully ambidextrous controls, sling mounts, comfortable ergonomics and an easy and quick dissasembly feature. The Scarab Marker is equipped with high end iron sights and an integrated MIL-STD 1913 top mounting rail for optical or electronic sights and other accessories. The lightweight fiber magazine holds 18 projectiles while the marker its self features a chamber sight window to instantly verify both the payload type and need to conduct a tactical or regular reload.
In addition to this the SCARAB will accept numerous 0.68 paintball magazines manufactured by different suppliers.
The propellant source is hidden in the butstock for a more realistic and tactical feel while the pistol grip can be exchanged with almost all Gas Blow Back Airsoft AR platforms or real steel m4/m16 pistol grips.
The Barrel system is 100% free floating accepting any A5 threaded barrel. The Scarab also comes standard with an extremely tough RIS sytem that holds a built in cleaning rod."

Chinese Developed "A" Camo

A huge congratulations goes out to the Chinese developer of "A" camouflage. They've produced a spectacular product, and have truly taken the moral high ground. If you'd like to take a gander at the product described above, check out the product pictures here:

Full Auto First Strike and MKP-II

RAP4 has released a new video (shown above) of two interesting things. First off, a USA built MKP kit will be released, called the MKP-II, which should be great for Americans wanting to buy quality domestic products, and Canadians wanting to keep their money on the continent, and secondly said kit firing a mag full of first strike rounds on full auto. Totally awesome, but I get the feeling players that can afford to consistently play like that will be showing up to the field in Bugatti Veyron.

Be sure to check out RAP4's Facebook Page for more updates, or as always you can Like Grey Ops on Facebook for the latest milsim news, videos etc.

Battlefield Live Ottawa

From Battlefield Live's Facebook Page

This isn't the first time that Grey Ops has touched on infrared gaming, but the blog's home turf (Ottawa) is now home to a new business called Battlefield Live that is bringing laser gaming with a milsim flavour to the Ottawa area.

Event: Siberian 5 (4th Annual)

Ottawa's annual 5 man tactical tournament returns for 2012! Saturday November 17th, Marked Paintball will once again test players' limited capacity mettle with Siberian 5. You've got months to prep, so start getting your teams together and practising! Here's the Facebook event so you can reserv'er'up (that's what RSVP means right?).

Limited capacity games may only now be starting to gain a foothold in the States, but it's nice to see that we've been playing paintball properly since 2009 (any perceived sense of moral paintball superiority in this sentence is purely coincidental and totally valid).

Plastic Bottle Launcher

In much the same vein as the Hades Arrow Mortar, the Marudai RPG-7 PET Bottle Launcher uses the power of water to propel ordnance towards the intended target. Where it differs, is that instead of a purpose-built payload it fires a standard 2L PET bottle (with included fins and tip). Pretty damn cool if you ask me. Perhaps not for firing in a game (as a 2L PET bottle would probably knock someone out at close ranges if it was fairly full), but certainly just for fun it would be a great toy. The roughly $400 price tag puts a bit of a damper on that.

Older Lenses Do in Fact Break Easier

Recently Paul and Andrew of Luckygunner.com did a comprehensive ballistic evaluation of various lenses to determine their integrity etc. While this may initially seem to only hold merit for other situations (involving live fire etc.), parts of it are extremely relevant when it comes to paintball goggles. Here's an excerpt:

"Every pair of older eye protection absolutely failed to stop basic “threats” which were stopped by comparable eye protection of newer manufacture or less use.
The highest quality example of the “older” group was the ESS goggle, which passed all military ballistic testing and which I personally wore in Iraq for almost all of 2006. ESSgoggles and glasses were in use by nearly every Marine and Sailor in the area, and I constantly saw how effective they were.
Even so, age – and constant exposure to UV rays from sunlight – takes its toll on polycarbonate eye protection. For this reason, I would avoid using eye protection that is more than a few years old and/or has seen a lot of sunlight. Knowledgeable military sources informed me that the life cycle of military eye pro is expected to be six months."

Ugly Milsim Markers - The Worst is Yet to Come

Will I truly never run out of ammunition for this article series?!

The above picture is an unconfirmed "Tactical" Bob Long G6R, and it is quite possibly the epitome of everything I've posted about concerning Ugly Milsim Markers. The top rail is so useless you couldn't fit anything at all on it, the rails on the side serve no tangible function, and as far as crappy CAR stocks go this one is pretty crappy. And by and large, that's it. No other real redesign appears to have taken place. I thought that the Etha kit was junk, but compared to this it actually looks attractive.

Given how expensive Bob Long markers typically are, the really ugly part of this marker may be the price (once it's released). And yet, I'm sure people will buy it.

Aurora Shooting's Paintball Connection

When any tragic event occurs, we find ourselves asking how such a terrible thing could happen. It's a coping mechanism of sorts that blame or onus shifts to peripheral and occasionally irrelevant facets of the perpetrators of heinous crimes.

Unfortunately, paintball is prime fodder for that responsibility shift, and it has entered the limelight that surrounds the horrendous shooting in Aurora Colorado. And as always, the mass media has found a link to innocuous pursuits and the accused.

However in this case the link is truly ridiculous. The connection is a poster for a Derder (speedball) DVD showcasing a season of professional paintball. That's it.

Goblin Deuce now Available in Black

It's been a while since we've heard from Goblin Paintball, so it's nice to know that they're still in the game! The latest release from Goblin is the Deuce in black, and hopefully we'll be seeing more things from them soon.

RAP4 Videos - Patrick

Patrick, a relatively new face to RAP4, has been doing an amazing job with recent promotional videos for the brand. This combined with their better video quality means that their channel really deserves more attention than it's getting!

Here are a couple choice videos that have been released recently:





Keep up the great work Patrick! Now somebody just needs to update the aesthetic of the RAP4 main page!

Milsig Paradigm Pro 2012 Release

The details of Milsig Paradigm's successor, the Paradigm Pro, have been announced as well as some awesome pictures of the new marker. Check it out:

"In 2009, MILSIG released a marker that exceeded the expectations of MILSIM Paintball fans everywhere. Realistic looking, solidly built, durable, and extremely accurate; this legendary marker was known as the Paradigm. MILSIG raises the bar even higher with the release of the 2012 Paradigm PRO. This completely new version of the Paradigm is lighter, more efficient, more accurate, and even more realistic than the original; a tour de force showcase of MILSIG's innovative designs and exceptional craftsmanship. 

A-TACS Camo and Schott Performance Fabrics announce a virtual ONE STOP SHOP for A-TACS Camo fabrics and Trims; also expands A-TACS Camo fabric printing to Duro Textiles

This is pretty awesome news for anybody wanting to make their own geat in A-TACS (or making your own gear in general). From DCS:

"A breakthrough opportunity for manufacturers of all sizes utilizing A-TACS Camo is now available. Due to high demand and to assist smaller manufactures who do not require large quantities of production fabric, Schott Performance Fabrics is now set up to take orders and distribute less than Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ) on all A-TACS AU and A-TACS FG Camo fabrics. For domestic and international manufacturers requiring larger quantities of fabric, the ordering process will remain the same, simply contact Denise Barrick by phone toll free at: 877-720-4545 or by e-mail at: dbarrick@schottfabrics.com.

Tiberius Arms Press Release

Courtesy of Eric Bratten of Tiberius Arms:


"Tiberius Arms acquires Guerrilla Air!

Fort Wayne, IN (July 2, 2012) - Tiberius Arms has acquired Guerrilla Air, a manufacturer and distributor of high quality air systems and accessories for the paintball market from YSN Imports, Inc. The full line of Guerrilla Air products, including Myth, G2, Rbel, and Rvolution regulators, Cobra Coil remotes, and Pro Series fill nipples and burst disks will be immediately integrated into the Tiberius Arms offering.

Regarding the deal Sam Newman, president of YSN stated; "I am very excited that Guerrilla Air will now be part of Tiberius Arms, a leader in paintball that will allow
Guerrilla Air to continue bringing high performance and innovative air systems to the paintball community. We share the same vision of making the paintball experience more edgy and enjoyable than ever before.”

Eric Bratten, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Tiberius Arms commented, “Adding Guerrilla Air’s core product line of air systems helps the market penetration of Tiberius Arms unique markers, First Strike projectiles, and accessories.  This acquisition also allows us to bring to market high-impact merchandising programs and create new revenue opportunities for our dealer and distributor network. Improving product availability, minimizing freight and overhead costs, and maximizing margins, is our key goal.  Tiberius Arms centralized support and distribution center will provide the ideal location to service customers and grow the Guerrilla brand.”

Visit www.guerrillaair.com or www.tiberiusarms.com for more information. 

Contact Tiberius Arms at 260.478.2500 or by email at sales@tiberiusarms.com.

Visit us on Facebook."

ebairsoft/eBaybanned

I just realized that I had never plugged ebairsoft (or as it used to be known, eBaybanned, which I much prefer) before, and I truly have to rectify that!

Yes, it's a lot of cloned Chinese products, but amongst all the sites that sell cloned Chinese products, ebairsoft is well above the pack. That's not only in product selection, but also in: prices, shipping (free and it doesn't take very long at all) and customer service (they rarely screw up, and I've never heard of them not making things right for anyone). 

Paintball on ATVs

Sigh, more dubstep. I suppose dubstep is the new Drowning Pool.

Given the proclivities of certain demographics, it really can't be argued that this is the first time people have played paintball on ATVs. However at ATV Games 4X4, renters and walk-ons can play land-based-chopper-door-gunner on the field. Talk about a great way to carve a niche amongst other vanilla paintball fields! If you're near Norman, Oklahoma I'd say it's definitely worth the trip! 

RAP4 D-Day and D-Mag Update Video

Details to take away from the video:

• Operation End War (mag fed scenario) 2013 will take place on the Oklahoma D-Day field.
• RAP4 aims to have their 100 round drum magazine out by next year this time.
• RAP4 aims to have their D-Mags out by possibly August.
• D-Mag patent issues have been resolved.

F.E.A.R. D1RT Camo Fabric Pictures

Got an update from F.E.A.R. Camo for you guys, check out the D1RT I got on them (har har):

What's even cooler, is apparently the next time we see this it'll be in the flavour of a uniform. If this is your first time hearing of F.E.A.R., be sure to check out their webpage here, as well as their DUST pattern.

Tactical Game Innovation's ICS GLM TAG

I've always wondered if it would be feasible to put smoke grenades into a paintball/airsoft grenade launcher, but I have to admit I never wondered what would happen if you shot noisemakers out of such a launcher. I'd be willing to bet you'd need to travel to Eastern Europe (I believe the set-up is either from Russia or Estonia) to use these without people breathing down your back about it, but the sheer awesomeness of launching smoke shells across a field probably justifies the trip.

No information about purchasing etc. is immediately available from any sources I've seen, but I'll be sure to post up about it if said information becomes available.

Looking for PB Tees in Ottawa?

My buddy Dave is the proprietor of a local T-shirt design company located at www.ottawatshirts.com, and he'd like to invite Grey Ops readers to take advantage of his work! He's been around since 2011, is a member of the Canadian Forces and also a paintball fan, and thusly is a natural choice for getting some custom swag (shirts, hoodies, pb gear) made up (not limited to just your pb events).

Tzeelim Military Base

The picture above has been circulating around the paintball circle of friends recently with common taglines like "Anyone feel like playing here?". Figured I'd post up about what it actually is, which is actually a training facility in Israel on the Tzeelim military base. The reason behind the configuration and architecture of the buildings is pretty obvious, and yes I'm sure it would make for a seriously badass paintball game. The IDF says "We'll think about it", but I think they're just blowing CS gas up my ass.

Milsig Mondays Promotion

Hey dummy, what's your problem with free stuff? What's that? You like free stuff‽ [please note judicious use of interrobang] Well go like Milsig's Facebook Page already!

Here are the details from Milsig:

MILSIG MONDAYS! Every monday, until the end of July MILSIG is giving away a FREE barrel back set!
When the Milsig Industries Paintball FACEBOOK PAGE reaches 2000 likes, Milsig will give away A FREE MILSIG MARKER!
To Enter the draw, simply Like the MILSIG page and SHARE with your friends.

Crime Thwarted by Paintball Marker

Turns out would-be thief Elvis Alexander's not a fan of being pelted with paintballs.

Most of the time we see paintball in the mass media, it's because someone's perpetrated a crime with a paintball marker, however we've got something refreshingly different this time. News sources in Galveston are reporting that a thief was stopped in his robbery of a home via a barrage of yellow paintballs. Check this link out for the story from the Galveston Daily News.

Metadyne Havoc Sweetens the Deal

Metadyne has given their popular (and well reputed) Havoc launcher a facelift with some cool new features, including a stock that accepts AR15 tubes, and a side mounted ASA. This means the Havoc is immediately a much more adaptable and compact package, sure to appeal to many more players. I know I'm drooling over it.

Camouflage in Video Games: A-TACS Xbox 360 Controller

Evil Controllers has released an A-TACS FG Xbox 360 controller, and it looks great! It's cool to see the pattern gain interest from other markets, and I get the feeling we're going to be saying this about A-TACS soon:

PenCott and More PenCott

PenCott is popping up in more and more places, firstly in Slovenian UFPRO's Sniper Garment system (press release below).

Paintball Warfare

If there was ever to be a successful paintball "recruiting" video, this would be it. I absolutely love how much action the team on this video packed in (here's the page for the video), and unlike most cool paintball videos that would appeal to the mainstream, everyone's wearing what they should be. Before anyone says how dangerous this looks, it's not a dynamic environment, it's all choreographed. I don't think anyone in their right mind would allow for the possibility of a truck smushing a paintball player into oblivion by landing on him. A behind the scenes video for the shoot will be released tomorrow.

Blue Monkey Paintball S-RAV

While certainly not the first ones to create a paintball RC vehicle, the gents at Blue Monkey Paintball have created a nice polished little package called the S-RAV that they would appear to be selling (or selling in the near future).

CCM Sniper Rifle Nearly Cosmetically Complete

Bill from CCM was kind enough to comment on a recent post (http://www.greyops.net/2012/05/ccm-sniper-rifle-updates.html#comment-533203965) and has stated that the CCM Sniper Rifle is nearly complete (aesthetically at least). Check out the pictures below:

On Vacation!

I'm on vacation from the 15th to the 25th, so hopefully nothing groundbreaking in the paintball world will occur in that time. I'll be mainly (and intentionally) unreachable for that time, but if there is an emergency of some sort I can be contacted at my usual email addresses, and may get a chance to read it if it's marked urgent and contains some kind of expletive in the header. It's been a whirlwind couple of months, and I'm really looking forward to blogging a lot this summer.

Click here to check out the Tactical Survivor Blog's Facebook Page.

On the Crypsis front, the store will still be operational, and as a bit of a vacation bonus, all orders will benefit from 10% off with the code "VACAY" (without quotation marks, derp) and everything over $100 CAD before taxes will receive a bitchin' Canadian PVC Flag Patch.

Also, looking for a bit of advice. I'm headed to Ireland, so I need to know what whisky to buy there (if there's something that's worth it) or if anyone can recommend a good brand of poitín.

Paintball Marker Registration in Fredericton

A bit of old news that I haven't seen anyone talk about (which is odd as you'd think it would make the rounds in our community), is that the city of Fredericton (as the Montreal Gazette reports) has instituted a mandatory registry for "anything that shoots a projectile by means of compressed air, spring or mechanical means. That covers pellet and paintball guns and, in theory, even such toys as Nerf guns." This bylaw, bylaw S-5, applies only to the municipality of Fredericton.

I try to avoid politics as much as possible on Grey Ops, so I'd love to hear you guys weigh in with your opinions of the bylaw. Here's a link to the offical document if anyone's interested. I'd be particularly interested to know if any of our East coast readers have come into direct contact with the bylaw, and what their opinion is.

CCM Sniper Rifle Updates

Turns out this thing gets better and better. Gonna leave this to eye candy and videos for your pleasure. Check it out!