Penny wise and pound foolish: a gun question

[[AK]The Beast]

(I don't know why I've used weird thread titles today. Just that kind of mood, I guess.)

Without going into too many details, due to a change in retirement plans thanks to my promotion, I'm going to be coming into a large enough sum of money, probably during the month of September, that if I can wait that long, price will be no object to the paintball gun of my dreams. My question is primarily for Squidly and Fax: keeping in mind that I could probably put this sum of money to much better uses elsewhere, is it worth it to buy a $1000+ Angel or Intimidator over the $300 Bushmaster BKO?

[[AK]Faxman]

Buy the BKO, invest the money.

[[AK]Squidly]

I'm a proponent of buying the best gun you can afford (weighed against your passion for the game.) You can always resell it if you lose the love.

That said, the BKO is a heck of a gun for the money.

[[AK]Faxman]

I can also help you tune your BKO, now that I know what I'm doing.

[[AK]Squidly]

I can also help you tune your BKO, now that I know what I'm doing.

[[AK]The Beast]

Thanks guys. The longer I thought about it, the more sense it makes to just buy the BKO and be done with it. After all, I can always sell it and put the money towards an Angel or Timmy down the road, too. That money will be better spent elsewhere.

[[AK]JD]

Fax, do you have any regret that you didn't go better than the BKO ? I really doubt you do since everything I've been reading about the BKO seems like for the money there is no contest.

Side note, I played yesterday and my spyder was starting to really show me its performance/ability limitations. After about 2 hrs into woodsball play I started shooting snow balls added with some VERY crappy paint that shouldn't have even been given it chopped my first paintball in about 2000 rounds. The bigest drawback I find now with the spyder is speed its simply isn't very fast and trying to shoot fast with it produces irratic shots. I did get to play yesterday with some very good paint though (i forget what type) but it was the field owners own it was silver cased and the guns accuracy was much better. After a few hours my arm was starting to get sore from carrying the gun around so I think my upgrade will have a weight consideration, regardless I had a good time, even though there was no speedball there. I have now theorized how to make my gun fully automatic which I may do just for kicks.

[[AK]Faxman]

I have no regrets, nor any complaints. I would recommend the BKO to anyone who wishes to take their game to the next level. The BKO is a meat and potatoes gun with few frills, and all top notch function. Here's a breakdown of the Xtreme BKO milled version.

Pros:

1. Inexpensive.
2. Quality customer service at ICD.
3. Readily available upgrades.
4. Quick, tool-less field strip. Pull a a pin, remove the bolt, run a squeegee through, and replace.
5. Sleek looks.
6. Blade trigger is fully tuneable down to a mouseclick.
7. This gun is FAST. Fire a string of paintballs as fast as you can pull the trigger.
8. This gun requires very little cleaning. After each day of play, run a squeegee through it and put it away. After 5000 shots I've read it's a good idea to lube the o-rings with white lithium grease.
9. Air consumption. It's very good. With a 68cu tank you'll get about 6-8 raucus games of speedball in, with the paint really flying.
10. Lightweight. This gun is featherlight even with a full tank and hopper on it. This really impressed me.
11. It's compact. It has a small profile and can be tucked away easily behind bunkers.
12. A delrin bolt comes stock.
13. Stock grips are comfy.
14. Stock pressure gauge is large, easy to read. (Some may prefer a mini gauge, however. It's personal preference.)
15. The gun will not fire at unsafe pressures. The solenoid is set to leak once the HPR is tuned above a certain range.
16. Low pressure operation. The gun runs at <300 psi.

Cons:
1. Stock high pressure regulator could be better. (The unmilled BKO uses the new '04 ICD reg which is supposedly superior to the older, milled reg on the Xtreme.)
2. Stock barrel is ok. I prefer a J&J Ceramic, this is next on my upgrade list.
3. No LCD screen. There's no digital screen that has BPS, or a shot counter. Not really a big deal, but for some it may be a nice feature that is lacking.
4. Runs on 9v batteries as opposed to a rechargable battery.
5. The gun is mechanically capped at 18 bps by a mechanical spring. A vapor bolt and valve can increase the rate of fire.
6. There is only one firing mode, semi-auto.
9. Open bolt. The bolt is not truly closed, as it is on an Angel. An open bolt has more recoil than a closed bolt.
10. No stock clamping feedneck. You'll need to sand and cut your hopper neck down for a tight fit. Most guns do not come stock with a clamping neck.
11. Velocity adjustement takes some getting used to. The HPR sets the operating pressure, while the LPR tunes the velocity precisely.

That's pretty much it. In conclusion, I love my BKO. I would recommend one to everyone interested in speedball. The BKO will allow you to compete with the best of them, and still have money left over for some upgrades.

[[AK]JD]

Thanks for the info Fax, the BKO definetly is a sweet gun however my problem is that there is no dealer locally and I'm having a hard time finding one in all of Canada. My local dealer is trying to sell me on a wgp cocker but I am going to keep searching. I'd buy from the US but I get raped w/duty when importing.