Lets See Those Firearms!

[leloup]

One of my Black powder beauties.

Also, I found a like where you can enter to win a case of 556, if anyone is interested.

[Warwitch]

Anybody still shooting real steel out there?

Built and Cerakoted this little plinker a while back.

[wetwrks]

Anybody still shooting real steel out there?

oh yah...just shot in a .22 competition. For Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah...out of 160 people, my dad placed first in pistol and I was about 30th. In rifle I was 16th and dad was about 50th.


Here are a few of mine:

[Warwitch]

Nice collection there. Black on black on black! I love tlhe look of the Tavor. Just cant get over the ergonomics of it.

Here is the side-charger 300 BLK I just built



And ol' faithful

[wetwrks]

Like the side charger.

That tavor is in 9mm and the forearm is the silencer. Here are a few more:

[Merce]

What I carry almost everyday at work. Prefer to carry the M1014 though.

Looking into a new handgun for personal use but the recent PRK 2A ruling has me rather contemplative if it's even worth it anymore.

[Warwitch]

Ugh, ya I dont envy you having to deal with Cali bull****.


My scattergun

[zulubravo44]

I feel like I'm echoing old ghosts (aka steelrat), but reading through this thread in the wake of Orlando over the weekend (and I know that alone will incense a lot of of you) gives me a whole lot of mixed feelings. Yes, I'm an avid paintball. Yes, I'm also a gun owner (both long guns and hand guns). Yes, I firmly support second amendment rights. I just feel like posts featuring assault style weapons on a forum dedicated to a game where we use gun-like markers to shoot one another is a fuzzy line I'd rather not cross. This is particularly because of the ways some of the pictures portray our members brandishing real weapons in a manner that is basically undistinguishable from the way I, for example, might pose with a paintball gun (i.e. in tactical gear, wearing camouflage).

I get it, the second amendment was put in place by the founding fathers to balance power between the people and the state. Now, the state has a whole lot of firepower behind it, and it takes a "well armed" populace to balance that power. My point has nothing to do with criticising other people's choices as it relates to exercising this constitution-granted, supreme-court-tested right. It does, however, have to do with the right place and the right way to communicate such things.

I've been an AO member for a long time, and I've learned a lot from this community. And I know we have a whole section of the forum dedicated to friendly chat about non-paintball stuff. But for me, this thread blurs a line I'm personally not willing to cross. I've spent many a day and night debating with family, friends, neighbors and strangers that paintball is strictly a recreational sport, and is more like tag than any kind of "war game" that the extreme left wants to portray it to be. This thread really erodes my credibility in that argument, and it doesn't do a lot to attract new players to game in such a polarized environment about gun ownership, self protection, the second amendment and murder rates.

Sorry to get up on my soap box, but I just felt the need to get this out there. I have no doubt that at least some of you will think I'm dead wrong, and I totally respect your opinion. I just don't share it.

[wetwrks]

I guess my question would be...what is the difference between one shooting sport (paintball) and another shooting sport (firearms)?

Personally I see no difference. I have played semi-professionally in paintball and play semi-professionally in firearm sports. I will be competing in a regional shooting competition at the end of the month using similar weapons to those pictured.

Where do we draw the line? Should people use military terms for their paintball names like Zulu or Bravo or a combination of that because it might have the wrong connotation for someone? The name I use (wetwrks) falls into that same boat. Do we need to be PC with people's names because it might hurt someone's feelings? Might offend someone?

I understand people are shocked by the shooting...but would we be having this same discussion were the killings done with a bomb? Would we be having this discussion about people's pocketknives if the killer had used a knife?

Bad people do bad things. The tool is just a means to an end...take away one tool and they just go back to the toolbox for a different tool. Look to Israel...it is difficult to get firearms there but that doesn't stop the terrorists...they go after knives and bombs or steal legally owned firearms from police or military. Look to Paris...they have extremely restrictive firearm laws there yet it did nothing to stop multiple attackers from getting fully-automatic AK47s. Firearms and bombs weren't available on 9-11 so they went to the toolbox and got a different tool (box cutters) to achieve their goal. Demonizing firearms won't stop terrorists.

Also keep in mind that the anti-gun crowd wants anything that even resembles a firearm outlawed. I personally have read internal memos that they want camo clothing banned as it "promotes a violent mindset". Once the guns go away you can bet all paintball will follow.

[blackdeath1k]

Well said wetwrks

[zulubravo44]

Just to be clear, I wasn't at all advocating for any prohibitions on firearms ownership whatsoever, nor was I claiming to be any holier than anyone else. Like I said in my initial post, I myself am a recreational shooting enthusiast. I just think that we should be careful, as a community, to represent a positive image both to our fellow community members and to the wider world, since this is a publicly accessible forum.

While it may be semantic, I take issue with the mixed use of the verb "play" used for both paintball and firearms. I don't "play" with real guns, and I think we as firearms owners have a duty to portray and embody responsible use, even if for entertainment and recreation, when it comes to shooting. That's the real crux of my point: this forum is dedicated to a game that has long struggled with negative connotations of violence and increasing people's propensity to commit violence. While there may be some aesthetic similarities between real guns and paintball markers, my view is that it's really important for us to differentiate the two. And, I think it is very much in our interest, as paintball enthusiasts, to do so.

Pictures in tactical gear brandishing real firearms on a paintball forum is well within the rights of free speech and the basic rules for the forum. I just think it's bad taste that jeopardizes the work we've done to differentiate paintball from more violent pursuits, and it doesn't really help the cause of recruiting new young players when we blur the lines between a game and preparation for real combat.

[Warwitch]

In my experience paintballers have above average respect for firearms. And are very well versed in their safety. Lets keep it light in here and just leave the political dialogue alone.

[wetwrks]

Nothing you do or don't do will separate paintball from real firearms for anyone who is anti-gun. Remove all photos and discussion of firearms from this site and people will still look at paintball in the same light...you still have people running around playing at war in military garb with "guns".

[MoeMag]

If I may:



and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjOo1BXH08E

[wetwrks]

If I may:



and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjOo1BXH08E

That brings back memories of Christmas wishes years ago. Couldn't hardly go to the mall without hitting the cutlery store to look at those sitting in the case along with the .3357 spotmarker, and the 007 Nelspot.

I had a chance to buy about 20 SMG-60 up till about 10 years ago but wouldn't touch them with a 10' pole. They were all from Rocky Flats. If you don't know about Rocky Flats it was one of Americas nuke bomb building plants and they came up missing several pounds of plutonium. During the cleanup and shut down of the place they recovered almost all of the missing material...it was lining the air vents of the building. People had been breathing it...eating it...it was irradiating everything on site...yah...not interested in bringing anything from that place into my home. Additionally the price was as much for a new one and then they would have had to be converted to .68cal.

Here is another of tippmann's products:

https://youtu.be/G9M3de5mISY

Predates the SMG-60.

[MoeMag]

That brings back memories of Christmas wishes years ago. Couldn't hardly go to the mall without hitting the cutlery store to look at those sitting in the case along with the .3357 spotmarker, and the 007 Nelspot.

I had a chance to buy about 20 SMG-60 up till about 10 years ago but wouldn't touch them with a 10' pole. They were all from Rocky Flats. If you don't know about Rocky Flats it was one of Americas nuke bomb building plants and they came up missing several pounds of plutonium. During the cleanup and shut down of the place they recovered almost all of the missing material...it was lining the air vents of the building. People had been breathing it...eating it...it was irradiating everything on site...yah...not interested in bringing anything from that place into my home. Additionally the price was as much for a new one and then they would have had to be converted to .68cal.

Here is another of tippmann's products:

https://youtu.be/G9M3de5mISY

Predates the SMG-60.

Rocky Flats... Thanks for that. That was a good read. Yeah 100% with ya.

As for the tippy 22... Yup. I know it's not much, but I've at least touched one once. lol!

[Warwitch]

I owned an SMG-60. Lost in a move so many years ago

[robertreed711]

Anybody still shooting real steel out there?

Built and Cerakoted this little plinker a while back.

can I get some details on this?

[Warwitch]

Its a Ruger 10-22 inside, mostly KIDD competition parts. The chassis is a Center Balance Ranger. I did the Cerakote job.

http://www.cbrps.com/Ruger.html

Here is a 10 group on a 4" target at 50 yards just screwing around.

[Ragu310]

Just the handguns:

[boo]

assault style weapons

Please remove that term from your vocabulary. It was created by Josh Sugarmann, director and founder of the violence policy center. His foundation has taken a lot of money and used it against all shooting sports, including paintball, by associating how we spend our weekends with domestic terrorism and violence.

The idea was to create confusion amongst politicians and the general public that modern sporting rifles were in fact select fire assault rifles. Sales of new select fire assault rifles were already banned in the 86 "firearm owners protection act". This despite the fact that an NFA registered machine gun has only been used in 2 murder cases that I've found, by far making them the least deadly of any firearm.

Josh Sugarmann was also one of the earlier people that created the media dialogue about paintball fields being used as a training camp for radical militias (domestic terrorists).

We need to approach educating outsiders about shooting sports the same way we do in paintball. For almost all of us guns are pieces of sporting equipment, used in both recreational and professional sports. If you know your history of ancient civilization you'll know that sports have been around since the dawn of time as peaceful demonstrations of someone's or some groups martial arts.

Its why we call them paintball markers and modern sporting rifles.

As my own thing I take the perception a step further and don't own any black markers and most of my guns are adorned in wood (despite having 2 models patterned off guns that have been very prolifically used in wars). Just because a gun's black doesn't mean its more deadly, they are just perceived that way. Ironic considering the side that dialogue's coming from...

[going_home]

[Warwitch]

Alan, it clearly says YOUR firearms.

[wetwrks]

Alan, it clearly says YOUR firearms.

And that is not a firearm...gun maybe but not a firearm.

[going_home]

Alan, it clearly says YOUR firearms.

Oh I thought you said forearms

[skipplesandbits]

zulubravobravo and I are ready for saturday. should be an epic 11 hours!

[going_home]

Epic 1st post !