Bob Gurnsey in the audience, Bud Orr on the right.

Debra presents Bob with a lifetime achievement award

Krischke listens to Grunsey speak

Gurnsey with the target from the first paintball game

Tom talks about testing paint by getting shot in the back - before there were chronographs

The International Amateur Open is a traditional launching point for many new products for paintball, starting with the New Products Showcase at the annual Industry Conference.  This year marked the 11th annual conference, and between it, and the new products shown under the vendor's tent during the tournament, there was no shortage of cool paintball stuff.

Prior to the new product releases, event promoter Debra Krischke brought forward Bob Gurnsey.  Gurnsey was one of the people who had taken part in the first organized game of paintball, and he went on to found the National Survival Game, the first business for the sport.  NSG acted as a manufacturer, distributor, and franchiser for the first paintball fields.  After his initial introduction, Krischke sat down with Gurnsey and interviewed him about the company's early days.  Debra had worked for NSG early on as did a fellow employee Tom who joined the conversation.  Behind them was a backdrop of a target board hit with oil based paint during the first paintball game.
 
 

Krischke talks with Gurnsey

Tom another NSG employee joins the group

A box of original Nelson oil based paint

Past lifetime achievement award winners.  L to R: Tom Kaye, Debra Krischke, Bob Gurnsey, Jessica Sparks, Bob McGuire, Bud Orr

Gordon Moore, president of Zap paintballs introduced a face that hasn't been seen much in paintball lately, Aldo Peronne.  Aldo was the founder of Brass Eagle, and had a non compete contract that kept him out of paintball for a while after selling the company to Daisy.  Peronne is responsible for designs like the Nightmare and the Stingray which helped bring lower cost paintguns to players.  Taking the same approach he has designed new products for Zap.  The Mach 404 loader with "shockwave" technology is said to "vibrate the balls into position."  That's not exactly an accurate description - the loader is an agitating system, but it is vibration that moves the agitator.  When its electronics sense agitation is needed there is an off-center weight that is spun by a motor (like a pager vibrator - a little larger) inside an inverted pendulum hanging from the top of the loader by flexible mounts.  This causes the pendulum to wobble back and forth, mixing up the paintballs.  Two flexible fingers extending from the pendulum sweep across the top of the feedneck to clear jams.  Requiring only a single 9v battery, the Mach 404 has an MSRP of only $49.95 meaning it will have a very impressive street price for a powered loader.  Also the ZXS-600E is planned to do to the electronic paintgun market what the stingray did for semi-autos.  It features a low price point, molded polymer and cast metal components and a relatively simple design.  It is quite light weight, and while it has more moving parts than the three claimed at the conference, its MSRP of $249 is a breakthrough for electros.

Chris Havlock from Crossfire introduced the company's new 4500 psi compressed air system.  Crossfire is well known for its screw in preset air systems.  With the changing requirements of many paintguns on the market, some do better when fed higher or lower pressure air.  Typically screw-in style compressed air systems have had both a cost and size advantage over adjustable output pressure units, but been handicapped by their lack of adjustable output - stuck at their factory setting of around 700 or 800 PSI.  Crossfire has an answer in their new 4500 psi systems.  Color coding of the regulator's base indicates one of the two preset pressures in which the system is available.  Red is the high output pressure model, preset to 800 psi, while the blue model outputs 450 to 500 psi for lower pressure paintguns.

WGP's Black Magic Autococker

Worr Games Products has already garnered a following for the Black Magic Autococker released earlier this year.  Its lightened body, 11 degree angled ASA, performance pneumatics, and optional swing trigger have left many people questioning why they would bother with swapping out parts for aftermarket "upgrades."  Cockers aren't all that's going on at WGP though.  Paintball netting is big on the list.  It's been a hot topic - especially when it fails.  WGP's new netting conforms to the proposed ASTM standard.  Also new are travel cases for the Mega Booster compressed air pump.  The Mega Booster can be protected so well that a fall off of a table won't hurt it.