Buying Your First Gun

OK, so here's some good advice to the beginner paintballer buying his first paintball marker....  DO NOT purchase a high dollar tournament level paintball marker right out of the blocks.  Most newbies that do end up spending more time working on it than playing (because they don't know how to care for it and they break it or get it so gooped up that it doesn't work right).  Get a decent semi-automatic paintball gun and learn how to clean it.  Get something basic, reliable and don't spend a ton of money on it right out of the gates.  Tippmann 98, A5, X7 or Spyder MR1 are good guns to start with and are readily upgradeable as your skills improve.  Practice cleaning your paintball gun.  Be able to clean it in your sleep!  Then and only then, are you ready to head to the field to shoot it.  Practice, practice, practice.  Practice shooting, practice loading and practice cleaning.  When you get on the field, you don't want to have to think about these things.  Besides, it is fun to practice loading and cleaning your first paintball marker! You get into the paintball mindset and let other worries go.