Spyder Ultralight (in progress)

[eight_ender]

My Spyder MR2 has been a fantastic gun to play with this summer but during some of the faster paced close combat rounds in the kiln area I've been feeling like the weight and size is holding me back from running around. The dynamic of having a fill station right on site has also changed things for the better. Its possible now to use smaller co2 tanks and not worry about running out for the day. So the goal here is lightness, one handed shooting, and as compact as possible.

The Spyder MR Series from Kingman has a lot of good things going for it. All aluminum construction, reliable stacked tube design, compact body, anti chop bolt, and very decent accuracy. They're also really easy to take apart and modify. With that in mind I've mocked up what I want with my MR2. The biggest downside of the MR2 is weight. All that aluminum makes for one heavy bastard of a gun. For the final product I intend to pick up the lighter and smaller MR1 so I can keep the MR2 around as the "long gun" for lakeside rounds.

Lets look at the MR2 as I currently have it setup:

Now if I take off the stock, handgrip, barrel shroud, and tank mount I end up with this:

I've also now attached a neat dealextreme iron sight and the cutest little 4oz tank that Bob lent me. The neat thing about Spyder is that the stacked tube design has been around for a long time in various forms. In some spots they haven't strayed very far from the early designs that used vertical asa tanks. A vertical asa adapter from an early Spyder looks like it'll screw right in where that black piece above the tank currently is. The adapter is needed as that black piece there has the right threads but no metal spike to push down the valve. Its strong enough to use as a foregrip as well, which is a bonus.

Another piece of this puzzle is an awesome 3.5inch Spyder barrel available from ebay:


I don't expect stellar accuracy with this and I may have to settle for a 8 inch as a compromise but its tiny and looks great so I'm going to try it. The point of this gun anyways is running and gunning so accuracy is less important. I'm still waiting on a good MR1 deal to cross Kijiji as well as for a raft of ebay and dealextreme parts to arrive to complete this, but I think when I'm finished its going to be a crazy fun little gun.

[[PX]IronFist]

Nice, looks like a pretty cool mod. It will be interesting to see how that 3.5" barrel effects the accuracy of the gun.

[[PX] Nebuchadnezzar]

Mod the planet!

...but I think I would still get a pre-made pistol for this purpose.

[eight_ender]

Mod the planet!

...but I think I would still get a pre-made pistol for this purpose.

I thought about this but none of the pistols I could find can be easily setup for a vertical tank, which is a big plus for me as it doubles as a front grip and keeps the weight centered. The pistols also don't usually support longer barrels aside from expensive single run ones. I don't really expect the 3.5 inch eBay barrel to be any good and I'd like to keep my options open for a 6-8 inch replacement.

Basically rather than taking a pistol and building it up to the SMG type I wanted I figured it would be cheaper and I'd end up with a better product taking a full size paintball rifle and going backwards. The availability of the vertical ASA for Spyders and my good experiences with my current gun were big factors as well. The MR1 is pretty much already there. Its a light, fierce little thing.

You can get a sense of scale in this picture from the last match. I'm using my friend Steve's MR1 here. Its loud as hell and awesome:

Also I just noticed from the pictures that I tend to stick my middle finger out when I'm using a double trigger LOL

[[PX]IronFist]

You look pretty pissed in that photo as well, lol

[eight_ender]

*action face*

[THE JEW (RaVeN)]

Barrel length has little effect on accuracy for paintball.

Efficiency? Yes. You'll blow through that 4oz pretty quick. It will also be h3lla loud.

The only tangible benefit a longer barrel has, in regards to accuracy, is that it helps you "lead" better.

[[PX] Nebuchadnezzar]

Barrel length has little effect on accuracy for paintball.

the barrel only uses the first six to eight inches to accelerate, and the next two to four to correct itself before falling victim to drag, which in turn results in deceleration, which produces a larger arc, and finally results in less distance and accuracy at longer ranges. Therefore, the optimum barrel length is at least eight inches and at most fourteen, with the average at eleven inches.

so 3.5" barrel will hinder you, but not by much. After all, we're not pros here...

[THE JEW (RaVeN)]

I'd argue it affects it even that much. If we're going to quote TechPB all day, Punk Works found little variation in shot spread up to 100' with a 2.5" barrel.

I agree that, for our purposes, just keep pulling the trigger and the law of averages will likely work in your favour

[eight_ender]

Well I have my donor gun. A $40 Spyder MR1 I picked up off Kijiji. It was the MR1 sniper kit that came with the factory 16" barrel. I've put the long barrel on the MR2 for now. No idea if its any good. It seems absurdly long.

I still don't know if this plan is going to work out but I've got the 3.5 inch barrel on the way, and I'm hunting down vertical ASA adapters. Theres a lovely LAPCO adapter but it seems like it doesn't have the detent to push in the pin valve on a CO2 bottle. Might have to buy it and modify it or find a bottle valve thats an on/off knob setup rather than a pin valve.

You can see the lapco on a different spyder here:


Either way I have my long gun / short gun combo to bring to paintball this sunday. I plan on using the long gun for around the pond and the short gun for the kiln areas:

[[PX]IronFist]

Don't forget to mention the 11yo you bought the gun from who's Mom was forcing him to sell his paintball stuff....you heartless bastard

[[PX] Nebuchadnezzar]

Paintball is too dangerous young man!

lol love it!

[eight_ender]

Barrel came in from China. Looks badass. I really hope its at least somewhat accurate.

[[PX] Nebuchadnezzar]

I'm excited to see how it performs

[[PX] Nebuchadnezzar]

You have inspired me. I take back my comment about buying a pre-fab pistol!

In my search for an ultra light conversion (or SMG perhaps) I thought about the air tank as a foregrip idea and want to use 12g cartriges in an ASA adapter.

http://www.paintballgear.ca/product/RAP ... apter.html

What do you think about that? You would only get around 20 shots per cart, but can always change them out in the field.

Of course since I have a tank harness already, I could also run the remote line, but that defeats the portability of the gun so...