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pumps semis electro-pneumatics

020 : Splatmaster Rapide

Calibre : .68 /// Powered : 12grm Powerlets
Shots Per Second : 1 /// Origin : USA

From the humble Splatmaster comes the Splatmaster Rapide. It's not really an improvement, in fact I think most people would still opt for the original bolt action Splatty. The Rapide had a tripper pull as long as the M25 and many times when you did finally get to the end of the trigger pull the gun wouldn't go off. Although this humble pistol does fall under the category semi that's the last thing it going to give you.

021 : Barracuda

Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Constant Air (Co2)
Shots Per Second : 3 /// Origin : USA

The biggest paintball gun ever manufactured would definitely be the Barracuda. It came with a 22 inch barrel, carry handel and many other bits of not much use bolted on to it. Short of this the Barracuda was the gun to strut around the safe zone with. With a gun this big who needs a penis. The semi-auto mechanics was one of the best bolt action designs on the market with a trigger pull of about half an inch. You could fire a good 3 shots per second with this thing, but unfortunately you were left with a blister at the end of the day. If paintball guns ever become collectors items I'm sure this one will be one of them.

022 : Advantage

Calibre : .68 /// Powered : 12grm Powerlets or Constant Air (Co2)
Shots Per Second : 2 /// Origin : USA

Line SI's launch into the semi market came in the form the Advantage. Unfortunately owning one of these things was more of a disadvantage. Luckily when it hit the market there were few semi's to compete against it and it's looks alone sold some of this model. To be honest it wasn't all that bad but it suffered from a huge trigger pull and it consistently broke trigger springs. On top of this someone at Line SI designed the shortest feed stub (where the hopper connects) which meant that when you were running around the woods the hopper would fall off.

023 : Golden Eagle

Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Constant Air (Co2)
Shots Per Second : Up to 5 /// Origin : USA

Brass Eagle were not worried about conserving weight when they built this gun. It weighed a ton and had the longest body of a gun you've ever seen. Unfortunately it had a tiny little barrel. It wasn't a great gun but it was the first real blow back semi-auto to hit the market which made it a great gun. It would chop and smash balls quicker that you could reverse you car over a box of paint, but it was a blow back which meant the trigger pull was short and you could paint the woods what ever colour you so desired. The advent of this gun meant paintball was about to change. The Turks were the first team to fully use the Eagle and there are still people today suffering from the canings that were dished out. Following this the fully sponsored Eagles team hit the scene and there was no turning back.

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024 : Poison

Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Constant Air (Co2)
Shots Per Second : Up to 5 /// Origin : USA

Another marker from Brass Eagle's range of blow back semi-autos is the poison. It was the cheaper option to the Golden Eagle and one that was seen on many sites as a good rental semi. As with all blow backs it consumed heavy amounts of gas and wasn't the most agile of guns.

025 : Brutamatic

Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Constant Air (Co2)
Shots Per Second : None /// Origin : Brazil

Not many people would have come across one of these disasters, but there are a few site that tried them and several shops that sold them. Where do you start with a gun that comes straight out of the box broken, and when you do try and fix it you are presented with bolts that strip allowing no access to the internals. If you did manage to find a working model it had this habit of turning perfectly good paintballs into liquid before they even left the barrel. If there is a worlds worst paintball gun the Brutamatic is it.

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026 : Icon Z1

Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Constant Air (Co2)
Shots Per Second : 5+ /// Origin : USA

When the Icon Z1 hit the scene it showed how good a blow back semi could really be. The Z1 was capable of consistently firing ball after ball with a fairly low breakage count in the breech. It was robust if not a little ugly but a gun you could pull out of your kit back day after day. The weakest part of the gun proved to be slide rail which was fitted underneath the sight rail. The Icon went on to be copied from all corners of the world.

027 : Illustrator F1

Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Constant Air (Co2)
Shots Per Second : Up to 5 /// Origin : USA

The F1 was a good looking gun, which weighed very little and when the pin didn't break it was a good marker. Heavily advertised in the paintball press the Illustrator went on to be a good seller and since the F1 it has gone through many changes and is still seen around today.

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028 : Automag Lvl 7

Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Vapour Co2 or Air
Shots Per Second : Up to 7 /// Origin : USA

The gun to be customised, the gun to be seen with and the gun which changed the thinking of how good semi-auto can really be. Whilst everyone had been customising blow back semi's and trying to make them perform all the more better a man called Tom Kay was waiting to release his final design of his Automag. Manufactured by Airgun Designs the Automag used a totally different blow forward valve system. It was faster than a blow back and used less gas. There wasn't a gun to touch the mag until the Autococker matured.

029 : Minimag

Minimag

Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Vapour Co2 or Air
Shots Per Second : Up to 7 /// Origin : USA

Based entirely off the design of the Automag, Airgun Design's Minimag was actually bigger than the Auto mag with the exception of the barrel. It is however a better looking gun with its vented body and stumpy little barrel.

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030 : Autococker

Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Vapour Co2 or Air
Shots Per Second : Up to 6 /// Origin : USA

Budd Orr's early pump gun the Sniper has literally been given an auto cocking device where the pump used to sit. If you like guns that look the part Autococker is your gun. It makes great noises and the bolt at the back which slams back and forth everytime you pull the trigger is more than entertaining. The basic Autococker was probably not a better gun than the Automag, however it's ability to be customised launched it above the mag on the pro tournament scene.

031 : Evolution Autococker

Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Vapour Co2 or Air
Shots Per Second : Up to 6 /// Origin : USA

Keith and Steve Belsey the Farnborough boys at Belsales took the Autococker threw most of it away except the body and then rebuilt it to present us with the Evolution Autococker. To say this gun was good would be an insult. The Evo out shot every other gun on the field, with its smooth rapid rate of fire and ball on ball accuracy. The only downfall if any is the price, they are not cheap, don't expect to pick one of these up for less than £800 if not £1000 and second hand ones aren't much cheaper. The Evo is still a contender even with today's electronic guns.

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032 : Eclipse Autococker

Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Vapour Co2 or Air
Shots Per Second : Up to 8 /// Origin : USA/UK

Paintball Planet's version of the custom autococker was always far more cosmetic than the Evolution. A first class gun capable of fitting in to any pro players kit bag. Most of the Eclipse's came splash anodized with all sorts of improvements over the original Autococker.

033 : Inferno

Inferno

Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Constant Air (Co2)
Shots Per Second : Up to 5 /// Origin : UK

One of the first true built British guns is the Inferno. Manufactured by the same guys who brought us the Evolution Autococker so the gun was bound to be of high quality. Still available today and used by many top paintball sites over the UK, the Inferno is a rapid, well finished semi-auto that allows first time players to play with a gun that gives serious accuracy.

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034 : Tippman M98

Calibre : .68 /// Powered : Constant Air (Co2) or Air
Shots Per Second : Up to 4 /// Origin : USA

The Model 98 Tippman is proving to be one of the biggest selling site guns. It competes directly against the Inferno with a similar price and performance but that's where the similarities end. To fix the M98 it splits in half like the old Splatmasters used to and its body is cast making it a very robust gun. It comes complete with a fixed elbow, ported barrel, hopper and spares kit which makes it an ideal starter gun.

035 : PMI-3

Angel LCD

Calibre : .68 /// Powered : C/A
Shots Per Second : 4+ /// Origin : USA

Now as a rule we shouldn't slate the PMI-3 as it was one of the early blow back semi-autos which led the way to the guns that we use today. But, I reckon the design team should have been shot for some really basic errors when designing this thing. The most obvious fault was the forward mounting donkey which means that you either screw the bottle in the front making the gun enormously front heavy or you spend loads of money converting it so the bottle is mounted like a normal paintball as pictured here.

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