When should I buy it?

[CdocZ]

So, I've wanted a paintball gun for awhile now, and now I have enough money for it and some of the modifications I would like. However, there is a slight issue - college.

Do I:
1) Buy it and take it to college and just hide it under stuff in my room
2) Buy it and hide it at home, and leave it there for each summer and go paintballing as much as I can in those 2-3 months
3) Hold off on buying it until I have off-campus housing (if wherever I end up even has any)

The pros and cons I see so far for each
1) Its pretty easy to not get caught with things in college, and there are paintball courses in virtually every area I have looked at colleges in (nearly 10 by one single school!!), but it would be a hassle to get it to college
2) No issue of hiding it when my parents help me move in to college, but the issue of them finding it while I am gone, and I cannot use it for most of the year even when the weather is fine for it because I won't be home
3) It is likely that where I go will not have off-campus housing, but off-campus housing would allow me to forget about hiding it entirely.

Post up any other reasons or things you might know about this situation (help from people in college would be particularly helpful)

Thank you very much!

[baddabang]

Your parents don't want you to have a paintball gun?

Just take it to college. If you can smuggle a 30 rack in then you can do just about anything. Our school has a paintball club and the on campus residents just store their guns, ammo, etc. at someone else's house off campus. If you have a club you'll make friends with the people in it pretty fast anyway.

[coolieman1220]

i want one!

[CdocZ]

Yeah my parents think it'll promote violence in me and that I'll just shoot people for fun, hahaha. I was thinking about the idea of asking an upperclassmen friend off-campus to store it or something, or just keeping it under some stuff in a closet.

Paintball clubs though? That sounds sweet. I didn't expect that considering colleges usually make ballistic weapons of all types illegal, hahah.

[Quiggs]

You're about to enter college. Save your money for booze.

[Zytek_Fan]

Just take it with you and stash it somewhere.

And like people said join the college paintball club. There most likely is one.

[mclaren_crazy]

I just moved onto campus, and that will be an automatic explusion and possible arrest. From my experiance these things always end up being found.

[RacingManiac]

get an airsoft gun...much cooler looking and less messy...

[my porsche]

Duffel bag + dismantle pb gun = win

[baddabang]

As long as there is enough support on campus you can get a club for anything.

[CdocZ]

Hmmm....theres one thing I don't quite get. Obviously if there are clubs the colleges know they are there. Obviously either some colleges allow them (but probably not their usage) on campus, or are ready for a system that will keep them out of dorms.

I guess the next step is to find out what the regulations for these things are at some of the places I am looking at. At this rate I think I will buy it and leave it at home until I have a place for it to stay where it will not get confiscated.

One more option - Some of the places are "cheap" enough that my parents would allow for a car - Yay or Nay for leaving it in the trunk?

[baddabang]

College parking lots=hell.

[CdocZ]

College parking lots=hell.

Good point. Grrr. So is really my only option to hope to meet someone who has off-campus housing until I have it myself?

[Turbo.Jenkens]

Provided you are mature enough to not take it out and play with it I dont see any problems with hiding it in your closet. If you left it at home you would miss the best season to paintball - fall. Trust me, if its at home you will meet some guys who want to play.

What kind of marker are you planning to purchase? I'm a Tippmann man myself.

You might find this website helpful:

Markers Paintball Reviews | pbReview.com

[CdocZ]

Tippmann is where I think I am headed at the moment, heheh. I am mostly considering an A-5, mostly for modification reasons over the various 98 variants.

And you have a point, as long as I just keep it quiet until it is time to play, it should be fine. I wasn't planning on taking it out for use on campus or anything like that anyway, heheh. Maybe some target shooting to make sure the scope I am hoping to get is still correctly aligned

As I am on the subject, I might as well start talking about what I am looking for. I want something that will be "cheap" for what I want (250 is the utter limit). What I want is something quite modifiable, reliable, and easily broken down for repairs (and not insanely complicated to repair either).

The modifications I am looking for include the following - a flatline barrel (if marker is a Tippmann) or 14 inch sniper barrel, the necessary sight rails for a decent quality mildly-zoomed scope with elevation/windage adjustment, preferably either an adjustable or folding stock, a bipod, and a stabilizer/expansion chamber type thing, pressure gauge, and depending on how I feel about the position of the tank, I might go with a remote so as not to hamper the gun's movement in relation to my body. Oh yeah, and a Ghillie-cover for the gun, but that I don't have to buy.

EDIT: The sight says I can expect to pay $270 for an A-5 - the two sights I've used to look at prices of stuff, had $200 and $260. I probably can't buy online though unless a friend buys it for me

EDIT2: I've seen things about 2-piece barrels - What are the advantages/disadvantages of these?