was Valken and I opted for their higher-end ball,
Graffiti, though the weather was a little chilly with
temperatures creeping crisply into the forties.
A lot of long-ball happens at Fulda Gap and I
figured at longer ranges, long as I could keep
my paint warm enough to get onto the field in
one piece, I’d get those long-range ball breaks
instead of bounces. Podding up and topping off
my hopper I hit the chronograph and was met
with an impressive 271, 271, 269. That was more
than enough for me (and the chrono judge) and
I headed to the field where my friends and I
headed in for the NATO side.
After a brisk uphill walk (everything at Fulda Gap
is uphill, even the downhill slopes somehow)
we finally found some action and got down to
business. Throughout the rest of the morning,
midday and into the afternoon, the battles raged
from the open firebases surrounding the Warsaw
spawn into the adjacent woods and while the
chilly weather definitely had some players
breaking paint, I wasn’t one of them. I could
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have left my barrel swab in the car because even
through almost two cases of paintballs shot, I
didn’t break or chop a single ball. The GMek,
based as it is on the GTek, was light, small and
easy to lug around the field for hours at a time,
which I did. The slider trigger pull is smooth,
crisp, and easy to shoot fast once its natural
rhythm is learned.
The GMek’s accuracy is exactly as a quality
spool valve marker is expected to be – stellar.
At one point I found myself with my back to an
open road in a thin strip of woods as dozens
of Warsaw players from a sizeable reinsertion
closed in around me. They filled into a tire wall
ten yards in front of me and as they popped out
the sides and over the top I was able to snap in
and out, sending them back where they came
from one after the other, holding my own until
a tank came along and chopped me to pieces.
What I realized walking out of that mess was that
though many of the opponents I was fighting
were shooting high-end tournament