The best tactical paintball guns have a balanced combination of both realism and performance. No matter how cool your marker looks, you’re not going to get very far in a scenario paintball game if you can’t hit anything. In contrast, you can have a super accurate and powerful marker but it’s hard to become fully immersed and committed to the military mission you’re in if your paintball gear isn’t as realistic as possible. Tippmann’s US Army Alpha Black paintball gun is a.68 caliber hopper fed tactical marker that’s a military replica of an M4 carbine assault rifle. While there are other tactical paintball guns that are more detailed replicas on the market, they have a hard time beating the Alpha Black’s durability, reliability and ease of use. This marker makes a terrific first gun for the scenario paintball newbie.
One of the reasons the US Army Alpha Black is so durable and suited for the rough environment of scenario woodsball is because it has a die cast aluminum receiver. While Tippmann has a good reputation of building tactical markers that last, they put extra muscle into the Alpha Black as these paintball guns were originally meant to be used by the US Army for realistic simulation combat training exercises. The metal receiver gives this M4 replica a nice weight that feels great in your hands. This US Army Series marker has plenty of power and will easily shoot 150 feet accurately right out of the box, however its velocity is adjustable. This tactical paintball gun not only looks realistic but also has a slight kick with each pull of the trigger, yet remains very easy to wield and nail pin point targets if your hand is steady enough.
Tippmann’s US Army Alpha Black comes with an 11 inch stock barrel, m4 style shroud and collapsible/adjustable carbine stock. The carry handle has built in iron sights that you can line up nicely with the front site on the end of the shroud for surprisingly accurate shooting right out of the box. This Tippmann paintball gun is fed paintballs by a 200 round hopper located on the right side of the gun’s receiver just in front of the carry handle. This tactical marker’s magazine is non-functional but still useful as a small compartment perfect for carrying tools and your barrel squeegee. With the recent popularity of realistic magazine fed paintball guns, the US Army Alpha Black still competes with this new technology because they’re so much easier to manage, shoot and take care of. While magazine fed markers may be more authentic than this gun, you can’t beat the convenience of 200 rounds of ammo on board when compared with 20 round magazines.
One of the best features of the Tippmann Alpha Black is how upgradeable it is. The new elite version includes a 20mm rail built into the base of the shroud; great for adding a vertical grip, laser or tactical flashlight. The carry handle of this US Army elite marker is removable, revealing a lengthy top rail perfect for adding a scope or sight. If you do this however, make sure to either attach your scope with an offset rail or add an offset hopper adapter or your hopper will impede the view of your scope or sight. The Alpha Black paintball gun is compatible with Tippmann 98 stocks and barrel threads. This is great news if you’re looking to customize and want plenty of options as there are thousands of tactical accessories available for these guns that are cheap and easy to install. There are also numerous upgrades for the US Army Alpha Black marker should you want to make your gun faster, more powerful and/or more accurate.
If there are any drawbacks to Tippmann’s US Army Alpha Black paintball gun, it’s with the stock shroud and barrel. While this gun is plenty powerful and accurate right out of the box, the stock barrel isn’t much compared to after market rifled barrels and other high tech upgrades of this sort. Upgrading this marker with a tactical rifled barrel will produce an immediate noticeable difference in both range and precision. The stock shroud also looks a bit plastic and some complain is not as realistic as others available. Even though it comes with a rail already attached, the Alpha Black shroud looks more like a toy while the rest of the gun looks like a fierce carbine tactical rifle.
These few cons are easy to either overlook or improve with after market upgrades. Overall however the performance, ease of use, simple maintenance and cheap sticker price of the Alpha Black far outshine its few faults. The US Army Series Alpha Black semi-automatic paintball gun is extremely reliable and will rarely break down even under the most intense pressure and hardest play. Despite this, Tippmann offers a solid one year warranty. This tactical marker is a terrific gun for both beginner and advanced players who take their scenario paintball game seriously and don’t hold back on the field. This gun is a great buy and shouldn’t be overlooked when shopping for military replica guns that have the best combination of realism and performance.