End of 2012. Start of 2013.

I have not kept up with the likes of my blog as of late. Which is a little bit disappointing but I have been quite busy. 2013 will be a fun year and I look forward to it. A few things have happened in the last stretch of December and that has made me very excited.

2012 started out a bit slow and I set a few goals for myself but they were not fully achieved. However, I have had a progressive year. Although it did not go as smoothly as I wanted; I put down some anchor points that will help me through 2013. These are the anchor points that we need to use and remember how they effect us on our journey through life. Always remember how we progress from failures and success.

I didn't really accomplish some goals that I had set out. Did not really lose weight nor did I fully fix my sleeping but I look to adjust that this month. I have a lot to do and catch up on. What do I look forward to this new year? Getting healthy. I have to lose weight and get back in shape. It's not something to just think about as a goal or a joke. I should put the energy forward and be serious about it.

In the past year I have grown more confident, a bit more active and have taking initiative to get things done and meet new people. I have to carry that energy forward and make use of it. No more diddle daddle. The last several months has been very exciting. I have become a huge fan of Lindsey Stirling. She is a violinist who is very energetic and has a great personality! I got the pleasure to meet her in person when she played a concert here in Vancouver, BC. Least to say I was super excited. I've loved a lot of her pieces and her playing in person is full of energy and passion.

Lindsey Stirling performing at the Rio Theatre in Vancouver, BC, Canada

On top of that I got a CD and my violin case signed by her. It was truly an inspiring moment. I am very glad to have attended this concert and taken photos of her.
The rest can be found here : Lindsey Stirling Concert photo album.
To see Lindsey perform live and watching her passion and personality shine through her music, dancing and playing is very inspiring. It reminds us that it doesn't matter who tells us what we can and what we cannot do. We have to find it in ourselves to find the strength to go forward and achieve what we want.
Go down trying then to not have tried at all.

It is very frequent that we get put down by our own emotions. Our lingering expectations and hopes for something in hoping that our effort and time is recognized by others. There are times you think to yourself whether or not that time spent is worth it or not. If people even care. Sometimes it takes time for the progress to pay off. We get knocked to our knees but we have to climb our way back out. One has to look back on the past, the failures and the successes to learn from that experience to grow and progress forward.
Inspiration, motivation and passion is the fuel that a person needs to work towards their goals. Sometimes they are big goals and sometimes they are small goals we set for our daily routine.


I started working for a company local here in my city which has been fun. Like all workplaces there will be frustrating moments and times where I will really have to haul ass but it feels good to be there. What they hold for me in the future I am not sure but I look forward to it in the long run and we never know where it may or will take us. How this coincides with my future plans; I do not know but things will progress and I will find out. I really do look forward to promoting events and games in the local municipality and get the name out.

I got a bit of fun shooting a cabaret show in December for a friend and that was a lot of fun!. Cabaret shows are very fun to attend and watch. There is so many forms of dance and art.

Austin Jeng Photography Facebook Fan Page

All in all; 2012 could have been much better but I pulled out of a lot of slumps and I feel so much better emotionally and mentally. I do feel like I am striving forward and fixing a lot of problems that have been pulling me down in the last few years. Emotional slumps are the worst and to break out of that cycle has been a major relief. Sometimes you don't realize just how much you have connected with someone until they suddenly turn around on you and as time passes you watch all the bridges slowly burn away.

Life continues forward. Always remember to try to find the bright side of things, stay optimistic and objective. There are always things that will try to put us down and we just have to find that shining light and pull our way through. Friends, family and the communities we participate in are there to help us. Don't feel so  proud or be afraid to look weak to reach an arm out for a buddy to help you out. In the end; if those are the people who are criticizing you then you need to be looking for a different group of people. Look hard and dig around and generally (and hopefully) you find someone that can lend you a hand.

Have a good year everyone.
Good luck with life, school, family, work and our personal health.

Signing out,
Shroker

MILSIG magazine collar comparsion

I should note that the magazines I am using is an older gen 19 round magazine for both MILSIG and RAP4.     Since the release of the MILSIG Paradigm Pro’s new magazine system, the square head collars, many people have asked the question “What is the difference between the round collars and the square collars?” “How do they operate from each other? Pros and Cons”.

    Throughout the years before the Paradigm Pro square head magazines were introduced it is frequent that people did not really have a clear understanding what the differences are between the RAP4 magazines and the MILSIG magazines. At most people knew they are interchangeable and compatible with each others markers. Thus the question is, what really separates the three magazines in terms of operation mechanics.

    I will start with the new MILSIG Paradigm Pro. The current square head magazines is designed for the Paradigm Pro What is new about the square head collar is the head is constructed from polymer. The only metal parts is collar detent and the spring that holds the detent bar up. The MILSIG square head collar replaces the ball bearing round collar system. There is a bar that runs lengthwise across the farther side of the opening with both ends of the bar protruding out the sides of collar body a little bit. When the magazine is inserted into the magwell; there is a little ramp within that will push the bar down as the magazine is inserted. The balls than are clear to enter the chamber without being hindered by anything.

                                                                 
    In comparison to the round head feedneck collars; the round collars uses 3 ball bearings to hold the balls in place. When the collar is depressed it creates room for the ball bears to “roll back”. With the spring pushing the paintball rounds upwards , the paintballs squeeze through and then is chambered by the bolt. The problem with the ball bearing design is shooting low to mid-grade paintball or paintball that have not been storaged properly. These are the paintballs that are oblong, dimpled or a shape that is not spherical. The problem is non-uniform paintballs get stuck in the ball bearings which leads to either a misfeed or a ball chop. 

    The RAP4 magazine uses 6 ball bearings as opposed to the MILSIG’s 3 ball bearing collar. However, the RAP4 ball bearings are smaller than the MILSIG ball bearings and this leads to problems with smaller paintballs. In my personal experience when storing the magazines upside down (feedneck facing downwards) smaller paintballs in the 0.679 caliber region will roll out past the ball bearings. This is the main difference I have discovered between the MILSIG and the RAP4 round collar feedneck and can lead to problems for some users. The RAP4 has a shorter collar clip and the MILSIG round feed neck has a taller collar clip.

                                                                 
    I hope this helps clear up some confusion between the differences in the magazines. I often hear people wonder what the differences are between the RAP4 and the MILSIG magazines and excluding the internal mechanics, physical differences of the winder and what not, the feedneck ball bearings is the biggest difference.

In the next article I will talk about the MILSIG Paradigm Pro magazine in detail. Stay tuned and thank you for reading!. Visit www.magfedpb.com for more magazine-fed paintball information!

MILSIG Paradigm Pro - First Impressions

On Friday, 28th of September 2012, I picked up the Paradigm Pro from the MILSIG Canada office. I have been eagerly waiting for this ever since it was announced and after decisions and questions from announcement to release, it is now in my possession.

I should note I will be mostly writing this in comparison to my Paradigm 1. The K-Series is roughly the same size give or take.

This passing Saturday I brought it down to my local paintball field, North Shore Paintball where people were anxiously awaiting for me to show them this new toy. My initial impressions when I brought the Paradigm Pro home is the look and feel. The coating is a different from the Paradigm 1 nor the K-Series Mk II. It has a nice texture and feel to it in its own form. The platform has been working out and shedded some weight!. The Paradigm Pro is lighter than the Paradigm 1 and K-Series Mk 1 and features a brand new one piece, 400mm rifled barrel which has been rifled for First Strike rounds and of course, is First Strike round capable! The marker is also equipped with MILSIG’s new spool-valve blow forward internals known as the HEAT core.

Paradigm Pro @ North Shore Paintball , Vancouver, BC

The new square head magazines for the Paradigm Pro is a big improvement over the traditional round magazine heads. The traditional round collar heads have 3 ball bearings that retain the rounds and thus occasionally you could get oblong balls stuck in the bearings. This would result in either a misfeed or a chop. The new square head magazine collar uses a sliding bar so when the magazine enters the chamber; the bar is depressed allowing the rounds to be fed and chambered. This eliminates (I would hope so) a lot of misfeed issues. The user does not have to worry as much about oblong shaped balls getting stuck during feeding.

The Paradigm Pro features a nice egro grip handle and a smooth trigger pull. Although I think in the future having a switch safety will be pretty wicked. That just complicates the mechanical aspect of it. The trigger has a small amount of slack giving you ample amount of space to get to the razors edge and then a smooth pull to the rear to fire.

The weight of the Paradigm Pro has been reduced. I don’t have the exact numbers yet but reciever of the Paradigm Pro vrs the Paradigm 1 is noticable and feels ligther and more versatile. Not having that steel hammer in the action group probably helped reduced the weight too.

In the next part I will write about the magazines, the operations, advantages and disadvantages (that I have found so far, although so far I have not found any negatives yet).
I am looking forward to more games with the Paradigm Pro. Overall I am impressed at the overall build. It feels solid, balanced weight and operates quite smoothly. The sound report is also not as loud as the previous K and M series markers and does not blurp when the marker is out of air.

MILSIG Paradigm Pro "unboxing"

Here it is, everybody. The MILSIG Paradigm Pro. Although this is belated from the day I actually got it. I have no had a chance to do a video of it. Slowly starting to get into the whole video aspect of things.

I am eagerly waiting for this upcoming weekend to come up so I can play. :) Anyhow; through the series I will be doing videos of shooting, reloads, dry fire with reloads and anything else that I can come up with. Magazine overview and the marker overview itself. Some will be more in-depth and some videos will be just a video of me doing something.

Upcoming posts!

     In the next week or two. I am hoping to get some posts up. I will be putting out the first part of MILSIG's new flagship marker, the Paradigm Pro. I also will be writing my little adventure into modifying my Musical Fidelity X-Can V2. Literally not having ever learned how to solder it was quite an adventure. I know eh, someone who loves electronics and loves building stuff as much as I do, I have never learnt how to use a solder nor solder anything. Never got the chance. Least to say, it went pretty well. I did a lot of reading, videos and asked my friends for advice and help. The overall result went smoothly and I did not end up with any cold joints!

Northshore Paintball - May 6th 2012.

    The weather was peaking beautifully on Sunday. On Saturday I was contemplating if I wanted to go because I was feeling sore from basketball on Friday. However, this Sunday is the first Sunday of the month which means free entry for gun owners. I had to break the trend of being lazy and I figured with the way things have been lately I am going to go. I woke up in the morning around 0800 and looked out to the window I saw the sun shining in.

    However, that morning I'm still feeling sore and did not really want to be running around carrying a marker that weights 3kgs and probably 10lbs on my chest rig. I cleaned my pump off and packed it in my bag and put it into the car along with my Milsig. I arrived at the field around 1100 and parked my car. A fair amount of people already have arrived and I'm thinking today won't go too badly. A group of young kids had a planned a birthday party and a few scattered group of renters. I unpacked my pump, put my knee pads on and then went to air up my tanks. After the air tanks were filled up I went to grab my pump, put my mask on and went to the chrony range. A moment of truth awaits me as I cock my pump and put it over the chrony. HUZZAH! My pump is working! (I will be talking about this a bit more in a different post). After a good year and a half since I put it together. With the help of various friends with their knowledge and experience; have given me insight in figuring out a few extra steps to getting my pump working. This is great because I don't have to run my Milsig setup for the day. Saves me having to lug all that weight around!

    There I am excited to get the day started as some of the regulars start to show up. First game of the day for me starts with Two Fort flag push. We started on the right hand side (facing down the field), Kiernan and I went up the left side of our spawn towards the field exit and it was a mad rush as we started to engage their team. Kiernan is in the front while I am in the rear covering his open side on the right. For the most part he and another team mate (I don't know how to spell his name!) is moving up around the left an all of a sudden Russel pops over the barricade. I see Russel trying to stay tucked in behind a tree as he tries to shoot Kiernan. I line up my marker and fire two shots. I miss a little bit so I adjust my position to be a bit more stable; I wait for a clear shot; just as Russel moved leaned forward I fire a shot and splat. The paintball hits him right in the masks mouth guard. At this point I am grinning massively because not only did my shot hit someone at distance; I hit Russel!. Overcome with joy we finished the game and won via elimination. For the rest of the day I could not stop being joyful. It felt right that after such a long time the pump is finally working. This also meant that I did not have to use my Milsig gear for the day. The game ended and we all met up, refilling our airtanks and the likes and discussed the game. It is always great to start the day with a good game. It gets your mood going and in my case I felt fantastic

    The day went along pretty progressive and nicely. I got out of the house despite being sore and played for good portion of the day. As the field got really busy I decided to take a break and help the staff out. They needed someone to man the air station while they dealt with the front counter. Throughout the whole day I reveled in the fact my pump is finally hitting the sweet spot. All I need to do is fine tune it but other then that it felt great. I hit the field next Sunday and I look forward to putting the pump through its paces. The highlight of the day was smacking Russel in the face with a shot. It feels like a fire has been relit after my pump clicked together. Anyhow, I will have a post more about my pump coming up next seeing as I kept mentioning about it but really that was the main highlight of the day. :P

Northshore Paintball : July 1st 2011 - Canada Day

This post is way too outdated.

Post made simple and short.
I did a lot of running, Almost brutally hurt myself a couple times.

There was lots of loose dirt and I'm a guy who carries momentum when he is running. The moment the dirt gave way I slid and went barreling into the ground. However, I soldiered on and kept playing with my pump.

It was a great day and my friend Kelly and Melvin were able to make it to the field to enjoy a nice, breezy but sunny day of paintballing.


-Austin

Strip cleaning my Milsig Paradigm

             Today is a really slow day, suppose to be doing some homework and studying but instead sat down in my bedroom and tinkered with my Milsig Paradigm. Recently I acquired a bottle of Gold Cup Paintball oil and will be getting three more bottles for spare. I typically use TechT Gun Drops oil (NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH GUN OIL*).which is a bit thicker but relatively smooth. Anyways, I wish I had Gold Cup first so I can save myself from liberally applying some rather expensive oil (about $12CAD from where I bought it)

       I plan to get another bottle soon but will be using my TechT Gun SAV grease for parts that will scrape against metal but does not need super thin oil. I use it for my pump arm on my pump cocker in an attempt to reduce the scraping of the body. I also use it to hold parts together, like the grip frame to the body. It will stick and move less when it is screwed it. I put them around threading to reduce thread locking and thread scratching.

       Anyways, on to the main part. I stripped everything down today and made a small cup of 50/50 water and rubbing alcohol mixture and proceeded to wipe down everything, including the cleaning of the marker body.

       Used some Gold Cup Paintball oil and lubed the hammer, sear, bolt and other moving parts, I get my chrony in two days and so we will see how slow it is shooting with the velocity screw turned in.  I probably will get some graphs setup when I start getting the numbers in.

Until then, school work!

Good luck to everyone on their finals and daily lives.

-Shroker

Northshore Paintball, November 7th, 2010

      Paintballing last Saturday was great fun. The weather had just cleared out from the day before and luckily it has only been light rain, nothing too serious.

It was just myself this day but its always fun regardless. I haave gotten the chance to play with my pump Autococker that I assembled with various parts but it has been performing well.

My MilSig Paradigm is going to sit out for the winter season as it takes time to sit down and clean every little bit of it and school keeps me preoccupied from cleaning her carefully.

With that said, I'm hoping to look forward to the next couple weeks of all-weather games.
I should start bringing my camera.

Northshore Paintball: October 16th 2010.

I wrote a long post and then it got fubared. So..screw that....


EVERYTHING IN A DIME.
Dinner was super fun, not too bad but filled with lots of jokes, comments and stories.
Paintball went super well and everyone enjoyed themselves.
We had lots of fun.