Countless paintball guns have been made and sold throughout the world in the past 30 years. Many models have lasted just a few months or years and then disappeared from the market while others never seem to go away. From the early Nel-Spot pumps to semi-automatic Spyders to modern electros there have been some guns that have been very influential and affected the direction of the sport. I have owned and shot many different guns from different eras and I definitely have some favorites and some guns that I wouldn't recommend to anyone. But this isn't about favorites, it's about influence and what guns have most affected the paintball industry.

After much thought I narrowed my list to just the select few guns that I think really changed the face of paintball. My top two both have been out for over a decade and have shaped the sport in their own ways: the Tippmann Model 98 and the pneuVentures/Smart Parts Shocker. My other most influential guns are the Smart Parts Ion, the AGD Automag and the Nel-Spot 007. Others have influenced the industry but I believe these have all had the most profound effect.

These are my choices but I'd be happy to hear what other people have to say - email me or post a comment so everyone else can read it, too. Be sure to read my whole list and justify any disagreement.

I recently read an interview with Tom Kaye, the founder of Air Gun Designs and inventor of the Automag, that took place at the 1994 Masters Paintball Tournament and was published in 1996. At that time Tom discussed how paintball guns had reached their supposed glass ceiling with the technology available at the time. Kaye said,

We're at the limit of efficiency. In the late 80's there was a big efficiency increase. We were also part of that, in development of the turbo valve for Sheridan guns. Volume of paint coming out of the end of the barrel? We're pretty much at the limit there also, with the double trigger that we developed. We licensed that product, but the tournament scene has said that they don't want it. So you're not going to see more than 8 or 9 balls a second coming out the end of the barrel. So what we're left with now is reliability and part of the big reliability problem is CO2.

The important thing to note here is that he was dealing only with CO2. In the article he mentioned potential improvements that could come from compressed air or nitrogen, but in 1994, they had theoretically maxed out the CO2 technology. While history has shown us that some improvements were made in CO2-powered mechanical paintball guns following this article, there weren't any major improvements that really changed the capabilities of the purely mechanical CO2 gun.

As we well know, compressed air opened up a whole new world for the speed of paintball guns and electropneumatic paintball guns only furthered those advances. In the past 4 or 5 years though, I personally haven't seen any noticeable advance in paintball gun technology. Companies bring out their new guns each year, but I really can't tell much of a difference form one to the next other than styling and a few promised differences in their new handbooks. Efficiency has slowly improved, guns are slightly lighter and recoil has been basically eliminated, but whether you're shooting a new Ego or Angel, there's no real difference.

This makes me believe that 10 years after the glass ceiling had been reached for CO2-powered mechanical guns the current glass ceiling was reached with electropneumatics in about 2004. Since then, any improvement has been minor and mainly reflects slight improvements over existing designs. If you can't win with a 2004 Shocker or Intimidator, a 2009 isn't going to make much of a difference.

This doesn't mean that improvements won't continue, but they all seem to come from companies just sqeezing every last drop of potential from a very depleted sponge. I'd rather have a gun that gets 1800 shots from a 68/45 rather than just 1600, but to met that's just not worth $1200 for the new model. The situation, then, is that our current technology has been maxed out.

I'm confident that paintball guns will continue to evolve and advance, but I'm also quite sure that any major improvement will not be with our current generation of electropneumatics. Someone just needs to find a new glass ceiling to work towards.

I'm sure that most paintball players have many good memories from 2008 that they will no doubt be able to share for years to come. Despite all the good memories, the industry had a rough year. Not only did the most visible professional league fold but countless local fields and stores closed their doors for the last time. My wish for the new year is that paintball businesses will be able to weather the economic woes and continue to offer us the chance to play the sport we love. Paintball businesses are usually more a labor of love than the pathway to riches so I wish to everyone that their efforts will continue through 2009 and onward.

The new year is practically here and now is the perfect time to plan which paintball events to attend. As much as all of us would like to have unlimited time, we really have to be picky and consider what we are looking for in a paintball event and then make sure our time and money is used in the best way possible. Take a little time to think about what is important to you and next year could be the best paintball year ever.

For starters, figure out how much money you really expect to be able to spend. If you can't dish out more than $100 for an event, don't waste your time dreaming about flying to Florida for a week. In conjunction with this, pay attention to travel costs - no sense sending in a registration fee before you figure out if your team has gas money to make the trip. And, as a side note, take serious stock of yourself and think how much you really want to spend. Are you the type to shoot 6 case of $80 paint or do you expect to drink yourself silly the night after the event? Make sure you know what your budget is and stick to it.

Next, decide what type of event you want to go to. Are you interested in going to a PSP event or do you want to go to Oklahoma D-Day? Do you want to go to a weekend game or to a week long party? Think about events you've been to in the past or, if you've never been, read through some paintball forums and see what interests you. Make sure you go to the event you really want to experience.

Finally, take a minute and figure out who you want to go with. Paintball events are great and you can usually find a bunch of new friends, but sometimes it pays to take a buddy or two along for the ride. Or if you go to an event that requires a team it's usually good to make sure your team can go before you commit yourself. A phone call or two right now can make sure that when June comes around you're out shooting ropes with the people you want.

Despite the expense, the difficulty in scheduling and the travel involved, paintball events are lots of fun and will provide memories and stories you'll be telling for years. To make sure you don't miss out, start planning now.