A-5 Upgrades – Making a Great Marker Even Better

By Bruce “Charon” Johnston

www.specialopspaintball.com

“What mods should I get for my Tippmann A-5 paintball gun?” This is the first question most people ask after they take their Tippmann A-5 out of the box for the first time. The A-5 is one of the easiest paintball markers to customize, and there are more mods designed for the Tippmann A-5 than any other paintball gun on the market. With such a huge variety of mods available, upgrading your A-5 is only limited by your imagination. Whether you’re looking for practical mods that enhance performance and functionality, mods that offer killer mil-sim looks – or both – you can be sure that there are plenty of practical Tippmann A-5 mods that will suit your personal tastes.

Barrel
The stock Tippmann A-5 comes with a good barrel, but there are many great barrel upgrades on the market. A new barrel can provide better range, accuracy and confidence. Barrel mods range from the new BT A-5 Apex barrel (with its customizable flight path capabilities) and the interchangeable Hammerhead Battle Stikxx Kit, to the tiny 3-inch End Game stub nose barrel. A new barrel is an easy upgrade that anyone can do and should be your first mod.

Air
The beautiful thing about the A-5 is that it can run any type of gas without modification. You can use a 10oz Co2 or an 88ci/4500psi HPA tank and the marker will function flawlessly. While it is technically not a modification, a good HPA tank is well worth the investment as compressed air is much easier on the marker’s internal parts and provides more consistent velocity shot after shot.

Stock
A good buttstock can be an extremely valuable mod. It makes aiming easier, balances the marker, and allows the gun to be brought up on target fast. Stocks can be regular, dogleg for mask relief, collapsible for close quarters fighting and increased maneuverability, or air-through. This is another easy mod to make on your marker. Pull the two retaining pins in the back of your marker, remove the end cap, insert your stock and replace the pins. Done. Consistent eye relief and improved balance make this an upgrade everyone should consider.

Hopper
The hopper holds paintballs and drops them into the breech. With the inventive and highly effective Cyclone Feed System on the Tippmann A-5 hopper upgrades are not essential. One good choice for a hopper upgrade is a Ricochet R5. The unique angled design can deflect paintballs without having them break. If you want to modify your stock hopper and clear your line of sight, a Special Ops A-5 Stovepipe Hopper Offset is a great mod. It angles the hopper out of the way and increases your paint capacity.

Sights
Some people say that due to the shot range of a paintball marker, adding a sight is a useless upgrade. If you talk to players who dominate the field week after week you will hear that adding a sight unit allows you to greatly increase your chance of a hit with the first shot. Making the first shot count can be the difference between victory and defeat. Any mod that increases your chances is a good mod. Whether you choose a BSA 30mm red dot sight, a more traditional Mil-Sim T168 Reticle Intensified Tactical Scope or a cutting edge Nightvision D.143 Nightscope, you will not be disappointed as any of these will be a good upgrade and give you the edge on the field.

Handguard / Foregrips
A handguard or foregrip upgrade adds to the mil-sim look of your marker, makes the marker easier to shoot and helps protect the barrel from damage. Grips and handguards range from the A-5A2 grip that allows you to place your front hand horizontal to the ground to the F.O.G. Foregrip with Rails that allows you to attach many tactical extras (flashlights, lasers etc). The best feature of the F.O.G. is that it does not touch the barrel. No more annoying and ugly screw marks on the finish of your barrel.

Ben Tippmann has started producing an all in one solution with handguard and barrel combined as one unit. The BT16 Barrel kit and the BT AK47 Barrel kit will give you two upgrades in one plus a sharp mil-sim look for your marker.

Mil-sim Upgrades
No discussion on Tippmann A-5 mods would be complete without talking about cosmetic mil-sim upgrades. These mods typically serve no real purpose other then to make your friends say “Cool” and your opponents say, “That thing is scary man”. Realistic-looking upgrades such as magazines, silencers, flash eliminators and replica handguards are fun to buy and give your marker a more realistic look and feel for mil-sim enthusiasts.

Custom Modified Markers
If you do not want to be bothered with the searching and tinkering involved with modifying the A-5 yourself, check out the custom SpecOps A-5 markers, upgraded specifically for every position on the paintball field. These markers have air-through stocks, barrel upgrades, custom grips and handguards, and more. No matter what position you play, SpecOps can upgrade a marker to suit you.

The Tippmann A-5 is ready to go right out of the box, buy a custom marker modified for your position or add your own ups. The Tippmann line of markers affords you the best selection of upgrades, quality, price, durability, ease of use, ease of maintenance, and total value on the market today. Trick out your marker so that it is best for you – and go have some fun playing paintball.