Whether you love the unique style and history of the AGD Sydarm paintball pistol, or you feel indifferent about the paintball hand gun, Airgun Designs has certainly made a name for the marker – particularly among paintball collectors.  The near legendary AGD Sydarm paintball pistol was originally designed exclusively for military and police tactical training exercises, and as such enjoyed a healthy career in law enforcement training. However, recently a limited number of these Sydarm paintball pistols were made available to the public, and collectors quickly swarmed to snatch up the pricey AGD hand guns. Though the marker does perform consistently well, certainly, some of the attraction for buyers was the limited number of guns available.

The Sydarm is a well constructed paintball pistol with a sleek design, ideally suited for close combat situations.  It’s the only paintball pistol that uses stainless steel in its construction. Not only is the Sydarm a highly regarded collector’s item with smooth lines and unique looks, but it’s a reliable performer that can serve as a dependable backup on the scenario or woodsball field. 

Each Sydarm comes equipped with the new Wingless Tac Rail and a right-handed strap locking holster.  The pistol is powered by a standard 12-gram CO₂ cartridge (approximately 24 shots per cartridge), and the marker holds up to eight paintballs that are loaded near the top front of the electro-polished mainbody. 

Some say the hefty $350+ price tag is too much for a “backup” marker – or even a primary pistol, but others are jumping at the chance to get their hands on one. If you are a serious paintball buff who wants to build up your collection of “must have” markers, the collection wouldn’t be complete without the AGD Sydarm pistol.

If you’re simply looking for a paintball pistol that will serve you well in the field, you may also want to explore some more affordable options, which are very comparable to the Sydarm in terms of performance.

Features and Specs:

• Wingless Tac Rail
• 8-shot Spring-fed Magazine
• Semi-automatic
• Vertical Twist-lock Barrel
• Barrel Length: 8 inches

• Overall Length: 13.5 inches
• Overall Height: 6.5 inches
• Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Power supply: 12 gram CO₂ Cartridge
• Efficiency: 0.5 grams per shot

Field Testing

We conducted some chrono tests with the AGD Sydarm, using high quality RP Scherer PMI Marballizer (green) paintballs. As one of the most common, readily available paintballs, Marballizer is a popular choice for players throughout the world, making it the ideal paint for marker performance tests.

Test Conditions

Temperature: Mid 70’s. 

Gun velocity: The paintball pistol in this test was chronographed to operate between 260 and 280 fps on a fresh C0₂ cartridge. 

Effective shots: Determined to be those that are over 200 fps and capable of eliminating a player with solid contact on a hard target (i.e. a facemask or gun hit on opponent).  Instances where the chrono failed to provide a reading was listed as a “misread”. 

Here are the results of some field testing we conducted on the Airgun Designs Sydarm Paintball Pistol (2^nd Generation). We chronographed each shot from two full Co2 12-gram canisters. Here’s how the Sydarm faired:

Cartridge/Chrono

First C0₂ Cartridge: 266, 280, 255, 267, 262, 257, 268, 278, misread, misread, misread, 278, 269 – (Changed C0₂)

Second C0₂ Cartridge: 274, 262, 269, 277, 265, 269, 265, 271, misread, misread, 261, 213, 242, 242, 231, 195, 219, 182, 215, 204, 219, 206, 226, 213, 193, 150, empty

Effective Shots: 22

Test Observation Notes

1. Extremely easy and quick C0₂ cartridge loading
2. Very loud, especially the first few shots on a new 12 gram
3. More recoil noticed upon firing than most other pistols
4. Difficult to tell how many balls remain in gun during a game
5. Because of the stainless steel construction, the pistol is slightly heavier than most others on the market.