I received a black on black PB Mafia Joy Ride pack three months ago and have used it nearly every week since then. I am not a huge fan of reloading with 10 round tubes and rarely do so. I like a 140 tube and would much rather carry one or two of those than carry a million little test tubes on the field. However, my team, Pumpenstien, has been training for the last six months for the NSA Nationals and X-Pug’s in California and their rules require a 10 round tube.

Tank’s Katy Paintball and Archon have been our sponsor from the very beginning and they picked up six of these packs for the team to use and handed them out to us. We put them through the ringer on and off the field and generally treated them like something we got for free.

First Impressions:

The stitching and make of this piece is very good. Stitching was firm and straight and the double and triple stitching in wear areas was well thought out. We took out our ten round tubes, loaded them, and started to load the pack. This took about 1 hour and a lot of cursing. The pack, when it first gets to you, is made to TIGHTLY hold the tubes at the top. When you first load the pack it is a bear to get the danged little tubes in. I do not find this to be a design flaw, but a good thing because I think it leads to longevity of the product holding the tubes fast. I recommend sanding the top of your tubes to get rid of any little lips that might be left over from manufacturing (that slow down loading) and to put the tubes in the pack the night before you play (empty) to stretch the pack out a bit. After playing with the pack once and leaving it full for a night - we have not had this problem since.

The only part that I thought looked and felt a little shoddy was the 12 gram holder.

Shown here:

The packs we received came with this 12 gram holder that did not look this good. It looked like an after thought. Although I am sure it works fine, it just looked a little jank next to the nice pack that we were playing with.

I liked the fact that the pack came with a logo silk screened on the pack but was placed on the inside of the pack. I hate having huge logo’s all over my gear, especially when I paid them to wear it. If PBMafia wants to sponsor my team they can put it on the outside.

Fit and Feel:

The pack is a little short for my tastes. This comes in a length of 45 inches however, when you order yours you can make it any length you want for no extra charge according to the web site. I would measure you favorite and most comfortable pack and have them make yours to those dimensions. I am a fairly big dude and I suspect the Joy Ride would fit nicely for most players.

Once on the body it is light, comfy, hold the tubes perfectly and frankly does not feel like it is there. The pack holds 15 tubes and can be used capless or, as I prefer, can be used with speed caps to hold the tubes upside down.

Reloading is easy and fast and the tubes come right out without moving during play. One thing that needs to be remembered for any player that plays in a prone position for any extended period is that to reload with a capless harness takes an act of a contortionist. Simply load some or all of your tubes upside down with speedcaps and this is no problem.

Overall Take:

I would give this pack 8 of 10. The 12 gram holder is a little jank and the belt could have been a little longer - however - I think it is THE best pack made from stock classer’s today.

Here are the pics of my pack:

These pics show a little dirt on the pack from play.

TF

Background:

PMI / Extreme Rage have this hopper made in China not only for inexpensive .68 calibre markers but .55 calibre markers (due to a insert inside the hopper). I ordered and sold 150 of these hoppers on the internet and have been using one (in various incarnations) on two different markers for about 6 months. Most of Pumpenstein has tested this hopper and I will be giving only my impressions of it here.

This hopper has become one of my favorite hoppers of all time and I plan to review it here.

Pictures:

On Gun:

What first must be said is that this hopper really kind of stinks unless it is modified. The modifications that work can be seen here. Once these modifications are done - you are left with a 90 round hopper that gives a slim profile, feeds well, and is very tough.

Profile:

As you can see from the pictures the hopper does have a fairly long feedneck which makes the hopper sit a little high for some tastes on the marker. I have come to love this aspect of the hopper, especially for center feed markers. It sits high, but has a thin feedneck and allows the user of the hopper to sight over the top of the marker (nose against the back of the marker with the eyes parted by the feedneck) and shoot accurately. I would argue (as would many pro’s - including Dynasty) that this is the proper form for aiming and shooting a paintball marker. This is why their Dynasty Shockers utilize a fairly high feedneck. They, like I do with this hopper, sight over top of the marker and see down both sides with the feedneck barely being noticeable.

The hopper is also fairly arrow dynamic and allows for an occasional bounce and it fairly hard to hit when it is the only thing exposed.

Capacity:

The hopper can actually fit over 100 paintballs crammed in with no hope of ever feeding - but I find that 90 is about what this hopper can hold and feed well. I cut down many 140 pods to 80 or so rounds and use them often on the field. A 50/50 PB Mafia harness would be perfect for this application.

Reliability:

Once modified I think this hopper feeds better than a stock Vl200. I never really worry about feeding my S6 and rarely (perhaps once a weekend) have a blank shot. This is generally when the hopper is more full and when I am very stable and not shaking the marker in the least.

Toughness:

I had waited to do this review because although I had been hit in the hopper a few times, nothing had been up close to allow me to test the durability of this hopper… until this weekend. At the center 50, and against electro’s, I had shot two players out and then got bunkered by a player I did not know was there. He shot me three times in the same place on the hopper from perhaps two feet away.

The Sportshot showed no evidence of stress or even of being shot. It looks perfect and even protected my paint from breaking inside my hopper. I was VERY happy to see this.

Lid:

The lid is spring loaded and made of tough plastic. It is see through and snaps securly and easily to the hopper. I have had no problems with not being able to get the hopper open nor have I had any problems with the lid opening unexpectedly.

You can replace the lid with a speedfeed to allow faster reloading. I show you how to do this mod here.

Pumpenstien uses speedfeeds to speed up reloading when using 10 round tubes.

Overall Impression:

I would give this hopper a 8 out of 10. I wish it could be cut lower for those who want it and I wish it did need to be modified to make it feed well. Pumpers, however, cannot hope for everything and I think this is the best pump hopper on the market.

TF

As you saw from the pictures below a SportShot hopper can be fit a Speed Feed Collar.  They just need to be modified a little.  This picture shows the little that needs to be sanded off the front and back of the Speed Feed to make it fit well:

This allows Pumpenstein members to reload with 10 round tubes even faster.

TF