Review of Brass Eagle Reaction Paintballs

First off, yes I know I should support local fields but where I play in Hampden it's a semi-private field and there's no way I'm going to drive 1 hour or more out of my way to buy some cheap draxxus field paint. That out of the way, I love these things, for the price you can't beat them.

Now, I know that monster balls aren't good things to have with good reason, I've shot and been shot by them, not fun. However, these things are definitely not monster balls and I believe they've even got better than what they were a few months ago from what I can tell. I've so far bought and shot 4 cases of reaction paintballs with the following results.

Briefly this paint is somewhat crap, but it's no crappier (and probably better) than most practice paint out there up to $30 a case. I'd put this on par with the visual impact or RPS practice paintballs and ahead of draxxus practice paintballs just to give an idea of where it stands.

Of the 6 or 7 cases I've opened up at wallyworld only one had a VERY minor break in a bag. However, every case I've opened has had the bottom balls heavily dimpled by about 30%. However, usually this seems to be only the bottom two layers, after that the paint gets smaller and smaller dimples until about halfway up there are little to no dimples at all.

Shell (dark green) quality is so-so but it's no monster ball. Shells tend to split into two halves when dropped or lightly thrown but on impact out of a marker they generally shatter just like any other paintball. The seam is slightly indented into the shell but not bad. Does not seem to dimple easily from changes in humidity/temp. Hard enough shell to keep it from breaking in the loader, takes a great deal of force to crush one with just thumb and forefinger but it's not bad.

Fill quality is okay, nice bright orange and it's reasonably thick. Quite a bit oily but not unreasonable. Doesn't wipe all that well. I have had them discolor a t-shirt of a friend of mine but I believe it was fixed with a good warm wash. Never had any problems other than that. Washed out of my bdu blouse and pants fine.

I've had a few barrel breaks but it's getting cold so that's probably why (I was having barrel breaks with the heavy draxxus paint too so I don't think this is a problem). Hasn't broken in my loader or doing 15 bps. It breaks fairly easily on target and I've not had one complaint from anyone when our group was using mostly reaction paint. Easily breaks on hard surfaces such as masks, hoppers, etc. Does bounce sometimes but no more than any other cheap paint IMO. One thing I have noticed is that if you drop this from eye level onto tile it will break about every third ball (this is at room temperature with paint from over a week in a pod).

The only downside I can find is it's not very accurate, the dimples tend to hurt it a lot so it will curve. However, my dad who has never played paintball was able to hit a can from 50+ feet away with only 3 shots the other day so it's not bad. I'd say it's almost (or just) on par with most other cheap paint.

Other things, it smells a bit but not really any more than any other cheap paint. I personally don't think it really smells hardly at all. Also, I have a three week opened bag with about 100 balls left in it and they seem fine for use, no squish to them at all. I'm going to try those leftover ones out this weekend but I just bought another case and will continue to buy cases (at least until someone opens a paintball field that's not 1 hour away or I can get some more money to be able to afford some RPS paintballs, good deals on amazon with free shipping).

I'd give it a 10/10 for the price cause you really can't beat it. For tournament or competitive paint I'd give it a 6.5/10.

I seriously suggest that people try this paint out at least for practice/target paint. Also, ask your local walmart people when they're getting a new shipment in so you can get the fresh stuff, I bet you'll be pleasantly surprised (I know I was).

P.S. If people want a video of me shooting these and visually reviewing these then I will happily provide.

P.P.S. If anyone wants to come play with us we play every weekend on Sunday in Hampden, food provided too! We've grown so much think of us more as a "not-for-profit" field.

Awesome review, I will be trying out this paint soon.

Same (as in going to be trying it out), though theres a wicked rumor going on about it being remade monster balls. I doubt it though, monster balls are to hard to dimple!!!

Yeah, I would actually hate for that rumor to continue because these are solid paintballs and for people like me who can't afford and have no other option for paintballs it's a welcome alternative, I'd hate to see them disappear. I also wonder if fields could start ordering this directly from brass eagle because even with a 10% markup these would still be something like $27 a case which would be awesome.

I would have to agree, I would play ALOT more often if they did. And if they had walk on days, thats another problem. Someone should mention both to the fields.

Doing a little more digging I can't seem to find these mentioned anywhere on brass eagles website. They seem to have another paintball on there so maybe these are the same things?

Just want to amend this review. Now that I've used them at bit more I've figured some things out.

1) The balls seems to react differently than most paintballs I've shot in that they seem to "stick" to the barrel and consequently about 1/3 of the balls get a forward spin to them (anti-flatline) and curve down more than others. Not sure what does this.

2) The fill is somewhat oily and can sometimes stain. It will wash out with stain remover but it can become a little bit of a pain. It will wash out after about 5 washes but again, somewhat of a pain.

3) If you get this stuff right when walmart (or whatever) gets it in then the balls will have very few dimples, makes it quite nice.

Anyway, so it's a good cheap paint if you have no other option, however if you do have other options I'd get that.

The worst paint i have ever had!! Never buy trust me. I had paint for a couple of days the first day it was fine but then the end of that day i saw some CRACKS in the paint. I inspected it and there was at least five (i bought 2 2k boxes) cracks in eachbox and that was weird so it was a little warm in my room so i tried putting them in my garage cause it was colder in their. And remember that i played 1 game of paintball and when i opened my pods all of them were broke. Well they also have an odor kinda like mint smell but not in a good way. The paint required a lot of maintenance and STILL broke i cant even explain in words how bad this paint is read this article. You will regret buying this paint! You might have better luck than me but dont take the risk. This is to help you understand how terribly bad this paint is i took both cases back to wal-mart and got 53 dollars back then i bought some impact paint good paint. Oh and 1 more thing, If you were to buy this terrible paint it doesnt have very good accuracy either. JUST DONT BUY THE PAINT.

The guy above me needs to learn how to structure his reviews.

As for the original poster, the fill with these and Monster is LITERALLY the same exact thing. I had some old monster kicking around (old as in a few months, right before they died out), and shot them side by side with the paint described. The fill is literally just as bright as the other and just as thick. Same color as well and even after that, I have a few shots of this paint and a few shots of monster. Both on separate trees and both faded just as quick as the other but still remain that orangey goo.

If you are playing backyard ball, sure get the paint if you want. By no means would you be able to bring these to a BYOP field as a lot of those fields don't allow BE paints anymore. Not because of the shell, mainly because of the horrendous, oily s*** fill that will not wash out and smells rank.

As for the shell described, oddly enough, the shell reminds me of Ultra Evil that I played with for quite some time at NEPL's and that stuff was just nasty. I like the shiny green shell and goop orange fill. Nonetheless, if someoen can get me a cheaper case of paint from RPS, DXS, or XO, I would get them over this. Until then, it would be this.

just dont by anything from walmart, maine military in brewer sells diablo for like 45 a case, that s*** is amazing, i took the cheep rout and got some stryker paint and every other ball was breaking in my timmy, the next weekend did nothing to the gun and shoot a case of triumph through it only one break

If you guys want o.k cheap paint (35 to 45 a case depending on brand) dicks sporting goods has the voodoo brand, a few variations. Its not anywhere as good as marbs (the only other thing I've tried), but it beats walmart any day and I like it. Except that invert paint, on clearance currently. I wouldn't even use it for training. Stay away. *shudder*

Oh yeah, I would never bring these to a field, back yard paint only.

Anyway, since I've shopped around a lot more I've found some great prices on stingers for $32 a case shipped (buying 5 cases) which works for me.

Let me know if any of you guys would like to try SEVERE paints. I can buy some in bulk and if there is enough interest, front for some people as long as I will get paid back...I don't mind shooting a lotta paint

how much could you get it for? I'm looking to get some good sub $35 paint.

Trust me...the price would be excellent. I can not, however, offer until i have a commitment form made and placed

Hmm, because I would be looking to buy about 5 cases and would be able to pay in cash and, if it works out, would come back for more in a month or so.

Would you say they would be better than stingers?

I signed up for this forum specifically to write a review about this paint, since I was not able to find an adequate review before I bought them. I tested the entire case, and I regret buying them. Here's why. Go to the bottom summary if you want to skip the details.

Marker: Tippmann 98C, 12" lapco big shot barrel, apex tip, co2

Cost: $25/case

Accuracy: Shooting at a five gallon bucket at chest level from about fifty feet, I could hit it on average about one out of ten times. With other paints I can hit it 8-9 out of 10 times. The balls have an oily residue on them which seems to put an erratic spin on the ball, making them fly in every direction. Sometimes the spin was so bad, I would miss by five feet or more. And every shot is different. I suppose this might also be attributed to the fill. Funny thing is, this was the first paint that I used in my new Tippmann, and at first I thought it was my marker. I thought I had made a horrible purchase with the Tippy. Then I used some Visual Impact(also from Walmart, and very good paint for the money) and Marbs. This solved the problem.

Shell: Dark green. Break well. They would be very hard to see one coming at you in woodsball. But not to worry, nobody will be able to hit you with these anyways. The oily residue on the outside make them stick in my gravity feed hopper, and I constantly had to keep shaking the marker. At worst, they would stick so much that I would dry fire about every third shot. This made accuracy worse because I had to constantly re-aim. However, I did not chop one ball in the entire case. I attribute that more the marker.

Fill: Moderately bright pink. The fill is very oily, and does not wash off even with hot water. Heck, soap and hot water hardly does much. But since I have only tested these, I do not know how well they wash out of clothes. I'm guessing they would stain just like Monsterballs.

Dimples: The first and second bags on top were dimple free. The third bag had a few dimples, and the bottom bag was heavily dimpled. But who knows how long they were sitting on the shelf. There were no breaks in any of the bags.

SUMMARY

Pros: Cheap, dark green shell, break well, you can give them to your friends if you really want to screw them over.

Cons: Very inaccurate, oily fill(probably stains clothing), clogs in gravity feed hopper, dimpled, stink like an old-man-Chinese-food fart, oily residue on shell.

Conclusion: Would never use this paint if I felt like winning. If I felt like running around shooting pointlessly, then this would be a good paint. If you're going to Walmart to buys these, then spend a few more bucks and at least get the Visual Impact or Recon. I wouldn't use these if Walmart gave them away.

nice review....

crappy paint.....