What kind of paintball gun is good for a beginner that isn't outrageously expensive?

Avoid buying markers from a Viewloader manufacturer like jt, their goals are to get a player into the sport not necessarily provide a quality marker. I'm not trash talking here but we have atleast a handful of people come in each week to my paintball store and ask me if I could either work on it or take it for a trade it. Working on them is fairly simple because they're blowback design but for only 119.00 you can buy a tippmann model 98 custom which is right up your alley of play and you will be amazed with the durability and truck loads of aftermarket upgrades. I've sold countless amounts of these and had nothing but good feedback from the users. I myself have been supporting tippmanns legendary name in excellence since 1993 when I picked up an smg68 and instantly fell in love with how reliable these things are. I don't advise not cleaning your markers after any play but I've seen these markers go years and years without ever being opened and cleaned. Just swab the barrel and a few drops of oil in the asa and it's ready to go. Check out their review on pbreview.com and actionvillage.com has them for sale. Take care

If you seriously want to get into the sport of paintball buy a Proto SLG for $215. That is the cheapest and best option for you. A step down would be an Ion for around $150, and a step up would be a Proto PMR for $275. PMR's can shoot around 25bps and you don't need to upgrade anything except for the back cap, the feedneck ,and maybe the trigger. It is truly an amazing gun. Proto SLG is like the PMR's little brother. It has all the pros that a PMR has, but it doesn't do them as well.

I had a jt 5.0 when i started it was a little over $150 but it worked extremly well. They probably make better models now but that was a great gun. Also if you want to go cheaper try a pirhana for about $90-120. That was my first gun and it worked fine.Good luck and have fun paintball is awesome! Also make sure to buy a 20oz co2 because it last longer ( the reason for co2 is becasue its cheaper than compresed air)

Definatly stay away from viewloader and jt fer markers but there other accesories are ok.. A marker that is desent i would either go with an ion if you want to pay a little extra cash.. and shoot compressed. Its plenty upgradable.. Or a tippman a-5 which is very durable and looks very tacticle, it can be made to look like an mp5 with silencer.. so yea id check that out.. have fun and gl shopping.