The looks of a film star coupled with the mind of a porn star. That's the best way we can describe Hybrid's new killing machine...
Paintballers have long-obsessed over the appearance of their guns. It started with the hot rod culture in the early nineties. People would ship their Autocockers off to a custom house for a few months, wrapped up with a couple thousand dollars just so they could have the finest paint machine at the local cow-pasture. This burgeoned into the rise in aftermarket parts and body kits that were more about color coordination and catwalk style than performance. It all culminated into today’s Paintball market where you can buy guns straight from the manufacturer with the bling built-in.
In building the Traitor Series Shocker, Hybrid has turned Smart Parts’ main hand-cannon into a work of art. This, coupled with its limited numbers, wide-array of colors and laser engraving coming straight from Hybrid has turned this into a collectors’ item of sorts, making it one of the most desirable markers on the planet, and keeping its resale value near retail. I was extremely anxious to see if its performance could equal its flash.
After excitedly thanking the Fed Ex guy when he delivered the new toy from Hybrid I quickly sliced the top open to behold the beauty up close. I was initially a little disappointed to find a regular old Smart Parts Shocker box; I don’t know what I expected, maybe some kind of pinstriped, black box with some hot chick flipping me the bird, just something befitting its contents. But no, I just had Spesh flexing his muscles with his teammates, and the huge pic’ of the blue Vision Shocker on top. No biggie I thought, I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who wouldn’t mind saving themselves the extra money Hybrid would have to stack on top for superfluous packaging.
After flipping open the lid I was stunned by the deep red exterior, as I quickly snatched it up and screwed the barrel on to get the full-effect. Then, I did what every Paintballer on the planet does when picking up a new gun: I pretended I was mowing down legions of players, as they helplessly flailed their arms over their heads for protection while I blasted the hell out of ‘em as they ran straight at me… from my kitchen door. I’ll tell ya’, there was quite an imaginary mess all over the front of the fridge. Goofing around with it further, I remembered that before Fed Ex came I was on my way to get my son from daycare - my new toy was going to have to wait.
And wait it did, as I slowly went crazy, waiting for the weekend to show up so I could go to the local field and pretend I was rich for a day. Unsurprisingly, it was cold and rainy that Saturday, so I decided to just head over to my local Warped Sportz and shoot targets out back. As I drew a small crowd of workers, I gleefully put the Traitor through its paces, finally having the chance to shoot more than air down the barrel. I eventually let everyone have their turn shooting it but I had a lot of work to do first, plus, they were on the clock, and I pointed out that they should probably be inside.
Now, I already knew it was fast, as it came to me with the rebound setting right where any little monkey can get it to sound like a lawnmower, but the yellow paint I was throwing from the end of the barrel looked like a laser beam. Out of the box it was shooting in the 270’s, and with the fresh, tourney-grade paint it was maintaining +/-5fps initially. As I continued painting the landscape and the barrel built up condensation the variance obviously opened a bit, it was, after all, not ideal Paintball conditions outside. I bumped up the velocity and played on.
Now, I mentioned the rebound mode, but let me elaborate a bit, there are five sensitivity settings, so as to keep your butt out of trouble with the referees in the big leagues if you should advance from your regular game of blasting the epidermis off of your friends. But even at its lowest sensitivity the Traitor still gives you the confidence that you can bring the firepower. The swoop-design on the trigger almost looks like it’s too far forward, but once you shoulder it and start to work it’s almost as if it’s reading your mind to shoot. The Traitor will not leave you wanting in the department that many have as a priority these days: speed.
During my first day of target practice I also kept track of how much paint I could get rid of before emptying my 45/4500 Crossfire, and when the velocity started dropping to the point where it would have been time for me to start bunkering bad guys in order to get a break, it was in the order of 1250 shots. Hybrid has a Shocker bolt in the works, but currently do not have an aftermarket, high-efficiency bolt in the Traitor, so if you’re one of the pack-mules amongst us whose teammates depend upon you to drop a case a game, then you’ll need to factor into the ol’ checkbook another purchase after this one. If you’re one of those free-wheelin’ X-Ball-types, then just don’t forget to fill up at least every-other point.
After I finally had to fill ‘er up again I let the drooling onlookers have their turns, and everyone agreed that it’s a natural shooter. The 15? angle of the front reg’ not only gives you a little ergonomic comfort, but it also frees up room for the spacious trigger guard, giving you all the open area you need to spaz your fat fingers on the trigger. As we were all swooning over the gun my friend Tony ‘accidentally’ scared the bejeezus out of two passing mallards by bracketing them on the water like a naval destroyer. Although I’m still not fully convinced as to whether it was an accident that he shot at the ducks, or whether it was more like he accidentally missed, they eventually, and surprisingly, came back after everyone else had gone. I apologized on his behalf, although I don’t think they went for it.
The Shocker has been a success since its redesign in 2003, this platform being easy to use with one-button operation (think you can handle one button?), easy to maintain, provided you don’t mind actually greasing a couple o-rings instead of just riding it ‘til it dies, and easy on the eyes. When it comes to art, tastes are subjective, but it would be difficult to find someone who would turn their nose up at the sight of the Traitor. The good thing for all you kiddies out there who already have a Shocker in your paws is that Hybrid has nearly every trinket you could want from the Traitor for sale to bolt on and make your piece one to also be proud of.
Brand-spankin’-new, the Traitor comes in at $1300. Is it worth it considering all the other custom Shockers out there with similar performance and lower price tags? Well, I suppose it ultimately comes down to just how cool you want to be; when it’s ride or die time, what do you want to roll behind?
"More street than Mr T and better looking than Beyonce"
It is: going to stand out from the crowd of custom Shockers
It isn't: very cheap. But with resale still high it could a better deal than you think.
MSRP $1300
www.hybridworld.us
