Well after a long wait I finally got my Houndstooth from PPS. I would say that it took about 10 weeks, but it was all right with me I had a few other markers to use at the time. The options that I got on it were a spiral-vented barrel and a rear ASA adapter.
My first impressions were WOW this thing looks cool, I couldn't wait to go outside and try it out. So after a trip to the paintball store to get some CO2 I was ready to go. I took the chronograph out in the back yard just too see what it was shooting at. The velocity was bouncing around more than I expected. I would say that it was in the range of 230-280, although most shots were hanging around 260. I would contribute this unstable velocity to three things. One was that I was using some really old paint so that could have been the cause. Two, there could have been some liquid CO2 getting into the gun which may have been causing problems. Three, the gun is brand new and the first shots that I ever fired were over the chronograph so maybe it needs a little bit of a break in period. Also on several of the shots I did not push the pump arm the whole way fore ward causing a lower velocity, so a little user error contributed to the results. I will post more results when I give the gun some wear and tear and some fresh paint.
Handling was not hard, the rear CO2 tank acted as a stock and the gun had hardly any movement when fired. The trigger pull is light and crisp, no complaint there what so ever. The pumping stroke however is on the stiff side. The stiff pump stroke made it difficult to accurately use the autotrigger. With some use it will probably smooth out a little, plus I have to get use using the gun. The massive o-rings on the bolt are mainly what contributed to the stiff pumping action, but on the other side they do give the gun the most gas efficiency possible. In retrospect the gun is a pump if I want to spray out massive amounts of paint I should play semi, so the use of the autotrigger should be nominal.
Accuracy....well I would say second to none. It shot my old RP's really well, a lot better than my Spyder and better than my friends Shocker. I can't wait to get some fresh paint to see what this thing can really do. Maybe I will put up a list of groupings at various ranges if I get the time. As for shooting through barrel breaks don't even try it, I had one paintball blow up in the barrel and until it is cleaned out the accuracy sucks, that is where that nice quick strip bolt comes into play. With the spiral venting the report is not very noticeable, its not super quiet but with out it being regulated down I was suprised how little noise there was.
As for upgrades there are not many to get and none are really needed. You could get different grips, but I'm perfectly happy with the ones that it comes with. I put on a nice red dot sight and a 9v revolution (just to make sure the paint is feeding J ), and a 12oz tank (plenty of gas).
I would have to say that this review is no where near being done, I don't feel that I have enough experience using this gun yet to make a totally accurate description on it. Those 400 or so paintball that I shot in my back yard just don't create the potential to make a full review. When something good or bad happens with the marker I will update this article accordingly.
Over all I'm very happy with the purchase of this marker and will hopefully have many good years of playing paintball with it. So what do you think next a Blazer?? :)