text and photography by Joshua D. Silverman
Reprinted with Permission of PGi Magazine

It amazes me how often I run into kids (and even adults) in our sport who've never seen a pump paintball gun before. I swear, most of the people currently playing paintball probably have no idea where the gear they're using came from. As a historian that frustrates the hell out of me. After getting ahold of the new Series 6 pump from the California gurus at CCM, I quickly took it out to play. The stares of puzzlement and curious looks I got from players left and right made me shake my head. One of the braver kids at the field that day actually came and asked me what kind of gun I had while I was at the chrono, and all I could think to do was quote Obi-Wan Kenobi. It was, I told him, “…an elegant weapon, from a more civilized age. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster.”

Ever since Jason Chipley himself started turning custom, hand-built paintball guns out of his building, CCM has been known for their expert ability to mate craftsmanship and performance in a sexy package. Rather than the common, cookie-cutter machine guns being hammered out of factories in Taiwan , CCM's paintball guns are the culmination of years of both paintball and manufacturing experience, designed to fill a niche. Though it was on the decline for some years, pump paintball is rapidly coming back into vogue, especially on the west coast, where pump tournaments and pump teams are popping up all over the place. Just as competitive as players shooting at fifteen balls per second with electronic face mowers, pump players demand quality and the utmost in consistency, because every ball fired is of critical importance. Those companies and people able to create high quality pump paintball guns are more than manufacturers, they are artisans, and with their new Series 6, CCM seems prepared to re-paint the Sistine Chapel one shot at a time.

As a guy who has owned and shot CCM products, from auto-cocking models to pumps, I thought I knew what to expect when I opened the basic box containing my new Series 6. Though it's based on the Sniper platform that catapulted Bud Orr and Worr Game Products to success, CCM has taken the stacked tube pump and made it a completely custom concept. Any time a pump paintball gun has a base price of nearly six hundred dollars and the company warns you to call for availability because they sell as fast as they're made, it has to mean something. My first impression of the Series 6 was favorable, as it is one sexy animal. Sleek, with flowing lines and as much aluminum as possible shaved off the receiver, the luscious, black anodizing is polished to the point that the gun almost looks wet. All that milling and cutting has made the 6 the lightest pump CCM has yet produced, weighing even less than the impressive SS-25 of last year at a total of about three pounds. A two-piece, matching anodized aluminum barrel with Autococker threads accompanies the Series 6 in the box, as does a matching in-line vertical regulator, CCM clamping, vertical feed neck and an auto-trigger or slam-fire system.

Digging deeper into the Series 6, one quickly discovers that it is well-appointed, as it should be for almost six hundred dollars. The pump handle and bolt are both Delrin, and the grip frame, a supremely comfortable 86 degree model, includes a hinge single trigger on a roller bearing and comfortable, wrap-around Hogue grips. Talk about smooth: when a pump gun is delivered with a roller bearing trigger, it doesn't get any better. Simply rocking the Series 6 back and forth is enough to cock the gun, whose pump stroke is smooth, light and responsive. The miniscule trigger pull is light but snappy, certain to increase single-shot accuracy, and the gun is equipped with dual ball detents, rather than the wire detent formerly used by CCM guns.

Adding a CCM rail and on/off bottle adapter, then a DXS compressed air bottle and Viewloader Revolution hopper made the game-ready Series 6 a light, handy package that seemed to fit perfectly into the hand. Locking the feed neck to the hopper was a simple process requiring a few moments with an Allen key. Once ready to go, the chronograph was the next stop, but I wasn't there long. Three shots over a new Paintball Radarchron chronograph with well-matched Draxxus paint delivered the impressive result of 285, 287, 286, at which point I quit while I was ahead, put my barrel cover back on and went to wait for the games to start.

The Series 6 really shines once inside the net, or in this case, in the woods. In a game of ten-on-ten woodsball, in which I was the only player not toting a semiautomatic, I fully expected to feel outgunned and end up forced to work twice as hard for every kill, but this was not the case. CCM's new flagship shot straight, delivering paint onto target with lethal accuracy, so as long as the player behind the gun is even a half-decent shot, he or she will be able to pick off hoppers, elbows, feet or other appendages left hanging from behind bunkers or trees. As the porting in the CCM stock barrel is small and there isn't a lot of it, players were easily able to discern where on the field I was by the distinctive “bark” made by the firing Series 6, but as paint tended to hit people when the gun went “bark” that wasn't much of a problem. Even when faced with several opponents, the ability to auto-trigger my way out of danger provided the ability to shoot it out ball for ball with most semiautomatics.

Even after a half-dozen games in warm weather on a wooded field with steep hills and rolling terrain, the Series 6 still felt light and easy to shoot thanks to its low weight. While many of the Tippmann and Spyder shooters present that day broke and chopped paint, I found myself able to shoot old Inferno without any danger. The 6 neither broke nor chopped a ball all day. Players new to the pump scene must remember that should they point their gun down after a ball has been chambered, if it is not a perfect match to the barrel it will roll out, leading to a misfire that could ruin an ambush or force a shoot-out, but this is true of any pump. Air efficiency is so ridiculous that I won't even waste space talking about it, as I played all day on a single 4,000psi air fill with plenty of air and paint left over.

Well-equipped, light, accurate, consistent and very easy on the eyes, CCM's Series 6 is one of the best pumps in the world, and certainly in the running for the gold trophy. While its price will put it out of reach of all but the most serious of pump players, the value for the dollar is outstanding. For players looking for a classy ride that will turn heads in the staging area and keep up with any pump and most semiautos, the Series 6 is on the short list.