99' F4 Illustrator with streamline setup (out of the box).  Pictures here with a 12" s/s Lapco barrel.
 
 

        The F4 Illustrator is a gun that has seen a recent emergence as a staple of the low-mid price semis.  You may ask what exactly is the F4 Illustrator.  It is a blowback semi similar to a spyder.  But the similarities end there.  The F-series guns (F1, F2, F2-express, F4) have been around since about 1991.  All seem to have very few problems and last a long time.
        I have a 1999 F4 Illustrator.  This being my first gun I wasn't sure what to expect.  I have played w/ spyders, tippmans, even a mag.  I had seen pics of this gun and the price was right where I wanted, so I made the jump.  When my gun arrived the first thing I noticed was no cocking pin.  Being used to external moving parts I was confused and wondering how I was going to cock my gun.  Then I took a closer look and noticed that there is a cocking lever on top of the gun.  This gun boasts no external moving parts (which is nice when you get about 4-5 paintballs all over it).  Paint, dirt, and grime find it extremely hard to penetrate and cause trouble.
        The stock barrel is just your basic run of the mill stock barrel.  It shoots ok, but is loud.  One of the few upgrades I suggest for this gun is a new barrel.  ACI offers relatively cheap barrels that shoot accurately and quietly.  Expansion chambers are not needed.  The valve ACI has in this gun is pretty much all weather.  This gun can be used with CO2, HPA and LP.  It willingly drinks liquid CO2, although as with any gun, you dont really want any.  You can take your gun out in weather pretty much up to freezing and still shoot without problems.
        The trigger pull is one of the lightest on the market, with a 2.2 lb pull.  But that can improved upon, that being a minor upgrade that I see as being worth it.  Upon taking my gun out to the field, gassing it up and firing my first few shots, I find my velocity very high, which seems to be a problem with these guns.  But the velocity can be turned down by an external velocity adjuster (the spring rarely needs to be cut).  The gun comes standard with a bottomline so I decided to play with it for a few games.  The grip being a .45 grip and with the bottomline with a 10 degree angle down this gun felt different from the other guns I've played with, but you get used to it quickly.
        The F4's performance on the field was amazing.  I had started with stock barrel just for kicks, shooting RP Scherer Premium.  Most of my shots were pretty close.  In my style of play, I take a shot or two at my target and work my way to them.  It usually took me about 5 shots to get where I wanted to be.  The first three games I had no ball breaks and went through about 500 rounds.  The balance with the bottomline setup was good, which prevented my arms from feeling tired, and it was comfortable.
        I switched over to my ACI Zero Gravity 13.5" barrel for the remainder of the day.  I also went from bottomline to vertical, a process which took about 30 seconds.  My accuracy went up considerably (in my style of play).  It now was taking my 2 shots at most to hit (or at least scare) what I was aiming at.  The barrel was much quieter also, with the spiral porting on the end.  Again the RP Scherer Premium shot fine, with no breaks, this time I only went thru about another 500 rounds.  I had 2 double feeds the whole day, but reading the manual clearly showed how to fix that problem.  The vertical bottle setup was also pretty well balanced, but my forearms did start to get a bit tired.
        Now came the fun part, cleaning up.  I took out the manual to see how to strip the gun, talk about simple.  You do not even need an allen wrench, it takes all of 10 seconds to get the bolt out of your gun.  Aci does supply allen wrenches so you can take your gun apart and their parts diagram is very detailed.  Overall this gun is a great deal for the purchase price of about 170$.  I think it surpasses the spyder, just based on ease of cleaning and longevity.  Accuracy is about the same, but the F4's valve is superior.  The spyder basically has more upgrades, but it needs them in my opinion, the F4 does not.
 
Timothy Young
Guest Writer