Kingman never ceases to amaze me. Every time I look at the latest Spyder “whatever” to come off the line and think “well, that's it, they've taken it about as far as it can go” Arthur Chang and company manage to squeeze just a little more blood out of the stacked-tube turnip. That's exactly what they've managed to do with the new VS line of Spyders, and in the looks department alone they've done a lot more squeezing than ever. However, squeezing a good looking turnip doesn't shoot faces, a working paintball gun does. When the VS series of Spyders finally hit the streets recently, it fell to me to find out just how effectively Kingman strangled this particular turnip.

The Spyder VS3 possesses a quality, upscale feel in contrast to Spyders of the past that, while they shot paintballs just fine, felt more at home amongst the rec-ballers than in the company of serious tournament competitors. Solidly constructed from aluminum with an aluminum .45 grip frame, the VS3's milling is attractive, simple and flowing in a single direction from back to front. Available only in basic black in its stock form, Kingman allows owners to upgrade and accessorize with color kits that add yellow, green, blue or red eye covers, fore grips, rear plugs, feed neck rings and barrel tips. Though its construction is solidly and entirely aluminum, the VS3 enjoys an empty weight of only two pounds, ten ounces, which is competitive with anything on the market in any price range. More impressive than its looks, quality construction and weight is only its list of standard features.

As the flagship of the Spyder line of paintball guns, the VS3 is well-equipped out of the box. A low rise, gripping vertical feed port fits most hoppers without difficulty, and a Delrin bolt with quick pull pin pushes paintballs down the barrel. Anti-chop, break beam eyes are standard and relatively eliminate chopped paintballs, which is a good thing because the VS3 is equipped with an electronic grip frame and the dual-switch, Rocking Trigger Kingman advertises as able to reach as great as 30 paintballs per second. Advertised as low pressure, the gun's vertical fore grip, where on many paintball guns a regulator sits, is actually a massive volume chamber. Beneath the barrel, at the front of the receiver, where a low pressure regulator is usually located, is a second large volume chamber. A pressure gauge located on the side of the vertical adapter measures air already controlled by a small regulator built into the bottom line air adapter, which also acts as an on/off with a simple, convenient twist knob.

Equipped with a pressure balanced valve, the VS3 is delivered with a two-piece, spiral ported barrel whose internal finish is actually very nice. A 9.6 volt rechargeable battery powers the electronics of the gun, and requires charging within the grip frame for several hours before play is possible, likely to frustrate little Billy on Christmas morning. Placing a battery in the grip requires only the removal of one of the grip panels with an included Allen wrench. Once charged up and ready, switching the VS3 or its eyes off and on is accomplished via two small buttons at the rear of the grip frame. Adding a CO2 or compressed air bottle and a hopper, preferably a fast one, is all that is required to go play paintball, unless you just have to have a turnip.

Adding a Boost HALO and full twenty ounce bottle to the VS3 brought its weight to a still relatively svelte six pounds, four ounces. Over the chronograph it became painfully obvious that in spite of all its advancements, the VS3 is still as susceptible to the perils of CO2 as any other Spyder or similarly-designed paintgun, if not more so. As the VS3's vertical fore grip and low pressure chamber are simply big empty cans for air to hang out in, nothing stands in the way of liquid CO2 once it fights its way past the gun's bottom line regulator. With CO2, even regulated, the best the VS3 could manage was a spread from 252 feet per second to 277, with most shots falling into the 260 feet per second range. Any player even remotely considering shooting the VS3 on CO2 should seriously consider adding an anti-siphon tube to their tank.

Switching to compressed air did a great deal for the performance of the VS3. Once supplied with a clean, consistent source of air, the VS3 proved a fast, accurate paintball gun. The stock barrel delivered shot after shot into tight groups at close and medium ranges, while at longer ranges groups remained impressively tight. As I've said in previous reviews that involved a Spyder rocking trigger, I found it extremely fast over the chronograph, but that it requires more concentration to shoot quickly on the field of play than it's worth. I did most of the shooting during play with the gun like any other double trigger, though when I really wanted to scare small children and skittish animals I was able to run my finger up and down the blade of the trigger and reach ridiculous rates of fire.

During testing I am impressed to report that not a single ball was chopped by the VS3, though three were broken in the barrel. This was more likely due to the cold conditions during testing than any flaw with the gun, however. As an added note, while walking around with the VS3, I got a lot of “hey, what kind of gun is that?” and plenty of surprised facial expressions after I responded “a Spyder.”

The Spyder VS3 is a solid mid-level paintball gun that picks up the long-burning Spyder torch and runs with it. Fast, accurate, reliable and still simple internally, the VS line takes everything that the Spyder is and adds a touch of style not yet seen from Kingman. Impressively, it looks like that turnip still has some blood in it after all. Keep squeezing, Kingman!