We loved the Piranha Pro TS G3 when we first tested it a year ago, we rated it 5 stars. Now with the electronic Mako Storm frame, this gun straight up rocks the house! Honestly, we would take the Pro TS w/ Storm over any stock automag or autococker. The Pro TS w/ Storm is a "hybrid electronic marker", meaning that it takes advantage of a customizable electronic trigger frame installed on a normally semi-auto marker. The Storm frame gives the Pro TS the ability to shoot in 4 different firing modes; semi-auto, burst, full-auto, and reactive. The Pro TS w/ Storm meets the needs of the player looking to get into a performance oriented electronic gun without making the $500 commitment to the upper level guns like the Impulse and Bushmaster. Our testing proved to us that the Pro TS w/ Storm is able to compete with many of the more expensive electronic guns on the market without breaking the bank. This is a great gun sweet trigger, easy to maintain, high rate of sustainable fire, and very consistent.Parts Included:
Included with the Pro TS w/ Storm is a well illustrated Piranha owners manual, a Mako Storm manual, Storm battery plug-in cord, 3 allen wrenches, a barrel plug, a few extra o-rings (2 tank and 1 bolt) , and a one year warranty from Piranha. The battery cord that came for charging the battery in the Storm frame was to say the least disappointing. Why so disappointing? Well the cord plugs into a car cigarette lighter so that meant we had to place the gun in the car and allow it to charge for 12 hours before we could try it out. While reading over the Storm manual, we noticed that in addition to the included rechargeable 9 volt battery, the frame would also accept a regular 9 volt battery. Ah ha! We unplugged the charger and put in a regular 9v battery, the gun was then ready to go. Our suggestion, if you decide to buy a gun equipped with the Storm frame, is that it may be worth your while to go to the local battery shop and pick up a few 9v batteries so you can try out your gun as soon as it arrives.
First Glance:
The black Pro TS w/ Storm looks cool, but why not a nice splash anodized design like the original Pro TS G3? We loved the blue and black fade on the original Pro TS. Why Piranha didnt continue on with their earlier color scheme we dont know. In case you are not familiar with the older graphics on the Pro TS G3, pictures are on the right. Anyway, the Pro TS w/ Storm still looks cool and catches some looks with its chrome accessorizing, but most every head turns when they hear it kicking out 9 - 12 balls per second on full auto mode. Features:
Let me catch my breath before I try to list all the features packed onto the Pro TS w/ Storm. Okay.. here we go! The Pro TS w/ Storm comes with the Mako Storm ELCD frame, plus all the features of the G3 line of paintball guns including; Pure Energy adjustable regulator with 1500 psi pressure gauge, true venturi bolt, Ram Air low pressure chamber, flush cocking bolt, double finger trigger, vertical ball feed, chrome ball detent, beaver tail sight rail, custom drop forward with 10 degree bottom line adapter, rear velocity adjuster, air filter, and PMI turbo valve. Whew I think thats all of them. At any rate, there arent many upgrades you can buy that this gun doesnt already have on it. If you are looking for a Piranha gun with all the features already on it, this would be it.

Feature: Mako Storm ELCD Frame
The Make Storm electronic grip frame gives the Pro TS an extremely quick, short, and light trigger as well as variable modes of fire. The trigger frame itself is constructed of aluminum and the grip covers are made of plastic. The frame is durable and well constructed, but it is definitely not waterproof. The Storm frame has a very square design and is not particularly easy to get a strong grip on if you have smaller hands.

By using an electronic solenoid to operate the guns sear, rather than the mechanical strength of the players own trigger pull, the Storm gives you the advantage of a very short and extremely light trigger pull. Just how short and light is the trigger? We measured the trigger pull length to be just less than 2mm, yes that is millimeters, and the trigger pulls weight to be just barely over 3.5 ounces!

The Storms electronic circuit board allows the player to choose between 4 firing modes and has other handy features such as the shot counter and game timer. All of the Storms features can be easily accessed and changed at the touch of a button using either the F1 or F2 buttons located on the rear face of the frame. There is no need to access the internals of the frame to adjust any settings. At the touch of a button, the frame can be set to five different modes; full-auto, semi-auto, burst, turbo, and safe.The five modes are very easy to switch between, all a player has to is touch the F1 button to change between modes. The F2 button, located just above the F1 button, allows the player to customize the rate of fire for each firing mode, reset the shot counter, and program the game timer. The LCD displays what mode the gun is in as well as the shot counter and game timer. The five modes are described below.

Firing Mode Description Full-Auto Allows the player to fire repeatedly for an infinite amount of time so long as the trigger remains pulled. The rate of fire can be programmed between 5 - 15 shots per second. Semi-Auto Each pull of the trigger fires the gun only 1 time. Burst Allows the player to fire a programmable maximum number of shots (2 - 12) each time the trigger is pulled. Turbo Turbo mode allows the gun to be operated in semi-auto mode until a programmable rate of fire is reached. Once the player exceeds the programmed "trip rate", the gun will begin to fire in a modified full-auto mode. In other words, the gun will begin to fire more than one ball each time the player pulls the trigger. Safe (Non-Fire) This mode is the safety mode that prevents the gun from firing while the frame is turned on. *Note: There is no mechanical safety on the Storm frame, the only safety is the electronic "Non-Fire Safe" mode. The Storm frame includes a 9 volt rechargeable battery and comes with a car charger that plugs into the cigarette lighter on most vehicles. It also accepts regular, non-rechargeable, 9 volts batteries. If you do decide to use the rechargeable battery, the charger cord plugs into the small charger port located just above the F2 button on the rear of the frame. The Mako Storm frame really impressed us, especially with its 3.5 oz trigger and ease of operation. We would recommend the Mako Storm frame to anyone looking to take their current semi-auto gun to the next level. The frame itself is very easy to install on Piranhas and Spyders. At first, the frame may require some fine tuning to adjust it to a particular gun, but if it doesnt fit perfectly right, Mako includes a set of spacers (called shims) to install either in front or behind the solenoid to ensure proper sear to striker engagement. Feature: Pure Energy Regulator The Pro TS comes equipped with the Pure Energy regulator from PMI. A regulator serves two useful purposes. 1.) It maintains a constant operating pressure in the gun. 2.) It acts like an expansion chamber by keeping liquid CO2 from entering the internals of a gun. A regulator is the next step up from an expansion chamber. Having a good regulator like the PMI Pure Energy helps to keep the velocity between shots constant... which in turn increases accuracy. The regulator can have its output pressure adjusted between 500 psi and 1200 psi. We operated our test gun at 550 psi throughout the duration of our review. The Pure Energy regulator that comes on the Pro TS is very well made and is an excellent feature on the gun. Feature: Ram Air Chamber The "Ram Air" chamber is a new design recently introduced to the paintball market by PMI. The concept behind the Ram Air low pressure chamber is based on the action of an internal spring which forces air out of the low pressure chamber and back into the valve, allowing the paintball gun to operate at a lower pressure. Lowering the operating pressure of a paintball gun allows the balls to get a longer "push" out of the barrel as opposed to a single, short "pop" of air. The Ram Air chamber helps to lower the output pressure of the gun, making ball breaks less likely. Accuracy Testing We mounted the Pro TS w/ Storm to our test bench and made sure it did not move between shots. It was 55 degrees outside with no wind when we ran this test. We shot the Pro TS at four different ranges; 45 , 64, 85, and 105 feet. We fired 10 PMI Premium paintballs at each target. The pictures of the accuracy testing results are below. The accuracy testing showed good results. The Pro TS w/ Storms multi-metal barrel not only looks good, but it performed well for us. The paint we used (PMI Premium) fit very well in the multi-metal barrel. Overall, the multi-metal barrel performed well, about the same results as we saw from the barrel on the original Pro TS G3 and similar to the accuracy of the Spyder Xtra. For the average player, the stock Pro TS w/ Storm barrel is sufficient, but if you are looking for top performance from the Pro TS w/Storm you will want to look at buying an upgrade barrel. I personally like the Smart Parts All-American, Mako 2 Piece, or Dye Boomstick barrels. Velocity Consistency The Pro TS w/ Storm showed good performance on the chronograph. Charts showing the shot-to-shot consistency are posted on the right. We tested using both compressed air and CO2 for this test. Consistency was good with most shots staying within 3 -5 feet per second of the previous shot. We can attribute the Pro TS w/ Storms consistent performance to the Pure Energy regulator. Having a constant velocity plays a large part in a guns vertical (up-down) accuracy, and as we saw in the previous accuracy tests, the Pro TS has excellent vertical accuracy. Field Stripping & Maintenance The Pro TS strips down like most every Piranha. It is very easy to remove the bolt and clean. The entire bolt and striker assembly can be removed in about 5 seconds via the removal of the small field strip pin that is easily pushed out using your finger. Everything in the gun, including valve can be removed in less than 5 minutes. PMI has a very good owners manual that does an excellent job of walking you through the steps of cleaning and maintaining the Pro TS. The manual also includes how to take apart, maintain, and adjust the Pure Energy regulator included on the Pro TS. The Mako Storm grip is for the most part maintenance free. Mako recommends only cleaning the external portions of the frame, no maintenance needs to be performed within the frame other than charging or changing batteries. The only thing to note is that when you clean the outside of the Storm, you must be careful to never allow any liquids to enter the internals of the gun as this can cause the gun to malfunction. Balance and Field Performance The Pro TS w/ Storm performed extremely well on the playing field. Loaded down with paint, a 12 volt revolution hopper, and 3000 psi Pure Energy compressed air tank, the Pro TS w/ Storm is relatively heavy, although any gun is heavy once you put a tank and a full load of paint on. By positioning the air tank closer toward the guns center ,the drop forward on the Pro TS w/ Storm makes the gun feel much lighter than it really is , thus pushing the guns center of gravity inward and making snap shooting in tight quarters play relatively easy. When completely loaded with paint, the Pro TS w/ Storm balances nicely from front to rear, and left to right balance is perfect. We shot 1000 paintballs through our Pro TS w/ Storm and only had 2 ball breaks occur when playing in semi-auto mode. One break was totally our fault, we forgot to turn on our 12 volt Viewloader Revolution (electronic hopper) and subsequently chopped a ball. In full-auto mode we were able to sustain fire at 8 balls per second with no ball breaks or chops, but at rates around 12 balls per second, we could only take short 5 - 8 shot bursts before risking chopping paintballs in the gun. If you want to take advantage of the full-auto firing mode on the Pro TS w/ Storm we HIGHLY recommend you buy an electronic hopper like the Viewloader 12 volt Revolution or Ricochet. The truth and nothing but the truth: The Piranha Pro TS w/ Storm is an awesome gun out on the paintball field. Personally, I have always been an autococker fan, but after testing the Piranha Pro TS w/ Storm out on the field, I would take a stock Pro TS w/ Storm over a stock autococker any day of the week. If you are looking for a high performance gun that can compete / rule on the speedball field for less than $500, this is the gun that we would recommend. Its extremely fun to play with, has a lightning trigger, and it is extremely easy to maintain. The Pro TS is one impressive gun on its own in combo with the Mako Storm frame, its more than impressive its deadly. This is a great gun!