THE SPORT OF PAINTBALL

    
The Paintball Marker (Paint Guns)

    Paint guns come in a variety of shapes and styles, from simple to sophisticated. They either come pomp or semi automatic. Semi automatics are the most common and most of the older guns are pump. The pumps are still used in some pump only events since the semi automatics have an advantage over them. 
    They can have CO2 or Compressed Air. The advantage of Compressed Air is more reliable shots, although sometimes not worth the extra money. Some semi automatics can be used in full automatic, but I do not recommend to play full automatic with semi guns because even if you win, the gun made you win, not you. 

The Paintball Capsule

    A paintball is a round capsule with colored liquid inside it. A paintballs thin outer shell is usually made of gelatin. Paintballs are similar to large round vitamin capsules or bath oil beads. The most common paintball size is .68" in diameter. The fill inside a paintball is non-toxic, non-caustic, water-soluble and biodegradable. It rinses out of clothing and washes off skin with mild soap and water. When a paintball tags a player, the thin outer layer of the paintball splits open, and the liquid fill inside leaves a bright "paint" mark. A player who is marked is eliminated from the game. 

The Game

    Paintball is a game of chess, with human players, being able to think quickly and decisively is what makes you a star. For the younger players paintball is a combination of the childhood games "tag" and "hide & seek," but as you learn it becomes much more challenging and sophisticated. Paintball is a sport played by people from all professions and life styles. It is a sport where women and men compete equally, and where age is not dominated by youth. Physical size and strength are not as important as intelligence and determination. Paintball also is a character-building sport. Players learn the importance of teamwork and gain self-confidence while developing leadership abilities. Once the adrenaline starts pumping, you can't help but love the thrill of the game!

    Paintball is an exciting sport, and above all paintball is fun! It's a chance to shake off your day-to-day responsibilities and rekindle your spirit of adventure.

Paintball Safety

    Paintball's superb safety record compared with other sports is largely attributable to the attention that has been paid to safety concerns from the very beginnings of the game.  High strength goggles are always a requirement at any field as well as barrel plugs and chronographs. Barrel plugs are standard fare at all commercial fields.   Once players leave the field of play, they are required to insert a 'plug into the end of their barrel, preventing injury if the 'gun is accidentally discharged in the neutral area.  In tournament play, this rule is so strongly enforced as to cost the offending player's team penalty points if not observed. Chronographs are another standard at fields.   These devices measure the velocity of a projectile and have long been used on firing ranges to measure the velocity of firearms' bullets.  The accepted standard worldwide for paintball markers is 300 feet per second.  This velocity is commonly lowered to 275 or less for indoor and other close range play. This is another area where tournament directors have no sense of humor, and penalty points for exceeding the established limits have on many occasions cost a team a trip to the finals, or worse.

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A barrel plug is to be inserted firmly
 into the muzzle of the paint gun.		   whatis8.JPG (11618 bytes)
Shooting the marker over a chronograph tests how fast the paintball is going.  The international maximum speed limit is 300 feet per second.


Myths

    Their are many myths in paintball. The first is that a closed bolt is more accurate than a closed bolt. Here I have the full story, and I am sorry to say that it is not true. The test shows that they are just as accurate. Tests were done at Warpig.com, this link will direct you to the report. 

    Their is another myth, the exploding composite air tanks. Sorry guys, test show, they do not explode. No buts, it just does not happen that way. If the tank is filled to much, the first thing to go is the safety plug. If the safety valve does not budge, and the tank is filled to its break point, the tank will rapture a small hole and leak, going empty just in a few seconds. Warpig.com again has a web page dedicated to this, and also informed of a tank being shot with an actual bullet when full, and all it did was empty in seconds, it did not budge, not even jump. Tanks of 68 and 3000 pressure last about from as little at 700 to as much as 1140 more or less, it all depend on your gun and efficiency. I can get mine to last around 1200, but I run my gun on low pressure internals.