You have made up your mind. It is time to buy a paintball gun. You begin your research and quickly find out there are so many choices and features. What does it all mean and what should you buy? This article will help narrow the choices.
The first thing we usually ask people is where are you going to play? Will you be playing on an organized field or will you be playing around your own land or a friends land in the woods? The answer to this question will guide you to certain models of guns due to the air supply. If you are going to play at an organized field, they will have resources for compressed air or CO2. The type of air you have access to, will lead you to choosing an applicable gun.
If your paintball gun choice is limited to using CO2 tanks, then you should stick with paintball guns that are happy using CO2. Care must be taken to choose paintball guns that are made to run on CO2. CO2 is a liquid gas and is damaging to paintball guns or paintball markers that are not made to handle the liquid. You could buy an expensive paintball gun and damage it beyond repair with just a few uses. We recommend sticking with good quality name brand paintball markers that are designed to run on CO2.
There are many models of CO2 paintball guns. The main brand names are Spyder, Smart Parts and Tippmann paintball guns. You can choose electronic or non-electronic. Popular models of paintball guns are the Spyder Victor, Xtra, Sonic, Pilot, Electra, VS1, VS2, Smart Parts Vibe.
CO2 paintball guns with a military look are the Spyder MR1 and MR2. Smart Parts has the SP1 model designed to run on CO2 and a military scenario look. New releases from Tippmann are the Tippmann Alpha Black Series. These paintball guns are packed with features at competitive prices. Tippmann also has its more rugged and upgradeable Platinum Series Custom 98, A5 and X7 paintball guns. They are all great brand names backed with good warranties.
We left the compressed air paintball guns until now because generally the compressed air markers are a little more expensive to a lot more expensive. Paintball guns range from the low $150’s to close to $2000.00. This is often where the range and choices on the market confuse everyone. Simply stated, at this point it is about features, price points and you get what you pay for. You really have to determine what it is that you are looking for. Are you a recreational player, or are you playing competitively? There are several main features and so we will briefly explain some of these popular features.
One of the main features on the market is if a gun is electronic or not. Electronic guns have modes that allow you to set the marker firing modes. Electronic triggers or “egrips” often allow you to change the paintball marker from single firing mode (one shot, one trigger pull) to 3-shot burst (one pull, 3 paintballs fired), to semi-auto (one pull, one shot to ramping up to auto if you pull the trigger within a set time period) to full auto( one pull, multiple firing). There are various features that help enable the gun to rapid fire such as anti-chop systems (ACS), electronic eyes etc. The key statistic to key on is the balls per second or bps.
We like to ask if you are the type of person that likes to take things apart and rebuild them? Or are you more likely to play, clean and put away until next time? If so, please buy a paintball gun that is easily maintained. Smart Parts has some very easy guns to maintain as are the new Tippmann Platinum Series paintball guns. Cleaning and lubricating your paintball guns is the key to longevity and happy ownership. If on the other hand you like to tinker with your equipment, there should not be any limitation in your choice. There is plenty of help with manuals, manufacturer internet sites, and help videos on Youtube.
Another key consideration is upgradeability. Are there upgrades available for your model of paintball gun? Do you want to be able to upgrade it in the future? Most people answer yes, as by nature we become bored of the same old thing everyday. Also, many of us like paintball because of the military replica or scenario aspect of the paintball games. If this is you, then you may want to be able to change your paintball gun from an M16 to an AK 47. Our suggestion for those of you that want to have the maximum flexibility with military upgrades is the Tippmann X7 paintball gun.
This article was the beginning of the fun involved in finding out what you really want and need. Decide on the air you have access to and match your style and type of play to the paintball guns you are interested in. Compare features and price ranges. Narrow in on your choices and finally buy a paintball gun and take out your friend or enemy in style!