Paintball is fun to the degree you have the right equipment to play the game. One of the important equipment to use is a paintball gun. With the best paintball gun, you can up your performance to the point that you are glad winning through it.
But the best paintball guns vary in cost, also and there are ways to work with your budget way up to where you are comfortable picking the ones you really want and perhaps need.
Buying your paintball gun sometimes come in a package train that contains other co-extensive equipment like the masks, gas tanks, and hoppers.
What’s A Paintball Gun?
A paintball gun — also called paintball markers — is the item in your paintball game that is used for shooting. Since the end game of the sport is entertainment, shooting with a paintball gun is about fun and nothing more.
However, just because they are meant for sports doesn’t mean they are totally harmless. The harm or lack of it in them is due to the precautions taken by paintball players to ensure their safety during the fun activities.
The paintball guns are used to shoot the paintballs used in the game. The paintballs are water-soluble dyes that are filled in a gelatin capsule that is spherical in shape.
The paintball gun is powered by a either CO2, known as carbo dioxide, or HPA, the High-Pressure Air, the compressed air to push the paintballs out of the guns so it can hit the opponent player.
Like a conventional gun, the paintball gun has a grip, trigger point, and barrel which allows it to function effectively as it is expected. Every paintball has a hopper on it which feeds it with the paintballs it shoots out.
In other words, the paintballs are stored inside the hopper. When a player pulls the trigger of the paintball, gas pressure is applied on the barrel that releases the balls to meet its target.
It is important to state here that paintball markers are generally designed to move at a maximum speed of about 300 feet per second. Although most paintball guns come with a minimum velocity speed of 280 feet per second.
The mechanism defining the controlled use of the paintball marker is the same, however, the paintball markers themselves are of different types. Yet, while the paintball markers are of different brands and types, the categorizations are broadly into two types.
The difference is predicated upon the mechanism that is employed to load the paintballs and load them. They are:
- Mechanical
- Electrical
- The mechanical paintball guns are paintball guns that are operated solely using mechanic means. There is spring mechanism which connects the barrel to the hopper and from there allows the valve through which the gas propels the ball.
Mechanical paintball guns are often referred to as semi-automatic in absolute terms. But the semi-automatic doesn’t define the mechanical paintballs. In fact, they are slight improvement on the pump or bolt action paintball guns.
The pump paintball guns were perhaps the oldest paintball guns which are reliable. It is interesting what the divide of the argument prioritizes, though.
In classifying what qualifies as mechanical paintball markers, there are categorizations of the pump or bolt action as one of them. There are about four other types in this category: the double action, the throwback semi-auto, the blow forward semi-auto, and pneumatically operated semi-auto paintballs.
The general persuasion about mechanical paintball guns is that they are slower in use in comparisons to other paintball types.
- The Electrical markers also called the electro-pneumatic paintball guns are not mechanically wired but are rather activated by the presence of circuit boards or magnetic sensors which control the release of the gas and balls.
That command going through the control board is passed to the solenoid, which is computer-controlled, and it is the solenoid that assists with the trigger function which makes it consistent and accurate.
The electrical paintball guns are mostly automatic makers and are mostly supported by compressed air. On their part, while they are way faster in comparisons to mechanical paintball guns, they are harder to maintain, as the circuits are maintained and powered by rechargeable batteries. Even so, they reflect in the cost of paintballs.
How Much Do Paintball Guns Cost?
Aside the argument above about the type of gun, the other factor that determines the cost of a paintball marker also revolves around the level of professional use by whoever is engaging in it.
For a beginner, an entry level mechanical or electrical paintball marker will cost between $70-$100. Most electrical paintball markers at the professional level costs about $150 – $500 on Amazon from Tippman’s varied models to Azodin Blitz 3, and many more.
Generally, paintball markers can sell at very rationed low cost of about $50 and much high-end options that cap as much as around $2,500.
The hack here is that, most times, paintball markers are not sold as an isolated item, if they are, you can get at rationed cost as the varied options given above.
However, some guns come as part of an extensive paintball equipment cost that includes all the additional items such as the hopper, the paintballs, gas tanks, and sometimes, protective gears, too. That should be factored in your overall cost estimation.
Tips On Purchasing Your Paintball Marker
In order to effectively choose the right paintball markers for yourself, you need to keep your heart stabilized on some number of factors and sprawl them to get things done:
1. Do Your Research
You don’t want to go buy a marker you know little or nothing about and won’t serve the purpose or objective of your game.
As a prospective or potential owner, research the wide range of options available to you. The good thing about the current market is that you are not short of reviews to ascertain the quality and value of a product on online shopping sites.
That starts with getting to know the variants of markers that show true simplicity especially the beginner’s level and some other protection machinery that tell you how good, smooth, safe, and convenient your prospective gun is for use.
2. Work With The Right Price
Let your budget reflect where your priority lies. Based on the cost range captured above, ensure to locate what you want and go for it. Don’t be tempted to expand your budget to pay for more than you might need especially for your stage or level of learning.
Naturally, paintball guns for beginners, for example, average somewhere around $130-200. Knowing that gives you options to narrow your choice in a very painstaking manner.
A useful advice here is to focus your budget on possible added paintball items that might be sold with your gun, that includes your protective gears and you can never be too fully prepared for that.
Don’t also be remotely clipped by a cheap budget. You could set yourself up for an inferior and falling product that lacks quality. You need to get the right value for your cash.
3. If You Can, Buy In Person
There is nothing like getting a personal feel of your gun and knowing if it has a comfortable feel in your hands.
The right paintball gun might not just be the ones with the best design features but the ones with the right design features for you.
This complicates the narrative of online purchase for many, as it typically comes handy and cheaper in cost compared to buying at local stores or retail outlets for paintball markers.
While that’s a valid reason, you must do an extensive review, reading and research before you settle for a choice. Also, if the shipping cost is implicated, it might not ultimately be the wisest choice to do online shopping because of this and other factors.
The extent to which the conversation about research extends could be about getting professional advice from professionals who are truly in the field of paintball sport and understand not just the sport but the products, including the paintball guns that work and suit you.
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Prices pulled from the Amazon Product Advertising API on:
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
Conclusion
Owning a paintball gun doesn’t often sound like a self-driven ambition of paintball enthusiasts, perhaps except those playing paintball professionally. Most times there are paintball field parks where, not just some, but all paintball equipment are provided for to play the game.
There is another hack to that, people simply rent the paintball gun and other equipment to play the game. That said, paintball markers are often seen as a fashionable and vital toy to own.
Knowing how to use is also not as complicated as it is with the typical, normal, everyday gun that people use. How it works isn’t difficult to play around and as it has been shown, the kind of paintball marker signifies and tells the cost of the gun and market value.
But beyond the value and cost of the paintball gun you buy, remember that paintball guns are for fun and entertainment. The guns are not only manufactured under guidance of significant, safety regulations and measures, but they are also designed to be an innocuous game.
Also, remember that paintball guns are not an isolated item or equipment in paintball. They are part of a whole paraphernalia of game costume. It might be great if you buy all your equipment and show willingness to make it about the sport and not just an item.