A Beginner's Guide To Paintball Guns

This article explains how paintball guns actually work and reviews some of the best models on the market.

The popularity of paintball has sky-rocketed over the past few years. If we have to be completely accurate, paintball is the fastest growing sport in the country. According to insurance reports, paintball is amongst the safest sports, and that's because of all the latest advancements in the production technology of paintball equipment. The two most important elements of a player's equipment are the goggles (protecting your eyes and ears) and the paintball gun.

But how does the paintball gun work? The principle of operation is based on the power of expanding gas which pushes out paintballs through the barrel at a speed of 91m/s. This is the speed limit, an industry standard considered as the safety barrier that manufacturers shouldn't surpass in order for the sport to remain safe. The paintballs are made to break when they hit something, releasing paint and cause very little pain, similar to a sting.

The elements that make up the construction of a paintball gun are the following - body, hopper, tank and a barrel. The body is made from light materials like aluminum, or carbon fiber to make it easier for the player to carry it around while running. Hopper is called the small tank which holds the paintballs that will be fired.

Hoppers are divided in the following types - gravity feed, stick feed, agitating and force feed. Gravity feed is the most basic type of hopper with a limited shooting rate of to only 8 balls per second. Stick feed hoppers can contain 20 paintballs at max. Agitating hoppers are amongst the best ones, no jamming can occur, because they use propellers to agitate the paintballs. Force-feed models use a spring or a belt-fed system to proper the paintballs.

The tank is the container which holds the paintballs to be fired. The barrel directs the shot. Barrels come in different styles and lengths.

Mechanical as well as electronic paintball guns are produced. The electronic ones are with a microchip which increases your trigger speed by controlling the release of paintballs into the barrel. of course, the basic idea is the same, as they also rely on expanding gas such as CO2 or Compressed Air. The more expensive models have a display showing the number of balls left, shooting rate and a timer.

Paintball markers are divided in the following way - stock glass, pump action, semi automatic, electropneumatic, fully automatic. The semi automatics require the player to pull the trigger for each and every shot. Fully automatic models keep on firing until you release the trigger. The stock glass paintball markers are pump action pistols holding between 10-15 paintballs at a time, but you have to tilt them to feed the next ball in the barrel.

Perhaps the best paintball marker ever made is the RAP4. It's the first real action paintball marker, a replica of the legendary M4 rifle used by SWAT Teams. The other high-profile model is Tippmann 98. The M98 is though and dependable, because it has a simple design combined with extra-tough finishes.

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