How to Buy Paintball Gear as a Gift

Paintball fanatics, or even potential fanatics, are great to buy gifts for, because there's so much interesting gear to continually outfit them with. For the beginning paintball player, however, you've got to start with the basics.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Flip through a paintball magazine to get an idea of products and prices.

2. Go to a paintball specialty store. This is the best place to see everything in one place and talk to people who know. (If there's not a store in your area, there are many online paintball stores that will deliver everything you need.)

3. Outfit a new player with a gun and a mask. These are the bare essentials. The type of gun you buy will depend on your budget. In general, the more you spend, the better the gun will be. They run from about $75 up to $500. Make sure the gun comes complete with a loader, an air system and a barrel plug. A package deal is often a good way to get everything you need.

4. Buy balls. A paintball player can never have too many balls. In one day, a player can shoot off 200 to 1,000 balls, depending on the type of gun they use. Balls are sold in bags of 100 (around $10), boxes of 400 (around $20), or cases of thousands (prices vary). The more you buy at one time, the cheaper they get.

5. Wrap your gifts in camouflage paper or an Army-issue green and be sure to tape a GI Joe to the outside.

Tips & Warnings

• A quality mask is a must for any paintballer.
• Look into paintball accessories for an experienced player. There are many harnesses and ball carriers that are not essential, but are very nice to have, as are paintguns, silencers, paint-grenades, camouflage clothing and chronographs (for measuring ball-speed).
• Keep a barrel plug in your paintball gun whenever it is not in use.
• Always where a mask around paintball guns.

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[vov35]

on 4/21/2007 Silencers are illegal, make a supressor instead!!!
j/k
get a reg, turn velocity all the way up then set by reg.

on 11/22/2005 If they have their gun in the air and they are screaming, "I am out," don't shoot.

on 11/22/2005 Don't buy silencers as a gift. It is illegal for an average citizen to possess a silencer, unless that person gets approval from the BATF and pays a hefty fee (about $200, as I recall). It's one of those laws that prohibits something that isn't evil in and of itself. The concern is that people with silencers for paintball can put them on lethal firearms to help them achieve criminal goals. Sort of like outlawing cars because bank robbers like to make getaways in them. I say let's outlaw evil acts and enforce those laws, not outlaw fun and useful tools that may help criminals.