By
eHow Sports & Fitness Editor
Difficulty: Moderately Easy
Step1
Determine your budget, keeping in mind you may also need to buy other gear. Paintball guns, or "markers," can range from $150 to more than $800. Also realize that some paintguns, such as semi-auto and auto-cockers, shoot more balls and use more CO2 than others. This, too, can affect the cost of your game.
Step2
Play with as many borrowed and rented guns as you can.
Step3
Ask paintball enthusiasts at paintball fields and facilities what they like and dislike about their guns.
Step4
Checkout reviews of paintball guns on
pbreview.com. Pbreview.com is a site for
paintball enthusiasts with reviews of paintball guns written by real paintballers. Ask questions about specific guns or anything else related to paintball in the pbreview.com forums.
Step5
Decide whether you want constant air from a CO2 tank, or a quick-changer for CO2 cartridges. Constant air lasts longer, but you need a place to fill it up. Cartridges run out every 20-30 shots, but you can stock up on them.
Step6
Decide the size and type of paintball loader you want. A bigger loader holds more balls, but is heavier. The real question is: how much paint do you plan on firing at your opponents? Some players like to shoot single, accurate shots, while others keep their opponents pinned down with a constant barrage.
Step7
Decide the length of barrel you want for your gun. A longer barrel is generally more accurate, but it is also heavier and more awkward. A rifled barrel costs more, but also tends to be more accurate.
Step8
Visit your local paintball store and price the guns you like. You can also order through the mail and over the Internet, but don't order anything you haven't actually seen or held. Sometimes advertising can be misleading.
Step9
Purchase your paintgun and familiarize yourself with it. You should know how to take it completely apart and put it back together before you begin playing.
Comments
Anonymous said
on 8/8/2006 I would recommend to any new players to go out with a friend first. Because some people cannot take the pain. If you ignore the pain, you will have so much more fun.
Anonymous said
on 8/8/2006 Ported barrels -
Ported barrels have holes all around the barrel, usually at the very tip. Porting comes in all sorts of designs. What porting does is let the gas pushing the ball escape from behind the ball before it exit's the barrel, thus reducing the noise.
Rifled Barrels -
The Tippmann flatline is not a rifled barrel. It has a big curve in the barrel, and then straightens out, this is to give the ball backspin and give the ball more distance. Rifled barrels have tiny grooves inside the barrel, an example if this is HammerHead barrels and the Armson stealth. The tiny grooves inside the barrel make the paintball spin, and adds range, and accuracy to the paintball.
Choosing Co2, or Hpa-
Co2 is good to start out with, here are a few pro's and con's:
Pro: Cheap initial cost, readily available, fairly cheap
Con: Inconsistent, inefficient, harms your marker, shootdown (loss of velocity while shooting long strings of paint).
HPA is gold.
Pro: Consistent, no shootdown, cheap fills, good for your gun.
Con: High initial cost, sometimes hard to find a fill station.
Anonymous said
on 8/8/2006 Spyders are OK guns, but they're awesome for their price. They're cheap and do OK on the field. The Spyder Imagine is the cheapest automatic marker and can be found at only $108.95 on many websites. The Electra is Spyder's most expensive marker, clocking in at $249.99 and $299.99 , but it does have the rocking trigger.
If you are willing to spend more than that, then look at some I recommend: Indian Creek BKO, Smart Parts Ion, Diablo Wrath, or Trilogy Pro. Smart Parts Ion is the best of the bunch though.
Anonymous said
on 8/8/2006 As you go paint balling, have a good time, but never let fun get in the way of safety. If you have a barrel plug or barrel sock, always use it. If you do not, turn off your gun (marker) and take out the tank. You might think it is a little over board, but to many people think it's a horrible sport, and if you go out, you will see it is not. So go out and have fun.
Anonymous said
on 8/8/2006 Well everyone wants to have fun when they play paintball, but you don't have to spend $1000 + on a marker. And if your not sure which marker
to buy, try Kingman Spyders. They're cheap and very good at the field. If you're a beginner, or you're just starting the sport, I would say you shouldn't have to spend more than $200 on all the paintball gear. Now I know it sounds like a lot of money, and it is, but after that it gets pretty cheap. All you should really need to spend after the initial equip is money on paint and Co2 refills.
But don't forget - safety first! I know many people that have gotten hurt playing this sport. Not because they were hit by the paint from the markers, but because they can't follow simple safety rules.
Here are few rules:
1. Always put on your goggles and mask when around paintball markers!
2. Have a barrel plug or a barrel bag on your marker when not in play.
3. Keep your gun facing the ground! I have been shot before (I work at a paintball field) by some kids that can't keep the barrel facing down and their finger off the trigger. Wait until it's time to play. Remember, tell yourself the gun is ALWAYS loaded.
4. Never look down the barrel of your marker! I have seen it happen. One kid is looking down the barrel because something goes wrong with his marker, another kid comes running up and hits the kid, he falls, his finger slips, and POW; he loses and eye.
5. Be very careful when un-screwing you Co2 tank. If it doesn't move, stop and go tell an adult before you get hurt.
Have fun and keep safe.