Most people starting to play paintball start out by renting paintball guns or paintball markers. Incidentally, the term paintball gun or paintball marker can be used interchangeably. Both terms mean the same thing. After playing a few times one quickly discovers that it won't take very long before you could have purchased your own paintball guns and equipment instead of throwing away your money renting. This article will help narrow the choices for your research.
If you are playing at home or at a friends woods area, it is likely that you will need to focus on paintball guns that use CO2. Compressed air is a lot more difficult to find on a home course and you should stay away from compressed air paintball guns in this case. To the contrary, CO2 is easy to find at local paintball shops and you can set up your own fill station for a small investment. Just find a local shop selling compressed gases and rent a CO2 bottle. Buy a CO2 fill station and you will be able to fill your tanks on demand anytime you want.
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 made 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, MR2, MR3. 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.
If you decide on compressed air, you will have so many choices. The features desired and the reliability, quality of parts and weight of the gun all play a factor. The high end paintball guns can sell for $2000.00. Is that what you need or want? Take a look at the main features and decide what it is that you really want. Some people choose an entry level budget paintball marker that is really cheap. Then they use it for a while until they know what it is that they really want. Then they set that paintball gun aside, or sell it to upgrade to a more feature packed gun.
Once you know if you want electronic or non-electronic, speed of firing can be determined by firing modes. Read carefully to find out about the balls per second and the modes of fire allowed. Also check if your field allows the modes of fire. I have seen players ask for fully automatic paintball guns only to learn that the only place they can play paintball in their local area does not allow full auto mode. So then, why pay for a feature you do not need? Generally the modes are single shot, 3 shot burst, semi-automatic or fully automatic. There are others but these are the main modes of firing. Some are set easily with external switches, others require some changes in internal programming to the board.
Maintenance of your paintball gun is also very important. Proper care, cleaning and lubrication is a must for all paintball markers. Does your paintball marker come with a squeegie for cleaning? Is it easy to access the internals for cleaning and lubrication? If ease of maintenance is a concern, we recommend the Smart Parts paintball guns along with the Tippmann 98 Cutsom Platinum Series. Both of these paintball gun models or series are very easy to maintain and clean. Don't be fearful of the maintenance on paintball guns. The manufacturer's websites are very helpful. There is a large amount of help videos on their sites or also on Youtube.
Paintball markers can usually be upgraded. However, some a lot more than most. A Tippmann X7 paintball marker can be upgraded in several ways. Triggers, barrels, sights, magazines, foregrips, stocks and more. The Tippmann X7 paintball marker can be changed from an M16 to an M36 with a few upgrades. If upgrading is important to you, please research your model of paintball marker to see what can be added after purchasing. For example, the Tippmann Alpha Black Series are very economical to buy. They are meant to be starter guns. You cannot upgrade a Tippmann Alpha Black Basic to an Egrip because they have not made an upgrade for it. Instead, Tippmann made the Egrip model inexpensive so that you would buy the paintball gun with the electronic upgrade in the first place.
While we have tried to enlighten you on your paintball gun choices, the reality is there are several makes and models, price ranges and features to choose from. First decide where you will play and the air system you should use. Then decide what features and looks are important to you. Then, get busy and research your potential paintball gun until you are comfortable with the price range, the features and value in that price range and if you will be able to maintain it or upgrade it while you own it. Then get out there and paint the other players!
About the Author:
Paintball is exciting whether you do it every day or once a year, choosing the right Paintball Gun for you is vital. Buying from with a knowledgable Paintball Gun dealer will ensure you get the gun that is right for you.
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