Paintball Guns Examined

May 11th, 2008

A paintball gun is a device, or a replica of an actual firearm used to mark an opposing player with paint in the popular game of paintball. It uses different types of propellants such as expanding gases to propel a paintball through a barrel with a muzzle velocity of approximately 300 ft/s to break upon impact.

Firing Systems in Paintball Guns:

In the Electro-pneumatic firing system, electrical power from an onboard battery is used to drive a motor that turns gears inside the gun to compress and release a piston, which creates a blast of air that propels the paintball. These guns are capable of multiple firing modes, such as three-shot bursts, six-shot bursts or fully automatic. Most of them are capable of firing 300 to 900 rounds per minute (RPM) and their muzzle velocities range from 200 to 400 feet per second (FPS).

In mechanical or spring-powered firing system, the paintball guns are mostly single-shot or spring-cocked devices the spring has to be cocked by pulling back the slide or bolt before firing each shot. In some devices, excess air not used to propel the ball is then used to re-cock the hammer which is known as a blowback system. Mechanical paintball guns are able to fire at a rate of 200 to 275 FPS.

Gas-powered firing systems use pressurized gases like propane and HFC134a refrigerant to propel paintballs. They are also capable of using blowback mechanism, in which on-board or magazine-stored gas storage system is used to propel the paintballs and the same compressed air that propels the paintball is used to pull back the slide. So they are also capable of automatic or semi-automatic fire.

Types of paintball Guns:

There are various types of paintball guns which come in different sizes, configurations, styles and designs. Pistols are the smallest, running off of twelve gram CO2 cartridges. They have to be reloaded after ten shoots. Since pistols are less powerful with smaller paintball capacity, they are normally used for back-ups.

With pump guns, the user has to manually load the paintballs into the chamber, they cannot be automatic. They are much cheaper, very accurate and powerful in comparison to other paintball guns. Some of them come with a constant trigger so you can hold the trigger down and just pump it to shoot.

Semi-automatic paintball guns are quite expensive and may even cost you up to a $1000. They are capable of semi-automatic and automatic fire. The trigger is considerably sensitive and most models have shorter trigger pulls.

Specially configured paintball guns such as stock guns can only hold about 10 paintballs, and must be parallel to the breech, which requires tilting to load a paintball. A stock class paintball gun is powered by a single 12 gram CO2 powerlet. The knob that holds the powerlet has to be removed in order to change it. They are mostly used for stock only games. Regular pump paintball guns can also be modified to fit stock class specifications.

Paintballing HQ http://paintballinghq.com/ offers articles and tips about paintballing from beginner to expert.

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Choosing Your Paintball Equipment

April 28th, 2008

There are several types of paintball equipment used while playing a game of paintball. Many of them serve important functions like providing safety, while some of them may be intended for cosmetic purposes only. There are also some nifty paintball accessories which can really come in handy when playing the game.

Paintball Gun:

Paintball guns are replicas of actual firearms used to mark an opposing player with paint in the popular game of paintball. These guns propel paintballs through a barrel with a muzzle velocity of approximately 300 ft/s to break upon impact. Different types of paintball guns have different firing system such as Electro-pneumatic, mechanical, or gas-powered firing systems. Some of the more popular paintball guns include semi-automatic, stock class and pump guns.

Safety Equipment:

Paintball Mask:

Paintball Masks protect the face by covering the eyes, mouths, ears and nostrils. Some masks are also equipped with throat guards. Lenses which come in double-layered or thermal designs are more reliable and the air chamber between the outer and inner lens prevent fogging. High end mask products should be considered while playing paintball because most of them are designed to effectively halt speeding paintballs which normally travel at a speed of 200 to 300 ft/s. Polycarbonate or Lexan provides good impact resistance so be sure to check if the mask has lens made with those.

Barrel cover:

A barrel plug is normally a neoprene pouch attached over the barrel opening by a cord. This safety device prevents accidentally fired paintballs to cause any harm by blocking exit. A barrel sock is more effective in reducing the possibility of the safety equipment being detached from the marker/gun barrel.

Cleaning Equipment:

Squeegees:

The barrel or breach of the paintball gun may collect dust or paintball debris. Squeegees, hinge-mounted rubber discs on the end of plastic rods, are used to clean these out by inserting the rubber end into the barrel. Cable squeegees, in which the rubber disc is mounted perpendicularly on the end of the cable, used to clean open breech and removable bolt paintball guns.

Battle Swab:

This is a double ended stick, with a bendable rubber section in the middle, which has a soft absorbent fur which is shoved down the length of the barrel to remove paint debris or paintball shell.

Common Accessories:

Drop forward and Rail:

Drop forwards, which is attached to the bottom of the gun, drop the tank a few inches and move it forward. This makes the paintball marker/gun taller but shorter in length. Safety features may include on/off switch. Another alternative to drop forward, which has become more popular, is the rail system which enables a tank regulator to be mounted directly at the base of the grip.

Remote line:

Remote lines are cables attached to the tank from the paintball marker/gun so that user can easily move while handling the marker/gun.

Pod:

These are plastic containers that can hold about 140 to 200 paintballs. Pods may be equipped with springs at the top for quick opening, locking mechanism to prevent accidental opening, and shock absorbers to prevent paintballs from breaking.

Harness:

A harness, which holds the pods, provides the player with a convenient supply of paint. They may also be fitted with a pouch to hold the tank during a remote setup, a bellyband with hoops in the back for the pods and pockets for maps, radios, and hydration pouches.

http://paintballinghq.com/ Paintballing HQ offers articles and tips about paintballing from beginner to expert.

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