Paintball guns, also known as paintball markers, are a handheld system for the delivery of specialized, self-contained balls of paint, mainly used as the primary piece of equipment in the sport of paintball. Paintball guns make use of compressed gasses such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, or compressed oxygen as a propellent for paintballs. Originally, the paintball gun was used by forestry workers and ranchers to mark trees and cattle, leading to the term "paint marker."
Types
Paintball guns are generally classified according to their firing mechanism and rate. There are four different types of firing modes: pump action, semi-automatic, fully-automatic, and ramping.
Pump action guns must be re-cocked after every shot, similar to the pump action of many types of shotguns. This makes the rate of fire slower than other firing mechanisms, and is used by players with a preference for using fewer, more accurately aimed shots.
Semi-automatic guns will automatically load a new paintball into the gun's chamber with each pull of the trigger. Semi-automatic guns have a much higher rate of fire than pump action guns. Semi-automatic guns can use either a mechanical trigger or an electronic trigger, which further increases the rate of fire of the gun.
Full-automatic guns fire at a high rate of speed as long as the trigger is held. Almost all paintball guns feature an electro-pneumatic firing mechanism, which also allows for three to six round burst fire.
Ramping is a combination between semi-automatic and full-automatic rates of fire. For the first three to six pulls of the trigger, the gun will perform in semi-automatic mode. But if the shots are performed at a specific rate of fire, the gun will switch to full-auto mode.
Features
One of the main components of a paintball gun is the mechanism which regulates the flow of paintballs into the chamber. The four types are stick fee, gravity feed, agitating, and force-feed.
Stick feed mechanisms are used on pump-action guns. They employ a small tube-like magazine that holds between ten and twenty paintballs. Balls will only enter the chamber when the player tips the paintball gun to allow the next ball from the magazine to the chamber.
Gravity feed guns often employ a hopper, or an oversized magazine positioned on the top of the gun. Gravity feeds rely on the simple force of gravity to deliver balls from the hopper to the chamber.
Agitating feed systems utilize a spinning arm inside the hopper or stir the balls in the hopper, resulting in a faster rate of feed into the chamber (and a faster rate of fire) and less jamming from the hopper to the chamber.
A force-feeder utilizes a system that captures loose balls in the hopper and forces them into the chamber, either with a sprint or a belt system. This keeps constant pressure on the balls in the hopper and forces them into the chamber as quickly as possible.
Considerations
There are three different propellants used in paintball guns: carbon dioxide, high pressure air, and nitrogen.
Carbon dioxide is compressed at lower pressures (850 psi) than either air or nitrogen, so CO2 tanks tend to be a good deal cheaper than those required for higher pressure gasses. The CO2 itself is also cheaper. However, CO2 tends to liquify in the tank, causing an uneven release of the gas, especially in cold weather.
High pressure air and nitrogen are compressed at between 3000 and 5000 psi, making a higher quality tank necessary. Output is regulated to 850 psi, the same pressure as CO2 tanks, so that the fire pressure is the same as that in CO2 tank guns.
Warning
Proper safety equipment and behavior is very important when around paintball guns. Players should always wear eye and face protection when playing in a paintball match. When not in a match, a barrel plug should be used to prevent accidental firing. Players should always be mindful of where their barrel is pointing. Even with an unloaded or plugged barrel, it's a good habit to keep your gun pointed at the ground at all times.
Expert Insight
There are several different types of barrel makes and several options to make them more powerful and/or accurate. Longer barrels are harder to handle but more accurate, out to a length of eight inches. Accuracy can also be increased with either a flatline or apex barrel, which can impart spin on the ball to control the ball's flight path. Spin will slow the ball, however, and players using such barrels risk having the paintball not break on its target.
Tags: into chamber, rate fire, balls hopper, pump action, Semi-automatic guns
