How to Buy Paintball Guns?

You have made up your mind. It is time to buy a paintball gun. You begin your research and quickly find out there are so many choices and features. What does it all mean and what should you buy? This article will help narrow the choices.

The first thing we usually ask people is where are you going to play? Will you be playing on an organized field or will you be playing around your own land or a friends land in the woods? The answer to this question will guide you to certain models of guns due to the air supply. If you are going to play at an organized field, they will have resources for compressed air or CO2. The type of air you have access to, will lead you to choosing an applicable gun.

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.

If CO2 is your air, then we recommend using paintball markers that are designed to run on CO2. Spyder guns from the non-electric and budget conscious models would be the Spyder Victor, Xtra, Sonic. With a bigger budget moving up to the electronic, Spyder Pilot, Electra, VS1, VS2. Smart Parts has excellent mid range CO2 models designed to run on CO2. New technology and easy to maintain are the Smart Parts Vibe.

Staying with CO2 and a military feel are the Spyder MR1, MR2, MR3. Smart Parts has the SP1 a new release with excellent features and easy to maintain. The king of all military releases are the Tippmann paintball markers. There are so many to choose from and many are customizable. The low price points are Tippmann Alpha Black series of paintball guns. Considering the budget you will move up from the Tippmann Alpha Black to the Tippmann, 98 Custom Platinum, A5, X7 Series paintball markers. All are excellent choices for CO2 run markers.

We left the compressed air paintball guns until now because generally the compressed air markers are a little more expensive to a lot more expensive. Paintball guns range from the low $150's to close to $2000.00. This is often where the range and choices on the market confuse everyone. Simply stated, at this point it is about features, price points and you get what you pay for. You really have to determine what it is that you are looking for. Are you a recreational player, or are you playing competitively? There are several main features and so we will briefly explain some the popular features.

One of the main features on the market is if a gun is electronic or not. Electronic guns have modes that allow you to set the marker to firing modes. Electronic triggers or "egrips" often allow you to change the paintball marker from single firing mode (one shot one trigger pull) to 3-shot burst (one pull, 3 paintballs fired), to semi-auto (one pull one shot to ramping up to auto if you pull the trigger within a set time period) to full auto( one pull multiple firing). There are various features that help enable the gun to rapid fire such as anti-chop systems (ACS), electronic eyes etc. The key statistic to key on is the balls per second or bps.

We like to ask if you are the type of person that likes to take things apart and rebuild them? Or are you more likely to play, clean and put away until next time? If so, please buy a paintball gun that is easily maintained. Smart Parts has some very easy guns to maintain as are the new Tippmann Platinum Series paintball guns. Cleaning and lubricating your paintball guns is the key to longevity and happy ownership. If on the other hand you like to tinker with your equipment, there should not be any limitation in your choice. There is plenty of help with manuals, manufacturer internet sites, and help videos on Youtube.

Paintball gun upgrades are the next question. Are you going to make a one time purchase for recreational play? Or are you going to be adding equipment as your skills improve. Frankly, it is fun and keeps the sport fresh to add new ways to improve your paintball gun. Do some research and see what upgrades are available for the particular model of paintball gun you are considering purchasing. The most upgradeable paintball marker is the Tippmann X7 with many replica looks and feel. You can change back and forth with this paintball gun. It won't be cheap but you won't get bored!

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!

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