Looking for paintball advice

Hi. I was looking ad paintball guns at my local wally-world. They had some for just under $20, and I was wondering how good they were. They take the small CO2 cylinders (same ones used in small BB guns), and do not include any face shield. Are these fairly reliable? Any comments on them? What is the most economical way to get into the sport? Can we wear safety glassses/goggles, or do we really need full-face protection?

My wife and I just want to get a pair to go around and blast each other. We do not need the ability to shoot 500 yards or shoot hard enough to cause permanent disfigurement. We just want to have fun. Keep in mind that if the overall opinion is that we should spend over $100 each on these, then we will just not bother because our budget cannot handle this amount.

My wife also heard about something like paintball, but it uses smaller paint pellets. Can anybody point me to more info on this?

.

the pellet version is called "airsoft". i don't know a lot about it, but i hear they're very hardcore about it.

if all you want to do is run around and shoot your wife, then the walmart ones will be fine.
if you want to play games with your friends, you'll want something better. some paintball facilities let you rent, which is always a better idea than using a cheapo gun.

i don't go often, due to cost, but i've done it a few times. everybody calls me rambo for some reason /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

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Rothrandir said:
if all you want to do is run around and shoot your wife, then the walmart ones will be fine.


[/ QUOTE ]

Maybe I should splurge on a $100 model, and get a $20 one for my wife.

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/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/xyxgun.gif

i like the way you think /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Paintball is a very interesting sport and has price levels that can meet anyone's pocketbook. Be warned though, some brands are junk. You get what you pay for to a degree. For a beginner I would recommend starting with $50 or $60 paintball kits. Brass Eagle is a brand that has been around for a long time. They aren't ultra reliable, but they are still a lot of fun. Also paintball guns now are a lot better than they were 5 years ago.

I've still got my Kingman Spyder TL and also a Sheridan PGP. Super fun toys, but I have about $400 tied up between them and the rest of my paintball equipment.

You can't go wrong with the brands Kingman, Tippman, or Sheridan.

--Jason

RebelRam, it sounds like you know something. If I did want to avoid WalMart on this, then are there any good discound net stores that you can suggest?

(This question is also directed to anybody else in the hobby)

I got a Tippmann A-5 ($300) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

If you can check with a local rental field,
They sometimes like to sell the older markers off
for $20 or $30 and I think that would be a better deal.

Also I would look at getting one that uses a 12oz standard
tank, they are normally pretty easy to get refilled,
Last longer, Play better and I think are safer.

Tippmann and Spyder are good in that price range.

But 2 cheapys from Wal-mart would probably fix you up.
and You need masks!

First of all, I would highly recommend full face mask. Paintballs can pack a lot of force. One shot can knock off a pair of goggles and the second shot may just make an eye shot. Paintball mask is definately a YES.
The paintball guns at Wally world sounds like it can fit the bill with your backyard wars between you and the wife. Just don't expect to be able to take it out to your local field and be able to compete wit the other players there. I play tournament paintball and play with a Warped Sportz Dark Angel. Gun and Air system has run up a price tag of about $2000.00.
Backyard games with you and your wife?
$20 guns and some mask should be a blast! Have fun and be careful. Airsoft is also fun . . . Let me know if you would interested in that too, hehe.

You'll put your eye out kid. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Mike

I bought all my stuff from a place called 888paintball.com They had the cheapest prices on the net 5 years ago. I'm not sure how they size up now. Basically what I did first was try a few rentals at the local paintball field, then I did some research to find out what the best brands were in my price range. After that I just used Google to start searching for stores that carried that model. At the time I was willing to spend up to $200 on a paintball gun. I think I ended up getting my Spyder TL for about $120 We had a group buy at the office and we got a real good rate since we were buying 6 paintball guns and a ton of other starter stuff. The total order was probably $2000 worth of paintball stuff.

Basically it sounds like you are wanting to just play family backyard paintball. We used to called this "Outlaw Ball" because usually there were no referees. Nothing wrong with that, a lot of people get started in paintball that way.

Definitely get kits. They come with most everything you need. Get a mask if your kit doesn't come with one. JT equipment used to be the best out there. Their masks were anywhere from $20 to $50. My kit came with a Scott mask I think. It worked well for me. As for CO2 air bottles, you'll want a 12 to 14oz. most likely. Find a place that fills them too. Hopefully you have a local sporting good store that does, or a nearby paintball field. And I don't know if you have a ****'s Sporting Goods near you, but they carry quite a bit of paintball stuff.

Once you find a kit, list the contents here and several of us can probably tell you if it is missing anything important.

Buying paintball ammo, start with an 800 round box and see how fast you and your wife go through it. Keep it in a cool dry place with low humidity. Paintballs are very sensitive to humidity. And swollen paintballs will cause a paintball gun to jam. Not fun at all. 60 to 70 degree weather in the South is usually the best time to play. I know you are in FL, so your weather probably varies a lot more with humidity than it does in north Alabama.

I highly recommend you find a forum or message board like this one that is dedicated to paintball. I'm sure they will be very helpful as well. I am a bit out of touch with the current trends in paintball since it's been about 3 years since I have played.

Once you do get all your equipment, test it on cardboard boxes or another safe target first. Then when you start shooting at each other, don't shoot any closer than atleast 10 or 15ft. away from each other. Wear your masks, paintballs can be highly erratic in flight and don't always hit where you aim. It will sting and may even bruise when you get hit by a paintball.

Here's a site that may be helpful... http://www.paintball.org/

Feel free to ask any questions. I'll try to answer them the best I can.

--Jason

Thanks to all for the replies. I might just get the Walmart specials, and then upgrade if we like it. If not, then not much lost.

Here's a few links for equipment....

http://www.kingman.com/
http://www.tippmann.com/
http://www.brasseagle.com/
http://www.jtusa.com/2003/paintball/index.asp
http://www.dyeprecision.com/
http://www.zappaintball.com/

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Harrkev said:
[ QUOTE ]
Rothrandir said:
if all you want to do is run around and shoot your wife, then the walmart ones will be fine.


[/ QUOTE ]

Maybe I should splurge on a $100 model, and get a $20 one for my wife.

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/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/xyxgun.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I have a friend who paintballed plenty in Pheonix, AZ, and he has gotten me into airsoft/paintball. There are several hundred dollar guns that go full auto. He has seen beginners with these competing against experienced players with single round burst PBguns. The more experienced players won mainly because the amatures were trigger happy and wasted their ammo.

If all you want to do is shoot each other the Wal-mart models should be fine unless you keep grudges for a long time.

ok, we've got that covored...

war stories anyone? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Roth,

I have a short paintball war story.

I was outside late one night when I heard some of the local juveniles coming up the road in a pick up truck shooting a paint ball gun at houses and mail box's.

I fired back with the intense photon canon /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/xyxgun.gif


Don't guess I have to tell ya who won that round.

Does this count as a war story /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink2.gif

Later
Sway

Well, paintball is one of my far too expensive hobbies.

Still play, love it. I have two teenage sons and an 18 year old daughter. We all play, great father/kid sport. I haven't got my wife or 13 year old daughter convinced yet.

I would actually advise you to check out some of the online used equipment boards. But first, if possible, I would try to rent or borrow equipment to play a few times. The problem with the cheapie gear is that it often malfunctions, and if one of your cheapie guns doesn't work, then you can't play against each other.

Paintball is a lot of fun, but only if you actually are playing and not sitting on the sidelines trying to fix equipment. Used better gear can be found at the same price as new cheap gear and will give you a lot more satisfaction. (Speaking as one who has too much money wrapped up in paintball gear!)

Full face coverage is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL. Do NOT play unless you have approved paintball masks. Take a grape, hold it between you thumb and first finger, squeeze hard. What happens is exactly what happens to an eye hit by a paintball! NOTHING will ruin your life faster than losing an eye (or more important, your wifes eye)to an essentially worthless game like paintball. (And remember, I love paintball!). Paintball masks also cover the ears, so they can protect your hearing as well. From calibrated guns, paintballs travel 275-300 feet per second, that's 200 plus miles per hour.

Good luck and feel free to PM or email me if I can help.

Three war stories--

1st time I played, about 8 years ago. Still in the era when most people were playing with pump guns. Two teams, old against young, I was the oldest young guy at 33. Game was search and destroy, were one team goes and hides and the other tries to ferret them out. We were playing in an old corral area. We formed a skirmish line and were advancing down the road into the corrals. I heard a noise to my right rear and half turned, didn't see anything. As I turned back, my best friend, the youngest old guy, drilled me. He had been laying in a loading chute, had .75 of an inch to shoot through beneath the loading door, (a paintball is .68 inches in diameter). Nailed me square in the middle of the forehead, between the top of my mask and the visor. I guess thats why most newer masks have a solid or vented plastic pieve there now. I had never been shot before, distance was less than 12 feet, I never saw or heard ANYTHING. I thought I had been shot for real and was DEAD and was too stupid to fall down. Pain went away in 5 minutes or so and I was ready to go.

2nd Story--

I had been playing for a couple years, My older son, 15 at the time, was on the other side. I knew he was close, but not where he was. We were playing in a forested/brushy area. I heard something move to my right and popped up to shoot, but he was what I had heard and was quicker up with his gun. He fired as I tried to throw myself back away from him. In throwing myself back, my throat was exposed and he nailed me right on the adams apple! Fortunately I was moving away, but I gagged for about 2 minutes and it took me 5 minutes to catch my breath.

3rd story--

I have a VERY quick gun and trigger finger. Quick enough to have 8 balls in the air at one time. We were playing in a brushy area, my sons best friend was on the other side and I had a pretty good idea where he was hiding. I moved into a concealed position at an oblique angle to him and waited for a teammate to flush him to see if he was really there. He took the bait and stood up to get a better shooting angle at my teammate, not realizing where I was. I saw his head start to rise and as soon as I saw his mask I started shooting, My first shot hit his goggles (the ultimate paintball insult because it means you were looking at who shot you) as he turned to see my motion which he had caught in his peripheral vision. My next 4 shots hit his lower mask, neck, chest, and stomach. Fortunately for him, I only pulled the trigger five times, because shot number six would have made him a high tenor with the spacing the way is was! He still thanks me for not having pulled the trigger one more time.

Bonus story--

My son and I were on opposing teams. Playing woodlands paintball. He was the next to last left on his team, we had three left. He is an intense, gifted player, and has actually won some bets for me playing 1 against 6 in woodland games. He is one of those people who are freakishly quick, and astonishingly fast, and to top it off he stays in incredible shape. Matched with this, he is one of those people who can move in the woods without making noise.

He is just one of those freaks of nature when it comes to athletic ability. He steps on snow skis and two hours later is going off jumps, steps on a wake board and is doing spins and jumps on his second run. Started at 3 different spots on his high school football team, QB, ar Halfback when they wanted to give the other QB's playing time, and Safety. Started on varsity soccer as a freshman, was the only underclassmen on the varsity basketball team (oops, I'm sounding like a bragging Dad, well, I guess I am!) I digress but my point is that he is scary at paintball because of all of those traits.

Anyway, my two teammates thought they had him pinned down, in reality, he had THEM right where he wanted them. He didn't realize I was still in the game, which is one of the beauties and problems of woodlands paintball. I snuck through the brush on my belly on this little rabbit trail he didn't think I would try, (I'm 6'3", 250+). I got behind him and was only about 6 feet away when I invoked our mercy rule, called, "surrender or die". If the person immediately throws their arms up and says "surrender", you don't fire. He didn't surrender, but spun and fired. He hit me three times in the chest, yelling, "I got you", but I had fired as soon as he started to move. My three shots hit him in the back, left side and chest. He swore we had killed each other until I pointed out that my first shot hit him in the middle of the back and he couldn't possibly have shot me at the same time that shot hit him in the back.

Thats all folks, thanks for listening to my babbling!


Bill

ok, a little background information. i was known in school to be a laid back, relaxed kind of guy, who had a tendancy to walk slow in the hallways. a friend of mine scheduled a paintball trip with about 30kids from school, and there was one particular guy who felt the need to brag about how he was going to tear me apart in the game. you know the type, a punk coward with a few lackies at his side.

so we get out there, and just before the game, he say's he's going to rip me apart, and that i didn't stand a chance. i told him i've been paintballing a few times, and wasn't all that bad, and that he should better watch his back.

the game starts, and the teams are pretty equal, but my team starts getting beat. about 15 to 15 at first, but not very well matched. i take a couple people out, and as there become less people on the course (it was a ghost town course, with a semi-truck, lots of sand dunes, a couple sheds, etc), i decide to sneak up the side of the court and to the back of enemy territory.
i pop up behind 2 people on the back left of their side, hiding behind a sand dune, and pop them both.
then i sneak to the right, and closer to where the antagonist and his cronies are, and they're inside the semi (a pretty stupid place to be, unless you know what you're doing), there are 4 of them there, and i sneak right back up to behind where they're at, and shoot him once in the back, and mercy kill the others.

as it turns out, i was the last guy on my team, and those 6 people were the last ones on the other team /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

he took it like a sport though, and made it a point to be on my team in the games after /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Like the guys said -- *_definitely_* get and wear a full-face mask, paintball-industry/ASTM approved. These are often had with the discount/volume-retailer "starter kits" or may be sold for less than 25 bucks, each.

If you're just fooling around with the wife, no need to spend mucho bucks on vision/facial protection -- just something that "will do" will be fine, and you can just take a break or outright stop gaming when either of you fog up the lens, which can be reduced by the application of commerical anti-fog solutions or just simple diswashing detergent (SCUBA, motorcycle, paintball, auto, and airsoft shops/Forums will talk plenty of such solutions).

DO NOT under any circumstance lift or remove your mask/goggle during gaming -- remember to communicate well with your wife, and that if either of you fog, to pause gaming if a wipe-off is desired. There's nothing that'll ruin a fun day or date faster than one of you getting hurt.......especially when it comes to something expensive like dental injury or permanently debilitating like eye injury !

Finally, like one of our wise CPFers said, for backyard gaming, watch out for your "background." Paintballs are inherently erratic in flight, so you should be aware of your neighbor's safety as well as be curteous in cleanup (although modern paint is water soluble, if left in-place or if impacts occur at close range, they can still "burn-in" to clothing, siding, etc.). Pets and passers-by should also be a high safety concern.

"Outlaw ball" is not just paintball without refs, but rather expands to fill paintball without some of the more needed safety equipment (a chronograph, no matter how simple the gaming) and without regard for both your local ordinances (which may prohibit paintball, airsoft, airgun, or any combination of the above from being discharged, even on your property) and/or the safety of non-gamers. This is more the reason why "outlaw ball" is shunned.

---

As a paintballer of over a decade and a half, I think that your current decision to start off with a "Wally-World kit" is a very good one, especially in light of your current expected level of play.

Should either you, your wife, or both of you become more interested in paintball, educating yourselves about both the game (safety and gaming "etiquette") and its hardware (safety, marker, and ancillary gear) will need to take precedence, and heading to one or more discussion Forum, as another member suggested above, should be prime among your tasks. Just remember that for those websites you might need to crank up your BS filter, as activities such as this and airsoft (another of my hobbies) tend to gather more, um, ignorant crowds as well as a younger crowd, neither of which are typically conducive to helping newbies in the best manner. Look at not only what information is posted but also WHO posts it.

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Along with doing your homework on the Forums *_before_* you buy any new or especially used equipment (a higher level of knowledge and experience is necessary for the latter, IMHO, to protect yourself from less-than-savory deals or inappropriate combination of equipment), I also recommend actively seeking out well-known paintball fields and pro-shops in your area. Although prices at these brick-and-mortar stores may be a bit higher than thruogh Internet direct, should you run into a "traditional" business owner, you do stand a good chance to get very practical and very applicable advice when buying equipment, and oftentimes, building a relationship will result in discounted field-rates and/or product incentives, much like with firearms ranges and pro-shops.

Additionally, your local "real live" players can often serve as a source of excellent information and "test drives" of new or just outright exotic gear, again expanding your knowledge.

Have fun, and play safe !

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Allen
aka DumboRAT

PS: As an old hand at both paintball and airsoft, I urge you not to intermix the two. Reserve paintball equipment for paintball, and airsoft equipment for airsoft. Due to currently unavoidable technical differences existing between the two genres, the two are not compatible for interplay.

This is an expensive hobby.
If you do decide to get a couple markers (the more PC crowd will jump on you if you call them guns), you MUST get some decent goggles. They are actually full face shields/masks, but still just called goggles out of habit.
Even a cheapy Brass Eagle can cause permanent blindness, actually some of those cheap ones are worse, since you can't adjust the velocity to under the recognised safe limit of 300fps. That is the speed at which the safetey gear is rated at.
You can find begginer orientated goggles for a little over $20, all the way up to $120ish for the really nice ones.
The price of paint can also get up there. I usually use a mid grade of paint that is about $65 for a case of 2000. I tend to get a little trigger happy when I play though.
Check out www.tippman.com for their forums. There are a lot of helpful people there. Well, at least there were the last time I was there, but that was a while ago.
Good luck, and be safe.

OK this sorta fits under paintball war story... One saturday my co-worker office team that I had put together (about 6 of us total) were out at the local paintball field to have some fun. Turns out there was a pro-team there, or atleast that's what they called themselves. Said they were practicing for an upcoming tournament. Well apparently they had reserved the field we wanted to play on for all day. They decided they wanted some live practice instead of just doing their drills. They agreed to take on my team. We all chrono'd in at 275 to 300fps. OK so everybody is legal.

First game, we wiped them out within a matter of 10 minutes. They were a little stunned. After a water break we run another game. This game is going pretty good and has lasted for about 30 minutes so far. Then that's when things start going south. We had two refs, which is usually more than the fields assigned to any one game. I think at that point we had eliminated 2 of their players and one of ours. I was setup in a sniper type position behind a berm with plenty of natural camo vegatation which was about 30 yds. behind a building they were using for a defensive position. We had them pinned down. So they were trying to exit the building from the rear. The rest of my team was in the front of the building. So when they exited from the rear, I opened up and hit both of them. They started firing back on my position but couldn't locate me. The refs did not have a good point of view and didn't call them out, so they wiped the paint and kept playing. I wasn't about to call a paintcheck and give away my position either. So I fired a few more rounds and hit them again. They wiped again. I keep noticing they were firing way over me and the paintballs were really zipping by. Apparently at some point they had cranked up their velocities above the 300fps mark. They were still shooting high, but one was an erratic paintball and caught me on the forearm. So I called out to the ref "OUT" put my barrel plug in and walked towards the ref. I was then shot again in the leg. Apparently these two turkeys were not done with me. I waved and holered "OUT" again. Finally they quit shooting at me and continued the game.

I went over and sat on the sideline and they finally finished the game. They won, but only by 1.

Afterwards I talked with the refs about what had happened. They said they couldn't do anything after the game was done and since I hadn't called paint check during game play. I asked them if they could make both teams rechrono before we played again. They agreed. Unfortunately my team had decided they had had enough with those guys. My team went on to play on other fields that day. We had a lot of fun. I went home that day with a bleeding wound on my arm from their arrogance. My team agreed that never again would we play with cheaters like that. The wound was not life threatening in any way, but it could have turned out a lot different.

I'm hoping those guys got caught during their tournament and disqualified for their blantant disregard for rules.

We never saw them again on any of the paintball fields, so who knows.

FWIW, they had $1000 paintball guns, while we went in there with our $100 to $200 paintball guns. Hits are what counts and just sending a lot of paint down range doesn't give you hits.

--Jason