Top Paintball Questions - Answered! PART II

Welcome back for another round of top paintball questions – ANSWERED! Paintball is a remarkable, adrenaline-pumping game that plays like a cross between capture the flag and a first-person shooter video game! Challenging two teams of players to capture the other team’s flag and eliminate opponents from the game by tagging them with paintballs fired from specially-designed air guns, paintball has exploded in popularity since the first official game was played in 1981, with paintball played around the world for fun and even for money in professional paintball leagues in the United States and Europe! For new players, though, paintball can be a little daunting, with its own language, specialized equipment and rules to learn! What is paintball? How do you play the game of paintball? Is paintball dangerous? Is paintball safe? Will paintball paint wash out? There can be a million questions! Valken answers some of the most-asked paintball questions here, so learn and enjoy the game of paintball!

Does Paintball Hurt?

Does Paintball Hurt? The question invariably comes up during many first-time discussions about the game of paintball – does paintball hurt? It doesn’t have to! Paintball is a family-friendly game and sport played by the young, old, big, small, male and female from all walks of life around the world! The game is designed to be as fun and enjoyable as possible, but at the end of the day, we’re playing long-range tag by tagging opponents with paintballs fired from air guns. The bigger, .68 caliber paintballs used by most experienced players are shot at around 300 feet per second and they land with enough force to splat on target. When players use proper, certified safety equipment and wear proper clothing like long sleeves, long pants and a layer or two, paintballs don’t break the skin and might sting a little if impact happens at closer ranges, but pain generally isn’t a factor.

More recently, newer players and younger players at most safe, professional paintball game fields and parks have the option of what is known as low-impact paintball. This type of paintball introduces new and younger players to the game of paintball with smaller gear, and paintballs that are much smaller- only .50 caliber rather than .68 caliber, which land with much less impact energy, meaning that the felt impact of each paintball is much less! This allows younger, and new paintball players to try paintball and fall in love with the game without the fear or worry of what it might feel to be hit with a paintball!

Paintballs fly fast and are designed to make you want to dodge, duck, dip and dive to avoid them! However, pain doesn’t have to be part of the game! Wear proper clothing like good sturdy shoes, a longsleeve shirt or sweatshirt and long pants to play your first game, keep your goggles on, and if you’re still concerned, look into low-impact paintball or .50 caliber paintball to try the game and enjoy!

Does Paintball Paint Wash Out?

The first time a person hears about paintball and gets their head around the concept of the game, one of the first questions they’re bound to ask is, does paintball paint wash out? The idea of wearing decent clothing to the local paintball field, only to permanently stain and ruin clothing would be a bad ending to a fun day of paintball! The great news is, paintball paint DOES wash out! Back when paintball was invented, in 1981, and for a few years after, the paint contained in paintballs was actually oil-based and did NOT wash out – players had to clean things with turpentine and often wore paintball clothing that had some permanent stains for years! Can you imagine?

With the invention and widespread use of water-based paintballs everything changed and paintball sprang into the main stream, thanks in no small part to the fact that you could go home, throw a load of paint and dirt-covered, sweaty clothing into the wash and get them clean! Modern paintballs used today are water-soluble, completely biodegradable, safe for the environment, safe for players and even safe to ingest, though we don’t suggest grabbing a handful for lunch. As long as paint splatter, spray and splats are washed out of clothing fairly quickly after a day of play, everything should wash out just fine. That doesn’t exactly mean wear your Sunday best to the paintball field, though – paint isn’t your only enemy out there! Paintball players run, slide, crawl, creep and sneak around in all kinds of weather, in all kinds of terrain, so expect some dirt, mud, grass stain and that sort of thing to happen and dress accordingly, in old clothing! Many paintball fields even sell or rent coveralls, and even offer disposable paintball coveralls for new players, so head out to the field and have fun!

What is the Best Paintball Gun?

It doesn’t take long. About five minutes after a person plays their first game of paintball and they experience the fun, intensity and adrenaline rush of paintball, they want their own gear and to get serious about the game! With that excitement naturally comes the question: what is the best paintball gun? And just like every other sport that relies on high-tech equipment and gear to equip players from day one to the professional level, there really isn’t one, true answer to the best paintball gun question, but there are things every new player should know when it comes to picking the best paintball gun for you!

There are certainly a handful of modern paintball guns that are in the running for the title, best paintball gun. You could make a case for the Luxe, the paintball gun that talks to you, with its slick looks, long list of professional tournament wins and top teams and players who shoot it. But it also comes with a price tag of $1500. Then there’s the Eclipse CS2 Pro – pro teams are winning with it too, it’s light, small, fast, reliable and attractive. But it also costs over $1500! Or maybe the sleek, feature-packed Dye M3+ is more your speed and let’s face it, pro teams are using this paintball gun and winning with it too, but once again, you’ll have to swipe the card for $1500 plus to get your hands on a new one. 

Paintball players asking “what is the best paintball gun?” should do well to remember that just because a paintball gun might talk, or shoot at 15 paintballs per second, or cost $1500 doesn’t necessarily make it the best paintball gun for them. A Bentley is an amazing automobile, but if you’re commuting to work in bumper-to-bumper traffic in Los Angeles, Washington, DC or Atlanta, a nice Corolla or a Civic might be more helpful! The icy roads of Maine or Minnesota in the winter might not be ideal for a brand-new mid-engine Corvette, either. Budget and circumstances factor into what might be the best paintball gun for a particular player’s needs!

For a new player on a budget looking to learn the game of paintball, some great paintball guns to consider would be the Valken Blackhawk, the Eclipse EMek or the GOG eNMEy, as these paintball guns over excellent performance, reliability and simplicity for a very low price, and upgrades and accessories are available for them to help a player build the stock paintball gun into something that might suit them better as they grow and learn what style of paintball they enjoy most. A paintball player looking to move into Magazine Fed, or MagFed paintball, would do well to consider a Valken M17, the Eclipse EMF100 or a First Strike T15, and a player looking to get serious about tournament paintball should probably start with something like an Eclipse GTek170R or a Shocker AMP to get their feet under them, then if they decide a serious commitment to competition paintball is their path, look at paintball guns like the Luxe, Dye M3+, Eclipse Geo IV or an Eclipse LV 1.6!

Bottom line – don’t worry so much about a direct answer to the question: what is the best paintball gun? Focus on what might be the best paintball gun for YOU!