What are First Strikes?

Paintball players at the local paintball field, or who come together for a weekend of fun at a paintball scenario game or paintball big game are hearing the term “First Strikes” all the time! But a newer player, or a player new to the scenario and tactical side of paintball, may have no idea what a First Strike is! So what the heck is a First Strike anyway?

The direct answer to the “what are First Strikes” question is a simple one: “First Strike” refers to a brand of special, high-performance paintballs upgraded with a spiral-rifled fin fitted to the rear of each paintball projectile. This spiral rifled fin enables each First Strike paintball projectile to fly much straighter and much further than an average, round paintball.

The science behind the First Strike concept is simple enough – in the early history of firearms, shooters and firearms manufacturers found that rifling, or drilling spiral grooves into a firearm’s barrel and then using a special bullet that engaged and expanded into those grooves, drastically improved range and accuracy as a rifled bullet was much more stable in flight than the round musket balls used until that time. As a .68 caliber paintball is essentially a cross between a round musket ball and a water balloon, it can only be so stable in flight and rifling is not extremely effective at improving accuracy or range. However, inventors realized that instead of attempting to make the same old round paintballs fit rifling cut into paintball gun barrels, they could instead rifle the paintball projectile instead, by attaching spiral shaped fins. These fins, when fitted to the rear of each paintball, enable each fired round to spin in the air and this creates a paintball that can fly much further, with a much higher degree of accuracy, than any round paintball ever could! This Spin-Stabilized paintball is known commercially as First Strike.

Essentially, with the invention of the First Strike paintball, the era of true paintball sharpshooters and paintball snipers has arrived! First Strike paintballs are so predictably accurate shot after shot that paintball guns can be built with scopes and sights, even with shoulder stocks and bipods, to allow paintball players to creep and crawl, sniper-style, and make single well-aimed shots at ranges never before dreamed of! In battles between magazine-fed tactical paintball players, players equipped with First Strike paintballs can make single, aimed and accurate shots out to hundreds of feet away, and First Strike-equipped players have a great advantage over players shooting regular .68 caliber paintballs, who’d better keep their heads down when paintball snipers and sharpshooters are around!

The First Strike round is a scientific step forward in the game of paintball. The spin-stabilized First Strike paintball delivers accuracy and range to paintball players never-before experienced from readily-available, manufactured paintballs. First Strike paintballs are compatible with many magazine-fed paintball guns like the Valken M17 or First Strike T15 carbines, as well as the First Strike FSC compact pistol and new First Strike Roscoe revolver! For paintball players looking for the ultimate expression of their tactical concepts, there’s nothing like First Strike, magazine-fed paintball to get the adrenalin pumping!