How Paintball Guns Work

Markers are one of the most important pieces of kit you’ll need to enjoy a great day of paintball action. In simple terms, they are the delivery system that ensures your paintballs reach, and hopefully burst on, the enemy.

Basically, the marker works by using compressed gas to fire the balls at such a speed that they stand a chance of exploding on impact with your opponents. However, it is by no means guaranteed that a paintball will always burst because other factors come into play.

For example, baggy clothing may take some of the speed out of the projectile so that is bounces harmlessly away from a person’s body. Obviously, the further away a target is, the higher the chance of this occurring because air resistance will have had more effect in slowing the ball down.

Paintballs are stored in a hopper which is mounted on the top of a marker and around 150 balls can be contained so there’s no excuse for running out too quickly!
In basic terms, when the marker is cocked a paintball is allowed to drop out of the hopper into the barrel. A burst of compressed air then gets released into the barrel which has the effect of propelling the paintball out of the end of the marker.

Markers can vary in power so each one is carefully calibrated to make sure they do not exceed a certain level which minimises the chance of causing injury to players. In tourney paintball, power levels are strictly regulated to ensure no team gets an unfair advantage. The Paintball Association in the UK states that the limit for the velocity of paintball guns used in competition is 280 feet per second.

Paintballs can leave bruises but rarely break the skin at these speed and most sites issues guidelines over how far away a player must be before you can shoot him. In short, if you are around ten feet from an opponent you should give him the chance to surrender. If he doesn’t then you are generally permitted to shoot.

Safety at paintball sites in taken extremely seriously and goggles/mask systems must always be worn except in designated safe zones. This ruling cannot be taken seriously enough and failure to comply could lead to ejection from the site.

In the early days, paintball markers were used in the forestry and farming industries and were operated by pump action. The first paintball gun made specifically for paintball was the Splatmaster which was patented in 1985. The first semi-automatic paintball gun available for purchase was the SMG60 which was designed by Dennis Tippmann.

The evolution of paintball gun technology is focused on achieving greater speed, accuracy and air efficiency. However, paintball guns have also got lighter and smaller over the years. This is probably due to the changing nature of the game as people are beginning to play more tournament-style paintball, where having a gun that is easily manoeuvred is very important.