If you are new to paintball and don’t know how far can a paintball gun shoot, and by shooting in what range you can eliminate the opponents without hurting them, this guide is for you.
A paintball gun’s shooting distance is influenced by a number of factors including the gun’s shooting speed, gravity, how long the barrel is, whether all equipment is cleaned or not, how fast the wind is, and so on.
So here we will know how a paintball gun works, how long it can shoot, what are its different shooting ranges, how can you adjust and measure the speed, and finally what can you do to increase the distance of the shooting range.
Without further ado, let’s get into the details.
How A Paintball Gun Works
A paintball gun is a marker used to shoot paintballs at opponents in the paintball field. The marker consists of a barrel that holds the paintballs, a magazine for holding additional paintballs, and a trigger that fires the paintballs. Users held the gun in one hand, pull the trigger, and discharged paints using the other hand. But how does it happen?
The paintball gun uses compressed gas to launch the projectiles at high speed toward the target. When the user pulls the trigger, the chamber of the bb gun releases air pressure and causes the paintball to launch toward the target.
How Far Can A Paintball Gun Shoot
A good quality paintball gun can shoot up to 500 feet. But shooting at this long distance is not going to give you an effective and accurate shot. Didn’t understand? Let me tell you in detail.
A paintball gun can shoot at 500 feet per second, which means the paint you have fired can travel and reach this distance. But if your target is 500 feet far away from you and you have shot him, it’s just going to be a waste of paint nothing else. Because at 500 feet distance your shotted paint can maximum hit your opponents (low chance) with no paint bursting. And as we know, unless the paint hit and breaks upon the opponents, the player won’t be considered eliminated. However, most paintball fields will not allow you to shoot at this speed as well.
Then what is the FPS you can shoot to eliminate your target? You have to shoot at an effective range or safe range, by shooting at one of these speed ranges you can enjoy the paintballing game as you want. Things will be more clear if you read the below. Next, I am going to talk about the paintballing speed range, which will make everything more clear for you.
Paintball Gun Shooting Range
Effective Range
Effective range in paintball means the distance of up to 150 feet that any paintball gun can shoot accurately, and it doesn’t only end at traveling 150 feet distance but the paintball gun shoot harder and breaks on the target, not just bumps. If your target is staying at more than this distance, the paint will reach the target, as a paintball gun can shoot up to 300-500 feet, but won’t break on the target. This means you have to shoot your target, but it’s wasted, as the paint won’t break he won’t be eliminated.
Safe Range
Unlike effective range, the main goal in safe mode is to hit and break the paint without hurting the opponent too much. When the target is at 150 feet distance, it’s easy for you to shoot him and eliminate him, but as the opponent is too near, the paint will hit him badly and cause bruises and pain. But if you shoot the opponent from a safe range distance, that is 250-280 FPS, the paint will break upon the opponent without causing too much pain. And you know what, most of the paintball authorities don’t allow shooting at more than 280FPS, sometimes 300 Feet Per Second.
Absolute Range
Neither you are concerned about hurting the opponents or the pain broke or not, you just want to shoot and enjoy the game, in that case, you can shoot up to 500 feet, which is the absolute range in paintball. And this is the maximum range a paintball gun can shoot, and paint can travel, not more than this. Wait a minute, this absolute range is not the same for all paintball pistol. It will vary depending on the marker and paint you are using. To get the best shot at this possible range, you must use a high-velocity paintball gun and paints.
How To Make Your Paintball Gun Shoot Farther
If you are not satisfied with your gun shooting range, no worries you can make your paintball gun shoot further. How?
If you are thinking of increasing the velocity or by attaching a longer barrel, you are halfway right. Because not only one of these or two of these can give you the desired distance you want. Some more factors are there. First of all, a high-end paintball gun and high-quality paintballs, how well you can pull the trigger and shoot the paintball, backspin barrel, and so on. Let’s know in detail.
Quality Paintball Gun
A quality paintball gun can make a big difference when it comes to distance shooting. High-end paintball guns are designed with smooth barrels and reliable internals, for long-range shooting which will make firing shots at longer distances much easier. Additionally, they feature more powerful ammunition to help to increase shot velocity and accuracy.
By improving your shooting skills and learning how to use a quality paintball gun, you can definitely improve your gameplay experience and help you achieve greater distances.
Use a Backspin Barrel
A backspin barrel is a type of paintball barrel that has a unique design that causes the paintball to spin when it is fired from the gun. This feature can have a significant impact on range and accuracy. The backspin barrel increases the velocity of a paintball shot, which makes it more effective at traveling long distances. Backspin barrels are available in two different types: standard and reverse. Standard backspin barrels produce more velocity and are recommended for players who want to shoot at longer ranges. Reverse backspin barrels, on the other hand, reduce the amount of air resistance and are better for players who want to shoot close to the ground. Whether you’re shooting for distance or accuracy, a backspin barrel can improve your game dramatically.
Good Quality Ammo/Paintballs
The quality of the ammo or paintballs also matters a lot in paintballing. If you use low-quality paints, they all curve all over the place and will maintain loose grouping that will reduce the chance of going more distance and hitting the target. If somehow even hit, they won’t break upon them.
Because they will not be able to travel as far and may even cause damage to your gun and teammates. So, when shooting at a distance, it is important to use quality paintballs that are made from high-quality materials. This will ensure that your shots will reach their target and be effective.
Paintball Shape
Considering the paintball shape is as important as its quality. Because the shape of the paintball also has a great influence on how far can a paintball gun shoot. If you use an aerodynamic paintball like first strike rounds paintball that looks like bullets with fins at the rear.
When you shoot these balls they fly and spin in the air more straight than regular paintballs. Menas you have much more balanced balls in the air that can fly more distance. They can fly and hit the target perfectly flying 200 feet distance. But just like the distance is more, the cost is also more. One ball can cost you around $1.
Increase Velocity
Finally, increasing the velocity can allow you to shoot at more distance in paintballing. Research has shown that increased velocity results in higher ball speeds, which in turn allows for a greater range and accuracy when shooting. By increasing the speed of the paintballs, you can increase your chances of hitting your target – even if it is a difficult shot. Sometimes it may hit the target but due to other factors only bump into the target and not any bursting.
Which Paintball Gun is faster, Electronic or Mechanical?
If we compare electronic and mechanical paintball guns, obviously electronic guns are the faster, more accurate, and best choice for paintballing. But that doesn’t mean a mechanical marker is not a good choice. A semi auto paintball marker can shoot 80-100 feet distance, and its shoot per second is better than an electronic paintball gun. Then how can an electronic gun shoot faster?
Let’s know in detail.
Definition
First of all mechanical paintball guns are not the traditional paintball gun, but the modified pump gun or you can say the second version, and electronic is the third version. A mechanical gun is an updated pump gun that comes with a hopper, or semi-auto, and is free of any battery. While the electronic paint ball gun is the more updated version with batteries attached.
Mechanism
Mechanical guns are manually operated guns that need to activate physically which means you have to release the sear each time you pull the trigger. It made the trigger pull heavier and hard.
Electronic markers come with a micro switch, a circuit board, and an electro-pneumatic solenoid. So pulling the trigger is not much easier than before with this gun.
Firing modes
As I already told you, mechanical guns need physical activation, which means one trigger pull=one shot. If you want five shots, you have to pull the trigger five times, But with an electronic paintball gun, there is a ramping mode. Once you activate your desired ramping modes, the gun can shoot up to 5-6 paints in one trigger pull. Because electronic guns are designed with a brain (circuit board), once you set the brain with your desired shots, it fires the same shot in one trigger pull.
Propellent
Electronic markers can give you more shots per tank than a mechanical paintball gun. Because it needs less air to fire, as it can fire several paints in one shot, in the long run, it saves up fuel.
But unlike mechanical paintball guns, electronic paintball guns can be propellent only by compressed air tank or hpa tank. A co2 tank can’t be used to fuel the electronic marker.
Accuracy And Speed
When an Electronic gun fires paint/rubber balls, they fly straightly in long range and directly hit the target at a faster speed.
Mechanical gun’s shotted paints travel in unpredictable paths, as they curve slightly sideways. As a result, you get a less accurate slower shot with more chances of missing the target with a mechanical paintball gun. so an electronic gun is a long range paintball gun.
Cost
As electronic paintball guns are modern versions and come with lots of new features, obviously they cost higher than a typical mechanical gun. But some of the newly released mechanical guns also don’t cost very low. They cost almost the same as a medium-quality electronic paintball gun.
Conclusion
If you’re looking to take your paintball game to the next level, you’ll need a powerful paintball gun. But, just how far can a paintball gun shoot? In this blog post, we will explore the range of best paintball gun and discuss some techniques that can help you make your airsoft gun shoot further. By understanding how far can a paintball gun shoot, you can set yourself up for success on the field. Thanks for reading!
