Paintball Guns, Gear, and Safety
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and welcome to Tombstone Paintball.com. We are a site designed and dedicated
to bringing you the latest news and info on the world of paintball.
We cover topics like Paintball Guns, Paintball Gear, Paintball Safety,
Paintball Markers, Paintball Shops, Paintball Equipment and whole lot
more.
Tombstone Paintball.com is a purely informational website and we do
not endorse or promote any one particular product or method. Rather
we bring you a comprehensive overview on all things paintball related
that involves no bias or spin.
Please make sure to refer back to Tombstone Paintball often as we are
always keeping the site up to date with the latest happenings in the
world of paintball, and strive be the best place on the web to find
information on paintball.
Paintball is a sport in which players eliminate opponents by hitting
them with pellets containing paint which is referred to as a paintball,
usually propelled from a CO2 or compressed-gas powered paintball guns or markers.
The Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association estimates that over 5.4
million people played the game in the United States in 2007, with over
1.5 million playing at least 15 times.
Games can be played either indoors or outdoors and take various forms
which are generally divided between woodsball played in natural, wooded
terrain and speedball played on open, level fields with artificial obstacles.
Rules for playing paintball vary widely. The most common form involves
two opposing teams seeking to capture their opponent's flag and return
it to their starting position, but other objectives may include eliminating
all of the other team's players, eliminating a specific player, defending
or attacking a particular point or area, or capturing objects of interest
hidden in the playing area. Depending on the style of paintball played,
a game can last from seconds to hours.
Paintball equipment is central to paintball, given its equipment-intensive
nature. Although good equipment by no means guarantees a good player,
a good player's ability can be seriously hampered by poor-quality paintball gear.
In order to safely conduct a game of paintball, every player requires,
at a minimum, a marker with propellant to fire the paint, a mask to
protect the eyes and face, paintballs, and a loader to hold them. To
ensure safety off the playing field, a barrel sock or plug is also considered
compulsory.
Common additional equipment, depending on type of play, often includes
gloves, a pack designed to comfortably carry pods containing extra paintballs,
and a squeegee or swab for cleaning out the barrel in case a paintball
breaks.
A paintball marker or paintball gun is the primary piece of equipment
used in paintball to tag an opposing player. An expanding gas forces
a paintball through the barrel at a muzzle velocity of approximately
300ft/s. This velocity is sufficient for most paintballs to break upon
impact at a distance, but not so fast as to cause tissue damage beyond
mild bruising. Nearly every commercial field has, and strictly enforces,
a rule limiting the muzzle velocity of a paintball at or below 300ft/s.
The most technologically advanced paintball marker is the electropneumatic.
Here, the trigger activates an electronic micro switch or a magnetic
or optical sensor and information is passed to a computer-controlled
solenoid valve which releases the propellant to drive the bolt forward
and fire the paintball.
This microcontroller operation makes the marker operate very quickly,
and allows for extremely high rates of fire. These markers are the most
expensive and are generally used for tournament play where rates of
fire can reach and exceed 30 balls per second.
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