Paintball marker

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A paintball marker or paintball gun is the primary device used in the game of paintball to mark an opposing player with paint. It uses a rapidly expanding gas (usually CO2 or Air) to force a paintball through a barrel with a muzzle velocity of approximately 300 ft/s (91 m/s). This velocity is sufficient for most paintballs to break upon impact at a distance, but not fast enough to cause tissue damage beyond mild bruising. Nearly every commercial field has, and strictly enforces, a rule limiting the muzzle velocity of a paintball to 300 ft/s or less. Because being hit in an eye by a paintball can result in permanent blindness or visual impairment, it is important that players always wear proper eye and face protection when around a paintball marker and nearly every commercial paintball field has, and strictly enforces, a rule requiring certified eye and face protection while on the field.

A marker has four main components. These are: Body, Hopper, Tank, Barrel.

The vast majority of modern paintball markers have the previous components. There is, however, a strong following of stock-class players who use markers with a purposely low rate of fire and ammo capacity. Stock-class guns are usually pump-action paintball guns powered by either 12-gram CO2 cartridges or small CO2 tanks. Also note the trend in using the term "marker" instead of "gun": this is to lessen the public view of paintball as a dangerous sport and paintball markers as weapons. The term "marker" came from their original use: marking trees and wandering cattle. Markers were designed so that farmers and foresters could more convienently mark trees and cattle, such as from moving vehicles and across rivers.

[edit] First Marker

First time players will often rent equipment the first few outings, before deciding on a first marker. A good first marker is sturdy, must take a fair amount of abuse, and be easy to set up or clean. Thus, delicate electronic valving, triggers, and low pressure systems are not as common. Available upgrades are a very large factor, as an upgradeable gun may grow with the player, and negate the need to purchase high end system. The most common first gun purchases are the Tippmann 98 and A-5, as both offer superb reliability and upgradeability. Although, Smart Parts released a low cost electronic marker, the Ion, which usually costs around 200 USD. However, the Ion requires significantly more care and clenaing to perform properly than a Tippmann 98 or A-5 and is also more complicated to operate, and so is recmended more for intermediate players rather than begginers or first-timers. Many players with these markers do not purchase later guns, as HPA, low pressure valves, and electronic trigger modifications are available. Any marker body with these three features can be considered a performance marker, though other features must be built into the basic design to qualify as a high end tournament marker. Many of the following features are in no way necessary to enjoying paintball, and only serve as an example to illustrate what goes into the cost difference in markers.

[edit] Marker Construction

Marker construction varies wildly, from ultra-economy models not seriously made for the sport, to multi-thousand dollar electronic markers with custom graphics and body milling.

[edit] Marker Body

The largest external and ergonomic difference in marker bodies is trigger and barrel position. High end marker designers go through additional work to push the trigger frame forward toward the center, or slightly forward of center of the body. This allows the HPA tank (and only HPA, as the sensitive valves will be damaged by CO2) to be mounted in a near-factory condition and provide compactness, plus one-hand balance to the gun without requiring any modifications that drop the tank down and forward. Called drop forwards, excessive modification in this way creates a very large gun profile, and a marked increase in eliminations due to hopper hits. In economy markers, users often modify the marker to the extreme in this way to produce the same feel, and sacrifice a low profile. This does not matter when one plays games where equipment hits do not count, but a majority of fields, even in woods games, will count hopper hits as an elimination. As a side note, some markers mount the barrel itself farther back in the gun body to preserve overall compactness.

[edit] Trigger Frame

Triggers are the second external consideration, and one of the most important as it is what the player operates the marker with. Again, expensive markers universally employ electronic trigger frames with a variety of sensing methods. Older, outdated tournament markers used carefully set up mechanics and pneumatics to achieve a light and short trigger pull. A good trigger will have an extremely short throw, with adjustable firing and travel limit stops. Another important note is that valves and recocking mechanisms will have an effect on the minimum possible trigger travel. Electronic triggers may be straight switches, Hall effect sensors, or break-beam IR tripped. Many markers are switching to magnetic trigger return, which provides decaying force as the trigger returns. The trigger is also what houses the logic for the rest of the marker, such as ball detection systems. Upgrades are available on most to improve the detection speed or increase customizability of the marker.

[edit] Valve

How the firing valve is designed to operate affects the kickback, rate of fire, and how the valve fires in time to the trigger pull. Many economic and rugged markers use a blowback design for it's simplicity. Blowback guns require user-recocking when initially applying gas pressure. These valves are usually easy to replace and require little, if any, service work. Sear-trip or hammer systems use a hammer and spring valve, as in blowback guns, but do not use pressure from the valve itself to recock. A separate mechanism is present to operate the bolt motion. In a gun with electronic cocking, such as an upgraded autococker, the hammer system remains in place while the cocking system is replaced with electronics. In an entirely electropneumatic marker, such as an Intimidator or Matrix, both the bolt operation and valve operation are entirely electronic. Recocking the marker is no longer true recocking, as both the valve and bolt are operated electronically and on separate pneumatic systems.

Most guns have a separate ultra-low pressure system that controls the gas pressure used to open and close the bolt. In totally electronic markers, kickback is almost entirely eliminated as the only mass that must move in the gun is the bolt itself, which is often short. The firing valve will also open faster than is precived by humans, giving a high end gun a distinct "fires before you pull the trigger" feel. Any marker with a hammer, such as the Tippman 98 and the Autococker, has a significant firing delay when compared to a full electropneumatic.

Valves also must be designed with a specific operating pressure in mind, but this can be altered to a large extent by changing the valve spring on most guns. Low pressure valves provide quieter operation, and increased gas efficiency when tuned properly. Going too low, just as too high, can decrease gas efficiency dramatically. The valve must let the proper amount of air through to prevent shoot-down and limiting rate of fire. Some guns have integral or external (or both) chambers, called expansion chambers, that hold a large volume of gas at the firing pressure directly attached to the valve. This prevents shoot-down and makes up for any lag in the regulator system. Shoot down is not a serious problem in slower markers, but at 18-20 balls per second, how much gas a gun can continually stabilize and how fast it can do that becomes an issue.

[edit] Bolt and pneumatic system

The bolt and cocking system can be linked to the firing valve, as in blowback designs, or completely divorced from the valve, as in high end eletropneumatic systems. As mentioned above, the bolt's operation requires a small regulator and pneumatic circuit if it is to be controlled independently of the marker firing. Bolt movement in relation to firing controls blowback up the feed tube, and causes a problem with all markers of blowback design, and many community websites advocate a force-feed hopper and drilling holes in the feed neck to alleviate pressure before it travels into the hopper. In markers with a separate system to operate the bolt, the bolt is set to open at the precise moment where a vacuum is created in the breach, pulling a ball in. This was first discovered on Autocockers, and can be preformed on any marker where the bolt can be left closed for a controllable amount of time after firing. Bolt fit into the barrel and breach is an important aspect of both velocity consistency and rate of fire.

[edit] Hopper

Hoppers, also known as loaders, hold paintballs for the marker to fire. There are many different variations, but the primary types are gravity feed, agitating, and force feed.

One common problem to all hoppers is ball breaks. When a paintball leaks its contents into the hopper from either a break in the hopper or from a previous container, the leaked material (which is usually water based) causes the gelatin shells of the balls to deteriorate and sometimes stick together.

While agitating and force feed hoppers result in a higher possible rate of fire, they may fail due to dead batteries and contact with moisture, which keeps many woodsball players away from them.

Gravity feed is the simplest and cheapest form of hopper available. Gravity feed hoppers consist of a large container and a feed tube molded into the bottom. Paintballs roll down the sloped sides into the tube. These hoppers are limited to an intermittant eight balls per second. Gravity feed hoppers are very inexpensive, since they are made of only a shell and a lid, but can become jammed easily as paintballs pile up above the tube. Occassionally, rocking the marker and hopper can keep the paintballs from jamming at the feed neck.

This problem is made worse when using a modern, fully electronic marker. Most economic and mechanical markers a blowblack system for recocking, or other methods where a large recriprocating mass is involved. This will shake the balls in the hopper slightly, facilitating gravity feed. A marker with both electronically controlled recocking and firing will often exhibit no shake whatsoever while operating. Because of this, small packs in the hopper are not broken up, and feeding problems are made worse.

Stick feed is primarily used on pump- and stock-class markers, these are simple tubes that hold 10-20 paintballs in a line. Usually, a stick feed is parallel to the barrel and requires the player to tip (or rock) the marker to load the next paintball. Some stick feeds are vertical, or at an incline to facilitate gravity feeding, but this contravenes accepted stock-class guidelines.

Agitating hoppers use a propeller to agitate, or stir up, the paintballs. This prevents them from jamming at the feed neck and feeding more rapidly than equivalent gravity feeds. Older tournament-level hoppers are of the agitating type, since the higher rate of fire requires a more advanced and consistently-loading hopper.

Unlike the previous types of hoppers there are two types of Agitationg Hoppers. Those with eyes and those without. Eyes are two electronic devices inside the neck(tube) of the hopper and are often located inside elctronic markers. Eyes are used to detect wether a ball is present or not. In a marker, the eyes will keep the gun from shooting until a ball is fully loaded into the chamber. In a Hopper the eyes detect when a ball is not present to cause it to turn. Agitating hoppers without eyes will run down batteries and may bend or dent paintballs which will in turn cause a short, less air efficiant, and an unstraight shot. Agitating hoppers with eyes will only spin whenever there is not a ball which causes less chance of damage and longer battery life.

Force-feed hoppers are superficially similar to agitated hoppers. They can use a propeller, spring-loaded, or belt-fed system to force balls at an accelerated rate into a marker. The difference between the two styles is that the design of the feed mechanism does not rely on gravity to move paintballs into the feed neck. Instead of simply agitating, the device actually captures the paintball. These are the dominant form of hopper, as modern markers outshoot what gravity can supply. A few markers use force-fed loaders shaped in imitation of firearms magazines such as the Real Action Paintball RAP-4. They are also appealing when a low profile is required, such as woodsball 'sniper' positions, as the force-feed nature allows the hopper to be mounted in non-standard locations. Some also include other features, which may include information about how many balls are remaining in your hopper, how many balls per second are being fired, and game timers.

[edit] Gas System

The tank holds a compressed gas used to accelerate the paintballs through the marker barrel. The tank is usually filled with CO2 or compressed air. High Pressure Air (HPA) is sometimes referred to as "nitrogen", as air is 78% nitrogen. Due to the instabilities of CO2, HPA tanks are desired for consistent velocity.

[edit] CO2

A CO2 tank is pressurized at roughly 800-850 psi, and measured in terms of the amount of liquid it can store (in Ounces). At this pressure, CO2 tends to form a liquid. When it is released, only a portion of the CO2 is stored as gas, and the rest must boil into a gas before it can be used. This process leads to some commonly-known problems such as inconsistent velocity and freezing. It especially has problems in cold weather, which slows evaporation and increases the chance for liquid CO2 to be drawn into the marker. Liquid CO2 is very cold, and can damage the internals of a marker.

Anti-siphon tanks have a tube installed inside the cylinder which is bent to prevent liquid CO2 from being drawn in. They must be screwed in so that the tube faces upwards to function properly.

Stock-class markers use 12-gram CO2 cartridges.

[edit] High Pressure Air

High Pressure Air (HPA) is stored in the tank as a gas, bypassing the evaporating issue. Air is stored in the tank at a very high pressure, typically 3000-5000 psi, and output is controlled with an attached regulator, this regulates the pressure from 450 psi to around 800 psi depending on the type of tank. This results in a much more consistent velocity than with CO2. HPA tanks have two measurements: PSI and In3.

HPA tanks are more expensive, since they must be rated for a much higher pressure, and are typically made from more expensive materials. Tanks can be purchased that are steel or aluminum, but the most widely used is wrapped carbon-fiber bottles, due to their light weight.

[edit] Gas Regulation

Marker systems have a variety of regulator configurations, ranging from completely unregulated, to some high end systems using four regulators, some with multiple stages.

The regulator system affects both the accuracy and at what velocity the marker operates(in conjunction with valve dwell/hammer pressure). CO2 regulators have an additional job of making sure no liquid CO2 enters the marker and expands, which causes a dangerous velocity spike. As such, regulators for use with CO2 often sacrifice throughput and accuracy to ensure the marker operates in a safe manner. HPA-only regulators tend to have an extremely high throughput and have design considerations to ensure uniform pressure between shots for marker accuracy at high rates of fire. Tournament guns usually are equipped with four regulators, each with a specific job. The tank regulator first moves the 3000psi to 4500 psi HPA (in CO2, this is not present) down to a more predictable pressure, usually between 600-800 psi. A second regulator is then employed, which regulates this pressure to one close to the firing pressure, and is a matter of personal preference between players. A pressure closer to the final allows for greater consistency, but a larger difference reduces shoot down. The air is then supplied to a regulator on the marker body, where the final output pressure is decided. This can be 800 psi for entirely unregulated CO2 markers, to 150-200psi for extremely low pressure markers. Some markers have great success in a low-pressure conversion, while others do not. After the firing pressure is decided, tournament-oriented markers will use one more regulator to supply gas to a separate pneumatic system for any other functions, such as bolt movement. This is an extremely low volume, extremely low pressure regulator, usually under 100 psi.

[edit] Barrels

A barrel serves to direct the paintball and control the release of the air pocket behind it. Several different bore sizes are available, to best fit different sizes of paintball, and there are many different lengths and styles. Most modern paintball markers have barrels that screw into the front receiver, as opposed to some older types which slide a barrel on and screw it in place. Barrel threading must be matched to that of the marker. Common threads are Angel, Autococker, Impulse/Ion, Shocker, Spyder, A-5, and Model 98.

Barrels are manufactured in three basic configurations: one piece, two piece, and three piece. It is more common to refer to a barrel with interchangeable bores, be it two or three piece, as a barrel system, rather than a two-piece or three-piece barrel. This avoids confusion, as many two-piece barrel systems do not use an interchangeable bore system.

One piece barrels are machined from a single piece of material, usually aluminum. Paintballs can range from .669 to .695 caliber, and barrels are honed to match these diameters. Many one piece barrels have a stepped bore that increases from their rated bore size to around .70 caliber after eight inches.

Two piece barrels consist of a front and back. The back attaches to the marker and is machined with a pre-specified bore between .682 and .695 caliber. The front makes up the rest of the length of the barrel and contains the porting. Fronts usually have the same bore as the largest back the manufacturer offers.

Three-piece barrels, instead of having multiple backs each with a different bore, have only a single back. A series of inserts, or sleeves, with differing bores are inserted into the back. The front is then screwed on to keep the sleeve in place. Sleeves are generally offered in either aluminum or stainless steel. This type offers the most flexibility in that the user needs only one set of sleeves and a back for each marker they own. They can also select front sections to make the barrel length they prefer. This type also generally offers the widest selection of barrel diameters, usually .680, .681, .682, .683, and so on up to .696 caliber.

[edit] Length

Generally, barrels are between 10 and 20 inches. Some custom barrels exist which may reach up to 48 inches. Recent tests have suggested that neither accuracy nor efficiency benefit can be gained for barrels beyond eight inches long, as a paintball requires an unported six to eight inches to stabilize and achieve maximum gas efficiency. Longer barrels generally make less noise than shorter barrels by allowing excess gas to escape more slowly from porting along the sides. Longer barrels can allow players to "sight in" faster than they would with shorter barrels and thus give the perception that longer barrels are more accurate, however a good set of sights is more accurate. The barrel choice commonly used by professionals is 12-16", as it keeps the balls shooting straight, but the marker is still light and manuverable. Many professionals will also choose the longer barrels as it allows them to push aside the large inflatable bunkers commonly used in professional paintball tournaments while still staying behind cover.

Most barrels are ported (or vented), which means that holes are drilled into the front of the barrel allowing the propellant to dissipate slowly, decreasing the sound signature of the marker. There has been a considerable amount of marketing hype surrounding barrel porting, but there appears to be no basis for claims of the benefits of porting (such as that it decreases "turbulence", increasing accuracy), other than the decrease in sound signature.

It should be noted that porting in the first eight inches of the barrel length decreases a marker's gas efficiency. For example, if a 16 inch barrel has large porting that starts six inches past the threads then it has an effective barrel length of only six inches. At that point, the ball has to travel the other 10 inches on its own momentum. As the friction within the barrel is not insignificant, overcoming this requires a larger burst of gas, decreasing efficiency. Porting in a barrel before the paintball has completely stabilized can also dramatically increase noise, as the gas still has a significant amount of pressure built up.

[edit] Bore

The bore is the interior diameter of the barrel. The bore properly matching the brand of paint being fired is the most critical aspect of a barrel, far beyond gas effiency or silence in most situations. A poor bore/paint match will result in velocity variations, which causes inaccuracy. Two and three-piece barrels allow the barrel bore to be matched to the paint diameter without entirely new barrels. Paint to barrel matching is doubly important in closed-bolt markers (as ball detents in such markers serve to prevent double-feeding, not to prevent roll-outs) such as Autocockers, because small paint in a large barrel can roll out the front of barrel.

[edit] Spin barrels

The Flatline barrel, manufactured by Tippmann is designed to decrease the parabolic travel of fired paint. The barrel is curved such that accelerating paint contacts the top of the barrel, imparting backspin. This backspin generates lift (known as the "Magnus Effect"), resulting in a flatter arc and longer range. This is especially beneficial in woodsball or scenario paintball where overhanging branches limit the range of traditional barrels. It is available for the Tippmann Model 98, 98 Custom, A-5, and X7. There are conversion kits to allow the use of the flatline barrels on some other markers, as well.

The Apex barrel, manufactured by Ben Tippmann Paintball Design also imparts spin to the ball. Unlike the flatline barrel, the Apex can impart back, top, or sidespin (this allows balls to arc around some obstacles, or have them drop over bunkers). The magnitude of spin can also be varied, allowing for a gentle curve or a sudden hook. It is available with threads for most markers.

[edit] Criticisms

Both the Flatline and Apex barrel systems, while having a significantly increased long range, do not increase the force the paintball impacts with as range increases. The paintball is able to move farther at a lower speed, but the chance of the paintball breaking is diminished greatly. The overall effectiveness of these barrels is called into question then, as a player will be tempted to seriously utilize the extra range of the barrel at a distance where the paint will not break open, as opposed to using these barrels for psychological and area denial effects.

[edit] Firing and Trigger Modes

Since the advent of semi-automatic markers in the early 1990's, both insurance and competitive rules have specified that markers used in paintball must be semi-auto only; specifically, that only one paintball may be fired per trigger pull. While this was a perfectly clear definition when markers were all based on mechanical/pneumatic designs, the introduction of electronically controlled markers in the late 1990's brought technology beyond the rule. Electronic markers are often controlled by a programmable microcontroller, on which any software might be installed, including software that may add more than one shot per trigger pull in various ways. This effect is generally referred to as "shot ramping" (as opposed to velocity ramping): an electronic firing mode where a consistent full-automatic rate-of-fire will be triggered as long as the player maintains a certain, lower trigger-pulls-per-second.

A pump action paintball marker. The pump handle can be seen below the barrel.
Enlarge
A pump action paintball marker. The pump handle can be seen below the barrel.

Pump action markers must be manually recocked, much like a shotgun. This manual action is slower than other configurations, but is preferred by many people over semi-automatic markers as a challenge to themselves to learn how to play with less rate of fire.

Semi-auto markers use a variety of designs to automatically cycle a bolt and load a new paintball into the chamber automatically, with each trigger pull. This frees the player from manually pumping the marker, increasing rate-of-fire.

Full-auto markers continually fire as long as the trigger is held down. The Tippmann SMG 60 was the first fully-automatic paintball marker. Most electric paintball guns have this, but the full auto feature can be added to any electric gun by buying a different logic board or a replacement electonic trigger.

Bursting allows multiple shots to be fired per trigger pull. Two and three shot burst modes are common, and some guns have a programmable mode where the user can select the number of paintballs to be fired. Note that burst firing often leads to an effective fully automatic paintball marker when used by a player with quick fingers.

Ramping shifts the mode of fire from semi-automatic to fully automatic as long as the trigger is pulled at a specified rate. Ramping can be difficult to detect, both because it may not be consistent or easily observable by a human. Ramping modes can also be hidden in the software, such that a marker will fire in legal semi-auto mode when being tested, but in an illegal ramping mode by the player. To counter the problems with enforcing semi-auto rules, some leagues have begun allowing a specific ramping mode. The rule specifies a minimum time between shots of 66 milliseconds (approx. 15 shots per second), and that no more than one shot may be fired for the first three trigger pulls. The rate of fire is enforced using a device called a PACT Timer, a standard firearms timing device that measures the time between shots.

[edit] See also

[edit] Use as a real weapon

It is known for a paintball gun to be used as an antiriot weapon, loaded with pepper-spray projectiles: see Riot gun#Pepper Ball rounds and Riot gun#Types of riot guns.

[edit] External links

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