How to Buy and Select Cheap Paintball Guns

While one should never sacrifice value over the quality of paintball safety equipment, paintball guns are available today at reasonable prices and with a wide variety of interesting features.

When deciding which the best paintball gun is for you, be realistic and determine your “skill level”.  When just beginning, and do not know the frequency of your play, begin with an inexpensive gun.

To decide which features you need in a paintball gun, you can borrow markers from your friends and try them on different paintball fields. After you have decided on the features you want then start shopping for your gun.

When playing for recreation, there is really no need to spend a great deal of money as there are many recreational guns of good quality that are not expensive. Note that there are also several poor quality markers on the market so you need to your research before you buy to make certain that the marker that you purchase is dependable and can be upgraded. 

When you are making plans to play in tournaments, determine what type of tournament that you will be entering.  If you are going to play in small tournaments you may use a less expensive marker or upgrade your old one.

However, in the larger tournaments, you will need an “electro-pneumatic” or a “blow-forward” gun, which costs a minimum of $350. 

The cost of markers depends primarily on the gun’s pressure system as well as its accessories.  The most popular system today is the “carbon dioxide pressure system” normally used in the less expensive markers. 

The primary disadvantage is that usually the carbon dioxide’s performance is influenced by the temperature outside, and changes from its gas state to liquid resulting in velocity instability that affects its shooting accuracy. 

Serious paintball players use the “high-pressure air and nitrogen system” markers that are much more accurate because the nitrogen will never liquefy. Having this characteristic, these markers are more expensive.

Extra accessories also increase the cost of your marker. A loader or hopper is a very popular accessory.  It is a container that feeds paintballs into the gun.  Hoppers are available in many varieties - some are powered and automated.  Fast and lightweight hoppers are more expensive. 

Just keep in mind that the any marker that you purchase will not be perfect and will ultimately have flaws.  So when purchasing your marker, always double check the choices offered and purchase a gun only if you know what you really want.