Anybody else play paintball?

[azasadny]

Here's mine...



My son's...



My friend's...

[Jandrews]

I know this thread is ANCIENT, but I thought I would reach out to see if anyone is still involved in paintball. I would also appreciated any updated, 2012 information on decent guns and gear. My 10 year old is getting interested, so me and a few neighbors are thinking about gearing up for this fall/winter.

By the way, any of you guys who "used" to be into it have any guns laying around that you would be interested in selling to me for my kids?

Thanks,

JA

[azasadny]

My son is 20 and he is too busy for paint ball but I'll keep the gear ready for our young nephews...

[on2wheels52]

I think airsoft may have captured part of the paintball market. You still need face protection but your body won't get bruised up. The guns don't shoot as far so it can be played in a smaller area (and it doesn't leave paint splatches all over).
When he was in high school my son and his buddies would play for hours in the dark at our house, the yard is a couple of acres and lots of trees.
Jim

[flipper35]

We play a lot of airsoft as well. It is far less expensive even when buying the good BBs. We keep to a limit of around 400fps except for the sniper rifles. I don't kno whow far a paintball gun shoots, but I have picked off guys at 75-80 yards with the rifle (Echo 1 P90) and over 50 yards with the pistol and we usually play in pretty heavily wooded areas so a lot of action is 25-30 yards. These will still break the skin at closer ranges. We do the capture the flag, rescue/escort, king of the hill, recon teams and full two team battles.

The first time I played I only had the CO2 powered pistol and went through 650+ rounds one stinking trigger pull at a time. I enjoyed it enough to justify buying some better equipment.

The other nice thing about airsoft is the guns are patterned off of real ones and you don't have the big tanks or anything so the battles are more realistic. Check out airsoftgi.com for a good sample of the guns available.

[JavaBrewer]

I have tried PB a couple times with my son. IMO the main issue is equality of gear. If you are relying on range rental markers you better hope EVERYONE is using the same setup. I got seriously tired of getting nailed from 2x the range my marker could reach and/or having folks crank up the FPS on their high end marker once the shoot was in progress. The last time I did PB I got tagged on the top of my head - damn - it hurt to brush my hair for over a week.

Our interests now are punching holes in paper with FMJ for just a couple $ more than PB.

[azasadny]

This thread brought back some memories as our son is 20 now and is too busy to hang out with his dad any more... Paintball dropped off the charts around me because it's fairly expensive and when the economy took the big dive, people didn't (and still don't) have the $ to to paintball. We have our own markers and gear and I think it cost us $150 every time we played. By the time you pay for the paint, CO2 refills and range time, it's gets very expensive!

[flipper35]

Bag of 3500 BBs for airsoft is about $13 and the rifles are battery powered so they are cheap to recharge. Couple small CO2 cartridges for the pistol and you are getting by pretty inexpensively. Some of the guns can get stupid expensive, but decent ones can be had for a couple hundred or less depending on if you want different sights. I like the reflex sights as I can shoot with both eyes open easier.

[azasadny]

Paintball markers can (and do) cost as much as real firearms!

[Trinidad at Pelican Parts]

I play paintball quite a few times a year here in Southern California and it's a ton of fun. A few other Pelican employees have also joined in the fun and Wayne should be joining us next time we go as well. It's great exercise and great for team building and bonding with people not to mention it's a rush. We generally go to S.C Village or Hollywood Paintball park.

[Jandrews]

Good feedback, here. And Art, your son was only 13 when you last posted!! Wow...time flies, right in front of our eyes! My son is 10, and I can't imagine what it would be like for him to be moving on to his own independent interests!

AirSoft sounds like it has MANY advantages. I would be up for that, but I need to get past the mental barrier that it is "more dangerous". I guess it is the fear of someone getting one of those in the eye. All it would take would be for a kid to take his eye protection off, and for someone to pop him. Maybe they can be taught NOT to do that under any circumstances, but I must admit it is a concern. I guess a paintball could do some nasty damage to the eye as well??

Thanks for the comments...keep them coming.

JA

[Laneco]

Paintball is still HUGE here. We have several courses and dedicated "woods" courses.

I love paintball.

What other sport can you run through the woods screaming and shooting at people?

angela