How to Buy and Select Cheap Paintball Guns

You should never give up 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 what paintball gun is best for you, be realistic and determine your “skill level”. If your a beginner, and do not know how often you will be playing, begin with an cheaper gun.

Deciding which features you need and want on your paintball gun is hard to pick, I would suggest borrowing markers from your friends and trying them on different paintball fields to get a feal for what you like. After you have decided on the features you want then you can start shopping for your gun.

While playing for fun is great, there is not really a good reason to spend a lot of money as there are many recreational guns of good quality that are not expensive. Note that there are also some reallt lousy quality markers out there, so you need to do your research before you buy to be sure that the marker your buying is going to work and be worth what you payed for it.

When you are going to play in tournaments, determine which type of tournament it is you will be entering. If you are going to play in smaller tournaments you can use a less expensive marker or upgrade your old one instead of having to buy an expensive marker you don't need.
However, in larger tournaments, you will need an “electro-pneumatic” or a “blow-forward” gun, which costs a minimum of $350.

The price of markers depends mainly 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 biggest 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 the accuracy of your shot.

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

Extra accessories also increase the cost of your marker. A loader or hopper is a necessary 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 your choices and purchase a gun only if you know that its what you really want.