How to Succeed in Paintball for Less Money
Tips and tricks for a beginner player to play well and save money.
Post Comment|8 Liked It
Paintball is a very complicated and expensive sport unless you have someone to give you advice. Thats why I want to help new paintballers join the sport without feeling like “noobs.”
The first recommendation I have for a budget paintballer is to rent your equipment the first time you play. You may not like the sport and if you rent, at least you’re not out a huge lump of cash. Rental guns are usually fairly reliable, and will get you by the day. If one of your friends has an extra gun laying around, ask him/her to bring it for you to use.
After you’re sure you want to play paintball, the next step is to buy a season pass to the field you play at. This will get you admission anytime, and often will give you discounts on paint and rental equipment. You can best maximize the season pass by playing at least once weekly.
If buying a season pass isn’t an option, your next upgrade is a decent electronic hopper. I have found the Ricochet 2KX to be a great hopper for the price ($34 on ebay.) It feeds about 15 balls per second which will help prevent ball breakage. This hopper will fit on most feednecks that can take a normal “shake & shoot” hopper.
Next, I would recommend buying a decent mask, instead of the rental masks. The most economical mask that will provide great reliability is the VForce Pro Vantage which will only cost about $25.
After the mask, you should purchase a High Pressure Air (HPA) Tank. These can be purchased from Ebay or Amazon for as little as $50. If at all possible, do not purchase CO2 tanks. They are cheaper, but HPA tanks will deliver far increased performance. HPA tanks are also called Nitrogen or N2 Tanks.
Once you have a tank, hopper, and mask, your next buy should be a gun. Don’t just go to Walmart and buy a 50 dollar Tac-5 (trust me I own one.) The cheapest gun I would purchase is a Spyder Pilot. They can be found on Ebay for as low as $99. If you are looking for a more reliable gun, buy a Smart Parts Vibe. These are both electroneumatic guns which means they use a solonoid to fire the paintballs instead of a mechanical, spring-driven system. (You will most likely need 9v or AA batteries with this type of gun)
Your last major upgrade is a barrel. Make sure when you purchase a barrel, you buy one that is threaded to the gun you’re using. For instance if you own a Spyder Pilot, you would search “Spyder Pilot Barrel” on Ebay or Amazon to ensure you get the right barrel. I would recommend a 14 or 16 inch rifled and ported barrel such as a CMI Tru-Flight barrel (approx. $30.) If you are looking for a more expensive barrel, buy an Apex barrel. It will give you great range for only $50 (the competitive model is almost $100.)
Once you have all of these, you will no longer need to rent a gun, and you will be able to play extremely competitively with any other player on the field. So far the total cost of all the equipment I have listed (minus the season pass) is $239.00. You might even be able to find a package deal for less on Ebay or a paintball wholesale web site.
Good luck, and have fun!
