| In a nutshell, a good cheap paintball gun will satisfy all | | | | the gun, is inconsistent and so precision is suffering. |
| the following criteria, but it will have none of the fancy | | | | Velocity needs to be consistent and high enough to |
| features of the more expensive models. When doing | | | | give you reasonable range. |
| your research and asking people how they rate a | | | | Paintball gun paint |
| paintball gun, keep the criteria in mind. | | | | A good cheap paintball gun will work with any brand of |
| Reliability and durability | | | | paint ball. A good cheap paintball gun won't get all |
| Even a cheap paintball gun should be reliable and | | | | snooty if it's firing lower quality paintballs, but a bad one |
| durable. The paintball gun needs to take some heavy | | | | will often break the cheaper balls. This an important |
| knocks and not complain, it needs to function in all | | | | issue, since when you get to the play area, you often |
| temperatures, be able to load paint and charge up with | | | | have little choice in the brand of paintball that you are |
| air and fire without causing you problems. If a paintball | | | | given. |
| gun cannot do this, it is a bad paintball gun. It is | | | | Weight |
| therefore essential to take a paintball gun for a | | | | A good cheap paintball gun should be relatively |
| thorough field test before you decide to buy. | | | | lightweight. Keep in mind that you will be carrying it all |
| Ease of operation | | | | day, running around and if it really takes the strain on |
| A good cheap paintball gun will be really easy to use. | | | | your arms then it is no good for you. |
| A good way to assess usability is to have a read of | | | | A safety mechanism |
| the manual. Does it look easy to use? Avoid paintball | | | | A good cheap paintball gun will have a safety |
| guns where you have to use more than one tool to | | | | mechanism which will make the paintball gun impossible |
| adjust the paintball gun velocity, or where you have to | | | | to fire. |
| take the paintball gun apart to adjust velocity. Again, a | | | | Ease of maintenance and cleaning |
| field test will reveal all you need to know about ease | | | | A good cheap paintball gun will be easy to maintain, |
| of use. | | | | easy to take apart and easy to clean. You should not |
| Precision and velocity | | | | have to spend much time on maintenance or cleaning. |
| Fired at the same spot, the paintball gun should be | | | | Again, check the manual and see how easy it looks to |
| sending balls to that target with reasonable | | | | maintain and clean. Avoid paintball guns that require a |
| consistency from twenty five meters. Try fixing the | | | | lot of oiling. For example, if a paint ball gun needs oiling |
| paintball gun to a tree so that it can't move. Then fire | | | | every two hundred balls then this is going to seriously |
| away and see how precise it is now that you have | | | | compromise your playing ability and your fun. |
| removed human inconsistency from the equation. If | | | | Aftermarket upgrades and accessories |
| balls seem to occasionally fall short, then it looks like | | | | A good cheap paintball gun will be upgradeable and will |
| the chrono velocity, the speed with which balls leave | | | | be compatible with accessories. |