One of the terms you may run into early on while getting involved in the adrenaline pumping sport of paintball is "paintball marker." So what is a paintball marker? To put it really simply, it's the paintball guns. Many players refer to them as "markers" because the paint balls the guns shoots "marks" the target. A paintball marker might also be called a paintball gun or just a paint gun. After the safety mask, which is always the most important piece of equipment, the paintball marker is the next most important since there can not be a game without it.
The first paintball game was played in 1981 in Henniker, New Hampshire. Nine players took part, and the sport of paintball was born. The earliest models of paintball markers were uniform (after all, this was just the beginning of the sport). Now there are literally hundreds of choices between various makes and models of paintball markers. Some are very cheap, some are extremely expensive. No one could have imagined the huge variety in choices.
One of the first decisions you'll want to make when using paintball markers is to decide what type of action you want from your paintball marker. By action, this refers to the way that an individual paintball marker fires. There are three types of actions that cover most of the cheaper and basic lines of paintball markers: pump action, semi-automatic blow back, and hybrid blow back. Each type of action makes a paintball gun work very differently, so think about how quickly you want your marker to shoot and how much work you want to do to make it fire. Obviously the pump action is the slowest, while the other methods offer better rates of fire.
The other factor to think about with paintball markers is performance. Performance is one word that covers many several factors including good rate of fire, accuracy, range, durability, and reliability. Some cheap paintball guns will perform like clockwork one day, but then not at all the next. This is why early homework is important: to learn first hand the reputation one model of paint marker has compared to another.
Buying the right paintball marker can be difficult. Do your homework ahead of time, and don't rely on price alone. There are higher priced paintball markers that are extremely unpopular with players because of obvious deficiencies. A $500 paintball marker is not always guaranteed to be bigger and better than a cheaper $200 one.
Appearance is also a factor. Just because a gun "looks cool" means that it is a good buy. Do your research on paintball markers and buy the one that works for you and you'll be much happier than you would have been otherwise.
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