Despite the resemblance many paintball markers have to guns, paintball players prefer not to call them that. That's because paintball is actually one of the safest sports there is – fewer people are injured playing it than in golf or bowling! Calling these devices markers disassociates the game from violence and danger. Of course, it's important to remember that there are still hazards in any active sport. While paintball markers are limited to an upper speed of three hundred feet per second for safety reasons, a gelatin ball traveling at that speed can still leave quite a bruise.
A paintball marker has several main parts. The body, the barrel, the hopper, and the gas system all work together to produce a functional mechanism to propel paintballs toward other players. Since these markers are made by many different companies and in lots of styles, you'll find that there's no standard way of creating a paintball marker.
The body is the area that will vary most. The majority are made from aluminum, to provide a lighter piece of equipment, but the shape can be very different. Inexpensive markers tend to be less efficient and provide a larger profile than higher end ones. However, they still work fine, and are a good way to get started in the sport. The body of a paintball marker is where the bolt, valve, and trigger – the main portions of the mechanism – are housed.
On top of the body is the hopper, also called the loader. This is where the paintballs are stored and fed into the body of the marker. Depending on how much you want to pay, and what your priorities are, you might choose from gravity fed, force fed, or agitating hoppers. The cheapest type work by allowing paintballs to fall down a tube into the gun. This is easy, and there's nothing to break, but sacrifices speed. Even at best, you can only expect eight balls per second to fall through a gravity fed hopper. This type is also prone to jamming.
A force fed hopper uses a mechanism, like a belt or propeller, to grab hold of the balls and force them into the body of the marker. Similarly, an agitating hopper also uses a belt, but only to move the balls and keep them from jamming. The actual feeding still occurs via gravity. These hoppers don't jam, but unless they have an electric eye sensor, can waste battery power by running when there's already a paintball in the tube.
Once a paintball has been loaded into the marker, some kind of gas must be used to propel it out. In cheaper models of paintball markers, carbon dioxide is used. Small cartridges can be placed in the gun, and punctured to fire a paintball, or a tank may be carried. If you're looking for a propellant that provides a more reliable velocity, compressed air or nitrogen are the gases of choice. These must be stored in more durable containers than carbon dioxide, and are thus more expensive.
Your paintball marker's barrel will have an effect on how the paintball flies through the air. Single piece barrels are made from one piece of material that increases from the rated bore size to a larger one. Two piece barrels are made up of a front and back, and three piece barrels have a back, front, and a series of inserts that allow the player to pick the preferred bore. Barrels are usually between three and twenty one inches long, but accuracy and efficiency gains stop after the barrel becomes more than eight inches long.
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