Tech Topics - Paint

Paintball Basics

Paintballs are gelatin capsules that contain a dye containing liquid. The liquid contains elthylene gycol, mineral oil, calcium and/or iodine. The standard size for paintball is .68 caliber. .68 caliber means that the diameter of the paintball is 0.68 inches. Normally when referring to caliber of projectiles or guns, we ignore the decimal point so .68 caliber is usually spoken as “sixty-eight caliber” not "point sixty-eight caliber".

The nominal size for most paintballs, guns and barrels is .68 caliber. The actual diameter varies from this nominal size with actual paintballs typically varying from .675 inches to .694 inches.

Paintball sizes vary from brand to brand but even within brands there are variances from batch to batch.

Some manufacturers, notably Kingman, the maker of Spyders, are now manufacturing paintball markers that shoot .43 and .50 caliber paintballs. Additionally, there are paintballs made for airsoft guns that are 6mm in diameter and there are paintballs made for blowguns in other sizes.

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Paintball Sizing

As mentioned above, paintballs come in various sizes. Ideally you should have a barrel that "fits" the paintballs you are using. Clearly if your barrel has an inner diameter of .682 inches and you are attempting to shoot a paintball that is .690 inches in diameter, you will have a problem with breakage. On the other extreme, if you have a paintball that is .678 inches in diameter and your barrel is .692 inches you will be shooting air around the ball and it will take more pressure to get the paintball up to the velocity you want than if the fit between the ball and the barrel were tighter.

So how do you test to see if the fit between the barrel and the paint is good? Take a paintball and put it into the barrel. If it falls through then the barrel’s inner diameter is too large and you should get a smaller diameter barrel. If, on the other hand, the ball cannot be blown through the barrel then the barrel is too small for the paint. If the ball does not fall through the barrel but can be blown through the barrel with a deep breath then you have a good fit.

Another option is to get a paintball sizer – this is a piece of aluminum or plastic that has holes in it of various diameters. Put your paintball through the holes to see what size paintballs you have.

You can shoot paintballs that are too small; you will just not be efficiently using your air. However, if the barrel is too small you will be having a lot of ball breakage and you will have to change either the balls or the barrel.

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Paintball Storage

You can store paintball for many months. Some tips to keep them useable for a longer period.

1. Keep the paintballs sealed in their bags. Humidity is especially bad for paintballs. Exposure to humid air will cause the paintballs to swell, sometimes so little that you cannot see any change, and this will cause them to break in your gun and ruin the paintballs.
2. Avoid extremes in temperature. Getting the paintballs too hot or too cold will ruin them.
3. Freezing paintballs is not a good idea. The paintballs will wrinkle and when they thaw they will be ruined. Also, even if you are successful in freezing and then firing the paintballs, you are putting your opponents at risk of injury. If you think about it you don’t want to do that.
4. If you store them for more than one month, flip over the boxes each month to minimize dimples on the balls.

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Paintball Quality

I wish that there was a substitute for the old rule about getting what you pay for. This adage is true for paintballs. Generally speaking here is what you get when you buy better paintballs:

1. The balls will be rounder. I am talking about thousandths of an inch but if the balls are not round they will not be accurate.
2. Better balls have a thicker fill with brighter colors. This makes it harder for "cheaters" to wipe off a hit.
3. Better balls are more consistent in weight. If your gun does a perfect job every time you shoot and it puts exactly the same pressure on each and every ball but the ball is heavier or lighter than the ball you just shot it will not go in the same place. In other words it will ruin the accuracy of your gun.
4. Why spend big bucks on your equipment but to save a couple of dollars you get lousy paint? What is the sense in that? I don’t suggest wasting money but isn’t it wasting money if your shots are not accurate?
5. Obviously I am biased but I do recommend buying quality paint from a paintball store – why? Even though Wally World sells more paint in total than your local paintball shop, your local shop sells a LOT more paint per store. That means that the paint in the local shop is fresher and it has not been stuck in a warehouse or stored improperly for months. Also most pro shops will check your paint purchase to insure that the paint is not broken.

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Paintball Colors

Why no red paintballs? Well, actually there are some red paintballs made but only a few manufacturers produce them. There are two reasons, first, is that the red fill can be mistaken for blood and some players, especially younger ones, may be frightened by the color. Second, the red dye used in paintballs is more difficult to wash out of clothes than any other color.

Why are some colors prohibited at events? Many tournaments ban certain colors. These bans are designed to help referees at the event spot hits. So a tournament many allow players to wear pink clothing but then it will prohibit pink paint. The reverse is also true at some tournaments. The tournament operator may prohibit a particular color from being used on clothing or hoppers so that a hit can be more easily detected by the refs.

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