Okay here I go. I've been wanting to gather togather and share technical paintball information and personal opinions for quite awhile. Most of this information is going to be "HOW I DO IT" or "MY WAY" or IMO. If you do not like what I say or want to commment, you can go ahead and submit a comment and if I like your way or what you say, I'll post it, if not I trash it.
More to follow soon.
P.S. I'll not trash opinions that do not agree with me only those that are flaming, make no sense or not topic related.
More to follow soon.
P.S. I'll not trash opinions that do not agree with me only those that are flaming, make no sense or not topic related.
….Well if I get 20 balls in the air a second I can hit you every time….
Posted 09-15-2007 at 11:15 AM by Grendel
Well good for you, I’m duly impressed. 
Lets figure this out, lets say a case of paintballs cost you $50 and there are 2000 balls in a case this means each ball costs 2.5 cents each. 20 balls x $0.025/ball = $0.50 in one second and realistically unless you get the drop on me or any other half way competent player you might get me a 1/3rd of the time. So given my assumptions it is going to take at least 3 seconds of firing total to get me and that equals $1.50 to get one elimination. Conversely I usually take no more than 5 shots to get an elimination (if it is not working out for me I move off and try another tactic). Now it might take me minutes to get this elimination or I might do it in a few seconds. Reguardless if I do not get taken out and I get the elimination I’ve only spent 10.25 cents for that elimination. So the rope shooter is using over 10 times the money per elimination than I am. Since I’m cheap and hate to waste paintballs [which equal cold hard cash] I’ll stick to my style of shooting which is called AIMING my shots.
I was taught how to shoot real firearms by my father, who happened to be an Olympic caliber Pentathelete in the 30’s/40’s, avid hunter and competition shooter [my mother also shot and hunted small game]. All of my father’s children [eight of us] were taught how to shoot. He felt the best way to keep children safe around firearms is to teach them about them, how to use them safely, what they can and can not do, and not to hide them. He did not make use continue to shoot and out of eight of us only three of us went on and continued to shoot but we all had to learn the safe handling and correctly AIM firearms.
You might ask, “What does this have to do with paintball?” I can understand this question for shooting firearms and shooting paintball guns are two different things. When I first started playing paintball I had to UN-learn a lot of habits I’d developed over the years of shooting firearms. A slow bullet travels at > 700 fps and many at a couple thousand; bullets are typically conical and many times are shot out of rifled barrels. The ballistic characteristics of real firearms are definitely different that paintballs, but the basic principles my father taught me still apply.
Here are some of the things he drove home to us about shooting:
• Know your gun, how it works, how it is put together, how you maintain it and how it shoots. No two guns shoot alike even the same brand and model firearm will shoot differently. [Same goes with Paintball Guns]
• SHOOT. In other works practice your shooting. Much of a good shooter’s skill is based on muscle memory. The more you do in your shooting that is instinctual the easier it gets. So practice developing muscle memory take repetition [Same goes with Paintball Guns it just uses some different instincts]
• Look to see where you are hitting. With firearms this tends to be after the fact you check out where you hit a target in comparison to where you aimed and see how you have to adjust. {The same goes for paintball but we have the added advantage that are balls are traveling hopefully less then 300 fps (better yet 270-280 fps) and are easily seen by the naked eye as they travel through the air.] Use this to learn how your gun shoots and how you have adjust and we can do this on the fly. We can walk our fire to where we need it. This is especially useful when firing at a higher rate of fire. Plus if you practice you will be better able to guesstimate where the ball is going on the first shot.
• Every time you SQUEEZE the trigger you shift your guns angle slightly and you need to re-aim slightly. Every time you PULL the trigger you pull the gun off target. Again this applies to paintball too.
• Learn the site picture for your gun. There are many different types and ways to site a gun and the same goes for paintball guns. Learn how to do this with your gun. I could go on all day trying to describe this and never do a good job. This is something that has to be done in person and shown. Some methods work for some people, some do not some like to use specific type’s sites some do not. This is something you are going to have to work out for yourself. I have red dot sites and mount them at times but actually rarely use them. My site picture is typically open sight over the paint gun aligned down the barrel with both eyes open like you do with pistols. This works well for me. Some like the red dots so be it. Find what works for you or get someone to show you, but learn how it is done.
• Practice Snap Shooting. This is the skill of acquiring and shooting at a target quickly. This tends to be similar to “shooting from the hip” but actually is an aimed shot. In general I’m better at this in paintball then I am at long balling. How I do this when I’m practicing is to look away from my target area. In my mind I try to picture something I want to shot then I turn while bringing the gun up and find the site picture of my target and “Snap” a shot. I’ll do this until I can consistently hit the target. Then I’ll pick two targets and do it all over again while snapping a shot at both targets. Then it is three targets…etc. Talk to the better tourney players they know how important Snap Shooting is in our sport and get them to show you some drills. This skill I feel is one of the most important aiming skills
Now that wasn’t hard just takes some time to develop the right skills and you can save some money. Now you’ll notice I said nothing about, “use a pump it’ll teach….etc.” It does not matter what tool you use [I think of a gun as a tool] you just need to learn how to use it and practice. Imagine if you can hit someone with the first shot or even the 3rd or 5th shot imagine how effective you can be on the field with a paintball gun that can shoot many balls a second. As fast as you can change your aim you could get an elimination. Now I primarily do shoot a pump gun but I have nothing against other forms of paintball guns. I just do not like the “spray and pray” mentality to me paintball is a game of skill. Aiming is a skill but so is walking the trigger for 20 bps I just think it makes more sense to combine the skills, take pride in the accomplishment and save some money.
Lets figure this out, lets say a case of paintballs cost you $50 and there are 2000 balls in a case this means each ball costs 2.5 cents each. 20 balls x $0.025/ball = $0.50 in one second and realistically unless you get the drop on me or any other half way competent player you might get me a 1/3rd of the time. So given my assumptions it is going to take at least 3 seconds of firing total to get me and that equals $1.50 to get one elimination. Conversely I usually take no more than 5 shots to get an elimination (if it is not working out for me I move off and try another tactic). Now it might take me minutes to get this elimination or I might do it in a few seconds. Reguardless if I do not get taken out and I get the elimination I’ve only spent 10.25 cents for that elimination. So the rope shooter is using over 10 times the money per elimination than I am. Since I’m cheap and hate to waste paintballs [which equal cold hard cash] I’ll stick to my style of shooting which is called AIMING my shots.
I was taught how to shoot real firearms by my father, who happened to be an Olympic caliber Pentathelete in the 30’s/40’s, avid hunter and competition shooter [my mother also shot and hunted small game]. All of my father’s children [eight of us] were taught how to shoot. He felt the best way to keep children safe around firearms is to teach them about them, how to use them safely, what they can and can not do, and not to hide them. He did not make use continue to shoot and out of eight of us only three of us went on and continued to shoot but we all had to learn the safe handling and correctly AIM firearms.
You might ask, “What does this have to do with paintball?” I can understand this question for shooting firearms and shooting paintball guns are two different things. When I first started playing paintball I had to UN-learn a lot of habits I’d developed over the years of shooting firearms. A slow bullet travels at > 700 fps and many at a couple thousand; bullets are typically conical and many times are shot out of rifled barrels. The ballistic characteristics of real firearms are definitely different that paintballs, but the basic principles my father taught me still apply.
Here are some of the things he drove home to us about shooting:
• Know your gun, how it works, how it is put together, how you maintain it and how it shoots. No two guns shoot alike even the same brand and model firearm will shoot differently. [Same goes with Paintball Guns]
• SHOOT. In other works practice your shooting. Much of a good shooter’s skill is based on muscle memory. The more you do in your shooting that is instinctual the easier it gets. So practice developing muscle memory take repetition [Same goes with Paintball Guns it just uses some different instincts]
• Look to see where you are hitting. With firearms this tends to be after the fact you check out where you hit a target in comparison to where you aimed and see how you have to adjust. {The same goes for paintball but we have the added advantage that are balls are traveling hopefully less then 300 fps (better yet 270-280 fps) and are easily seen by the naked eye as they travel through the air.] Use this to learn how your gun shoots and how you have adjust and we can do this on the fly. We can walk our fire to where we need it. This is especially useful when firing at a higher rate of fire. Plus if you practice you will be better able to guesstimate where the ball is going on the first shot.
• Every time you SQUEEZE the trigger you shift your guns angle slightly and you need to re-aim slightly. Every time you PULL the trigger you pull the gun off target. Again this applies to paintball too.
• Learn the site picture for your gun. There are many different types and ways to site a gun and the same goes for paintball guns. Learn how to do this with your gun. I could go on all day trying to describe this and never do a good job. This is something that has to be done in person and shown. Some methods work for some people, some do not some like to use specific type’s sites some do not. This is something you are going to have to work out for yourself. I have red dot sites and mount them at times but actually rarely use them. My site picture is typically open sight over the paint gun aligned down the barrel with both eyes open like you do with pistols. This works well for me. Some like the red dots so be it. Find what works for you or get someone to show you, but learn how it is done.
• Practice Snap Shooting. This is the skill of acquiring and shooting at a target quickly. This tends to be similar to “shooting from the hip” but actually is an aimed shot. In general I’m better at this in paintball then I am at long balling. How I do this when I’m practicing is to look away from my target area. In my mind I try to picture something I want to shot then I turn while bringing the gun up and find the site picture of my target and “Snap” a shot. I’ll do this until I can consistently hit the target. Then I’ll pick two targets and do it all over again while snapping a shot at both targets. Then it is three targets…etc. Talk to the better tourney players they know how important Snap Shooting is in our sport and get them to show you some drills. This skill I feel is one of the most important aiming skills
Now that wasn’t hard just takes some time to develop the right skills and you can save some money. Now you’ll notice I said nothing about, “use a pump it’ll teach….etc.” It does not matter what tool you use [I think of a gun as a tool] you just need to learn how to use it and practice. Imagine if you can hit someone with the first shot or even the 3rd or 5th shot imagine how effective you can be on the field with a paintball gun that can shoot many balls a second. As fast as you can change your aim you could get an elimination. Now I primarily do shoot a pump gun but I have nothing against other forms of paintball guns. I just do not like the “spray and pray” mentality to me paintball is a game of skill. Aiming is a skill but so is walking the trigger for 20 bps I just think it makes more sense to combine the skills, take pride in the accomplishment and save some money.
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