.50 caliber vs .68 caliber

Hey everyone! 

Hope you guys had a great week and been staying warm as well! Last week I went over some practical tips for beginners that they should consider when they first start out playing. This week I’ll be over a very controversial topic that has been in the paintball community for some time now.

            Paintballs originally have a caliber of .68, it has been like that since the sport first began. The size of this round is generally considering the ‘perfect’ size. Mainly because the round isn’t too big to where it hurts extremely bad when it makes impact on a player, and nor is it too small to were the hit is barely noticeable. Around early 2010, manufactures began testing different size paintballs to find a way to make paintball more affordable and a little less abusive on the body when playing. This created the birth of .50 caliber rounds which is numerically doesn’t seem like a big difference consider its only .18 deviation. In person however, the size is dramatically smaller. A few companies have pushed to make .50 caliber rounds the new ‘standard’ size for paintballs. These smaller rounds have several different benefits over the traditional rounds. First, they make paintball more affordable because more rounds can be produced at a cheaper price. Second, it will attract more people to play the sport due to the light impact the paintball will have on the body because the round is so small. Now these benefits seem to be almost near to the ‘perfect’ idealism of what paintball should be, but there is several down falls. The traditional .68 caliber has been used for years. Markers were designed to fire these size rounds, imagine the demand to convert the entire paintball community over to .50 caliber rounds! Heck, I remember how stressed I was when this topic first came up because I had just recently bought a new marker, and conversion kits were not free either, they were almost the price of whole new marker! Also, players were no longer able to tell when they were hit! Referees had to be on their A game to make sure players got out when they were hit. This typically wasn’t the players fault because the hit felt almost identical to someone poking you!

            Now as far as the future for this issue, it has been well over 3 years since this ‘caliber evolution’ took place. Yet you still see .68 caliber rounds being used today, mainly because it was going to be a hectic change for many people. If this change were to be enforced by tournaments and companies this would probably wipe out half the population of paintball enthusiast. I know for myself it would of set me back as well, I just don’t have funds to afford a conversion or a compete new marker that would accept .50 caliber rounds. Now this doesn’t mean that .50 rounds are no longer being used. Many fields have started using these rounds with beginners because it offers a more pleasure experience for people who aren’t use to being shot by the traditional rounds. Also it makes it more affordable for people who aren’t enthusiast and are just first time beginners, or recreational players. Now, I don’t think this means we won’t see another change or a suggestion for another change in the near future. Companies, tournaments, and even players strive to make paintball a more pleasure experience for newcomers. Because all enthusiasts remember how scared or intimated they were whenever they first played. This intimidation factor is usually the number one set back that keeps paintball from becoming an extreme sport. So who knows, maybe someday they can develop paintballs that are made of a different material so it doesn’t coast as much to produce but still yields to the same caliber size?

            Well that wraps weeks post everyone! I hope you guys have learned more about paintball and see this sport in a different light! If you have any questions feel free email me or just post a comment! I’m always trying to get more and more people to at least give this sport a shot! Because without a doubt there is no other sport like it!

Tips for Beginners!

Welcome back everyone! Hope everyone has been having a great week so far! Last week I attempted to squash the most horrifying rumor that has haunted new comers to the sport for years, freezing paintballs. That post is pretty important especially to those who want to actually try the sport out for the first time. So be sure to go check that out!

This week’s post I’ll be covering some simple tips for people who are interested in getting a taste of the sport. When I give advice to beginners I always recommend that they should start slow! Usually after their first time playing, they typically want to start spending tons of money into gear that they either have no idea on how to operate or how to even maintain. Remember, you can’t buy skills! Just because you have the most expensive equipment out on the field doesn’t mean that you are the most skilled player either. So start off by renting the equipment being offered by your local field and just wear an old pair of jeans and a white t-shirt. Next, find out what style of play you like! There are so many different variations of paintball I recommend trying them all out! If you are the kind of person who likes a fast past game, then try speedball! Or if you’re more of a person who likes a slow pace game that involves bigger teams and more tactical aspects then I’d recommend woodsball! Last but not least, get some friends to play with you! Paintball is a team sport, and many people have a big misconception about that! Honestly if it wasn’t for my friends who I first began playing with, I probably would have never gotten so involved with this sport! Playing with people you know if far greater of an experience than playing with people you have just met at the field.

                So that about wraps up my tips for beginners, I know many of you have been asking me for tips geared for beginners since most of you have never played the sport before, so there you go! Stay tuned for next week’s post because I’ll be going over an exciting issue/topic that has been in the air in the paintball community for some time now, this topic is changing the caliber size of paintballs to a smaller round. 

Freezing paintballs....stupidest thing in world..

Welcome back everyone!

Hope you guys had a great week! I spent majority of this week in ice bath because I’ve been extremely sore from cup!

This week I’m going to go over something that has haunted my beloved sport for years. It’s a rumor that has kept probably hundreds of people from at least trying the sport out…That rumor is experienced players freezing paintballs and shooting it out of their markers. Now I know, the idea of having a frozen paintball shot at you would suck…heck honestly if it were possible to even do that it would definitely hurt a lot! Now, most of you probably don’t know how paintballs are  made so here’s a video on how these litter suckers are made.

After watching the video, I can now proceed on describing how stupid freezing paintball can be. When a paintball is frozen (and I’ve tested this myself) the gelatin loses its shape and its hardness. Actually, once a paintball is removed from the source freezing the paintballs it only takes a matter of seconds for the paintball to start becoming more brittle. In fact, when you freeze a paintball it becomes so brittle that the ball itself is damn near useless and I say for two reason. First, the shooter will be lucky enough if his paintballs even end up inside the camber of his marker. That is because after a paintball is frozen it will warp, in most cases warp so bad it will look more like a football rather than an actual ball. Second, if the paintball somehow actually makes it down into the camber of the gun, the paintball will probably explode internally once the marker is fired. That is because the paintball has lost its hardness and once all the high pressure air makes contact with ball, it ends up exploding. Here's a video that squashes this myth by another creditable enthuisest

Hopefully after reading this post and watching these videos I can bring some sort of security to people who might want to try this sport out. I've heard from several people how they are scared to play because they heard stories about people being shot by other players that have 'frozen' their paintballs. 

Anywho, that wraps up this weeks post, I know this weeks post was suppose to be humerous according to the blog format but I really felt like I had to get this issue across rather fast. So here's a video with few epic fails with people while they were playing, hope enjoy it! 

PSP World Cup 2012!

Welcome back everyone!

Last week I went over the issue on paintball enthusiast being profiled as cold-blooded murders due to media’s connection between the infamous James Holmes and his liking for paintball. So be sure to check that post out because it’s probably the most emotional post I’ve written. Moving on to this week’s post I wanted to see how everyone’s knowledge about the sport has grown. Have you learned anything new? Or do you feel like I've just been doing a slack job? Make sure you leave a comments, it’s much appreciated!

Now in other news in the paintball world, this weekend was the PSP (Paintball Sports Promotions) World Cup! It was hosted in Polk City, and luckily my team and I were able to compete in this year’s event! Although we didn't place first we did place 18^th out of 200 teams in our division! I’ll be posting a video in hopes to show you how big these events are! Teams from all over the world come to compete! The team that placed first in our division was actually from Russia! The competition level is unbelievable; I remember thinking to myself how crazy it was hearing the team on the opposite side communicating in a complete different language! I really wish there was a way to get these events broadcasted on television because this sport without a doubt could easily be as intense as watching football! 

That about wraps up this weeks post, next week I'll be going the issue that haunted the sport for years, idiots freezing paintballs. So make sure you stay tuned for that next week! Have a great week everyone!