In America, the entrepreneurial spirit is still strong. When the founders of paintball decided to develop the National Survival Game, woodsy play became a business. Today, a strong business community is necessary to hold professional tournaments, develop safety standards and build expensive, high-tech equipment. Johnny Postorivo is chief operating officer of the world’s largest paintball wholesaler, National Paintball Supply, and his second objective is to promote safe and reliable gear that is fast and efficient. His first objective, just like those founders of the game, is to make a profit for his company, because in America, nothing goes forward without a profit.
Your Basic Paintball Marker
All paintball markers use air pressure from an air tank (or a 12-gram cartridge) to fire a paintball. The velocity of the paintball leaving the barrel is usually 250 to 300 fps, the maximum allowed at tournaments (290 fps is the maximum permitted on most playing fields). Air tanks come in different sizes. The bigger the tank, the longer you can play before requiring a refill. Sizes begin at 4 ounces and go up to 20 ounces.
1. Feeder (also called a hopper or loader): Paintballs drop one at a time from this refillable bulk feeder into the marker.
2. CO2 Tank: Air is pressurized at 750 to 1000 psi. Air leaves the tank through a valve into an airline. High-pressure air (HPA) is a non-CO2 system and requires a regulator. HPA tanks are pressurized to thousands of psi and are typically larger than CO2 tanks.
3. Air Line: Air travels up the line and into the chamber.
4. Trigger: Pulling the trigger activates the hammer. The hammer slides forward, pulling the bolt over the exhaust valve while pushing the exhaust valve forward to the chamber. Air shoots out of the chamber, through the exhaust valve and through the bolt.
5. Barrel: The released air leaves the bolt, forcing the paintball out of the barrel.
CHAPTER 3
RECREATIONAL PLAY
Paintball is a high-tech game of playing tag. The same philosophy applies: It is better to give than to receive. So, give all you’ve got.
Most of what you will read in magazines is about tournaments and airball fields and professionals. Now, 99 percent of us won’t ever play competitive, cash-prize paintball and don’t really care. Most of us just want to have fun. So, you can sum up all the tactics for playing recreational paintball in just ten words: you run, you shoot, you hide and you play fair. Nevertheless, here are some tips and essential playing skills for higher-level play.
TACTICAL TIPS
Use cover effectively. Whether you are hiding behind a big tree or a bunker, there are some specific practices that will help you keep an eye on the field without being hit every time you stick your head out.
First, remember those geometry classes you dozed through? Well, they could come in handy now. The closer you are to the bad guys, the less time you have to react and the tighter you want to lean into your cover. The farther you are away, the more time you will have to react and you can play a little fast and loose with the tree. It’s a matter of angles, reaction time and the general inaccuracy of shooting on a rec field. Of course, the same principles apply to pro play as well.
When you lean out from the tree, present the lowest possible profile to see and to be seen. Keep your marker tight against the side and in the same angle as your face. Beginners often exhibit what is known as “lazy hopper syndrome,” where they stick their marker and that big 200-count hopper out of cover … and get it blasted right away. You only need one eye to look for movement and targets.
Get a move on. Unlike that very first game of paintball back in ’81 where the winner never shot a single ball and only skulked from cover to cover in the woods, you’ve got to move if you’re going to win in today’s game. On the other hand, with the super high rates of fire most markers are capable of even on semi-auto mode (20+ balls per second), you do have to spend some time thinking about your moves before you jump out of cover. The important thing to keep in mind is that you can’t freeze in the open. Do that and you are dead. Like a deer in the headlights. Practice your quick moves. Practice sliding legs first and head first. Sure, you can get scraped up. So?
Use cover effectively. This right-hander is switching to the left side of the bunker and shooting left-handed. He may not be quite as accurate, but this is good shooting technique to keep the opposition off guard.
Now, if you know anything about the field you are playing on, you can anticipate where the paint is going to be concentrated. After all, most fields today are tight and certainly the narrow airball fields have shooting lanes.
In rec ball, you will often go out without a team. Everybody who is a walk-on is kind of grouped into the player mix. Don’t be shy. A good tactic is to recruit a buddy or, in a pick-up game, even somebody you don’t know and become a team: one moves and one covers. At the end of the day, you will both wear less paint.
Shoot and shoot some more. That’s what you are out there for. Face it. There are a lot of different styles of shooting your marker. You are going to find yourself in many different situations on the field whether it is rec play, a scenario game or a tournament, so why not practice for them? Practice being pinned down and needing to get off a quick shot (called snap shooting) by putting a pie plate on a string 15 to 20 yards away. Then, from behind a wall or tree, practice leaning out and taking two or three fast shots. The more you try this, the better your hand-eye coordination will become. It’s all about staying “alive.”
Get a move on if you are charging over the top! Marker up, crouch and fire as you go.
Try shooting with both hands. Say 85 percent of us are right-handed. This means when your opponent leans out from behind the bunker, the chances are that he or she will lean out on their right side – the left side as you are looking for them. You can plan your shooting for this. People tend to exit the bunker running on that side, too.
In tournament play, the term “sweetspotting” or lane shooting is a very big consideration. We carry a lot of balls and we have high-rate-of-fire markers. Balls are cheap and we know the opposition has to move across “that lane” to run for the flag. So, fill it with paint. The clock is running and they have to move. So do you!
Finally, try shooting blind and shooting on the run. You are preparing to make a move. Slide your marker around the corner, keeping it level to slightly elevated and squeeze off a couple dozen shots. ‘Course, if one of your guys has moved out in front you’re going to waste ‘em, but you can shoot