how do paintball guns works

How do paintball guns work? (Jan-2023)

Paintball guns have been popular amongst people for decades now. Have you ever wondered how they work? What goes on inside that gun that allows it to shoot with such accuracy and range? If you are a paintball gun enthusiast, you might have tried to open the gun at least once to understand its mechanism. If you are worried that you might not be able to fix it back, well we have you covered.

how paintball guns work

Our long interest in paintball guns has allowed us to explore them to a great extent. We know all the small details that you might need to have about how paintball guns work. After reading the following article, you will be well-informed about not only the different types of paintball guns but also how their workings can be used to distinguish between them.     

The overview

The general overview of a paintball gun is that it includes two important parts, barrel, and chamber. A paintball barrel is a place where the paintballs are placed before they are released to shoot the target. A barrel allows the user to put multiple paintballs in it based on its capacity. If you are looking for a paintball barrel that can store a greater number of paintballs, you will have to invest accordingly. Usually, a paintball barrel can have a capacity of six to eight paintballs at one time. You can continue using the barrel that comes with your paintball gun or you can even purchase a separate one if you are looking for something specific.

how paintball gun works

The second very important part of a paintball gun is its chamber. This is the place where compressed air is stored. Most paintball guns either have carbon dioxide or oxygen for powering the gun. This gas is released from the gun in order to make it shoot. We will explain in detail how the air is released from the gun or how the barrel works soon.

Another thing that you need to be aware of before diving into the details of the paintball gun is that it is of two types. We have mechanical and electronic guns. Both of these guns are largely used by paintball enthusiasts to play games. We would share our recommendations and preferences after explaining the difference between the two types.

Difference between Mechanical and Electronic guns

First of all, we would talk about mechanical guns. Mechanical guns are quite popular amongst people as they can be afforded by the majority of the people who are into paintball guns. Due to their relative cheapness, they are in high demand as well, and to get your preferred gun, you will have to be quick with your purchases. We often get our during the sales period, and that is a tough thing to do especially because of all the demand.

Mechanical guns
  • In a mechanical gun, you are expected to control all the features by yourself. For example, you will be expected to the cock the gun all on your own. If you are unfamiliar with the term cock or cocking, it is basically what paintball guns need to do so that the paintballs can move to the set spot for their release. Once you have done that, you can now press the trigger and the paintball will be released from the barrel. As a mechanical paintball gun is cheaper than an electronic one, it obviously has some drawbacks as well. One of the drawbacks is that the speed of a mechanical paintball gun is relatively slower than an electronic gun. We have tried both and although the difference does not seem to be a lot for beginners, experts understand the difference pretty well. Another significant thing is that since it is a mechanical gun, you are expected to carry out tasks on your own like cocking the gun. During a paintball match, it can become quite a task to cock the gun especially when you have to load the gun each time you want to shoot a paintball. In our serious games in which we know that we will not have enough time to load the paintball gun each time, so we prefer to go for electronic guns.
electronic gun
  • The second type of gun that we have is an electronic gun. An important difference between an electronic gun and a mechanical gun is that the electronic gun includes a circuit board. It is important to know what a circuit board does in order to learn how a paintball gun works. In an electronic gun, the circuit board works as a control panel, which manages the shooting. This allows you to shoot your paintball gun more than once without having to load it each time. It can save you a lot of time. This is the reason why we prefer electronic guns in our serious games as they allow us to be quicker in our moves. In a paintball field, the right timing is an essential part of the game and that can be availed through this type of paintball gun.   

Seeing these certain differences in the buildup of the two types of paintball guns, you must have realized which one to use in different games. Depending on the money available and your personal needs and preferences, you can choose the right paintball gun for yourself. One thing that we would suggest before buying any paintball gun is to look into its specifications. By this, we mean that you should know about the features and descriptions of the paintball gun that you are buying. Even if you are well aware of the workings of a paintball gun, you still need to know about its details in order to make the right decision. For that, read the following for a better understanding of the details of the working of a paintball gun. This way, you will know what things to look for when searching for the best paintball gun.

How does a paintball gun shoot?

As already mentioned, the barrel of a paintball gun is something that stores paintballs before they are released to shoot their target. Another part of the gun that you should be familiar with is the valve tube. A valve tube is a place where the paintball enters once you load the gun. It is also the place where the gas stays before being released after being loaded. You must know that the paintball does not enter the valve tube at the same instance that it is loaded. You have to wait a few seconds for that to happen. From our experience, it feels like the paintball enters almost immediately, but close analysis tells otherwise.

Once the paintball enters the valve tube, simply press the trigger whenever you want to shoot with the gun. Pressing the trigger enables the release of the hammer, which was previously attached to the bolt. As the bolt releases, a sear is also pushed aside. When this is done then the gas inside the chamber is free to leave its place. After every release of a paintball, the gun comes back to its original state. The sear comes back to its position from where it was moved and it allows the collection of compressed gas again for the next shoot.

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