Playing Paintball with a Pistol

The pros and cons to strapping on a pistol as your main weapon

If you’ve seen any old World War I or World War II movies, you may have noticed that Generals usually just carry around a pistol or two for protection. You can also do this in paintball, but there are some drawbacks to using a pistol as your main gun [Paintball Guns and Pistols].

Paintball pistols are generally small pump guns or semi-automatic models. They’re usually pretty easy to conceal and handle, but you may want to think twice about carrying a pistol only. Most models give you limited shooting range and precision as they have shorter gun barrels. They also handle a lot less ammunition, as some of them only hold 10- round feeds. However some players have been known to put hoppers on pistols. This means you’re going to have to reload a few times during a game. These guns also have limited air supply, and the number of shots you’re going to be able to fire off will depend on the pistol and its rate of fire. That means you may find yourself running out of air midway through a battle.

Paintball pistols do have their good points though. They allow you to use different strategies and tactics in some styles of paintball. For example, pistols are small and light and you can easily carry them in a holster or tuck them into few other inconspicuous places - such as a large pocket. Because of their small size, you can easily carry a couple of pistols with you during a game. It’s also easier to maneuver a pistol into shooting position, and you can fire them with just one arm from tight and cramped quarters. Plus, if you’ve got your pistols in holsters, this usually frees up your hands for other things.

If you want to try using a pistol instead of a regular marker you should practice with it first so you can get used to handling it. This is a good idea as you need to know the range of the gun as it’s probably going to be quite a bit closer than what you’re used to. You don’t really want to get caught in a gun battle against a semi automatic if you’re carrying a pistol, so you should pick your shots carefully as you won’t have too many of them. The faster the pistol's rate of fire is; the fewer shots your 12 gram cartridge will get you. When your shooting velocity gets too low the pistol might still shoot pellets, but they probably won’t have enough power to break on clothes or somebody’s body. If your velocity is low, make sure you’re well covered and have a decent escape route.

If you’re using a pistol as your main weapon, make sure you have some extra cartridges and pellets handy. If you’re using the pistol as a side arm, you should use a strap for your main gun so you can carry it over your back and out of the way. If you’re still not sold on the idea of using a pistol as your primary weapon, then you should consider taking it as a sidearm just in case you run into problems with your regular gun.