How Far Does A Paintball Gun Shoot ? Expert Opinion

Paintball is a competitive sport. To eliminate an opponent in the game, you have to hit them with a spherical gelatin capsule filled with dye; the capsule is called a paintball, breaking upon impact. It is essential to understand how a paintball gun works and its range.

A paintball gun works by releasing compressed air into the gun's chamber, which pushes out a paintball down the barrel. If you are wondering, "how far does a paintball gun shoot?" Then the answer is, ‘it depends on the velocity and magnitude that pushes the paintball out of the barrel.

Effective Range

There is no exact numerical distance on how far a paintball can shoot, but we can estimate a realistic distance that a paintball can shoot. The paint balls are designed with an extremely delicate balance. 

The paintball should be heavy enough to leave the gun's barrel at speed without it breaking but should also be fragile enough to break on impact with the targeted opponent.

The effective range means the distance a paintball can shoot while still moving fast enough to break when it hits a target. The two factors are why paintball need to travel at an actual speed to break. 

When a paintball is shot a very long distance before reaching the target, it may not have the required speed to break. The effective range is 80 to 100 feet, but this can also vary with the gun's model and the made of a paintball.

Safe Range

A safe range can also help you understand how far a paintball can shoot. The paintball gun is designed specifically to fire a paintball fast enough to break on impact, but not so fast that it can course an injury. Safe range answers how far a paintball can shoot without causing an injury.

Safe range means a paintball is designed for the game and is regulated to work specifically as a means for gaming and not fighting or hurting others. 

Safe range is different from effective range as the effective range is not concerned with whether the paintball will break on impact and not whether the paintball will cause injury.

The most used cap on the velocity of a paintball is 280 feet per second. If you aim a paintball gun a little upwards from where it is meant to go and lob it to the target, it can give a good 100 yards of range.

Absolute Range

In the Absolute range, we assume that you don't care much about the paintball hitting the target too hard or about the paintball breaking when it hits the target. In particular, we are checking on how far one can shoot a paintball regardless. 

To shoot as far as possible, you need hard paintball and tune up the velocity of the paintball gun to a higher setting so that the paintball marker fires the paintball faster than usual.

The harder a paintball is, the faster it can leave the barrel without breaking; therefore, the harder the paintball and the faster it is propelled from the barrel, the furthest it will go. 

However, there are maximum muzzle speed limits on paintball guns, and each has a different absolute range. You can increase the maximum speed on an average model to create an Absolute range of about 150 yards.

Increasing Distance

The only way to change the distance a paintball can travel is by changing the shooting. Two factors determine how far the speed of a paintball can be increased at any given velocity. 

These factors include the shape of a paintball and the rotation, and you can adjust these two factors with the right apparatus to increase the distance a paintball can shoot.

Some paintball gun barrels have been manufactured to give a paintball a backward rotation as it is propelled from the gun; this allows you to shoot further than 100 feet but does not change the effective range of the paintball. You can also adjust the shape of the paintball to travel for a much farther distance.

Some manufacturers create a paintball with fins on the sides to help it travel a further distance than the usual paintballs. Some paintball have a bristle nose and robust sides to help them move further; this paintball is considered aerodynamically designed. 

The design increase the effective reach of a paintball gun; the expected range goes up to 200 feet, and the Absolute range goes up to around 200 yards.

Use of Backspin Barrel

Paintball barrels can increase the range of the paintball guns by using a backspin on the paintball to push air effectively downwards and push the paintballs upwards; they call it the Magnus effect. 

The Magnus effect can increase the range of paintballs up to 100 feet. The downside of the Magnus effect is that it loses focus. As much as you may be able to shoot to a further distance, it is likely that you will sacrifice the accuracy.

It is possible to adjust this kind of paintballs designed to get the desired range. The design allows you to determine how much backspin is needed to shoot furthest and more focused. 

Some paintball guns are manufactured in a way that the location of the rubber pad in the barrel can be adjusted, giving the paintball a spin that sends it furthest. However, the feature is not ideal as the players may waste time adjusting the rubber pad.

Conclusion

There is no clear answer to the question “how far does a paintball gun shoot?” but a few factors determine the distance that a paintball can travel. It is a great idea to keep a safe range in mind when playing and wear protective gear.

It is also clear that the paintball guns and the paintballs are manufactured for games, therefore, have a specific range, and distance that they can travel. The furthest being 280 yards. The paintballs are also not manufactured to harm or injure any person, and therefore the velocity is not set so high.