How does one pick the “Perfect Paintball Marker or Paintball Hopper for the Perfect Paintball Gun”? There are so many choices it is enough to make the paintball player’s head spin. There are so many variables to taken in to consideration:
1. Will the Paintball player be playing on an outdoor field, in the woods, or in an indoor arena
2. Next, one of the biggest concerns is how affordable is the gun and Paintball Gear for the paintballer.
3. Will the gun or Paintball gear be used on a regular basis or the use of the Paintball Gun and Paintball equipment be used only occasionally.
If the buyer is planning to use the Paintball gun on an ongoing basis, they need to purchase a higher end gun to avoid the gun jamming and creating issues the paintballer does not want to put up with during competition. Plus the higher end Paintball gun will give the player added satisfaction in the performance of the gun.
Two ways to load a gun is the old standard “Hopper Fed’ or the newer ” Magazine fed” Paintball marker. Several paintball companies are manufacturing military markers and the marker’s magazines. So real looking are the magazine markers they can mistaken for real rifles. This is the newest way to play Paintball…military style.
The magazine is low profile and players love this because they can be stealth and camouflage their movements on the battlefield without giving up the players and the players position.
When the gun is encumbered with the hopper, the hopper often will give away the players position on the field. The player becomes an easy mark to be picked off by the enemy. One drawback to the magazine is the inability to hold as much ammo as the hopper. Therefore the player must carry extra magazines and the Paintball gun needs to be reloaded more often than the gun with the hopper.
Magazines are positioned a little bit behind and below the gun. This allows the player to be able to peek over the bunker and shoot. Hoppers stick up and are an easy target for the enemy.
The new magazines can shoot 1,800 balls per 68 Cu of air. This leads to serious competition. The player in the Paintball field often is part of a team. And the team wears matching uniforms. The uniforms are often customized depending on players use for them. Paintball gear is concealed in the woods, exactly military camouflage style. Combatants wear camouflage as well. All of this gives the tournament the feel of a real military engagement. The combatants have extra paintball gear, hoppers, barrels, magazines and other Paintball equipment that can be separated and switched as the conditions of battle require.
So, which is the players favorite Paintball gun…the hopper or the magazine…maybe both? There is the dedicated “woodballer” that only will use magazines. Those players want their Paintball guns and Paintball Gear to be as authentically military as it can get. The most popular right now is the magazine marker. At times these games last for days. Duplicating World War II battles require tons of ammunition. In this case the player will be toting both hoppers and magazines. This requires the gun to be a Splitfire Paintball gun option. Warriors can use both actions. But for the short mission the magazine is sufficient.
During the heat of battle the magazine fed Paintball Gun could jam if the magazine fails. This fear is realistic. So the hopper fans stick to their old faithful Paintball Gear.
If you are a weekend Paintball player and you haven’t gone fanatical, the hopper is the easiest and most used marker. An added benefit to the hopper is the affordability factor. Because tactical paintball has had enormous growth in popularity the magazine fed markers will not fade away.