Can paintballs shoot marbles? If it can, should you? What happens to your paintball gun when you shoot a marble out of it? Since paintball markers are able to shoot paintballs, then it could be capable of shooting marbles. However, just because it can does not mean you should.
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Can a Paintball Gun Shoot a Marble?
In general, a paintball gun can shoot a marble. If you have a marble and a marker with you now, you can test your marker and see if the marble can fit in the barrel. Marbles have a standard shape, but there are some that come in smaller or larger sizes. Of course, if your marble is a bit larger than the average size, then there’s a chance that it won’t fit.
One of the limitations of a paintball gun is that it has a small barrel. Paintballs are designed to fit exactly in the barrel, but the same can’t be said for marbles. If it fits in the hopper (the storage for the paintballs), does that mean you can shoot marbles? Not quite. Remember, the hopper is just the storage place of the marbles. The latter still has to go through the barrel. And that part is almost always narrower than the hopper.
Let’s say the marker fits in both the hopper and the barrel. That means your marker is capable of shooting marbles, right? Again, not necessarily. You’re forgetting that the paintball gun uses compressed gas to shoot a paintball. Since marbles are heavier than paintballs, it needs more pressure for it to fly as fast and far as a paintball. Unless you have an air regulator with your marker, then you can’t expect the same performance for the marble.
Types of Paintball Guns for Shooting Marbles
What types of paintball guns can shoot a marble? Here are some of the most popular types.
1. Machine Marker
A machine marker is a lot like a machine gun where it shoots continuous paintballs every time. Needless to say, the paintballs that come from a machine gun marker are fast. If you get hit in an unprotected area, you can expect a bruise.
What about if it’s a marble? Just as expected, a marble is going to be more painful simply because it doesn’t break on impact. If a marble is loaded in a machine marker, the speed will cause even protected areas to bruise.
2. Automatic Marker
How is an automatic marker different from a machine marker? One of the main differences is that the automatic marker doesn’t shoot as fast as a machine gun. Moreover, it’s more advanced than a machine gun. Does that mean that it’s safer on the opponent even if marbles are used? No, because an automatic marker is still very dangerous no matter what the speed is.
3. Pump Paintball Marker
You might not be familiar with a pump paintball gun because it’s manual and that most paintball players prefer the automatic or electronic version. Nonetheless, a pump paintball marker is capable of shooting out marbles. The downside to this is that since it’s a manual marker, you have to pull the handle every time you will shoot a marble. If you’re not used to doing this quickly, then you waste so much time loading and preparing your shot.
4. Electronic Paintball Marker
Of course, there’s the electronic paintball marker. Among all the paintball markers in the market, this type is the most expensive. It’s mainly because it’s battery-powered and has several electronic features that you won’t find in other automatic or manual paintball guns. If you plan on using a marble on this one, know that you’re risking an expensive paintball gun just to try out a paintball substitute that won’t perform as well.
There are other types of paintball markers that are capable of shooting out marbles. However, it’s not recommended that you do so for fear that you will damage the paintball guns. Besides, you already know from the list above that they can shoot marbles.
Should You Shoot a Marble Using a Paintball Gun?
Among all the questions you’ve seen here, the most important question is, should you shoot a marble from a paintball gun? Here are some reasons why you shouldn’t.
It’s dangerous.
When you’re using a paintball gun for recreational purposes, you should not use a marble. This is because marbles are very dangerous when shot from a marker. Even when your friend wears protective gear, the marble is solid enough to cause major bruises on your friend. Besides, why would you want to do that much damage? Did you know that it can be considered an assault?
Given that marbles can inflict danger to anyone getting shot by it, shooting a marble from a marker is considered assault. There’s no doubt that it can cause harm. What’s worse is that when you shoot a marble towards a person’s goggles, there’s a chance that the glass or hard plastic will break causing the marble to hit the person’s eye. Again, protective gear doesn’t save your opponent from bruises caused by a marble.
You might get sued.
Are there laws stating that you can’t use a marble with a paintball gun? While there’s no explicit law that says so, there are laws that prohibit the use of firearms.
Is a paintball marker considered a firearm? Yes, when you use a marble or any other hard object aside from a paintball. Going back to the assault discussion above, using dangerous materials for recreational purposes is not allowed.
A simple bruise on the arm caused by a marble shouldn’t be taken lightly. Would you brush it off if that happened to you? You won’t, so it’s best to just not use marbles under any recreational circumstance.
You can’t use them in a real paintball game.
Can you use a marble as a paintball substitute during a game? Unfortunately, you can’t. Paintball establishments do not allow non-paintball substitutes to the game even if you’re playing with people who are already at the intermediate level in their paintball experience.
In other words, using marbles is against paintball rules. Why? They’re not paintballs of course! But other than that, they also act as ammunition which is definitely not allowed in a friendly game of paintball. You’ll end up having to buy a new set of paintballs or worse, you might get banned from the establishment. That’s just embarrassing, don’t you think?
It’s not reliable.
If you need more reason not to use marbles for your paintball games it’s this: it’s not reliable. Unless you’ve mastered shooting a marble, chances are that you’ll just ruin your game if you insist on using marbles.
Marbles are heavy. This means that they need more pressure so that they can have the same speed and velocity as a paintball. If you don’t know how to adjust the air pressure in your marker, then your attempt to using a marble is going to be pointless.
To add to that, marbles will easily fall down to the floor because of their weight. Instead of reaching your opponent, you will most likely find your marble right in front of the target because it failed to sustain the velocity. While some will argue that you can angle your paintball gun higher to compensate for the weight of the marble, this alone is not the best solution. The characteristics of marbles are very different from a paintball, so expect to have different results.
It may damage your paintball gun.
As mentioned earlier, paintball guns aren’t made for marbles. That’s pretty obvious, but why do people still do it? Well, that’s because paintball guns can still fire marbles and they won’t break instantly. In fact, even if you try to shoot a marble and it gets stuck, you can still find a remedy for it. However, why go through that hassle?
To add to that, you can damage the spring inside the barrel. Since marbles are heavier than paintballs, more force is needed to push out the marbles. Increasing the air pressure is not enough because there’s still a spring included in the whole mechanism.
What about a recoil? If you haven’t realized it yet, there’s a high chance that you experience a strong recoil from shooting a marble. If you’re not used to handling recoils, then you might change the angle of the marker at the last moment. This can be very dangerous. Not only are you not aiming properly, but you might also hit someone who’s unprotected. At this point, it doesn’t matter where they got hit.
FAQs
How fast can a paintball gun shoot?
The speed at which a paintball gun can shoot is regulated by most paintball fields to ensure the safety of players. The maximum speed allowed by most paintball fields is 300 feet per second (fps). This is equivalent to approximately 204 miles per hour (mph) or 328 kilometers per hour (km/h).
However, some fields may set a lower maximum speed limit, such as 280 fps, to further ensure safety. It is important to always follow the rules and regulations set by the paintball field you are playing on to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for everyone.
How far can a paintball gun shoot?
The maximum effective range of a paintball gun depends on several factors, including the type of gun, the type of paintballs being used, and the conditions of the playing field. The average effective range of a paintball gun is around 100-150 feet.
However, some guns can shoot paintballs up to 300 feet or more with the right conditions and setup. It is important to note that accuracy and velocity can decrease at longer distances, so it is generally not recommended to shoot at targets beyond the effective range.
Additionally, it is important to always follow the rules and regulations set by the paintball field you are playing on regarding shooting distances to ensure the safety of all players.
Conclusion
Paintball guns can shoot marbles but that doesn’t mean that you should do it. Apart from damaging your marker, you will most likely cause serious injury to the person you’ll hit. And since you’re not doing it for self-defense purposes, it’s considered an assault. The worst-case scenario is you get sued and you go through all these legal hassles just because of a marble. So should you still try shooting a marble from a paintball gun? No, you shouldn’t. It’s not worth it.
Check out our beginner’s guide to all things paintball for every aspect of paint balling and remember not to be naughty and try things like marbles!
