After your goggles, your paintball marker (or paintball gun) is the most important piece of paintball gear for any player – after all, you can’t play without one!

So here is an intro to the paintball marker to get you started:

• Paintball markers are so named as the first Paintball “guns” were agricultural paint markers used to mark cattle and trees. Paintball Markers use paintballs to “mark” other players.
• Paintball markers are usually powered by CO2 (Carbon Dioxide), HPA (High-Pressure Air) or Nitrogen
• Paintball markers can fire a paintball up to 300 FPS. This speed enables paintballs to burst on impact but is low enough that serious damage should not be caused by a paintball during play.
• There are several types of paintball marker, which are explained below:
  - Pump-Action: The most basic of paintball markers. Only one paintball at a time can be fired each time you cock your marker.
  - Semi-Automatic: One paintball is fired every time the trigger is pressed.
  - Automatic: Paintballs are fired repeatedly when the trigger is kept pressed. Some use electro pneumatic technology, where an electronic micro switch makes the paintball marker respond faster.
• Some paintball markers are manufactured especially to resemble the look and feel of real guns, like the Tippman A-5. These paintball markers are commonly referred to as mil-sim (Military Simulation) markers.