7 Paintball Safety Tips to Consider Before Playing
Are you looking for a new outdoor hobby to enjoy on the weekend? Do you want to spend time in the fresh air and sunshine, while getting exercise and using your mind to think strategically and overcome fun challenges?
Then paintball is right for you. This outdoor sport combines being outdoors, working together as a team, and getting exercise, benefitting your mental and physical health while providing tons of fun.
But if you're going to try paintball out for the first time, it pays to be prepared. There are a few safety tips you'll want to know to ensure it's all fun and games, and that you avoid any painful accidents.
So what are the paintballing safety tips to know and practice? Keep reading below to find out now.
1. Always Wear a Mask
The most important way to stay safe when playing paintball, and hanging out with paintball guns nearby, is to wear proper protective gear. Paintball masks cover the entire face to ensure you never get hit in the eyes, nose, or mouth.
You can also get a mask that covers your full head to prevent hits to the ears and skull. They have a full visor for uninterrupted visibility. And there is plenty of ventilation to ensure you can breathe with ease.
You need a proper paintball mask, not a pair of goggles or something that doesn't adequately cover the face.
As long as you practice this one thing, you will avoid most major injuries when it comes to paintball.
2. Keep Your Mask Clean and Clear
You are required to wear a mask if you are playing paintball at a public field. But there are a few other things you need to do to ensure maximum safety.
For one, keep your mask clean. If you get any paint on your mask, make sure to wipe it off completely. Using your hand or shirt will just smear the paint. Once a round ends, find a mask cleaning station to completely clean the lens.
Likewise, you need to prevent your mask from fogging up, otherwise, your visibility is impaired. This could lead to tripping and accidentally shooting a paintball at yourself or your teammates from close range.
Use a defogger spray before each round to ensure the mask isn't susceptible to fog from your body heat.
3. Use a Barrel Sleeve
Any time that you aren't on the paintball playing field, your paintball marker (or gun) needs to have a barrel sleeve secured over your barrel. These are cheap yet important protective accessories.
Barrel sleeves prevent the accidental discharge of a paintball in an area where people aren't wearing masks.
If you are renting a paintball gun, you will be provided with a barrel sleeve. If you bring your own, you'll need to have your own sleeve. Never take it off until you enter the playing field and are given the okay by the match official.
4. Follow No Shooting Signs
Regardless of what field you are playing at, there will be no shooting signs. You need to abide by these signs at all times or risk hurting someone and getting banned from the field.
Paintballs should only be discharged inside an actual playing field and a target range if there is one present. There's nowhere else that you can test out your paintballs or show off your gun to your friends.
5. Adjust Paintball Velocity
Cheap guns might not have the option to adjust the velocity or the speed at which paintballs are fired. But the best paintball gun 2021 has produced will have the option to adjust the velocity.
Make sure to set the velocity at or below the course limit. Some fields will set a limit of 280 fps (feet per second). It's your responsibility to know how to adjust the velocity on your marker.
If renting a paintball market, it will be set to the appropriate velocity.
6. Dress Appropriately
By wearing a mask, you can avoid any major injury that might occur. But other clothing is important as well, to make the games more comfortable.
You're going to get hit in the body with paintballs traveling more than 250 feet per second. On bare skin, it's likely to leave a nice welt and sting quite a bit. It has the potential to break the skin and cause minor bleeding.
You should never play paintball in shorts or a tee shirt. Always wear long pants and long sleeves. Gloves are important as well to protect your knuckles.
Clothing should be thick, durable, and a little loose. Skin-tight clothing won't protect you very much. Loose-fitting clothing can take most of the sting out of a paintball hit.
But you don't want it to be too loose, as your clothing can get caught on brush or debris as you are crawling and moving around.
Durable footwear, ideally boots that cover the ankles is a good idea as well. You're going to be on your feet for a few hours, so wear something with support.
You can also wear some type of tactical vest to hold some of your gear and also add a layer of protection to your torso.
7. Be a Good Sport
The last of our safe paintballing tips is to be a good sport. Follow all the rules of the field and listen to the referee.
Don't get upset at opposing players when you get hit or lose a match. Don't ignore the referee and keep firing after a match is done. And don't try and cheat by wiping paint off yourself after getting hit.
If everyone on the field is abiding by the rules and keeping a positive attitude, the gameplay will be a lot more fluid and fun, and accidents are less likely to occur.
Safety Tips Make Paintballing More Fun
Paintballing is extremely fun, especially if you come home after a long day without any injuries. It's a low-risk sport, so long as everyone is following these basic safety tips.
You might have a few red marks after a good match, but that's not much to complain about.
Looking for more tips like this? Browse through our blog today to keep reading.