Im 12 and i watched a couple of paintball fights on youtube wen i was bored and it look awsome i wanna start playing it but i dont know what to buy besides a mask vest and a gun the gun im getting is a tippman 98 from what iv heard that is best for begginers. Created by Rott. sports-en - outdoor-recreation-en - other-outdoor-recreation-en

what is a good paintball gun for a begginer?

Minimum gear, assuming you want to own your own gear, rather than rent it at a paintball field:

Paintball gun, goggles/mask, barrel cover, loader (the pod that sticks up that holds the paintballs) and some sort of air tank (compressed air, CO2, etc). Only a mask designed for paintball will work, you can't use ski goggles or shop goggles.

Optional gear includes things like extra ammo pods, vest, air hose (to mount the air tank on a belt or vest, rather than the gun), upgrades to the gun, knee pads, elbow pads, cup or chest protector (depending on your gender), armored gloves, etc.

A Tippmann 98 is not a bad gun, but the gun itself runs around $140, and the package deal Tippmann offers on their online store (loader, gun, mask) is not terribly good at $170. In my opinion, you'd be better off buying a cheaper gun, and getting better goggles.

An ACI Maverick is around $65-$70, half the price of a Tippmann 98, and offers roughly the same level of quality. The Maverick is pump operated, rather than semi-automatic, which will encourage you to build skill rather than wasting ammo in rapid fire (you only need one good shot to win, after all), and will also help keep your ammunition expenses down. Then go $10 or so for a basic loader, $5 for a barrel cover, and a small CO2 tank (since you use muscle power to work the bolt, you use less air and can use smaller tanks for the same number of shots) which will cost around $20-$35. Lastly, go for a good quality mask, figure to spend about $50-$80 on the mask. Good goggles make an enormous difference, since the cheap kind generally don't include features like easily-changed lenses (you need to change them yearly, and should change them sooner, after any lens hit) or anti-fog coatings. It's hard to play if you can't see what you're doing.

Maverick, loader, CO2 tank, barrel cover and a good mask will cost you about the same as a Tippmann 98 with a piece of crap mask and cheap loader. The links I've included are to the first two hits from a Google search for "ACI Maverick". The first is a review of the gun from a reliable paintball review site, the second is an online store that sells them.

Answers & Comments

Belunan

Verified answer

I agree with the Tippman 98 as a starter. I had one and I loved it. They're rugged and can take a beating, rarely misfire and are easy to disassemble, clean and reassemble.

They also make decently accurate sniper markers if you replace the short stock barrel with a long quality barrel.