Paintball Gear - Kit Yourself Out
Paintball Gear is a broad term covering all the paraphernalia you need to set yourself up in paintball.
This might include: a gun, ammo, mask, clothing, safety equipment and carrying belt.
For the purpose of this article, I will disregard the paintball gun and all of its attachments.
Whilst it is the most important piece of "gear", it requires a whole article to itself (if not many).
Apart from the gun, what else do you need to kit yourself out for paintball? After the gun, the most important piece of paintball gear is the mask.
The number of serious injuries may well be lower in paintball than numerous other sports, but they can be severe.
It is not pleasant to be struck on the head by a paintball traveling at 300 feet per second.
It is essential that you protect your eyes and ears from paintball damage.
It is sensible to wear a mask with ear flaps, and a visor to give protection from the sun.
The mask should cover the whole head to avoid being struck on a sensitive area.
They come in an assortment of colours and styles, but as cool as they look, safety must be your first concern with this type of paintball gear.
The mask must fit securely and be comfortable.
Alternatively, You could opt for protective glasses or goggles.
These do not give as much protection as the full mask, but they are better than nothing.
Protective eye-wear must provide full coverage of the eye area.
Regular glasses or sunglasses are not sufficient.
The glasses must have side blinders to protect you from fast flying projectiles.
Keeping to the safety aspect of paintball gear, you may also want to consider a padded paintball suit.
This gives extra built-in protection to vulnerable areas, such as the chest and neck.
Or you may favour hard plastic body armour that can help protect your back, chest, arms and legs.
Gloves, vests, boxes and collars also increase your protection on the field.
Many players feel happier about playing if they know they are fully protected and can, therefore, enjoy the game more.
One of the reasons for the encouraging paintball safety statistics is that there is a strong emphasis on wearing the correct protective gear and you may not be allowed to play without it.
Although there is no requirement to dress in a certain way, your clothing choices are important.
You need to wear thick clothing for added protection; short sleeves or pants do not give sufficient coverage, whatever the weather.
Your clothes should be reasonably close fitting; baggy clothes increase your chance of getting hit and eliminated.
You can buy clothing designed specifically for paintball, which can be effective, but whatever you choose, you need to feel comfortable and be able to move freely.
Paintballs fall loosely into the category of paintball gear.
They too, like markers, merit an article to themselves (see Paintballs: Your Questions Answered ).
They vary a great deal in quality, and as you would expect, they give different levels of performance.
You should expect to pay more for ammo of a higher quality.
Another useful item of paintball gear is a special carrying belt for holding your paintballs.
The carrying belt holds tubes that can hold 200 paintballs each.
You can find a wide variety of appropriate paintball gear in sporting goods stores, discount retailers and paintball specialty stores.
There are also many different online stores offering an impressive selection of guns, ammo and protective kit for reasonable prices.
Aside from the gun and ammo, your most important items of paintball gear will be concerned with safety and comfort.
You must take your time to purchase wisely.
This might include: a gun, ammo, mask, clothing, safety equipment and carrying belt.
For the purpose of this article, I will disregard the paintball gun and all of its attachments.
Whilst it is the most important piece of "gear", it requires a whole article to itself (if not many).
Apart from the gun, what else do you need to kit yourself out for paintball? After the gun, the most important piece of paintball gear is the mask.
The number of serious injuries may well be lower in paintball than numerous other sports, but they can be severe.
It is not pleasant to be struck on the head by a paintball traveling at 300 feet per second.
It is essential that you protect your eyes and ears from paintball damage.
It is sensible to wear a mask with ear flaps, and a visor to give protection from the sun.
The mask should cover the whole head to avoid being struck on a sensitive area.
They come in an assortment of colours and styles, but as cool as they look, safety must be your first concern with this type of paintball gear.
The mask must fit securely and be comfortable.
Alternatively, You could opt for protective glasses or goggles.
These do not give as much protection as the full mask, but they are better than nothing.
Protective eye-wear must provide full coverage of the eye area.
Regular glasses or sunglasses are not sufficient.
The glasses must have side blinders to protect you from fast flying projectiles.
Keeping to the safety aspect of paintball gear, you may also want to consider a padded paintball suit.
This gives extra built-in protection to vulnerable areas, such as the chest and neck.
Or you may favour hard plastic body armour that can help protect your back, chest, arms and legs.
Gloves, vests, boxes and collars also increase your protection on the field.
Many players feel happier about playing if they know they are fully protected and can, therefore, enjoy the game more.
One of the reasons for the encouraging paintball safety statistics is that there is a strong emphasis on wearing the correct protective gear and you may not be allowed to play without it.
Although there is no requirement to dress in a certain way, your clothing choices are important.
You need to wear thick clothing for added protection; short sleeves or pants do not give sufficient coverage, whatever the weather.
Your clothes should be reasonably close fitting; baggy clothes increase your chance of getting hit and eliminated.
You can buy clothing designed specifically for paintball, which can be effective, but whatever you choose, you need to feel comfortable and be able to move freely.
Paintballs fall loosely into the category of paintball gear.
They too, like markers, merit an article to themselves (see Paintballs: Your Questions Answered ).
They vary a great deal in quality, and as you would expect, they give different levels of performance.
You should expect to pay more for ammo of a higher quality.
Another useful item of paintball gear is a special carrying belt for holding your paintballs.
The carrying belt holds tubes that can hold 200 paintballs each.
You can find a wide variety of appropriate paintball gear in sporting goods stores, discount retailers and paintball specialty stores.
There are also many different online stores offering an impressive selection of guns, ammo and protective kit for reasonable prices.
Aside from the gun and ammo, your most important items of paintball gear will be concerned with safety and comfort.
You must take your time to purchase wisely.
