Doing it in the forest (Paintball in General)

Member Name: huddro

Product:	Paintball in General
Date:	10/01/02 (786 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun, keeps you fit

Disadvantages: none

I moved slowly, inching forward on my stomach through the long grass. The webbing straps determined to snag at every opportunity. The silence beneath the canopy of trees magnifying the sounds I make. The damp finally penetrates my combat overalls, my tee shirt underneath rubbing but it has to be this way, there is just no cover to move any other way. Approaching the tree line I strain my head slightly, scanning the area in front of me, nothing I could have been alone. I check my weapon and slowly pan the tree line nothing moves.

Then I see him inching out into the clearing, amateur, he couldn’t rifle crawl to save his life. That thought makes me smirk as in about thirty seconds he is going to wish he had learnt to rifle crawl or maybe not as he is not going to be here much longer.

I roll onto my left side bringing my automatic weapon into my shoulder. I spread my legs slightly and focus, he fills my sight but at 75 yards it’s a long shot. I wait watching. He is oblivious, turning to wave to a friend in the tree line behind him, thank you ….. now I know where your back up is. At 50 yards I take three rapid breaths to oxygenate my system then slowly breathe out as I tighten pressure on the trigger.

Holding my breath I squeeze with slightly more pressure, there is a crack and almost immediately he gasps …. cannot believe he has been shot. I roll left into cover as his backup fires whump whump whump as ammunition hits where I was laying. Luckily my backup is more on the ball and pretty soon cries of marshal echo from within the opposite tree line as our two-paintball opponents retire from the game.

Paintball can be as serious or as fun as you want it to be. A great corporate day out for team building, or a competitive sport to get the adrenaline flowing and test a number of skills.

So what is paintball?

Well the paintball I am talking about is skirmishing, the basic form of th
e game where two teams face each other with a definitive challenge, maybe to capture the opposing team flag or take a fort. There are several more challenging games for the real enthusiast (or wanna be SAS man/woman) but we are entering a whole different realm there.

The skirmish game originated around 1984 when a number of agencies that ran team building corporate days decided that outward bound type days were dated and as the Americans were running round shooting each other it would be a good way for yuppies to team build. Well the boys and girls in the City took to it like ducks to water and pretty son we found we were participating in the American banks paintball challenge the broker cup and we wanted to do it in our spare time too.

Pretty quickly the paintball companies cottoned onto this and opened their doors to public participation.

What happens?
Well call up your nearest paintball center, these can be found in the Yellow pages or on the net and book a paintball day. They will advise you to wear some old clothes, some sturdy boots and give you a time to turn up. Do be on time as latecomers make it hard to divide into teams and interrupt the safety briefings.

So on arrival you need to register and pay your fee generally around £20 for the day and this will include hire of the gun and gas as well as your safety equipment which we will talk about in a little while. You will need to buy ammunition e.g. paintballs which are generally sold now in packs of 50 and work out at about 4 to 6p a ball. You can also buy additional fun ammunition but again we will talk about that later.

Once everyone has registered the marshals will divide you into teams, depending on numbers this may be two or four teams, and begin the safety briefing.

Safety
This is the top priority and the number of accidents over the history of paintball is exceptionally low making it a great sport. Not that it does not hurt! You
will be issued with a number of items of equipment for your safety:

Facemask and goggles
This may be of one-piece construction or a separate mask and goggles. These stop you getting seriously hurt, as a paintball to the face at 80mph will cause a lot of damage to eyes, lips, and gums if you happen to have your mouth open! The masks are generally in two styles the hockey type that protects your face only or a wraparound type that covers the ears. I generally go for the hockey mask as technically headshots are illegal and do not count and the mask covering your ears limits hearing.

When in the game area you must wear these items at all times and only ever remove them back in the safe area. I will explain these terms a little further down.

Overalls
Camouflage overalls not only make it harder for the “enemy” to see you but also protect you from the impact of the paintballs. The current weapons using gas fire the paintballs at around 300 feet per second as the leave the muzzle. That hurts when it hits you so as well as the enforced exclusion zone the overalls give you a little protection. They also soak up the paint and protect your own clothes underneath

Terminology so far
Safe area
This is the area where loaded weapons are not allowed. You will remove your hopper (the bit that carries the pellets), clear your weapon and show to a Marshall that it is clear before entering this area.

Game area
Guess what this is the bit after you have loaded your weapon. It is any area outside the safe area and mask and goggles must be worn at all times.
Exclusion Zone
Due to the velocity of the paintballs and at this speed they will penetrate flesh causing a very messy wound the marshals will enforce a 6 to 8 feet exclusion zone. If you are closer than that to your enemy you may not shoot each other. Shooting results in disqualification!

Ok the final piece of advice I can give you i
s to wear gloves. Not only will your hands get sweaty on a hot day, and cold on a cold day (obviously) and affect your grip on the weapon but a shot ricocheting off your weapon will take a nail off and we are not talking a little broken nail I actually saw a guy have his thumbnail ripped right off!

So lecture over on to the fun stuff the weapons.

Weapons
There are two types of gun in common use a pump action and a semi automatic weapon. The main difference being that one is a single shot manual weapon and the other a gas powered weapon that has the capability to fire for as long as you hold the trigger down.

The gas semi automatics are by far the most common now and are pretty powerful. As I mentioned earlier the ball leaves the muzzle at about 300 feet per second and will travel accurately around 70 to 80 yards though you will hit at 100yards if your gun is in exceptional condition. These weapons make a great sound as well!

Ammunition
Paint balls .68 inch calibre (thanks markw-d)and made of a very thin plastic filled with a temporary dye that will disappear in plenty of time for your next game. You load up your hopper, attach it to the top of the gun and the paintballs drop vertically into the muzzle.

Grenades…. now these really are fun. A paint grenade if thrown to explode at chest height will cover an area of about 6 feet so anyone in it is out of the game. Making a big bang these are ideal for games where you have to gain access to a building or any defended area.

Games
Over the day you will play a number of games against the other teams working on a league basis. You will have to capture enemy flags and bring them back to your base. You will storm buildings to neutralize the other team and many other variations depending on the imagination of the marshals.

If hit a marshal will verify whether you are killed or wounded, if killed you are out of the game and will go to the a
rea set aside for dead people. If wounded you may carry on until the marshal says you have died or until you are hit again but obviously if hit on an arm you may not use that arm the same for a leg etc.

Conclusion
Playing paintball will test your coordination, your communication, and your interaction with others. The team that wins is the one that can communicate and organize itself rather than having just a number of individuals charging around doing their own thing.

Most of all paintball is fun in the fresh air and gives gym haters like me a little exercise and some good laughs with friends.

Well I hope that’s given you a taste and perhaps you will try it one day, but remember stay alert and keep your head down.

I signal to my back up and we move out from the tree line and into the recently vacated positions of our enemy. I signal to my left and the next two man assault team moves into position. A slight rustle on my right and our third team signals position.

We edge forward looking for the enemy defence teams. Their flag hangs limply from the trunk of an old oak. Cigarette smoke curls from a ditch to the left of it and my assault team 2 signal that is where they will hit. I raise my hand and count off 3 with my fingers grenades whirl to explode above the ditch dousing the enemy in paint, smoke curls and we yell as weapons on automatic we storm into the smoke…………..


For more information check out the Paintball federation site and find a war near you!


http://www.ukpsf.com/

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