mechanical paintball gun shop online in USA – East coast paintball marker
Before you decide on a single gun, you’ll need to decide on a type. In this guide, we’ll look at two types:
Electronic and manual paintball guns.
Your paintball gun is your most important piece of equipment.
And that makes choosing the right one the most important decision you’ll make.
At their most basic, there are three types of paintball guns:
Pump paintball guns
Pump paintball guns operate with a shotgun-like pumping action to load the paintball into the chamber. They’re the simplest design with good reliability, but they’re inaccurate and slow to fire.
That’s why few people use them.
It’s also why we’ll ignore them for now.
Instead, we’ll explore the similarities and differences between the two most common types of markers: electronic vs. Mechanical paintball guns.
One is objectively better than the other, but both have their strengths and weaknesses.
Let’s start by quickly exploring how each works.
(by the way, our guide to the 11 best paintball guns names our top picks for the best mechanical paintball gun and the best electronic paintball gun, so take 60 seconds to check that out.)
The Tippmann a5 is one of the most popular mechanical paintball guns because of its build quality, reliability, and customization.
How mechanical paintball guns work
Mechanical paintball guns are typically semi-automatic, which means one trigger pull fires one paintball.
They are fully mechanized, as their name implies, with no need for repeated manual hand-pumping or external power sources (e.g., batteries).
Each trigger pull moves a sear catch, which releases a striker held under spring pressure. The spring decompresses, propelling the striker forward, where it hits a valve that releases compressed air. The firing pressure pushes your paintball downfield while simultaneously blowing the striker back into its starting position, where it locks behind the sear catch until you pull the trigger again.
This is called a blowback design, and it gives you the realistic recoil action of a traditional firearm.
Popular mechanical paintball guns
- Tippmann a5
- Kingman spyder
- Walken sw1
- Advantages of mechanical paintball guns
- Typically, much less expensive.
- Usually easier to operate
- No battery power is required (no replacements or recharging).
- Replacement parts are easily accessible.
- Disadvantages of mechanical paintball guns
- Less accurate and consistent
- Higher air pressure is usually required to fire.
- Firing speeds can vary slightly from shot to shot.
- Louder
Must be cocked before being fired.
The planet eclipse etha 2, a spool valve mechanical marker, is many paintballers’ absolute favorite gun.
How electronic paintball guns work
Electronic paintball guns are more complicated. There are three main types, briefly described in the table below, but they all share one commonality: the mechanised trigger release used in mechanical paintball guns is replaced by a circuit-driven mechanism powered by a battery (either 9v or rechargeable).
Here are the 3 types of electronic paintball guns:
Type of electronic paintball gun how does it work?
Electronic sear trippers are the same as a machine gun, except your trigger pull does not move the sear catch mechanically. instead, it powers an electronic solenoid that moves the sear catch. These guns still have blowback.
Pneumatic poppet valves these guns still use a striker to hit a valve, releasing compressed air, except there’s no sear catch. Instead, your trigger pull tells the circuit board to fire a pneumatic ram at the air valve. You still get blowback with this design.
Spool valves spool valve guns operate very differently. No internal parts collide or blowback, making these guns especially reliable.
They’re hard to explain with words, but this animation is great. Essentially, a circuit board moves a single tube inside the gun that extends to release compressed air from a chamber and then returns to its starting position, allowing compressed air to refill the chamber while loading another paintball into position.
For more information on the differences between all three, check out our guide to the 3 types of paintball guns.
· Popular electronic paintball guns
- Bt-4 (electronic sear tripper) empire battle-tested
- Planet eclipse etek 4 (pneumatic poppet valve)
- Planet eclipse etha 2 (spool valve)
- Advantages of electronic paintball guns
- Can fire much faster thanks to programmed firing modes
- Usually smaller and lighter.
- The trigger is much lighter and requires less force to pull.
- Can operate with lower pressure, meaning better air tank efficiency.
- Some have no blowback for better accuracy.
- Disadvantages of electronic paintball guns
Much more expensive
Much more difficult to repair.
Parts often aren’t standardised across the industry and are specific to the manufacturer or model.
Hpa is usually required.
Require a power supply
The 5 most significant differences between electronic and mechanical paintball guns
The pros and cons above tell most of the story, but let’s dive a little deeper into 5 key differences.
1. Electronic paintball guns have far more firing modes.
Most mechanical paintball guns are one pull, one shot. If you want to fire five shots, you need to pull the trigger five times. That means your firing speed is limited by your finger speed.
Note that this isn’t universally true. Some mechanical guns, like the tippmann a5, offer upgrades that give you fully automatic mode as well. As long as you hold the trigger down, the gun keeps firing.
Electronic paintball guns are controlled by a circuit board, which basically means they have a brain. Programmers can design these circuit boards to do any number of things. For example, two common electronic gun firing modes are three-shot burst and ramping.
A three-shot burst occurs when each trigger pull fires three shots. In order to reach the maximum rate of 15.4 shots per second, you only need to pull the trigger five times.
Ramping is a more complex mode. In this mode, your gun fires as a semi-automatic (one pull, one shot) until you reach a threshold rate, generally 5 bullets per second (bps). When you reach that threshold, the gun automatically begins firing at or near the maximum rate as long as you maintain that 5 bps, hold the trigger down, or fail to pull the trigger for a full second (the specific disengagement criteria depends on the type of ramping mode, which can vary by manufacturer).
2. Some electronic paintball guns have no blowback.
Spool-valve guns have a smooth mechanism with no blowback. This makes for easier firing and improved accuracy. However, some players don’t like the lack of blowback because it’s less realistic.
3. Electronic paintball guns need to be recharged.
Regardless of whether an electronic gun has a 9-volt battery that needs to be changed or a rechargeable battery, it still needs something to power it, and that something can run out of juice. Mechanical paintball guns have no powered mechanisms and will fire until they break.
4. Electronic paintball guns are more air-efficient.
Refilling your tank is always annoying. With electronic guns, you refill less frequently because they require less compressed air per shot.
This is a feature of their consistent air discharge, which requires less pressure to shoot. However, you’ll need to use hpa instead of co2.
5. Electronic paintball guns are generally more expensive.
The complicated circuit board and electronic components are more expensive to produce, and that means a higher price tag. Some of the top-end electronic paintball guns approach $500, whereas the best mechanical guns top out at around $200.
What are the advantages of mechanical paintball guns?
• less costly
• easier to operate
• there is no need for a battery.
• easy-to-find parts
What are the disadvantages of mechanical paintball markers?
• less consistent and accurate
• louder
• firing speeds vary slightly from shot to shot.
• higher air pressure is usually required.
• the firearm must be cocked before firing.
What are the advantages of electronic paintball guns?
• smaller/lighter
• faster firing due to programmed firing modes
• the trigger is way lighter and requires less pulling force.
• uses less pressure, which improves air tank efficiency.
• many have better accuracy because they have no blowback.
What are the disadvantages of electronic paintball guns?
• harder to repair
• more costly
• parts are often specific to the manufacturer or model.
• typically necessitate hpa
• a power source is required.
What are the key differences between electronic and mechanical paintball guns?
• electronic paintball guns have more firing modes.
• some electronic markers have no blowback.
• you have to recharge electronic guns.
• electronic paintball markers are more air-efficient.
• electronic paintball guns cost more money.
Electronic vs. Mechanical paintball guns: final thoughts
Truthfully, most paintballers end up owning both.
Mechanical paintball guns don’t require charging, can use either co2 or hpa, are easier to fix, and are less expensive Shop Paintball & Airsoft sports equipment online – USA.
Electronic paintball guns have the latest and greatest features and offer high firing rates with their innovative firing modes in smaller, more air-efficient packages. This makes them great for speedball.
If you’re new to paintball, get an entry-level mechanical marker like the Tippmann Cronus tactical or gog me. It’ll get the job done at a solid price point.
If you’re looking to up your game and supplement your arsenal with programmed firing modes, an electronic marker like the proto maxxed rize 2 or planet eclipse etha 2 might be up your alley our any product you can purchase on East coast paintball in paintball compressed air tank.