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paintballimpact.com / Paintballs / Considerations
Considerations for Buying Paint
There are a number of important considerations to have before buying paint. The key lesson to learn in this article is that not all paint is created equal. Some paintballs are higher quality than others, and some paintballs are better designed for certain weather conditions like the cold and heat. Some paint is suited for day games, and some paintballs are specifically designed for night paintball. Also, not all paintballs are even the same size, just because the picture on the box says .68 caliber does not mean that the paintball will be exactly .68000 caliber. If you buy 3 boxes of paintballs from 3 different manufacturers, one may be .681 caliber, one may be .6805, and one may be .6819. Though these differences may seem subtle, small size differences may affect the way the rounds come out of your marker. Before making the choice on how much paint to buy and who to buy it from, consider the manufacturing process and what goes into making a quality paintball.
The Manufacturing Process. Modern paintballs are of a water based paint fill within a clear or painted gelatin shell. A process of producing and encapsulating the paint is very similar to the process used to produce pharmaceutical drugs, vitamins, and nutritional supplements. Manufacturers began the process by producing the mixture that makes up the hollow shell. The mixture is comprised of heated water, a sweetening substance, a blend of food additives, and a preservative. The mixture is heated and blended into a mixing bowl while being combined with gelatin. The entire mixture is combined and cleaned of any impurities for 30 minutes. The purified mixture is then transferred into a heated vat called the gel tote. Once the mixture is transferred into the gel tote, the food dye that will give the shell its color is added. This new mixture is machine stirred for the next 30 minutes.
While this is being done, another manufacturing process is creating the paint fill. The fill is made from polyethylene glycol. The gel and marker meet in the feed room. In the feed room, the two main components of the paintball are combined and sealed, and cooled, and rolled, and boxed up for shipping out.
The entire manufacturing process is very complex, and some companies have an end product than others. There are a number of considerations to make before buying paint.
- Price is usually the first consideration. Some cases of 2000 paintballs sell for $75, others sell for $38. Is one set twice as good as the other. Are the $38 paintballs really crappy? The answer to these two questions is that all of these things may be taken on a case by case basis. Just because a case of paintballs are cheap does not mean that they are a low grade product. But one should know that there are low quality products on the market today. A low grade paintball can jam your feed tube or marker chamber.
- Consider what conditions you will be using your pain in. Arctic Dusk Balls from Game Face are designed to operate well in cold weather conditions.
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