The Paintball Silencer

A paintball silencer is useful, as sometimes it is strategically desirable to reduce the noise of your paintball gun. A quiet gun allows a player to accomplish a stealth attack on the opposing team.

However before you even consider buying or making your own paintball silencer for your paint marker (gun), check with the laws in your province or state regarding the use of silencers. In most of the United States, a paintball marker is classified as a firearm. Silencers outfitted on any firearm are against the law in many states.

Although many people believe that a paintball marker should be considered to be a piece of athletic or sporting equipment, your local government may consider it a weapon. California is one state that has outlawed paintball gun silencers.

A paint ball silencer is basically a muffler for your paint marker. When a paint marker is discharged, a burst of gas propels the paintball down the barrel. The discharging of the gas at the end of the paintgun barrel is responsible for that loud popping noise that you here when the paintball is fired. The purpose of a paintball silencer is to absorb the sound and gas generated by the gun when it is fired. In essence, the more effective a silencer is at absorbing excess gas and sound, the more discreet your shot will be.

The most popular paintball silencer is the over-the-muzzle sound suppressor. Most of these silencers are homemade, as they are illegal to purchase in most states. Home made paintball silencers do not completely silence the sound of the discharge but they do significantly reduce the intensity of the popping noise.

Home made paintball silencers do not work well on semi-automatic style paintball guns as a lot of gas and noise is emitted from the body of the gun. To silence a semi-automatic style paintball marker you would have to encase the entire weapon in a silencer.

Paintball gun silencers work best on pump guns and other closed bolt guns. Semi-automatic guns make too much noise when the bolt is cocked back into trigger position, which defeats the whole purpose of using a paintball silencer in the first place.

Paintball markers with ported barrels also decrease the effectiveness of an over-the-muzzle paint ball silencer.

The most common materials that are used to make a home made paintball gun silencer are white plastic water pipe, foam padding and mesh. Usually these materials are wired or bolted to the barrel gun to reduce the sound of the gas discharging from the paintball marker.

In general, you can expect a silencer to decrease the velocity, accuracy and range of your shots.

It does make one wonder why one would feel the need to use a paintball gun silencer at all, especially when they are largely illegal. Still serious players of the game maintain that the loss of performance caused by the use of a silencer is compensated by the joy of being able to ambush your enemy with a surprise attack.

You will find killer paintball silencer and sniper gear here.

Related Articles:

Paintball Sniper.

Paintball Sniper Rifles.

Paintball Guns.

Tippmann 98 Upgrades.

Paintball Fields.

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