Can Paintball Guns Shoot Rubber Balls?
Although paintball markers are chiefly designed to fire paintball pellets, many guns can be used with different types of projectiles. You may wish to consider alternative ammunition if you are running low on paintball pellets for practice, for example. You may also want to up the ante and opt for a more aggressive style of play. If this is the case, you can consider using rubber balls in place of paintball rounds.
Using Rubber Balls as Projectiles
One of the most popular alternatives to standard paintball rounds are rubber balls. Just like paintball pellets, rubber balls come in a variety of sizes and types, allowing you to use such balls with a variety of different markers and barrel sizes.
When choosing suitable rubber balls, you should think about the barrel sizing of your market. Most paintball guns are designed to be used with 0.68 caliber paintball rounds, so you will need something similarly sized when swapping out paintball rounds for rubber ball projectiles.
Rubber balls are a good alternative to paintball rounds if you are looking for projectiles that produce less mess. Unlike paintball pellets, they will not explode upon impact, leaving your gear and clothing covered in paint splashes. Even the softest of rubber balls are durable enough that they can be used more than once, however, you will probably have a hard time tracking down fired projectiles for later use.
Although firm enough to be fired out of the barrel of a paintball gun, rubber balls will yield when they make contact with a surface. Even though they may cause some discomfort to a target when a shot successfully lands, they are unlikely to leave behind welts and bruises.
If you find that standard rubber balls are causing too much discomfort when playing, you can switch them out for a softer alternative. These look very similar to harder rubber balls, but will not produce the same stinging sensation upon impact.
If you are simply looking to train with a new marker and don’t want to have to pull on a complete set of clothing and protective gear, soft rubber balls are the perfect choice of ammunition. When using soft rubber balls as projectiles, you don’t even really need to worry about visors and face protection.
Finally, you have so-called pepper balls. Although strictly the same thing as rubber balls, they are worth mentioning here. These balls shatter like a standard paintball pellet upon impact, but as they are not filled with liquid paint, they won’t leave behind any residue.