Paintball markers (what people call them when they don’t want to say gun) are often recommended to people for self defense and there are several (not very good) reasons why this is, one of which is just how people make money online but first we’ll deal with the other reasons. After that I’ll tell you my recommendation for ones and how I’d deply them if I did. Which I don’t.
The first thing to understand about paintball guns is that they are perceived as cheap alternatives to firearms. People also thin they give you the same stand off capability of a firearm (they don’t) and don’t have some of the downsides of other non-lethal self defense tools, specifically pepper sprays which can be made useless or dangerous to you if the wind is blowing toward you. In fact they make pepper balls that fit in any paintball gun marketed to people worried about the wind effect.
The problem with that theory is deploying them for self defense is definitely not cheap. A good marker will be well over $100 and pepper balls average $2-3 a piece last I checked. Markers are also charged via CO2 (usually) which you have to buy bottles for. You can take the bottles you have to a store with a charger and have them refilled or some let you use commonly available 12 gram cartridges like you’d find for bb guns but still this will all add up to hundreds of dollars. Some markers just use these smaller cartridges but they sacrifice speed and power to do so is my understanding.
You can buy a Heritage Manufacturing .22 revolver for about $150 and 50 rounds of .22 LR will run you less than $10 these days. They used to be $1.99 a package but that was before the ammo shortages. There are still single shot shotguns available in most retailers for under $200. So would you rather shoot a guy six times with a .22 or bounce a few balls of them? I’d choose the .22 but that’s just me. I also like to save money.
The second thing you should understand about paintball guns and why people keep recommending them is political so bear with me. No matter where you stand on the gun control issue you of course know it manifests in our popular culture and political discussions quite a bit. The public’s acceptance of gun control ebbs and flows in part through the wider cultures experiences at the time. So when we Gen Xers were young and strong, and crime was going down year over year, my generation was more accepting of gun restrictions. But we’re all older now and crime is going up. People in my generation are now understanding we simply can’t fight off a younger person unarmed – so my generation is suddenly majority against gun restrictions. This happened with the baby boomers as well.
So gun control advocates often start trying to promote alternatives to guns for self defense when Americans views on guns change. In my day it was mace and free self defense classes at the YMCA. Today it’s CO2 powered “shotguns” that fire rubber balls just hard enough to leave a bruise. Or devices that look like phasers from Star Trek. I’m not going to argue this; if you don’t like guns this may appeal to you and if you have relatives who are older and living in high crime areas who won’t own guns this may be a solution – but in places where carrying guns are illegal other means of self defense, or self defense in general, tend to be illegal too. Pepper spray is illegal in the UK for example and many American states have a “duty to retreat’ doctrine meaning prosecutors can charge you for defending yourself if they decide you could have run away from the situation.
But back to the question there is just a hunger from certain people with certain politics to keep you from thinkin you need a gun. So they gravitate toward gimmicky self defense items and training.
Thirdly and most importantly paintball companies are actively marketing their products as self-defense products. They are producing “impact” balls and pepper filled balls for their products, kits that make existing markers more powerful, and even markers that are designed specifically for home defense.
I’ll note here I link to these pages for informational purposes, not as endorsements and I have no advertising or other relation with the companies above. I’ve heard good thigs about the though.
The nice thing about these home defense markers I they can be shipped to most people’s house. You can even find many on Amazon Prime. If you are in a state with a waiting period or are a “prohibited person” or just not near any gun shops this can be something you get squared away in a hour or so.
The fourth reason people recommend them to you is getting hit with a paintball hurts. It hurts a lot. People playing paintball wear pads and face masks for a reason. Once you move up to rubber balls it’s a whole new ball game. Here’s a body builder getting shot with 1000 paintballs just so you can visualize:
However, widely available pads and even thick clothing will moderate this. Antifa and Black Block members use umbrellas to defeat police pepper rounds for example. So while they seem to be a effective pain management tool they are not going to be effective in all cases against all people.
And finally since 2016 up until now we’ve seen police effectively use pepper balls to disperse crowds and even seen paintball guns fielded effectively in the right vs left clashes in places like Portland. I can’t find the video but there’s one of a pick up truck with Trump flags driving through one of these cities and as a mob rushes them throwing objects the passengers in the flatbed hold off dozens of people with a paintball gun. In this very specific circumstance paintball guns are the right tool, but why would you want to be in that circumstance?
Also, as a side note since you can buy them online some people recommend them because they can make money from affiliate programs. So grain of salt when people are trying to sell you on them.
For me the problem with this advice is that to be effective for self defense (not as part of a police force corralling protestors) you need a full auto marker. Many of the self-defense markers are semi-auto, which takes away one of the paintball markers advantages namely that some can fire as fast as 3-4 balls a second. If someone broke into your house hitting them with dozens of balls that hurt in a short time is better than hitting them with one or two, it will disorient them and hopefully trigger their flight response rather than just antagonizing them when they’re hit with one. And if you’re not going to use a full auto marker why not just use a .22 revolver?
All that being said what type of marker would I use and in what circumstances? If I lived in a city where the Proud Boy/Antifa street combat dynamic existed and riots happened on a regular basis I’d opt for some sort of full auto marker with lots of rubber balls. I’d use it when the “normal” clashes were happening but getting too close to my house. Driving off stragglers from the fighting without severely injuring them would be useful.
Paintball markers come in three calibers – .68, .50, and .43 – I’d stick with .68s. You get more variety of rounds and mass x velocity is the key to any projectile doing damage. the bigger the round here the better would be my thinking. However, I do actually like the looks of the First Strike Roscoe .50 revolver and like that it can be upgraded to fire a higher speeds but like I said in my neck of the woods I can get a .22LR revolver for less than I’d spend on that.
I’d avoid paint pistols for self defense though because they’re just not designed to get the high velocities I’d prefer if hitting someone with a ball. But they are convenient to put in a nightstand.
For almost two decades people have been experimenting with making sentry guns using paintball guns, robotic kits and targeting software. If I was more technically able I’d think about doing this as a “force multiplier” for home defense during riots. I have also seen people mount airsoft guns on drones, which would be another force multiplier for people if they could scale it u to fire rubber balls:
I suppose the above might work with the .43 caliber pepper balls. I’d think about that if I knew anything about drones. If you do it’s something to think about.
But that’s just my two cents. Give me yours on my Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/oldtimeypistolero/
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Author Rob Taylor
