Safe FPS speed for paintball play [Archive]

NoobieDood

01-17-2002, 11:40 AM

So what does everyone consider "safe" for their FPS on their markers... the outdoor field near me is 280, indoor is 260... anyone have any opinions on what is too fast or slow... just curious...

death

01-17-2002, 11:47 AM

eh under 300 for me. (i keep if 275)

Chad51

01-17-2002, 11:48 AM

anything below 300fps. is safe but most people wont go above 280 just for the extra precausion. Indoor fields and when playing at night etc. are lower because most shoot outs are alot closer and being hit at a close range has a tendance to hurt!

Cerberust

01-17-2002, 12:02 PM

the speedball feild i went to required 270 or lower, but woods i play between that and 300 id say, id get a chrono but those things are damned expensive...

MuckRaker

01-17-2002, 12:42 PM

I think 280 is standard at most fields, probably an insurance thing.

UTLadiesMan

01-17-2002, 01:06 PM

280-300 is good enough for me. I don't like the lower limits because they actually hurt more. At least that's my opinion. (they bounce a lot more often)

Ebonclaw

01-17-2002, 01:29 PM

300 FPS and below.

TheSickness

01-17-2002, 02:58 PM

i dont get why they make you lower your fps for indoor and not speedball tournies. it hurts like hell when you get shot from 2 feet away with a gun thats shooting 295 fps.

flyingdeadbody1

01-17-2002, 04:36 PM

Originally posted by TheSickness
i dont get why they make you lower your fps for indoor and not speedball tournies. it hurts like hell when you get shot from 2 feet away with a gun thats shooting 295 fps.

especially when you get shot 10 times :| :| :| :crazy:

Deep Sixx

01-17-2002, 07:22 PM

Originally posted by Cerberust
the speedball feild i went to required 270 or lower, but woods i play between that and 300 id say, id get a chrono but those things are damned expensive...

You can get a handheld chronograph for about $70. How much is your eyesight worth? There's no excuse to not have one... if you can't scrape up the coin, go in with a couple of buddies and share one. Our team shares one.

D6

WVprankster

01-17-2002, 07:34 PM

anything under 300 is fine, but i prefer 250(indoor) to 285.

ds613

01-17-2002, 07:40 PM

Outdoor hyperball, sup'air and ball wall is all I play. The limit is 300fps. I get my gun as close as possible, and so do my friends. Also, bunkering experienced players is allowed (not newbies). Sometimes painful, but always fun.:D

This is not the limit for tourneys. It's like 280 going on the field and 300 coming off.

ReXy

01-18-2002, 05:56 AM

280

Friday

01-18-2002, 08:33 AM

Other than safety reasons, why is it bad to go over 300? Quoting one of the Mods at PbNation "More velocity = more range" I would much prefer safety than more range. But I would imagine some people would rather go for range.

My friend has the mentality that higher fps means more range and accuracy. I bet many people think that way too. Especially with wannabe snipers.

Is there a point where the paintball stops being accurate and lose range? Kinda like a paper airplane. Throw it really hard and it goes all over the place. But gently throwing it lets it glide.

Crime Dog

01-18-2002, 09:18 AM

I stick around 285 fps. Outdoors where I play, the upper limit is 300. At Toledo Indoor, it's 280 fps.

Deep Sixx

01-18-2002, 10:52 AM

Originally posted by Friday
Other than safety reasons, why is it bad to go over 300? Quoting one of the Mods at PbNation "More velocity = more range" I would much prefer safety than more range. But I would imagine some people would rather go for range.

My friend has the mentality that higher fps means more range and accuracy. I bet many people think that way too. Especially with wannabe snipers.

Is there a point where the paintball stops being accurate and lose range? Kinda like a paper airplane. Throw it really hard and it goes all over the place. But gently throwing it lets it glide.

Be careful when playing with that friend... his ignorance is going to get someone hurt.

Over 300 fps, your accuracy will actually decrease as the balls will start to curve all over the place. It will probably go farther, but it won't go straight. No field will let you play over 300, most are around 280.

D6

Richy_C

01-18-2002, 12:55 PM

300 for woods
285 for speedball
260 indoors

Seems decent to me

flyingdeadbody1

01-18-2002, 07:28 PM

howbout this, my gun=290, rental guns with co2=250!!! ha!!

ThaFiend

01-19-2002, 12:29 PM

I play 260 for all games EXCEPT rec, for rec I set tie FPS to 275 cause rec field is where all the newbies play so they're ducking back and forth really fast cause they can't find a good spot where they can't get hit easily, so the extra speed comes in handy some of the time.

HondaRacer2120

01-19-2002, 03:51 PM

indooor 250
outdoor 280

its funny that the indoor shots seem to hurt worse than the outdoor ones:eyes:

Slayerized

01-19-2002, 08:32 PM

On a related note, a friend of mine was playing with some guys, and they didn't have a chronograph, but they all said they were under. But during the game, my friend was getting shot at, and his hopper got hit. The paintball made a crack in his hopper! HE imediately quit, and went home. How fast was this ball going, in order to be able to crack his hopper?

Codestar20

01-19-2002, 10:32 PM

Slayerized- Before I had my revy I had the plain old VL200 and a kid shot a hole right through my hopper. It just when through one side and broke pretty much all the paint in the hopper. It wasn't just a crack either, it was big enough to push a paintball through. He was shooting way hot and needless to say we kicked him out for the day.

ClockworkMiller

01-20-2002, 12:06 AM

Im suprised no body said this.

320fps.

Anything faster than that is considered a firearm. So as long as you stay under that, according to the government, your safe. Most fields say 300 because its a nice even number.

RC_Weasul

01-20-2002, 05:28 AM

280 is perfect

Chad51

01-20-2002, 08:10 AM

ClockworkMiller,
Some how I don't think anyone would be too interested in taking that risk of putting their guns between 300-320. I would say that is pushing it!

ClockworkMiller

01-20-2002, 01:17 PM

Chad51,

Thats the legal limit according to the ATF. Anything higher is considered a lethal weapon. Clocking in at 310 isnt a bad thing, but most fields just try and play on the side of least risk.

Ive been shot by someone clocking in at 320, at exactly 25 yards, to see if it would hurt. Let me just say that 20fps really doesnt make much of a difference. I couldnt tell.

Chad51

01-20-2002, 03:24 PM

Ok I get what you are saying but just to play it safe I will stay below 300. It would really suck if I lost an eye!

PartsMart

01-22-2002, 08:54 AM

Well paintballs hurt either way I think, whether their at 200 or 500. During rec games everyones guns get turned up to around 350 at least by them just being cheap and its not tht bad b/c everyone wheres so much clothing b/c its cold..Alota people think the faster its turned up the straighter it will go, their wrong

Killer Kat

01-22-2002, 09:09 AM

Originally posted by Deep Sixx

You can get a handheld chronograph for about $70. How much is your eyesight worth? There's no excuse to not have one... if you can't scrape up the coin, go in with a couple of buddies and share one. Our team shares one.

D6

70 to 85 bucks is pretty cheap, I know you can't buy yourself new vision after you've been hit in the mask had it break and effect your eyes. I don't play with anyone unless we've chrono'ed their marker. It just ain't worth the chance.

Deep Sixx

01-22-2002, 09:20 AM

Originally posted by ClockworkMiller
Chad51,

Thats the legal limit according to the ATF. Anything higher is considered a lethal weapon.

Actually it's 500 fps to be considered a firearm. If it were 300, paintball markers WOULD be considered firearms because they're more than capable out of the box of shooting over 300 fps.

D6

Model98

01-22-2002, 11:01 AM

The field where I play/ref at has a chrono limit of 280 fps. I beleive the accepted maximum velocity is 300 fps (Correct me if I am wrong here)

Also, I remember reading somewhere that paintball goggles are only rated to a maximum of 300 fps, anything above this may result in cracked lens (Again feel free to correct me if I am wrong).

Deep Sixx

01-22-2002, 11:36 AM

No... lenses are rated well above 300 fps or we'd be in danger everytime someone spiked. I don't know what they'll go up to, probably over 400. However, JTs does reccomend you replace your lense if take a hot shot or a point blank shot to the lense. Although if it were up to JTs, we'd be replacing our lenses once a month (at least) anyway :rolleyes:

Thermal lenses are double layered lexan... pretty strong stuff. The same type of material is used in armoured glass. In fact I once read somewhere that a paintball lense will stop shotgun pellets... however, I don't recommend you try this. Ever. :eek:

D6

Codestar20

01-22-2002, 01:12 PM

Deep Sixx- Paintball lenses can stop a longer range shotgun blast but the bb's got stuck in the lense. They are really strong but play below 300 to be safe. My field is 285fps outdoors

ClockworkMiller

01-22-2002, 01:27 PM

Originally posted by Deep Sixx

Actually it's 500 fps to be considered a firearm. If it were 300, paintball markers WOULD be considered firearms because they're more than capable out of the box of shooting over 300 fps.

D6

The ATF has specific rules when it comes to paintball markers. This is completely different than those used when gauging a handgun or rifle, since it isnt a firearm.

A paintbally maker cannot be set to shoot above 320 feet per second without the presence of some insurence waiver indemnifying all parties. Since no insurrance carrier would ever be willing to do that, the legal limit is essentially set at 320 feet per second.

UTLadiesMan

01-22-2002, 01:29 PM

Originally posted by Deep Sixx
Thermal lenses are double layered lexan... pretty strong stuff.

Actually, I don't think the second layer is lexan. It's just another layer of plastic to keep a buffer zone between the inside and outside of the mask. This extra buffer zone makes temperature changes on the lens much slower, thus virtually eliminates fogging. Same thing they do with doulbe paned glass, but there that's just to keep the outside temperatures outside for heating / cooling reasons.

coyote

01-23-2002, 12:41 AM

Why 300 fps?

Back in the day old school ballers broke a lot of fingers. Bud Orr asked a friend, who was an orthopedic surgeon, how much pressure it took to break those bones in our hands. It turns out that a paintball going under 300 fps ( about 200 miles per hour) is about the safe limit for those bones. Paintball guns are designed with this in mind. Most of them shoot best at 275 to 285 fps. Goggles rate much higher than that.

Rogue Warrior

01-23-2002, 05:18 PM

I have tippy @ as high as it will accurately go. I dont have chrono thingy so i dont exactly what its @

Deep Sixx

01-23-2002, 06:31 PM

Originally posted by Rogue Warrior
I have tippy @ as high as it will accurately go. I dont have chrono thingy so i dont exactly what its @

It's ignorant people like you that give paintball a bad reputation. How can you be so irresponsible? How are you going to feel when (not if) you smash someone's lense and take their eye out?!!? How can you play without a chronograph? That is the most ignorant, arrogant, immature, irresponsible thing I've ever heard!

Why would you even walk onto a field without chronoing first? Why would you touch a velocity adjuster without being in front of a chrono? Don't you have any respect for your friend's, or your own safety?

D6

coyote

01-24-2002, 08:55 AM

Sixx

Easy on the name calling dude. R.W. isn't playing safe. Since you and I don't know the guy lets assume it is out of ignorance. Let us educate him, not insult him. I respect your passion for safety, I share it. There is a difference between players who shoot hot on purpose, and players who shoot hot because they don't know any better. At most commercial fields you have to be a cheat to shoot hot. If you play backyard or pirate that might not be the case. Anyway...

R.W. it is your responsibilty as a baller to play within the safe speed limits of the game. They exist for the health an well being of you, me, Sixx, and all those who play. If you don't play on an organized field you need to get a chrono. If you shoot hot on purpose ( I don't get the impression you do) dial it down. Guys like Deep Sixx and myself have no patience for anyone who would knowingly shoot hot.

Play Safe!

ClockworkMiller

01-24-2002, 09:09 AM

You could always test your FPS without a chronograph.

Put your paintball gun in a vice grip, and use like a laser sight (or something similar) so its lined up to the target. Have the target be 150 feet away. Also have the gun 4.9 meters off the ground (about 15 feet, trust me on this) Fire 10 shots spaced evenly apart.
This wont be your best nearly as accurate, and odds are, for the time and energy you'll invest, it would be cheaper to buy a 100 dollar hand chrono, but it should give you a relative idea on the speed of the paintball by calculating how far below the 4.9m mark it fell. Basic physics. Although Im not sure on accuracy due to conversion of stupid feet to nice meters.

Deep Sixx

01-24-2002, 09:27 AM

Clockwork: ??? This isn't going to tell you how fast your shooting, might give and indication of how consistant your shooting, but not how fast.

coyote: I did get the impression he's shooting hot on purpose. His statement sounds like he's more interested in accuracy than safety. I picture him shooting his Tippy while cranking up the adjuster until the balls curve, then backing off until they fly straight. This is incredibly irresponsible, and his nonchalant attitude ("...a chrono thingy...") towards his lack of a vital piece of gear really got under my skin. It boggles my mind to think that someone would even touch a velocity adjuster without being at a chronograph.

In my opinion, the chronograph is the second most important piece of equipment in this sport next to a good paintball mask.

D6

coyote

01-24-2002, 10:57 AM

Sixx

I fully agree with you on the safety issues. I like to have my gear dialed in and chronoed before I go to the field. I understand the anger too. I share the sentiment with anyone who is shooting hot. Lets educate those who don't know and slam the unsafe cheaters. R.W. doesn't get it. Don't let your message get lost on him because of the language. It is too important. If the guy says he doesn't care, I hope he doesn't hurt anyone other than himself. If he does care maybe someday he can clue some unsafe newbie. If that happens balling is safer for all of us.

PLAY SAFE (my new tag line thanks too Deep Sixx)

ClockworkMiller

01-24-2002, 11:41 AM

Actually, it will.

If you're shooting at 300 feet per second, then the paint should break on the bottom of the line of the target, assuming the barrel is parralel to the ground. If you're paint consistantly lands close but short, then you're shooting close to 300, but under.

Trust me, I know physics, this works. It doesnt give an exact, but it can tell you whether its safe or not.

UTLadiesMan

01-24-2002, 01:20 PM

Yeah, but the balls aren't accurate enough. What if your barrel constantly puts on top spin? You will be way above what you think is 300.

ClockworkMiller

01-24-2002, 01:57 PM

Well, since they didnt mention anything about top spin, Im assuming their barrels dont. And the ball actually slows down at long distances faster with topspin, so they are much safer overall.

And if they are playing with top spin, then they will be hitting at around the same area. My Tippman Flatline couldnt reach 150 feat from 6 feet off the ground, so I dont expect it to perform much greater at 4.9 meters.

But like I said, its not a perfect way for testing. I dont know you guys keep on trying to bash it. Its just completely free for those people with 150 feet and not 100 dollars.

Rogue Warrior

01-24-2002, 02:43 PM

Unsafe? I prefer to call it DARING. I shoot @ squirrels and my neighbor's cat. calm down that was a joke.
Seriously though i am an ignorant newbie. Some of you have been playing for years. I've been playing for 3 months. Anyway, I dont play @ fields so i do not have access to any "chronographs" as you smart people commonly call them. I'm sure its not shooting over 320 @ the most, otherwise it would curve.
Now if you'll excuse me, i have to go shoot up my school.

BlackMageHell

01-24-2002, 02:57 PM

roguewarrior, people like you disgust me. Its people like you who give paintballers a bad name with your ******* vandalism and shooting the poor little animals, your marker should be confiscated from your immature, irresponsible, grubby little hands