Which is better/more fun, Paintballing or Airsoft?

MajorMaccas

MajorMaccas

MajorMaccas

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Also, which hurt more, I've only had experience with paintballing.

I know airsoft is a little more serious, and "real", as you don't have brightly coloured snoods on, and don't get brightly coloured splotches all over you.

Anyone know of a place in Thetford Forest that does Airsoft? There's plenty who do Paintballing.
 
airsoft map uk

no real idea where thetford forest is so i suppose you could use that map, the airsoft sites are spread unevenly around the country

but as you say airsoft is a bit more serious, so to be fun it has to be played with people who are more into it, whilst i now see paintballing as a party going thing with a group of random friends who dont know which way to hold a gun up normally or what a flanking move is .etc
 
Airsoft every single time:

Airsoft:

- Huuuuuuuuuuge urban and woodland sites compromising multiple buildings and scenarios.

- Guns that look real and can do full auto.

- Regular meets with regular players

- Far more tactical.

Paintball

- Crappy small sites.

- The guns... oh my the guns! They look stupid and don't feel natural.

I've played both extensively over the past few years. However, I've not played paintball since I started airsoft as it is not in the same league.
 
Hellsmk2 said:
Airsoft every single time:

Airsoft:

- Huuuuuuuuuuge urban and woodland sites compromising multiple buildings and scenarios.

- Guns that look real and can do full auto.

- Regular meets with regular players

- Far more tactical.

Paintball

- Crappy small sites.

- The guns... oh my the guns! They look stupid and don't feel natural.

I've played both extensively over the past few years. However, I've not played paintball since I started airsoft as it is not in the same league.
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My paintball marker will do 15+ rounds per second easy on full auto

We have a group of 15 of us who play regularly

We use tactics when we play.

The site we play on is 50 acres in size comprising of both woodland and speedball fields.

You can get markers that look like M4's AK47 etc.
 
Cyberstrike2027 said:
Also, which hurt more, I've only had experience with paintballing.

I know airsoft is a little more serious, and "real", as you don't have brightly coloured snoods on, and don't get brightly coloured splotches all over you.

Anyone know of a place in Thetford Forest that does Airsoft? There's plenty who do Paintballing.
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Depends what you're after. If you're looking for military-sim, then I'd go for airsoft. Airsoft also hurts less.

If you have no interest in having equipment that looks the same as real-life weaponry and would prefer to get into more of a sport, then try to get into the tournament side of paintball. Paintball will be more expensive to play.

As for paintball markers looking 'stupid' - there was a strong push in the early-mid 90s to move the game away from any military associations, which is the reason why the majority of equipment is brightly coloured. Although as Slimwagh mentions, there are plenty of scenario-style markers around.

All top end paintball markers can fire full auto, cycling at anything up to 30cps.

Example of ROF: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEyya-hKVmw

However full-auto is illegal in the UK, so most tournaments insist on ROF caps (usually 15bps) with markers allowed to 'ramp' rather than go FA (ramping is where the gun automatically increases the ROF up to the capped maximum when the user is pulling the trigger at a certain speed - all modern markers are computer controlled).

As I've no desire to pretend to be a soldier, I don't think that any of my markers look 'stupid'.

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Anyone who lives near Essex and has an interest in paintball should head to Gloucester Park in Basildon this weekend - the Campaign Cup is the UK leg of the Millennium europe-wide tournament series, running from Fri 20th to Sun 22nd. 140 teams taking part, 1000 players. Looks like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjvbgubcQX8
 
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Having done both and not really a fanboy of either I have to say Airsoft.

It's much cheaper than paintball - nice to have 10000+ rounds for the price that would get you 100 in paintball.
 
johnnyfive said:
I thought airsoft was another name for paintballing? whats the difference.
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I might be wrong but Airsoft use BB pellets and well paintball uses balls of paint about 1cm in diameter.
 
You can get full auto guns in airsoft, infact most people have them including me its much better. The airsoft sites are also much better and I think the guns are more accurate and fire further than paintball ones.
 
Vanilla said:
Having done both and not really a fanboy of either I have to say Airsoft.

It's much cheaper having than paintball - nice to have 10000+ rounds for the price that would get you 100 in paintball.
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I agree paint is expensive if you buy it from a site, we get paint per box in the region of £15 -20 per box per 2000 rounds.

From a site you can expect to pay £90 per box !
 
slambo69 said:
You can get full auto guns in airsoft, infact most people have them including me its much better. The airsoft sites are also much better and I think the guns are more accurate and fire further than paintball ones.
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A paintball gun is very accurate if you look after your marker and your paint, you only tend to get problems if you have flat spots on the paintballs or you have a few damaged ones which have leaked onto the other paintballs in the box.

I can honestly say that with my Ego I have had no more in a dozen bursts since I have had it and believe me I can get through 6000 paint in a day easy.
 
Slinwagh said:
I agree paint is expensive if you buy it from a site, we get paint per box in the region of £15 -20 per box per 2000 rounds.

From a site you can expect to pay £90 per box !
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Thing is most site, all i've been to, will only allow you to use paintballs purchased from them.....
 
Vanilla said:
Thing is most site, all i've been to, will only allow you to use paintballs purchased from them.....
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That's the big difference between being a 'fun day' player and playing either tournaments or rec-ball big games. Once you have your own equipment you're not tied to using site guns (which are usually the cheapest and most basic things on the market) or buying site paint (which is horrendously overpriced, as that is where they make their profits).
 
Vanilla said:
Thing is most site, all i've been to, will only allow you to use paintballs purchased from them.....
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Most sites run days where you use your own equipment and paint, the site I am involved in does anyway.
 
Both can be fun, unfortunately both can also be bad.
One of the biggest problems is it can be difficult enough trying to "convince" somebody they are dead and out of a game when they have a paint sploge on them.
Try convincing the same person in a game where no marks are left.

There will always be those people that take the game too seriously.
With paintball you can call a paint check and usually there will be some traces left if they aren't being sportsman.
With airsoft you don't have that luxury and you will continuously hit a target and they will deny it - especially if they are carrying £200 - £300 of their own equipment and you as a rookie renting manage to get in a lucky shot or two.
 
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