Lone Wolf's Picks: Top 5 Paintball Accessories
There are many types of paintball accessories out there, each with its own purpose. While you might think some of them are just optional accessories, there’s a real purpose behind including them in your lineup of paintball gear.
Many, if not all, of the accessories you’ll find are meant to increase the safety and fun factor in gameplay. Barrels can help improve accuracy, gloves can prevent injury, and paintball pants are probably one of the most comfortable types of pants you can wear on the field.
If you’re looking to add a few paintball accessories to your gear, this guide will help you pick out which products you should prioritize. These recommendations will help you build out your gear lineup to dominate on the field and look awesome in the process.
Types of Paintball Accessories
Paintball accessories can be categorized into three main sections: marker accessories, protective accessories, and miscellaneous accessories. These accessories keep you safe and make you more competitive while making the game more enjoyable.
Marker Accessories
Your paintball marker is your primary weapon, of course, and any of the accessories are meant to improve one of four main factors:
- Stability
- Rate of fire
- Accuracy
- Stealth
Paintball marker accessories are products such as barrels, hoppers, and other modifications/upgrades. Sniper barrels, for example, are a popular upgrade that allows you to increase your accuracy in order to make precise shots across the field.
One of the most basic marker accessories you can invest in is a reliable hopper. However, inconsistent feeding and jams caused by a faulty hopper can leave you in a vulnerable position.
Protective Accessories
The goal of any paintball game is to tag your opponents, so it stands to reason that you’d want to invest in some quality protective equipment. After all, most games include running, tripping, crawling, diving, and plenty of other maneuvers, even if you don’t get marked.
These are some of the must-have paintball accessories you’ll want to invest in immediately. Protective accessories typically include items like masks, gloves, vests, pants, etc. Plate carriers and tactical vests could be considered protective accessories, though they serve other purposes. Paintball mask accessories like goggles fall into this category as well.
Miscellaneous Accessories
Many people like paintball because there’s no end to the customizations and upgrades you can make to your setup. Most paintball setups are modular, meaning you can mix and match as you please until you get the ideal combination.
There are many types of accessories we’ve categorized in the miscellaneous section, including tank covers, gas valves, regulators, and compensators.
Our Top 5 Paintball Accessories
Discussions of paintball accessories can go on for days, but we’ve put together a list of some of our favorite gear. Even if you don’t add these accessories to your lineup, it’s a great starting point that will help you move in the right direction.
1. Upgraded Triggers
An upgraded trigger is one of the most consequential paintball gun accessories you can purchase. The stock triggers on many markers aren’t necessarily the best, especially when it comes to getting serious in the sport. That’s why it’s crucial to find one that you like and works efficiently. An upgraded trigger can improve your rate of fire as well as your precision when it comes to hitting targets.
Paintball guns can be electronic or mechanical, which describes how the trigger fires the gun. Mechanical triggers release the bolt to load the paintball and press a pin to open the valve, which releases the air that both fires the paintball and blows the bolt backward. Electronic triggers work with a circuit board to fire and are programmable for things like three-round bursts or fully-automatic firing.
2. Speed Feeds for Your Loader
Reloading takes time away from gameplay, but it’s a necessary evil in paintball. One great accessory you can purchase to help increase your reloading process is a speed feed.
Speed feeds allow for a faster reload time. Their one-way fins fold in to allow players to load paintballs into the hopper. However, the fins don’t fold out, so the paintballs can’t fall out once loaded into the hopper. The fins on a speed feed are designed to keep as many paintballs captured as possible, though a few will inevitably escape.
Speed feeds come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Since they replace the cap on the top of your hopper, you’ll want to ensure the size you choose works with the hopper’s aperture. Plus, most of them are made from lightweight materials, so you do not have to worry about extra weight on board.
3. Freak XL Barrel Kits
A single paintball barrel is good but having the ability to adjust your barrel size to your paintballs is even better. That’s why barrel kits are so popular, especially the ones made by Freak XL.
These kits allow you to achieve greater accuracy by tuning and adjusting the inside bore. A tighter bore will prevent you from losing paintballs as you move around the field and can go a long way in improving accuracy.
Plus, many aftermarket barrels look amazing out on the field. Barrel kits can include different size barrels of different colors, or you can order barrels in stealth colors like black.
Changing barrels out is easy, depending on your marker. Most often, you just need to unscrew the barrel from the marker body. However, some barrels such as the Flatline do require a bit more effort to remove them. Installation, of course, is just the opposite of removal.
4. Thread Savers for Your Tank
Leaving your paintball bottle threads out in the open is a great way to ruin the threading. It’s best to Invest in a quality thread saver that will protect your air tank’s threads; it’s much cheaper than replacing the entire barrel or tank due to damaged threads.
Thread savers are typically reverse threads of those found on your paintball air tank. They screw onto the threads as your fittings would, sitting flush with the threads so that the nozzle is completely protected. Other thread savers include silicone, rubber, or plastic that may or may not have matching threads.
5. Knee Pads and Elbow Pads
Knee and elbow pads are extra weight you’ll have to carry around with you as you play, but you’ll be glad you have them if you have to dive or trip, especially in woodsball.
The best knee and elbow pads are lightweight and breathable but padded enough to protect you from falls and impacts. These pads are most often the only thing between you and injury, so it pays to protect yourself.
6. Tank Covers
Tank covers slip over your air tank and protect it just as much as your knee and elbow pads protect you. Most tank covers are impact resistant and keep the tank from being damaged, especially during gameplay. They can also keep the tank stationary in your shoulder when shooting and help increase accuracy. The best tank covers make it easy to clean up as well, as they’re made from durable materials you can easily wash off.