Is Paintball Safe For Your Health?

Worried a stray paintball pellet will take out an eye? Scared you’ll be limping for a month after injuries? Have your friends (well-meaning) put the fear of God into you when it comes to Paintball?

If you are just getting into the sport of paintball, you might be wondering whether the sport is safe.

(After all, it is a combat game that does mimic battle with firearms.)

But you might be surprised to learn that paintball is actually safer than some of the most common sports as long as you use the right safety gear. Click here to read about how to pick out a paintball mask.

Here are some ways that you can ensure that you and other players will be safe on the paintball battlefield.

 

• Paintball Mask: First and foremost, always wear your paintball mask. This will keep your eyes safe as well as keeping the paint out of your mouth and ears. You need a real paintball mask; safety goggles will not be adequate.

• Aim before firing: Another way to keep everyone around you safe during a paintball battle is to make sure that you are looking where you are shooting. You should have your target in sight and aim before you shoot paintballs. If you don’t, you could hit people on your own team, the referee, or nothing at all, wasting your paintballs.

• Don’t shoot faster than you need to: Some paintball markers have the ability to shoot at a higher speed than others do. If your marker has the ability to adjust its speed, make sure that you are shooting less than 300 feet per second. This will ensure that when a paintball hits your opponent, you will not injure them.

• Block the barrel off the field: When you are off of the paintball field, you should make sure that you have blocked your barrel so it cannot fire any paintballs. You can do this by using barrel plugs or a barrel blocking device. Make sure to keep the barrel blocked whenever someone has their paintball mask off, after a game, before a game, or anytime you are not in active battle.

• Don’t aim unless you mean to shoot it: The same rule that applies to firearms applies to paintball. Do not point your paintball marker at anything or anyone unless you are intending to shoot whatever you are aimed at. Using this little bit of common sense can do loads to keep the battlefield safe for everyone.

 

When it comes down to statistics, paintball actually has one of the lowest injury rates out of all sports in the United States. In fact, per every 100,000 exposures to paintball a year, there are only 0.2 injuries reported. You will get far more injuries reported from baseball, soccer, and football than you will see from paintball. When you use common sense, you will still have fun playing paintball while keeping you and everyone around you safe.