Airsoft vs. Paintball

Airsoft vs. Paintball

I've been thinking about the pros and cons of each lately.

This isn't a which is better sort of question, but more so an analysis of each.

Please post your thoughts!

Thanks in advance for you insight,

I.K.

well, i have played paintball for 2 years before playing airsoft. i can tell you that airsoft is much cheaper ammo wise. but, i would vouch for paintball having the upper hand in reliabillity. paintball guns also do not need much maintenance at all. comparing these two however in how they are played is difficult. paintball is more of a rush shoot someone from 10 feet away kinda thing.(speed ball tends to be more popular and woddsball for paintball is still pretty fast.) airsoft i think is more tactical. that is my comparison. hoped it helped!

there are 2 sides to paintball. one is the speedball, more publicized and more money for the companies. the other is scenario, more tactical and just like airsoft. even though i play airsoft now i do keep up or try to keep up with the scenario side. there are a lot of similarities in the 2, if you look at the SPPL Scenario Paintball Players League, you will see they have major competitions and very tricked out guns, i have even seen a custom p90 ION rig, and there are several out there as of this moment. i have talked with many players of paintball and they say they use very few balls when they play, but people say and do different things when in the game. i have a paintball bow kit right now, its more of a pump type gun, but its not hooked to a bow yet, i haven't found one that would fit, but im bringing it to the field when i do get it working and i plan on goin to a few scenarios. even though i love playing airsoft the fact is, is that the mainstream for scenario is still paintball, smart parts has just released the sp1 not to long ago and other companies i think will soon follow, but to actually get airsoft as big as the SPPL is goin to be very hard since all of the realism that mothers and fathers problems they have. im not dissing airsoft, in all reality it is cheaper to a point, paintball you buy one gun or 2 for backup, tank, upgrades, hopper, and paint. airsoft, if you get into it big, you buy a rifle, then in those hard spots you need your pistol, then in those far to reach spots you need your sniper rifle, and of course most people want to upgrade so that's 3 guns you upgrade, plus the gas, and BBs. then if you want a novelty gun like a shotgun or a saw, then putting upgrades in those, but there are people using only one gun. for airsoft there is 2 Major drawbacks that i see in airsoft is the FPS rules and enforcement of hits, with a paintball gun of course velocity adjustment is there and ready and a hit is a hit, except those wiping players. in being in a CQB house its kinda pointless to bring your gun in there when your shooting 400+, when your less than 5ft away it kinda hurts and a 320fps gun will shoot just as accurate at that distance. in the end you have your ups and downs for each sport, i don't dislike any sport, i have fun with both. but here is my pro con list

pros paintball
hits visible
easier to maintain
one velocity
2 sides of paintball speedball/woodsball
more publicized
better grenades in my opinion
safer depending on who you talk to, i have seen guys walk out of airsoft with blood goin down there face
dont have to order half your stuff from overseas, they are already here since paintball is more liked and less of a huge customs delima

Pros airsoft
cheaper for ammo
more accurate shots
more tactically real than paintball
more types of weapons to chose from w/o heavy modding (ex paintball shotgun, paintball saw. all require modifications that are expensive and bulky)
as of right now, more tactical upgrades are more available for airsoft than paintball since the scenario is still fairly new in the piantball market

as a player of both i love both i even saved up alot of money to get a g36 paintball gun in conclusion i wouldnt trade either sport for the other