Paint_Ball_vs_Air_Soft_Weapons

Air-soft vs. Paintball Daniel Rosenberry ENG 121 Dwight Paulsen October 17, 2010 The Army trains thousands of Soldiers a year. Every Soldier should train how they fight, and that’s why every day we try to find better more realistic ways to train. I have got two different types of training aides for the Army to use. In this paper I will talk to you about both of the types of weapon systems. At the end of this paper I will need for you to decide which weapon system you would prefer to use. The one that you choose will be the new Army standard training method. The first type of weapon is the Electric Airsoft Gun. According to the website www.airsoftking.com, “Electric Air soft Guns... were originally developed in Japan; it is the most commonly used Air soft Gun category. Normally, a rechargeable battery is used to power an Electric motor that works the internal assembly to shoot the Pellets. A least three gears, metal or plastic, are mounted within a gearbox that the motor powers. In addition, these Electric Air soft Rifles or Pistols often have High Capacity Magazines that could hold 100s of BBs." (2010) The second type of weapon is the Paintball gun (or paintball markers). According to the website http://paintball.about.com/od/markersguns/ss/electro_vs_mech.htm, “Paintball guns… are designed to shoot paintballs at high speeds using compressed gas (either air or CO2). When a paintball gun fires, a small bolt pushes a ball into the paintball barrel and simultaneously sealing the ball in the barrel. A valve then releases compressed gas which expands in the barrel, forcing the ball out the end. The major difference between different guns is how the gun advances the ball into the barrel, seals off the barrel and releases gas into the barrel.” (2010) Let’s look at the cost of each of these weapon systems. The air-soft weapon cost is on the average of $250.00. The paintball weapon is on the average of $170.00. Now on both weapon systems the price may vary depending on the model of the weapon. They both offer the same kind of warranty plan. The next thing that we need to look at is the speed and capacity of each of these weapons. Air-soft uses a biodegradable pellet that shoots 314 FPS (Feet per Second) and has a magazine that can hold up to 350 pellets. The paintball uses a plastic covered ball of paint that’s shoots 300 FPS (Feet per Second) and has a container called a hopper that holds about 100 paintball markers. Now after research (www.sportsmansguide.com) I found that the cost of the pellets or markers is a big difference. The air-soft pellets cost .333 cents per pellet. The paintball marker cost 20 cents per paintball marker. Now you might find better deals at different places but these are the prices that I found. The last thing that you need to look at is the distance that both of these weapon systems can fire its round accurately. The air-soft pellet can travel 100yards and hit a point target. The paintball marker can travel only about 50 yards. Depending on what kind or range of training would probably help on this choice. You have pretty much have all the information on both of these weapon systems except feedback from Soldiers. I took several groups of Soldiers to the field training site to test both weapon systems. Soldiers got a lot of use out of both systems and they both were pretty durable. After the day was over I sat both groups down to get there insight on the weapons. The Soldiers all agreed on the Airsoft had more realistic weapons that match our real weapons. They really liked the size of the rounds from the Paintball gun, but did not like how it stained the uniform. All Soldiers also said they liked the Airsoft more for accuracy than the Paintball gun. Finally I asked “if they had the choice of which weapon system they would rather have as a training aide'” and they said the Airsoft weapon system. Now I have given you the facts on both systems and put them in the hands of the people that will be using them. You now have to make a hard decision. Just remember that the Army trains like we fight so we really need to make the training as real as it can get. What is your decision' References Electric Airsoft Guns and AEG Rifles. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.airsoftking.com/electric_guns.asp Paintball gun (or paintball markers). (2010). Retrieved fromhttp://paintball.about.com/od/markersguns/ss/electro_vs_mech.htm Research for cost of rounds. (2010). Retrieved fsrom www.sportsmansguide.com