The thrill of playing paintball never wears off. Whenever you think it cannot offer more, paintballs prove you wrong and gives you twice as much fun. Among the amazing additions to the game are grenades. Learn how paintball grenades work and how to use them effectively with this quick guide.
Paintball grenades fall under the category of pyrotechnics— any charge-driven paintball accessories that detonates and releases either paint, smoke, or flash. The grenades look much like the real ones. However, these paintball grenades do not contain shrapnel but instead splatter paint upon explosion.
You can use both paintball and smoke grenades. Continue reading for more information on these devices.
How Does A Paintball Grenade Work?
Depending on how they work, paintball grenades can be classified into these categories:
- Non-explosive paintball grenades are the simplest ones and can be easily made at home. The paint is filled into rubber tubes with sealed ends, similar to water balloons. After pimping in the paint, attach the arming pin to the filler side loosely.
To make them work, you only need to pull the arming pin and throw the grenade toward the intended target. Make sure it hits on a solid surface that splatters the paint and eliminates players within a set parameter. That’s as simple as it gets.
- Explosive paintball grenades work similarly to combat grenades, using explosive black powder or bangers connected to fuses. The paint is placed in the plastic bag and wrapped around the banger. All of this apparatus is placed in the breakable fiber box. Once the fuse is triggered with a firing pin, it ignites the banger and explodes, dispersing the paint within a maximum radius.
How to use a paintball grenade effectively?
The ease with which you can use the paintball grenade makes them popular. But
before you use the paintball grenade, there are a few things that you should consider.
- First thing, you need to practice handling the grenade properly. The best practice involves gripping the grenade with the right-hand thumb and index finger on either side. Then, simply release the pin with your left hand and aim the grenade where you want it to go.
- You should never use your teeth when pulling grenade pins.
- Both smoke grenades and paintball grenades have a similar mode of action but differ in purpose, which I will discuss later in the article.
- As you have a limited supply of paintball grenades, accuracy greatly matters.
- Throw when you have a clear opportunity; otherwise, you’d waste the grenade.
- Better watch out for teammates. Give them heads-up before using paintball grenades so that they can take precautions.
- As discussed above, these grenades have a charge (black powder) that triggers the explosion. The effectiveness of the charge will be adversely affected if moisture gets into the grenades. Therefore, keep the grenade dry.
Strategies to Launch Paintball
Accuracy has a great deal to do with paintball grenades’ effectiveness. You can adopt different strategies to launch paintball accurately. Here are some of the ways that many professional paintballers employ to get the most out of paintball grenades:
Get a Paintball Grenade Launcher
The best way to ensure that you reap maximum benefit is to use a paintball grenade launcher. You can buy one from the market. These launchers resemble their military counterpart, with a slide-forward loading chamber and trigger system. You can also mount them on your paintball marker.
Paintball grenade launchers offer maximum accuracy and are effective tools that you should have in your ammo supply.
Get in a Proper Position
Even though paintball grenade launchers are a great option for throwing paintballs, they will cost you some bucks. Most times, you will have to do it by yourself.
The best course for using a grenade is to throw it in a standing position. In this position, the grenade will cover more distance and also give you better opportunities to aim at your target. Most pro-level paintball players will recommend you throw a paintball grenade in a standing position.
You can also throw paintball grenades in kneeling and prone positions. However, both these positions reduce the throwing distance of the paintball grenades.
Are Paintball Grenades Allowed?
Since paintball grenades give players an upper hand, they are not allowed in more competitive games like paintball tournaments. But you are still allowed to use paintball grenades in woodsball, scenario paintball, and recreational play.
Do Paintball Grenades Hurt?
Paintball grenades spray paint when they explode. The explosion is just a way to trigger the paint release with pressure. It is not that you will be hit by Paintballs when a grenade explodes near you. The only way that these paintball grenades can cause injury is if you are hit directly by them. Otherwise, there is nothing in this apparatus that would consider dangerous.
Advantages of Paintball Grenades
Depending on the situation, paintball grenades allow you to implement different strategies. They can be used offensively and defensively.
You can use them to attack opponents that are hiding in the bunker. Lob the grenade in their hiding pit and eliminate multiple targets.
Sometimes, when you lodge a grenade into enemies’ midst, they will try to throw it back at you before it explodes. The best course of action in this situation is to get your hoppers ready and fire a barrage of paintballs at them.
Smoke grenades are great at deceiving your opponents by blocking their view. You can easily run toward a safe location without being hounded by enemy paintballs. Therefore, these smoke grenades are ideal for defensive maneuvering.
The Best Paintball Grenades To Buy
While you can make paintball grenades at home, getting them from a specialized manufacturer would be best. Many brands are making high-end grenades that resemble the real ones and offer great useability.
Among these, Tippmann Big Boy Pull Pin Grenade in Poly Bag is getting a lot of praise for its outstanding user-friendly design and functionality. The device uses 10 ounces of paint and is capable of dispersing it up to 30 feet.
Is It Possible To Reuse Paintball Grenades?
In practice, paintball grenades can’t be reused after they’ve been fired. Though some homemade grenades can be reused, finding their components in the midst of a game is impossible.
Conclusion
Paintball grenades can prove a great inclusion to your ammo supply. Depending on the situation, you can use them to attack or escape. Knowing how paintball grenades work can help you to use them more effectively.