[Brad95]

What is the best paint to use for woodsball? I've heard many different things, but I don;t know which type to use.

[Bump_Pitch]

Originally Posted by Brad95

What is the best paint to use for woodsball? I've heard many different things, but I don;t know which type to use.

Don't use ultra evil or any high end paint, they bust on a leaf. The blue/pink premium is good

[ChemXu]

what he said, use paint with thicker shells and stay away from brittle stuff.

i wouldn't use marbs, ultra evil, etc.

[pballer0303]

I third that. Expensave, brittle paint wont do you any good if it breaks before it gets to your target.

Valken actually makes some good stuff, big bore, reasonably brittle, and it doesnt break on twigs,
leaves, etc..

[FalconPunchKid]

Valken Graffiti is pretty decent and well priced for the woods.

[sean665]

Been using Empire Hotbox, seems pretty decent and only about 30 bucks a case.

[inferno2inferno]

Originally Posted by sean665

Been using Empire Hotbox, seems pretty decent and only about 30 bucks a case.

Watch out when buying hotbox. Hotbox is essentially bad batches of higher up paint in that same line repackaged and resold so one can either get decent paint or horrible paint.

[Eastter]

Midnight.

$35 A case.

Has accuracy of field paint, but worth it.

[98Pro]

Depend on how thick your woods are. Around here the woods are pretty thick but evil is usable. We have Marballizer right now and it's perfect, just hard enough to to make it through brush but breaks on the fools crawling through the **** plus it's accurate as hell.

[Dudeindump]

Midnight. You can get it at sport authority too.

[loneassassin]

I recommend Marballizers. They are brittle enough to break at a great distance, but are just tough enough to make it through reasonably light foliage. Personally, if the brush is that thick that I need to rely on volume to get one through, I move to get a better angle -- but maybe that's just me. As for accuracy, Marbs are second to none. My favorite paint of all time, and that goes back quite a few years.

[sean665]

Originally Posted by inferno2inferno

Watch out when buying hotbox. Hotbox is essentially bad batches of higher up paint in that same line repackaged and resold so one can either get decent paint or horrible paint.

Guess I've been lucky-went through 2 cases the last couple weeks and not an issue

[dps093]

Valken has the thickest fill in my opinion. My favorite paint to shoot though is G.I.

[inferno2inferno]

Originally Posted by sean665

Guess I've been lucky-went through 2 cases the last couple weeks and not an issue

I have had some great value cases and some miserable ones by contrast.

[texas skeeter]

NEVER use draxxus from Academy!! I bought Premium for 52$ for 2K rds all last year here in Texas from Academy and it shot flawlessly. Got out to play for the first time this yr and They stopped carrying premium. So i bought Draxxus with blue fill, 4 cases @ 40$ and it broke in all 3 guns i had. Bored up and changed dwell and paint still broke. Bought some premium at the field for 72$ and didn't break another ball all day. Yes it was i little cold but WTF!! I'll never buy draxxus again.....

[Boom Master]

What kind of paint is like asking a fisherman which is the best lure. You get as many answers as people you ask.

First, you are very lucky to have a place to play where you can use your own paint. Almost every field is field paint only even though they may have different qualities of paint available. I have been to only ONE field that had a scenario game that allowed BYOP and he charged you the $20 profit he would make selling you a case of HIS paint in exchange for that privilage. You got a special color arm band wrapped twice around your feed neck so the ref can keep everybody honest.

You want ROUND Paint. Then pick the brand of your choice for how easily it breaks.

Drop a ball on a concrete floor from 10 inches and it breaks. Very fragile paint. Pretty much requires a LOW Pressure marker. No tippmans or Spyder blow backs can shoot it without barrel breaks. Extremely good for getting breaks that would normally bounce on a glancing shot or very long distances. Often refered to as tournament grade. But anybody can call any paint "tournament grade" to charge you more.... And they do.

If the ball bounces until you get up to 18-20 inches above the floor, That is a mid grade paint. Good for the average paintballer playing woods and rec ball. Shoots in any marker.

Paint that bounces from 24 inches or more is very thick shelled paint. A real brush buster. Chews right through grass and leaves. Won't break on a torso hit at 30 yards. Just Bounces unless you hit something hard dead on at a distance. Also hurts like heck when you shoot people. You will be constantly accused of shooting HOT or freezing paintballs.

There are 2-3 manufacturers for paintballs in the US. They make EVERYBODY's Paint. ALL of it is Label Paint. You meet their minimum order and they will put any label on it you want. Tournament paint, winter paint, sniper paint, whatever they think will sell paint label on it. You can have your NAME on the Box for your own personal brand. Remember Worr Paint? A scenario producers label paint. Broke all the time in tippmans and spyders unless you turned your velocity WAY Down to like 200 fps. Wasn't even CLOSE to being round. Gawd awful stuff. Sold what he ordered and ditched the paint label. Sold Blaze for quite a while after that. They all make different grades of paint by shell thickness and chemistry. Some runs are made rounder than others. The really round stuff is more expensive to make.

Paintballs are perishable. They have a very limited shelf life. They do NOT come with DATES of manufacture on the box like BEER does. The older it gets, the more out of round it gets. Flat spots develop on the balls in the bottom of the box just from gravity. If you SEE paint that is upside down at least they rotate the boxes to keep from getting flat spots on it. When you buy a bag at the field or store, the guy pulls it out of the box, holds it up and 'inspects' it for any broken balls. Nice but you also need to notice he is stirring the balls with flat spots on it at the bottom of the bag with his hand. Ask if YOU can pull out the next bag and FEEL for the flat spots on the bottom balls. OLD paint. Won't shoot well.

Acadamy, Wal Mart, etc are notorious for selling stale paint.

Paintball stores have to order a fork lift pallet of paint to get any kind of price break on their order. It tends to sit around a lot before it gets sold and most are not diligent about rotating their stock.

The BEST bet for your local paint is your local paintball field. They go through enough paint each month to keep their invenntory fresh. You might talk them into ordering a case of your special paint with their next order if you PRE PAY them for it and their distributor carrys what you want.

If the field sells different quality paint, they usually have an open bag or don't mind opening one if you ask to check it for round. Have your barrel with you. Not on your marker. Put the ball in and hold it up to the light. You will see little cresent moons where the light shines through the gap because the paint isn't round. Try several balls with the seam oriented at different directions. If the gaps are small, tis good paint worth the price in accuracy. But I have looked at Premium paint that was more out of round than their regular field paint. Just been sitting around longer. Go eyeball some paint before you shoot it. Get a eye for what good shooting paint looks like in the barrel.

Paint is intolerant of heat and humidity. Moisture makes them swell and they don't just get bigger, they get out of round like little footballs. See that seam around the ball where they put it together? that is thicker than the rest of the shell so it swells at a different rate that the rest of the shell.

OK D Day many decades ago made the mistake of ordering a semi truck load of paint for their 4000 player game. Parked it in the sun for a week before the game and baked it at 100 plus degrees. Not a good year for OK D DAY charging very expensive prices for a case of paint with 3/8" flat spots on EVERY ball. There were clusters of paintballs stuck together in some boxes. They learned their lesson on that.

Now the internet purchases.... Good LUCK! You have no way of knowing how much paint they sell a month. How fresh it is. you can ASK but the sales rep doesn't have a clue unless it is a 2-3 person garage internet store.
Remember the UPS and Fed Ex trucks are NOT air conditioned. Pay for next day shipping in the summer. My boy worked for UPS loading trucks. They are NOT gentle with the boxes marked Fragile... They unload or load a semi truck in minutes... Instead of joining the gym. Get paid for your 2-3 hour workout at UPS. So OPEN your paint the minute it arrives and check for broken paint. Preferably in front of the UPS guy. Especially if the corners are dinged and dented. Take pictures. UPS is responsible for breakage but they have procedures you have to follow.

Then do an Google Quest to find a paint distributor that does a very high volume of paint sales and carrys the brand and quality you want. Like pulling hens teeth. Grovel and beg as needed. But if you can pull it off, you hit the mother load. If they do not sell to the public, Then you simply ask which internet company they shipped your brand to most recently, how often they reorder to get an idea the max age of a given box of paint they sell and get their number. If you call and they are out of stock and you know an order is in route, you hit the jackpot. With luck, you can order paint that isn't a week old. Round Quality paint.

And then, I had to make things MORE complicated by having to get a specific shell color. Solid BLACK shell. Any fill color.

I had my autorangefinder sighting system. It gets the elevation right at any given distance to put a ball pattern right over a facemask. Essentially sniping at players in the 35-45 yard range effectively. That solid black shell is literally invisible coming through the mottled shadows in a wooded area. They could be looking right at you and not see it coming until it breaks right between their eyes. On an open speedball field in bright sunlight, they can see it coming but not until it is about 10-20 feet away with no time to get out of the way. Since I had the aiming system, I did not need to SEE where my paintballs were missing and adjust my point of aim. I really LIKED invisible paint and opposing players that just wouldn't duck... The fools keep looking around to see those "tracer" paintballs they are used to looking for. The dark green solid shell works nearly as well.

Gator Black is the only brand I know of that has a solid black shell.

If you use a Red Dot, Flatline, or are just a good shot and don't need those brightly colored paintballs I call tracer rounds anymore, you can have a lot more fun in the woods.... Embrace the Dark Side of paintballs.

[loneassassin]

^^A lot of great information right here. Thank you for taking the time to post all that. (If more people would be like that here...)

The only thing I disagree with is basically for the same reason you LIKE Gator Black paint -- you can't see it flying through the air. Nice when you don't want your opponent seeing it. But not as nice when I want to see where MY shots are going...

[NBTippy]

I really like Valken's stuff, the Graffiti is a good affordable paint. While redemption is my favorite paint when I'm not on a budget. Redemption shoots straight, has a wicked bright fill and has a bit of a harder sell then normal higher end paints (great for rec/woods ball. Not great for tournament ball)

[Generationlost]

Valken should do you just fine.

[Boom Master]

If you find a distributor or vendor, be sure to let us know.

[MaG Adrenal1ne]

Huge fan of Valken paint. Goes where you want it and breaks great.