Paintball vs Airsoft: which is more painful?
Both paintball and airsoft are popular sports that involve shooting at other players with pellets. But which one is more painful? Some people say that airsoft is more painful because the pellets are sharper, while others say that paintball is more painful because of the stinging sensation caused by the paint. So which is really more painful? Let’s take a closer look at both sports to find out.
Table of Contents
What Hurts More Paintball or Airsoft?
Paintballs have a higher chance of breaking the skin than airsoft pellets do. This means that paintball hurts more for this reason alone. A paintball hit on the bare skin has a much higher chance of breaking the skin and causing a welt or a bruise than an airsoft pellet would. In addition to this, paintball hurts more because it leaves behind a splatter of paint that can burn your skin long after you’ve been hit.
Some people say that airsoft hurts more because the pellets are sharper. However, the diameter of both paintballs and airsoft pellets is 5.93-6.67mm, so they’re about the same size. To make a fair comparison, we can look at the kinetic energy (KE) of both types of pellets.
Paintballs and airsoft pellets have similar KE levels. An airsoft gun has to fire its pellet faster than a paintball gun for it to reach 100ft/s, which is the average muzzle velocity for an airsoft gun. This means that the kinetic energy for both pellet types is about the same, so there’s no reason to think that airsoft hurts more than paintball.
Factors that Affect Pain of Paintball or Airsoft:
The amount of pain felt during and after getting hit by either sport ultimately comes down to:
- How close you are to the shooter when you get hit
- The velocity of the pellet when it hits your skin
- How many times you’re shot in one place (if you’re shot more than once)
If a paintball or an airsoft pellet is traveling super fast when it hits your skin, then it will hurt more. If you get shot multiple times in the same area (especially if both pellets actually break the skin), then it will hurt more too.
If you’re standing close to someone when either pellet type hits your skin, then you’ll definitely feel it more than if you were standing far away. How many times each player gets hit also matters since this determines whether or not you’ll experience that stinging sensation.
Conclusion:
So which sport hurts more? Pain level ultimately comes down to the velocity of each pellet type and how many times you get hit in one place. It’s also affected by where you’re standing when the pellet hits your skin, your distance from the shooter, and how long it takes for each pellet to leave a mark.
Paintball hurts more than airsoft because paintballs are stored in pressurized tanks, meaning they can reach higher velocities when released. If you shoot someone with either type of pellet on bare skin, then there’s a good chance that both pellets will break the skin. Paintball hurts more because its pellets are slightly larger, which means it has a higher chance of breaking the skin.
We can’t say whether airsoft hurts more or not because there’s no solid evidence to support the idea that it does. However, we can definitively conclude that paintball hurts more than airsoft.
