The industry standard for paintball players in the United States is a loaded question. In this article we’ll explore one major attribute that people should consider when picking out a paintball marker. This attribute is the major factor in answering “What is the industry standard for paintball guns?”.

The caliber of the paintball gun is the very first specification that should be explored. There are 2 popular caliber sizes used in the United States. The most popular is the .68 caliber paintball gun while .50 caliber lags way behind as the 2^nd most popular size.

It’s important to ask, why do paintball guns come in multiple calibers? The caliber of the paintball gun, and therefore the caliber of the paintball's coming out of the gun, has a significant difference in how the player gets marked. A .68 caliber paintball has 26% more paint compared to a .50 caliber paintball. Therefore, if you are trying to determine if a paintball player got hit by the paintball coming from your gun, you will have more success using a larger .68 caliber ball.

The .50 caliber paintball gun was developed as a low impact, low pain, way to play paintball. Paintball Parks across the United States typically allow paintball players to bring their own gun or rent a gun from the park. Rental customers generally are beginners and benefit from a low impact paintball gun. Commercial fields that are providing entertainment have slowly converted their rental fleets to .50 caliber. However, .68 caliber is still the most popular paintball gun and by far is considered the Industry Standard.

If you are planning to enter the sport of paintball, you should purchase a .68 caliber gun. The .68 caliber guns typically are electronic markers and shoot at high rates of fire. These guns are powered by co2 or compressed air and have multiple fire modes. While most players love the full auto mode, the most popular are semi-automatic and can be found at hundreds of paintball parks across the US.