Paintball has gained huge amounts of popularity in recent years. As a matter of fact, it is the fastest growing sport in the country, presenting participants with a particularly nice to enjoy the weekend and have some good time with family and friends. The modern day equipment has made paintball one of the safest sports there is. The paintball gun is the second most vital part of the equipment next to the goggles, which protect a player's eyes and ears.

Paintballs operate on the principle of expanding gas. It can be compressed carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen (N2) or ordinary air, is stored in small cartridges or larger tanks that can be attached to the gun. Paintballs are propelled at 91 meters per second, which is the speed limit applied for safety measures and all paintball marker manufacturers comply with it. When a paintball hits something, it breaks releasing paint and cause very slight pain, more like a sting.

The paintball gun consists of body, hopper, tank and a barrel. The body is constructed from light materials - carbon fiber, aluminum, so that a player can easily carry it around the field. The small tank holding the paintballs is called a hopper.

The following types of hoppers are available - gravity feed, stick feed, agitating, and force feed. Gravity feed is the most basic type of hopper, having a limitation of only 8 balls per second. Stick feeds are able to hold up to 20 paintballs. The agitating hoppers are the best type, because they don't jam and use propellers to agitate the paintballs. Force-feed force the paintballs into the marker using a spring, belt-fed system or a propeller.

The tank is the container which holds the paintballs to be fired. The barrel directs the shot. Barrels come in different styles and lengths.

Electronic guns have a special chip integrated in them designed to increase your trigger speed. Electronic markers also require CO2 or Compressed Air to propel the paintball. Some of the more advanced models have a display showing how many paintballs are left in the hopper, shooting rate per second and a game timer.

The following types of paintball markers are available - stock glass, pump action, semi automatic, electropneumatic, fully automatic. Semi Automatic paintball markers require only a trigger pull to fire a paintball, but you have to pull the trigger for each and every shot. The fully automatic paintball markers will just keep firing paintballs for as long as the trigger is held down. The stock glass paintball markers are pump action pistols holding between 10-15 paintballs at a time, which need to be tilted in order to feed in the next paintball.

Perhaps the best paintball marker ever made is the RAP4. It's the first real action paintball marker, a replica of the legendary M4 rifle used by SWAT Teams. The other high-profile model is Tippmann 98. The M98 is though and dependable, because it has a simple design combined with extra-tough finishes.