Paintball and airsoft have become 2 popular sports that include millions of people who play internationally. A common question that we get asked is, "Does Airsoft Hurt More than Paintball"? Overall, paintballs are likely to hurt more but there are a few factors to consider the answer to the question. Factors that we will discuss in this blog include velocity, the type of projectiles, clothing and/or protective equipment, rate of fire and where on the body that you get shot.
Velocity:
First off, we should talk about airsoft BB velocity and paintball velocity. Both airsoft guns and paintball marker exit velocity is measured in feet per second as compared to miles per hour. To give you a general idea of how fast that is, 300 FPS is equivalent to 204.5 MPH. That's fast!
Pictured above is a paintball chronograph which tells users the exit velocity of a paintball or airsoft BB. This chronograph can be used to test both airsoft guns and paintball markers.
Airsoft gun velocity can range anywhere from 200 FPS to 500 FPS. Most airsoft events and fields will outlaw anything over 500 FPS due to safety concerns. A lot of airsoft guns will range drastically in their FPS depending upon if it's an airsoft pistol, airsoft rifle, and if it's an AEG or HPA airsoft gun.
Type of Projectiles:
Another thing to consider with airsoft and paintball is the difference between the composition of airsoft BB's and paintballs. Paintballs are a relatively fragile shell that fractures upon impact to leave the paint splatter when it hits it's object. Airsoft BB's are made of a plastic and are significantly smaller than paintballs. These BB's weigh comparably less compared to paintballs. Most airsoft BB's range from 0.2-0.3 grams while a full size 0.68 caliber paintball can weight 3 grams while a 0.50 caliber paintball only weights 1.25 grams and is considered "low impact". For that reason, you can see why paintballs usually hurt worse than airsoft BB's. Paintballs take up around 10 times the mass compared to an airsoft pellet!
One last thing to consider is that airsoft BB's may sting a little more because they do not explode on impact which allows for the surface area to be spread when you are shot with a paintball. Although this is a factor that may contribute to airsoft BB's hurting worse than paintballs, the mass of paintballs greatly factors into how painful the impact is between these 2 projectiles.
Clothing and/or Protective Equipment
The goal for both airsoft players and paintball players to expose less bare skin when playing. In general, most airsoft armor is much more protective than what paintball protective clothing offers. Airsoft players usually use a full face goggle along with a helmet. They also use much heavier duty clothing which includes a lot of military style outer clothing. Scenario paintball players will sometimes also wear this clothing but in general most players are not using heavy duty military style apparel and padding.
Paintball players wear less armor and overall more of their clothing is designed to protect them from impact of diving such as elbow pads, knee pads, padded jerseys and padded pants. These do help absorb impact when shot in these locations. However, the main purpose is to avoid an injury as compared to avoid pain from getting shot. Beginner paintball players will occasionally wear neck protects or full coverage masks (protects your head) to help with how bad paintballs hurt. This definitely help as it avoids that bare skin contact!
Rate of Fire:
Another thing to consider is the difference in rate of fire between airsoft guns compared to paintball guns. Paintball guns have capabilities of firing 15-20 BPS (balls per second) on the high side. Most paintball players shoot 10 BPS as determined by the NXL (National X-Ball League) ROF rule. On the other hand, some airsoft guns have much higher RPS (rounds per second) capabilities. Airsoft guns can shoot anywhere from 25 RPS or more! With that said, it may be more likely to get hit multiple times more with an airsoft gun compared to a paintball gun due to the rate of fire differences between the two which may affect the amount of pain perceived.
Area of the Body Hit:
One last thing to consider is where on the body are you getting hit with a paintball or airsoft BB. An airsoft BB hitting bare skin is obviously going to hurt more than a paintball which hits your elbow pad or paintball mask. We find that the worst places to get hit with either projectile is the "love handles", bare neck, or the forehead if it is not protected. For that reason, we do recommend using full protection on the head if you are first starting for either sport. Using a tactical helmet or a full coverage paintball mask, such as the Carbon OPR full coverage mask, greatly helps the amount of pain perceived! We also suggest using a neck protector if you are playing either sport to leave the bare skin exposure to a minimum.
All things considered, paintballs do hurt worse than airsoft pellets/BB's. However, there are definitely different factors that may change how much it hurts!
