Opinions On Safteys On Paintball Guns

[gabe]

I like safeties, at least on mechs. The most embarrassing thing is to loose a round into your barrel bag in the staging area so some form of safety is nice to have. On the electros you can just turn it off but on mechs and pumps I like the option of putting the safety on. I have a habit of firing one round before the break to make sure the gun is off safety and working correctly so I don't have issues with leaving them on.

Exceptions are usually snipers where you can see the gun is cocked by the cocking rod sticking out. Those don't need a safety just due to knowing when it's loaded and ready to fire very easily.

[XEMON]

Let's be honest here ... Trigger discipline all you want, it doesn't make you "safe" ...
the safety will not stop the imbecile, it will prevent accidental discharge ... That has nothing to do with trigger discipline!
A well tune mech can fire if you let it hit the table a bit too hard. That's what safety is for.

And yes, idiot will be idiots and ultimately be dangerous to the rest of us. But accident happen to everyone. Hence redundancy in having a safety (or de-pressurise, or open breach, or ...) AND using the bag ...

[RuleOfSines]

Safeties on everything, learn to handle it the same as a firearm as a good habit.

[Mr. Hick]

Agreed 100% If it "behaves" like the things I have that propel lead, I treat it like one.

[SignOfZeta]

If the gun is deactivated multiple ways already (air valve off, no air supply, no paint, barrel plug, not cocked, switched off, battery removed, and most importantly not pointed at anyone) then the safety is just one more level of redundancy in a pretty safe setup with the barrel plug being the most reliable. So they are rather pointless but also harmless. I also would never trust any gun as being safe just because of the safety. It’s not very effective, really. I’ve never missed a shot because of a safety, ever, can’t even imagine the scenario. I’m way to much of a gun nut. I love my guns, mostly Nelsons. I always know what every part of them is doing. I really like the safety on later Phantoms, I play with it constantly.

That being said, I’m pretty sure the only reason paintball guns have safeties is because BB guns do, and firearms before that. Back then there were no barrel plugs. Also, firearms and BB guns don’t have as many ways of deactivating. (Ammo and air are one, a barrel plug would kill the user, etc) Many paintball guns have no safeties (auto trigger Snipers) and I don’t think it’s ever been an issue.

[KMDPB]

The safety on my phantom is the reason I hate them on paintball guns, it's so light that I'll accidentally turn the saftey on when running and moving.

[Rusty Brass]

Yup. I disable the safety on my Phantoms for that very reason.

[SignOfZeta]

Mine are quite snappy. Maybe they wear out?

[Shaftski]

No such thing as a "safe" safety even on firearms. Remington 700 anyone?

https://www.outdoornews.com/2017/04/03/fire-remington-recalling-model-700-model-seven-rifles/

Only thing that is truly safe is unloading and keeping barrel pointed in a safe direction unless ready to fire. Everything else is a compromise for player convenience.

[bored383]

[Rusty Brass]

Wondered if that would get posted.

[Magmoormaster]

I rip the safeties out of just about everything. If I can pull it out, out it comes.

[Pyrate Jim]

Why not remove safeties like labels that say "poison" or "flammable", then let nature take it's course.

[Rusty Brass]

We've suppressed Darwin for far too long.

[Cdn_Cuda]

If my paintball gun has a safety I will use it. Most of my
snipers and cockers don’t have one. I remove air source, cycle a few times to ensure air is cleared and barrel bag. Sniper hold air so if not cleared you can get a surprise pop.

[JonM]

If my marker can have a safety, I use it. If the marker doesn't have one, I try to install one. If it can't use a safety, I need to be extra careful and not let inexperienced players use it. Then again, the markers I own that can't use a safety are seldom ones I'd lend out anyway.

[Tinybear]

Always use my safeties.

Way I see it, absolute worst case if I forget my saftey on is I potentially get shot out and loose a GAME and maybe get teased.

Absolute worst case if I refuse use my saftey is accidentally discharge the marker and my barrel cover fails and some one looses and eye or worse. May be very unlikely for sure but I’m far more willing to loose a game and be teased then to take any unnecessary risks resulting in injury.

[Cyberpyr8]

I never thought I needed one (I had used mostly electrics) and didn't have one on my LV's and other electronic guns. I got an Ion mech and it didn't have one. I had it accidentally fire more than once on me. Not even near the trigger and it shot a few times. I got rid of it because of that. I like safeties on guns. As a ref I would prefer people use the safety and barrel sock because they accidentally pull the trigger all the time.

[Meleager7]

Some of the guns in my collection have safeties, but many do not. If I am running one of them that has a Safety, then I'll use it , because why not add the extra layer of protection. But many of my guns don't have a safety, either the frames I received are missing those parts, or simply don't have one (ie. my shocktech swing frame) . So I just follow the common sense rules of keeping finger off the trigger between games, keep the barrel pointed in a safe direction, barrel bags in staging area of course! I definitely won't be going out of my way to buy parts , replace frames, etc to ensure those guns have a safety. I think the common sense safety steps I follow is good enough.

On a related note, many of my double trigger guns don't have trigger guards , but save that for another topic !

[BrickHaus]

My field wont let you run a gun with no trigger guard. Though a lot of the old school guys will, til a ref catches it.

[Deus Machina]

I'm not happy with a lot of extra crap, but the most basic safety features are rarely a bad thing.
The biggest one is between your ears. Attention and habits. Get in the habit of setting things at the appropriate time, and making sure they work during routine maintenance and cleaning.
The last weekend I was out, I saw three barrel bags break. That weekend alone. The elastic bands wear out, they snap. Two of them did so because they can admittedly be a little awkward to get into place, and someone bumped their trigger. With the safety off.
One of them got multiple balls into the bag (giggity); one broke the strap, another took the bag off. If there were one more, it would have been into the unprotected crowd.
If the safety was on, it might not have happened at all.
I've seen on/off valves fail, either through a line failing at that moment or forgetting to empty the pressure.
I've never seen a safety in good repair fail. That's why I make sure they are.

If it has a safety, I use it. But I demand good safeties. Solid but not hard to use, and not positioned where it's easy to accidentally flip them.

I'm also just in the habit of treating them like firearms at the range. Goggles on, then air up, load, cock, turn on if needed.

How many times has someone been shot because "it's no loaded" or "don't worry, the safety's on"? I've learned to be real darn careful with firearms, I'm not going to get kicked off the field because I fumbled the gun or my gloves snag even if it is just paintball, and I sure don't want to lose an eye because someone couldn't keep their booger hook off the bang switch.

Sometimes that needs just one more layer to prevent. Barrel bags just contain a problem, not prevent it.

[Ironnerd]

Not all of my markers (or firearms) have safeties, but I use them when available. It's a small thing, and it makes sense. I've missed a few shots because I forgot to deactivate the safety, but then I've also forgotten to turn on a power feed, neglected to give the bottle that final half-turn to open the valve, and I've even charged down the field with a barrel sock still on the marker. All frustrating in the moment, but pretty hilarious over beers.

Yeah, a safety can be an annoyance, but it is value-added.