Small paintballs, .670 on purpose to save money making them

[Daltech]

I’m beginning to think manufacturers intentionally manipulated the diameter of paintballs to create an additional market for unnecessary accessories. It just feels like instead of fixing the “problem” they just generated additional sales with a self created inflated “issue” to make everyone think the real problem is that they don’t have 5 barrels, or next, GOG went on to make cheap aluminum shims. 🤦♂️ smh. I’ve got 8 shims and the only one I use is .675 and paint still rolls out like some kind of sick joke.

It must not be profitable, to make paintballs .680 diameter, or else the companies would. It must also be true that making paintballs .66 saves them that much money on PEG material or whatever balls are manufactured from these days.

What incentive to paintball manufacturers have to make paintballs .68? Zero. In fact paintball companies would loose money in barrel inserts sales and loose profits scraped off .010 caliber per ball.

Anyone else feeling slightly manipulated by all this?

Albeit, wax, iodine, and red paint I do not want to come back into the mix.

[Heavy_D]

Wouldn't put it past them... The craptastic modern paint is sure ruining the game IMO tho....

[cstx_pb]

What's just as bad is the egg shaped paint that can be 0.670 in one orientation and then 0.690 the other way. Then you get to play the game: Am I going to get a roll out or barrel break?
Yeah, I don't get it. I really miss the XO paint that was brittle, super consistent, and pretty cheap.

[flyweightnate]

3% decrease in shell from .68 to .67... 5% reduction in fill.

In a low margin business that could be significant.

Now, someone who could consistently produce and market a larger, rounder ball could easily charge more. Heavier means it flies farther, which is a big deal for competitive types. Anyone hear stories of the .70" "Ironball"?

[uv_halo]

A larger, rounder ball will not fly farther. Way back when I did calculations for theoretical .70 balls that Bob Long was rumored to have, and the numbers come up the same- due to larger ball while heavier, has more drag. A smaller and denser ball would be better, ballistically speaking.

[iamthelazerviking]

I think what we need is an even fill, not necessarily heavier

[MrKittyCatMeowFace]

3% decrease in shell from .68 to .67... 5% reduction in fill.

In a low margin business that could be significant.

Now, someone who could consistently produce and market a larger, rounder ball could easily charge more. Heavier means it flies farther, which is a big deal for competitive types. Anyone hear stories of the .70" "Ironball"?

The silence from people in the industry on this MAJOR ISSUE, makes me think that they're 100% aware of the problem, that they're doing it on purpose to save money, and don't care that we know it's ruining the game, or that it's taking players out of the sport. You'd think at least one company, would capitalize on the demands from they're customer base, for product that ACTUALLY F***ING WORKS!

[iamthelazerviking]

It's a huge problem, because if you want players to keep coming back and spending money, they need to have a good experience. If paint is breaking and flying every direction other than at their opponent, what's the point?

Who knows if it will be addressed ever. There's still good paint out there, but even then you will get bad batches of the good stuff.

I have 670 and even 667 inserts for rollout prevention if necessary otherwise it's 3D printed fingers and a 690 Bigshot.

[Booska]

I ordered a .676 freak XL back recently and the vendor threw in a .690 back for free. It was a nice gesture, but I put the .690 in a bin somewhere and will probably never use it lol

My local field carries some Empire paint and I often end up using a .675 back. I've found Empire to run the smallest.

[PBGunny]

And people think .50 cal paintballs were really invented for a "low impact" option of playing...

[markdem]

99% of players dont care if the paint is big or small. No reason for manufacturers to change.

I feel like something changed in the manufacturing process and they never bothered to compensate for it.

[the_matrix_guy]

The problem like anything else is that they started lowering the quality but not the prices. And yes, there is inflation to take into account, but the quality descent has been overpacing inflation. Initially, manufactures claimed that it was to keep costs down and keep the sport as "accessible" as possible -- but we see this in every other industry, especially now with inflation -- corporations are greedy. For instance, take the food industry, you're paying higher and higher prices for less and less quality & quantity. ie less chips in a bag, less cereal, etc etc the list goes on.

[the_matrix_guy]

99% of players dont care if the paint is big or small. No reason for manufacturers to change.

I feel like something changed in the manufacturing process and they never bothered to compensate for it.

It's not just the size -- but the overall quality. Its gone downhill. And PB has had a lot of soul searching to do as an industry to re-grow. This is why there's a resurgence of all the things that made PB fun and popular in the first place. Like woodsball, mech only (& high quality accessible mech guns), 7-10 man tournament format, etc. This is why PB has gotten back on track. But the industry still has to address the quality of paintballs and bring back higher quality fills, 68 caliber, and single shell encapsulation.

[Toestr]

I agree with you 100% on paint being smaller to save money, but not that they're trying to push products to resolve their manufactured issue.

All the super small bore barrels are from niche manufacturers. GI (perhaps the biggest preparator of small paint) doesn't even sell any kind of barrel kit anymore. Neither does Valken. Most people who don't shoot closed bolt guns (most people) don't care about their barrel bore, just that it shoots with reasonable efficiency (less important now) and doesn't break paint. So long as it can shoot reliably from a rental Tippmann 98; the manufacturers don't care.

[Daltech]

I seem to have touched a nerve here. Lol.

[uv_halo]

The noticable downward trend was an issue even on the old board.

[the_matrix_guy]

Daltech ... but barrel kits have always existed. Even when PB's were at their highest standards: The golden age of PB, the days of RPS, and Diablo, and Evil, before the big mergers and acquisitions. Cross-selling and up-selling has always existed in every industry. And its certainly always existed in PB.

[MrKittyCatMeowFace]

I agree with you 100% on paint being smaller to save money, but not that they're trying to push products to resolve their manufactured issue.

All the super small bore barrels are from niche manufacturers. GI (perhaps the biggest preparator of small paint) doesn't even sell any kind of barrel kit anymore. Neither does Valken. Most people who don't shoot closed bolt guns (most people) don't care about their barrel bore, just that it shoots with reasonable efficiency (less important now) and doesn't break paint. So long as it can shoot reliably from a rental Tippmann 98; the manufacturers don't care.

But can a rental Tippmann, or even rental Emek, shoot paint this small without issues? At the sub .67 or lower sized balls, chopping becomes an real issue. Then the balls leak/come apart at the seams, the bag are full of sweat again a few hours after wiping them down, divoted, oblong, nipples, etc. The renters need good paint to keep coming back, and become invested in the game. You are 100% correct, if it was just the size varries from batch to batch, we would not care a whole lot.