.43 Caliber Paintball Pistols

[nak81783]

Thoughts on these? See the picture for some thoughts I jotted down. Intended to be notes and talking points. I want to make sure .43 caliber paintballs are safe, so please prove me wrong if that's the case. I think I've seen a couple videos where the first few shots are in the 380 fps range.

COB Your list of pistols had some of the Umarex .43 caliber pistols on it. I'd like to hear your opinion, where you use your .43 pistols, are they reliable/durable, do the balls break in the marker, do they actually break on target, etc.

Thank you.

[COB]

The .43 caliber paintball pistols are designed primarily for Law Enforcement training. The T4E line is designed for this specifically. "T" Training "4" For "E" Experience. Their markers are exact copies of common pistols used for LE. They are used in live fire training, and are therefore designed to be non-lethal. Yes, the 43 cal paint breaks on contact. That said, they fire well above 300 fps and are not velocity adjustable. I do not recommend them for game play. The Kingman KT Chaser and Eraser are the only 43 cal paintball markers that are designed to shoot at or below 300 fps and could possibly be used in game play. Given the availability of 50 and 68 cal paint and pistol options, I would recommend against the 43s for regular game play.
As for your energy chart, although being correct in your calculations, reality is a different beast. Insurance companies and field personnel can't be bothered by math. They need a simple set number that is the benchmark, 280 fps for all projectiles. No further thinking involved.

[nak81783]

Thanks for the response. I have a PPQ in 9mm, which is part of what’s drawing me to the Umarex T4E .43 version.

Any ideas why airsoft is allowed above that 280 fps insurance number? Just a different category than paintball? I played airsoft for the first time a few weeks back. I was surprised by the different velocities, joule ratings, and engagement distances for the various setups. I just used a pistol so I didn’t have to worry about any of that. A player reffing did tell a sniper to back off of me one time, so I guess they’re paying attention.

[DieManInTheRough]

Lots of airsoft background here.

Nationally accepted US joule limits are based around the ammo being used at the time of chrono due to the ability to affect chrono results with different BB's or "Joule Creep", heavier rounds move slower,have more time to gain energy, hold that energy longer.

You would shoot over chrono with a lighter BB and check out fine and then switch to heavier rounds and creep into cheating joule range.

Third Coast Airsoft and American Milsim are the generally accepted guidelines for most all large milsim events, obviously field rules vary.

SMG are 1 joule and full auto capable, generally without a Minimum Engagement Distance.
Rifleman up to 1.5J semi-auto with no MED
LMG at 1.5-1.8j full auto with 50-100ft MED
Sniper at 1.8-2.2?J with 75-150ft MED

Most insurers have no idea what airsoft is. Learned this over the years of trying to get fields going.
When my local field owner called his to make sure it was covered, they asked "is it like paintball?" and told him he was already covered.

[nak81783]

Thanks for the info. It's really helpful.

I wouldn't trust anything an insurance company says. I always tell them to show me in writing in my policy. I once had a 2 hour Zoom call with my auto and health insurance. It took forever for my health insurance to find the portion in my policy that says it pays primary in the event of a car accident. Once my health insurance screen shared that portion of my policy, everybody took a screenshot and was satisfied.

[XEMON]

The Kingman KT Chaser and Eraser are the only 43 cal paintball markers that are designed to shoot at or below 300 fps and could possibly be used in game play. Given the availability of 50 and 68 cal paint and pistol options, I would recommend against the 43s for regular game play.

My chaser never shot below 330 ... But it was surprisingly consistent at 345-350 😅

[Socalpumpballer]

That’s pretty impressive. I’ve built many chasers and erasers and none of them ever hit 300 even with the velocity adjuster bottomed out. I did valve work to my personal one just to get it to 275+ and that was with kingman ammo and reusable that’s rubber training rounds

[XEMON]

The paint was junk and always flew all over the place, but the baby powder rounds were good. A bit hard on the recipient but always flew straight. Never tried the rubber rounds.