Finding The Best Pump Paintball Guns On The Market
Paintball guns of the pump variety are extremely simple, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t strive to obtain the best pump paintball gun that you can afford. Pump paintball guns aren’t necessarily more accurate than other types, like automatic or semiautomatic variants, but they do force you to change your style of play, in order to get the most out of the gun. Your shooting skills, as well as paintball trajectory guessing, will increase to such a level that it would take three times longer to learn while using a semiautomatic in the same time frame.
Being a pump paintball gun player requires a tremendous amount of commitment to your gun. It shouldn’t be thought of as a novelty buy, and should instead be thought of as a serious piece of equipment. Otherwise, your enjoyment of the game will deteriorate, and you will get frustrated.
If you are someone who is just getting into paintball, then it’s advisable that you do not start with a pump paintball gun, unless you have a previous history of shooting other types of weapons. There’s a reasonably high learning curve with pump guns, and there are usually some better options for newcomers to the hobby, in the form of semi-automatic or fully automatic guns.
Most paintball players will suggest that you should only consider getting a pump gun after you have been playing consistently for approximately a year. It’s important that you never consider cheaper options, though, and that you always try and purchase a metal one, over any of the plastic options.
Be advised that it will take some time to learn how to pump the guns and how to feed the paint in efficiently. It will also be a little awkward to hold the gun for the first time, but after a few sessions, you will get used to it.
With all of that taken into account, here are some of what we believe are the best pump paintball guns available on the current market.
#1 Azodin KP II 2011 Kaos Pump Paintball Gun
This second-generation model has had three areas that have been greatly enhanced from the previous model, in order to achieve a higher performance. The method percussion system minimizes the sound signature and improves accuracy. It also utilizes a low-pressure inline regulator as well as a high-performance valve. The silence bolts and striker also make sure that the sound signature is kept to a minimum. The new twist lock design has also improved how easy it is to lock and unlock your hopper.
The nice thing about this barrel, which helps with the problem that every pump player runs into, is that if you don’t need to properly bore size your paint to match your barrel. The usual problem is that after you have cocked your gun, you tilt your gun forward to run or to move, and your ball will run out the end of your barrel before you have even shot it.
To combat this potential problem, what they did is at the end they have cut notches into the barrel and have placed an O-ring. Because of these notches, the O-ring slightly protrudes into the cavity of the barrel. The O-ring sticking in there will help keep the paintball in and hold it back. So if you don’t properly do paintball sizing, then you can use this stock barrel to hold all of the paintballs back and you won’t have to worry about it.
A lot of pump players are fairly particular about the barrel that they use, as well as the paintball size, so this may not be a factor anyway, but it can be useful for new pump players.
The pump handle at the front has a nice easy pump stroke and has a pleasant forceful return, which means that you won’t feel the need to have to pull it back forward. The pressure for the inline regulator can be adjusted at the bottom, although the manufacturer’s guidelines say that this is preset already so you shouldn’t have to make any adjustments.
Any velocity adjustments that you feel that you do need to make, should be done at the back. The two finger trigger is neither a pro or a con, as it’s down to personal preference, but for a pump gun like this, a two finger trigger is definitely unnecessary.
It has a twisting feed neck at the top, which can be threaded out and replaced with a lever lock system if that is something that you prefer. Some people find that they occasionally cannot twist it hard enough to grip properly, so by being easily interchangeable, this allows you to fully customize as you see fit.
Features
- Barrel thread is interchangeable with autococker thread barrel
- Feedneck thread is interchangeable with ion/impulse thread feedneck
- Low-pressure inline regulator with standard ASA threads
- Aluminum grip frame
- Interchangeable bottom ASA with rail or dovetail mounts
Verdict
The Azodin KP II is a great low to mid-range priced pump action paintball gun that you will be able to find for under $200. This is unquestionably one of the best pump paintball guns for this price range.
#2 – Kingman Spyder Hammer Pump Action Paintball Marker
The Kingman Hammer 7 is a really interesting pump action paintball gun, as it allows you to not only use a traditional hopper, but you can also set it up so that is mag fed too. A nine round magazine can be used to feed it standard .68 paintballs, or first strike rounds, without any modifications needed.
The gun itself is a pretty straightforward pump gun, with a large pump handle at the front. It will not be able to be cock backed and locked if the gun is not pressurized. So if you receive one of these paintball guns and feel that it is broken because you cannot cock it back, don’t panic, because that is the reason.
The magazine that comes with this gun is loaded by pulling the follow-up all the way down and locking it into place, which will allow you to load your rounds at the top. Once you are done, be sure to place your thumb or finger at the very top, and then unlock the follow-up at the bottom. If you don’t cover it with your hand there is a very high chance that when the follow-up comes back up, it will push paintballs out of it.
If you want to switch the barrel styles, there is a screw right at the top of the gun which you will need to loosen up or take out completely, which will then allow your barrel to slide out from the front. When you have pulled your barrel out, you will be able to see two marks on it at the base.
One says “M” for magazine and the other says “L” for loader. Just above the hole in the body of the gun where you will slide your barrel into, there will be a mark. Simply align this mark with whichever loading style mark on the barrel that you intend to use, and then slide the barrel in.
You then replace the screw that you originally took out, which will hold the barrel in place. Because of this, it makes it very difficult to change loading styles while out in the field, so it’s a good idea to avoid doing this if at all possible. The adapter at the base of the barrel is threaded, which means that you can easily replace the barrel with a barrel of your choice if you like to personalize your gun.
To adjust the velocity, you stick the long silver tool that comes with the box down the end of the barrel. Once it’s secured at the end, you then rotate either clockwise or anticlockwise to increase or decrease the velocity of the gun. There is no external adjustment that you can touch or turn, which means that you will either have to carry around is this rod with you, or you make sure that your velocity settings are accurate before your games start. The gun can run off either compressed air or CO2; the choice is up to you.
Features
- Switch from mag fed to hopper fed with ease
- Operates on compressed air or CO2
- First Strike compatible
- Includes a 9 round magazine
- 12-inch muzzle brake porting barrel
- High quality polymer feed neck, pump handle, and frame
- 7/8″ picatinny rail for addons
- Fires .68 caliber paintballs as well as First Strike rounds
Verdict
The Kingman 7 is a fantastic budget option into the pump action paintball scene, as it is easily found under $100, and is without a doubt the best pump paintball gun for under $100. It is built to such a level that it can rival guns twice its price, and if you are unsure whether you will take to using a pump action gun, then this is definitely the best way of testing out, without having to break the bank.
#3- Empire Paintball Sniper Pump Marker
The gun itself has features that you would expect for a high-grade gun, except it comes with a mid-range price. It comes with many different barrel options, to allow you to use as many different sized paintballs as you’d like. Typically, pump players will use higher quality paintballs as they are firing less. Higher quality paintballs are a lot smaller usually than regular ones, therefore, with all of the different barrel options, as well as the barrel adapter, you will not have to purchase any additions in order to use your favorite paintball size.
The adjustable regulator has a gauge that shows your input pressure through your regulator. The pump handle at the front has an additional handle which lets you pump the gun while holding the regulator, as if it was another trigger. A lot of people take these off, though, but it’s completely up to you. It also helps to make sure that your hand doesn’t slide off when pumping too.
The feed neck utilizes lever style locking which is one of the most reliable locking methods. You can either twist by hand before locking in, or, you can lock in and use an Allen key on the outside to make sure that there is no give.
What’s unique about this gun is that it has an auto trigger on the side. This lets you hold the trigger down to enable you to continuously fire the weapon while you pump it, without having to reapply pressure to the primary trigger. This lets you shoot fairly quickly, although this is more suited for tournament play, as it is sort of against the whole point of purchasing a pump gun in the first place. It’s great to have the option though if you do need it. If you do intend to use it though, be advised that your accuracy will be incredibly low due to your gun shaking about all over the place.
This gun leaves the factory preset at 225 psi through the regulator. Just like all pump guns, you should not adjust this if you want to change your velocity. This should all be done through the velocity adjuster which is located at the back, next to where the bolt goes in. It’s important to remember that when increasing velocity, that it is not breaking any of your field rules.
Features
- Tournament Level gun
- Low-Pressure Operation
- Auto-Trigger to enable rapid firing
- Empire Sniper Pump Aluminum 2-piece 14 inch barrel
- 3 different Barrel inserts
- Autococker barrel threading system
- 10-round feed system
- Removable vertical pump assist plate
- Inline regulator with swivel adapter
- T-mounted On/Off ASA with bleed
- Maximum stability with two stainless steel pump rods
Verdict
For the price, this is a fantastic way to get a dual-rod tournament ready pump action paintball gun. This gun is very solid and is able to shoot with great accuracy, and you should be able to get it for under $400. This makes it a medium-high priced gun that is perfect for taking your shooting to the next level. If you are looking for the best pump paintball gun in the mid to high price range price bracket, then this wins hands down.
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Resources
[1] Empire Sniper Pump Paintball Marker
[2] How to play pump paintball
[3] Thoughts on the Kingman Hammer?