Newbie with calibre and walk on questions

[Ursine Buffoon]

Newbie here! Apologies in advance for the bone questions but I figure I have to start somewhere.

Lockdown has led me here, with a notion of getting into mag fed paintball as a new hobby. I'm too old and too crunchy kneed to play with much regularity so I'm basically looking to have a laugh at the odd walk on and, eventually some events.

With that in mind, I've been looking at second hand markers. I have the misfortune of owning a couple of gen 1 RAP4 .43 pistols, which are mostly only good for plinking in the garden and accelerating global warming with CO2 leaks and bust o rings.

The main question I have is around the utility of .50 for magfed in the UK. How much of a disadvantage is it in terms of range and do many sites allow it, or are most still 68 cal?
I like the idea of a .50 marker because I can use it at home more readily than I can "full fat" but if I can't field it anywhere or I'm going to be completely outranged then it's a non starter.

Is anyone using .50 for walkons, or is it purely a light option for rentals?

 

[BOD]

I don't know what rules individual sites or events have regarding .50 cal but they shouldn't be outranged as it's a lighter ball so can be shot at a higher feet per second and be legal, the site i managed had .50 cal for juniors and i think we set them at around 330fps though i will admit never actually comparing one against a .68 set at 280fps.

 

[BOD]

there were people using .50 cal for walkons, i remember quite a few getting conversion kits but i never tried it myself.

 

[Ursine Buffoon]

I don't know what rules individual sites or events have regarding .50 cal but they shouldn't be outranged as it's a lighter ball so can be shot at a higher feet per second and be legal, the site i managed had .50 cal for juniors and i think we set them at around 330fps though i will admit never actually comparing one against a .68 set at 280fps.

Brilliant: thanks for a real world example! That's what I'd assumed: you could set them to the same muzzle energy by tuning the velocity.

Confusingly, a lot of what I'd read seemed to suggest that sites were chronying all calibres at the same velocity (I.e. 280fps for everything), so it's good to hear that isn't always the case.

 

[BOD]

Brilliant: thanks for a real world example! That's what I'd assumed: you could set them to the same muzzle energy by tuning the velocity.

Confusingly, a lot of what I'd read seemed to suggest that sites were chronying all calibres at the same velocity (I.e. 280fps for everything), so it's good to hear that isn't always the case.

well it's been around 9 years since i was involved at site level so don't know how they're doing things now but they can legally be shot at a higher fps than .68cal, even 280fps isn't the legal limit for .68cal, the legal limit is around 300-305fps depending on the weight of the ball but obviously that can be constantly changing so 280 is used as a safe margin for error.

 

[Tom]

Quite a number of sites went to 0.50 either for younger games, or for their whole rental fleet

They could opt to be simple and stick to 280-300fps, giving the 50s less energy
Or they could stick to the energy level and have a higher velocity for 50s

Being able to mix and match having some players each on 50, 68 and maybe 43 depends on the site or event, and whether or not you can bring your own paint

In Magfed the other calibres are popular so come with greater odds of you being able to use 50
Originally 43 was the Magfed alternate due to a selection of pistols, but with the 50 release taken across most flavours that is perhaps the most likely to be usable

It will be a case of finding out which sites / events you may play at to see if they allow 50 to be sure before you commit