.50 Caliber FAQ

[weidex]

.50 Caliber FAQ

There are at least three different threads on the forum discussing (bickering over) the pros and cons of the .50 cal format, each having reached dozens of pages with the same questions being asked over and over again.

Hopefully a single thread that presents all the currently available information will help calm some of the hysteria.



Q: What is .50 caliber?
A: ".50 caliber" refers to a paintball that is 1/2 inch in diameter. The most common paintballs today are about .68 Caliber, or about 2/3 of an inch in diameter. Other calibers of paintballs, including .50 caliber, 11 mm, .43 caliber, .62 caliber, are or have been around for a long time, but have not been the focus of the majority of the industry.

Q: Who is promoting .50 caliber?
A: The idea is being promoted by a company called GI Milsim, which was founded by Richmond Italia (the acknowledged inventor of the Matrix paintball gun and X-Ball) and the Gardner brothers of Smart Parts. Several professional paintball players, including Chris Lasoya also appear to be involved in the promotion of the new format.

Q: What companies have indicated that they are, or are not, going to support .50 caliber?
A: GI Milsim, Smart Parts, Kingman, and Planet Eclipse have all shown products, including guns and conversion kits, relating to .50 caliber. There are rumors that Dye is also planning to participate. Tippman has said that, for now, it is sticking with .68 (however the wording of it's press release seems to indicate that they are not ruling out supporting it in the future.)

Q: What are the supposed advantages of .50 caliber?
A: There are several benefits that the proponents of .50 caliber are claiming:
1. LOWER COST: .50 caliber paintballs are smaller and use less materials than 68s. The volume of a .5 inch diameter paintball is about 40% of the volume of a .68 inch diameter paintball. This could translate to significant cost savings in materials and shipping costs. Whether this savings will be passed on to the players remains to be seen, but the promoters of .50 caliber are claiming that a case of 4000 50 cal paintballs will cost, on average, a few dollars more than a case of 2000 comparable 68 cal paintballs cost now.
2. ACCURACY: The promoters claim that .50 caliber paintballs are more accurate than .68. This has not been proven. So far the only "evidence" that has been provided to back up this claim are testimonials of a few potentially interested individuals and a Youtube video showing a smaller grouping at 70 feet made by a .50 caliber gun compared to two other .68 caliber guns. However, very little information has been provided about the test setup, and these results carry little weight until confirmed by more rigorous independent testing (or at least the personal shooting experience of any individual who is considering a purchase)
3. GREATER CAPACITY/LESS BULK/LESS FREQUENT RELOADING: A typical 140 round pod can hold over 300 .50 caliber balls and some standard hoppers may hold close to 400, which will give players with .50 caliber markers an edge over those with .68s (assuming everything else is equal). Some people may not agree that this "advantage" is good for the sport, as it could change the pacing of the game and give "rich" players yet another equipment advantage over "poor" players. Reloading skill and pacing are parts of the game as it exists now, and some people may not want these current aspects of the game to change in a way that may result in more paint being shot more of the time. In terms of the Milsim market, this change will make it possible to improve magazine fed markers, allowing replica markers to have a magazine capacity that more closely resembles their "real world" counterparts. For instance, GI Milsim's first milsim marker claims to have a magazine that can hold 20 balls. This appears to be a short style magazine (one that looks like a 20 round AR magazine), and this capacity might be even better with a longer 30-round AR type magazine. This compares favorably, for example, to the 18 round magazines that are available for the RAP 4 .68 caliber milsim AR and AK replica markers.
4. BETTER AIR EFFICIENCY: Not surprisingly, it takes less air to propel a 1.3 gram paintball to 290 FPS than for a 3.2 gram paintball. GI Milsim claims to have demonstrated a great increase in efficiency through tests that it has presented on Youtube. Again, the degree of the improvement remains to be be seen, as the videos do not reveal important details about the test setup.

Q: What are the possible disadvantages to .50 caliber?
A: There are several reasons a lot of people are against the .50 caliber format:
1. OBSOLETE 68 CAL GEAR. Although no one who is promoting .50 caliber has ever said that .68 caliber must be phasedout in any paintball format, there is a somewhat legitimate concern that the new format will make existing gear "obsolete" in certain ways. For instance, if it actually does perform better than .68 caliber overall, tournament players will have to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars to convert their gear in order to stay competitive. There is also a concern that .68 caliber paintballs might become less available and more expensive over time and that the resale value of existing .68 caliber gear will plummet. These concerns can be somewhat allayed by the fact that there may be relatively inexpensive conversion kits for markers and hoppers. For instance, Planet Eclipse has shown insert sleeves, replacement bolts, and new barrels for the Ego that would convert an existing .68 caliber Ego into a .50 caliber marker. If the .50 caliber format is successful, it is not hard to imagine that such conversion kits will become available for most popular markers out there.
2. MORE BOUNCES: Many people believe that .50 caliber paintballs will not break as reliably as .68s. These beliefs appear to be based primarily on past experience with smaller paintballs, and otherwise on dubious "armchair physics" by people who don't know that much about physics. In truth, it remains to be seen how the new line of .50 caliber paintballs will perform in this respect. However, GI Milsim claims to have made innovations that improve the breakage and marking characteristics of .50 caliber paintballs so that they are comparable to the current .68 caliber products.
3. LESS RANGE/ACCURACY: Some people believe that smaller paintballs cannot possibly have the range and accuracy of current paintballs. Again, these claims appear to be based on experience with past products of potentially dubious quality, or the aforementioned "armchair physics". GI Milsim and Chris Lasoya claim they are MORE accurate and have about the same range. The only way to know for sure is to try them. To date, there have been no independent tests published that rigorously compare the range and accuracy of the formats.
4. MORE WIPING: A .50 caliber paintball has less paint in it than a .68 and will probably leave a smaller mark. This might make it easier to get away with wiping. GI Milsim, however, claims to have made changes to the fill for the new .50 cal paintballs that give them marking characteristics comparable to .68. The GI Milsim demonstration video show that the marks are smaller, but only about 30% smaller in diameter.

Q: What .50 Caliber products have been announced.
A: Several .50 caliber markers or other products have been announced or shown to the public, including:

* Smart Parts .50 Caliber Impulse (which appears to pretty easy to convert to .68 cal)
* At least two GI Milsim markers, one milsim marker and one entry level tournament style marker similar to the SP Vibe
* A conversion kit for the PE Ego
* A Kingman marker.

Q: How much will .50 caliber paintballs cost?
A: Nobody knows for sure yet, but the promoters of the format have stated that a case of 4000 will cost "a few dollars" more than a case of 2000 comparable .68 caliber paintballs. In other words, they might be just a little more than half as expensive on a per-paintball basis.

Q: Will I have to buy a new marker
A: Maybe, maybe not. It is unlikely that anyone, including tournament promoters, will force you to switch to .68 caliber. However, as a practical matter, it may eventually become necessary if .68 caliber paint eventually gets more difficult to find or if .50 caliber really outperforms it significantly and you want to keep up with the competition. Also, keep in mind that conversion kits may be available for your marker in the future, and should cost a lot less than a whole new marker. For instance, PE has shown such a kit for the Ego.

Q: Can I still use my current hopper?
A: Maybe, maybe not. Current shake and bake or agitated hoppers might work ok if the gun's feed tube will accept them. However, it is unlikely that existing forcefeed hoppers will perform adequately without some kind of conversion, which at least one company appears to have indicated it will offer.

Q: Do .50 caliber paintballs hurt more/less than .68s?
A: We'll know when we get shot by them. Conventional wisdom would tell us that a .50 caliber paintball traveling at the same speed as a .68 caliber paintball would hurt less because it has less mass. But we all know that conventional wisdom rarely applies in paintball. Some people actually think it will hurt more because the force will be concentrated in a smaller area. It is doubtful, however, that the difference will cause people to quit paintball, or get people who otherwise won't play paintball because of the pain to suddenly start playing.

[Jens]

noch mehr Spaß für die Extrem- Cheater :mnt:

-> aus der FF, Oct. 09