| Pin Valve - The standard valve on CO2 tanks. It has a pin in its center
which causes the valve to open when screwed into an ASA. |
| pinch - "When a paintgun's operating mechanism jams, or pinches, a
paintball that is fed only part way into the breech." |
| Player Referee - Players in a scenario game who are given a special
ID card that gives them the authority to enforce game rules like a referee
while they are playing in the game. For player referees to work they must
not abuse their power and make decisions to further the goals of their
team. |
| Pneumatics - "Low pressure gas fittings, and or components such as
rams which convert gas pressure to mechanical movement." |
| Pod - "A container, usually tube shaped, in which paintballs are carried
on the field. Pods are typically carried in a harness. Hoppers or other
loaders are usually reloaded by paint dumped into them from a pod." |
| Porting - "A series of holes drilled through the wall of a barrel,
usually closer to the muzzle than the breech. The rational behind porting
is to allow gas pressure behind the paintball to dissipate before the ball
exits the muzzle, preventing blowby that could cause a random spin on the
ball. Porting also reduces the sound of each shot." |
| Pot - What British paintball players sometimes call pods. |
| Pro - A professional paintball player - the top skill/experience level
in tournament paintball - being classified as pro has no connection to
being paid to play. Most pro players are not paid to play. |
| Prop - "An item that plays into a story line, is used to complete a
mission, or is redeemed for points in a scenario game." |
| PSP - "Paintball Sports Promotions - a corporation owned primarily
by the people and companies that produced NPPL sanctioned tournaments in
the 1990s through 2002. In 2003, PSP and the new NPPL, Inc., parted ways.
PSP produces tournaments under its own name." |
| Pump - "A pump-action paintgun. A paintgun that must have its action
cocked, and a new paintball chambered by the user cycling a pump or bolt.
Unlike some BB or pellet guns, the pumping action does not power the paintball,
a power source such as CO2 is still required." |
| Ramping - "Ramping refers to an electronically controlled paintgun
increasing something while it is firing. Ramping of velocity increases
velocity during rapid fire and is prohibited in all tournament formats
and paintball fields. Ramping of rate of fire begins adding shots while
the trigger is pulled more rapidly, and is widely prohibited at paintball
fields. Rate of Fire ramping is allowed in some tournament formats." |
| Reactive Trigger - "A trigger that pushes back with more force when
the paintgun is fired than when it is first pulled. When a trigger is very
reactive, it can fire in runaway mode, where a player can pull lightly
on it, and the trigger and finger will bounce back and forth as multiple
shots are fired. Reactive triggers are only allowed in most tournaments
when they are adjusted to the point that they can not be fired in runaway
mode. The same holds true for many paintball fields." |
| Receiver - The body of a paintball gun. |
| Recreational - "Paintball played for fun, not as part of a tournament." |
| Referee - The official who enforces the rules on a paintball field. |
| Regulator - "A device which reduces the pressure of a gas. When the
downstream side of a regulator is at a pressure below its set point, the
regulator opens and allows gas to flow through, until the pressure reaches
the set point, at which time it closes. A regulator can only reduce pressure,
it does not increase pressure." |
| Remote - "A system consisting of an ASA fitting, a flexible hose, and
a male ASA adapter. A remote allows a CO2 or Compressed Air tank to be
carried on the player's harness, while the hose carries the gas to the
paintgun, resulting in less weight on the paintgun." |
| Response Trigger - "Tippmann Sports, LLC's name for a reactive trigger." |
| Rifling - "A series of grooves and lands inside a paintgun's barrel
designed to either prevent spin (straight rifling - less common) or cause
the paintball to spin on an axis parallel to the direction of flight (spiral
rifling.) As many question its effect on accuracy, rifled paintball barrels
are not common, though they have been on the market since the early 1990s.
Also, when barrel porting is drilled in a spiral pattern it is sometimes
called rifling or external rifling although it does not have the same effects
as true rifling." |
| Rocket - "A tall, narrow, cylindrical inflatable bunker with four or
five angled braces at the bottom, resembling rocket fins." |
| ROF - Rate of Fire - how fast a paintgun can be fired - usually expressed
in shots per second. |
| Rookie - The entry skill/experience rank in tournament play - also
called Division III in some leagues. |
| Rub - Paint that smudges onto a player from leaning against a bunker
or other object that is coated in paint fill. Rub does not eliminate a
player. |
| Sandbagging - Entering a tournament or competition at a skill level
below that of the players on a team (I.e. pros playing in an amateur only
tournament.) |
| Scenario - "A style of paintball games involving scenarios which create
or recreate story or plot lines from history, fiction or fantasy, usually
scored by the completion of specialized missions by the playing teams." |
| Sear - "A latch which holds a hammer back, keeping a paintgun's mainspring
compressed." |
| Semiauto - "The standard mode of fire in which a paintgun fires one,
and only time per trigger pull." |
| Shell - "The shell of a paintball, made of gelatin." |
| Sight Rail - A mounting rail on which an optical sight can be mounted.
Three eighths of an inch was the common size in paintball until the new
millennium when the larger 3/4 inch Weaver and Picatiny size became more
popular. |
| Siphon - "Because CO2 is stored as a liquid below a layer of gas, a
fill station hooked up to a regular CO2 tank will only deliver gas - the
liquid is held at the bottom of the tank, just like soda in a soda bottle.
A siphon tube hangs down from the valve on large tanks so that they can
deliver liquid CO2 when used to fill the smaller, refillable tanks we use
on our paintguns." |
| Slide - "Sliding into a position on field, just like sliding in baseball." |
| Snake - "Any low bunker of significant length. A player can dive behind
one end of a snake, crawl its length, and pop up unexpectedly to shoot
from the other end." |
| Solenoid - "A coil of wire which, when electrical current is passed
through it, causes a ferromagnetic core to move. A solenoid converts an
electrical impulse into mechanical movement." |
| Solenoid Valve - "A valve which is operated by electrical current by
a solenoid that is a part of its structure. Most solenoid valves used in
paintball are too small to let through enough pressure and volume of gas
to fire a paintball. Instead they are used with low pressure gas to operate
a ram, or a larger valve that is pneumatically controlled." |
| Speedball - "A term coined at its birthplace, Sat Cong Village paintball
field in Southern California. In addition to referring to the original
speedball field, speedball is often used generically to refer to any concept
paintball field - a game field with little to no brush, and artificial
bunkers and obstacles. " |
| Spool - "A bunker made from, or shaped like the large wooden spools
used to ship industrial quantities of wire and cable." |
| Spool Valve - "A radially symmetrical valve, usually actuated by low
pressure gas controlled through a pilot valve. In many spool valve based
paintgun designs, the spool, or core of the valve, also functions as the
bolt." |
| Squeegee - A device used to clean paint fill and other debris from
a barrel. |
| Stainless Steel - "A special blend of steel which is very resistant
to rust corrosion. Stainless steel does not have the resilience needed
for use in springs, or the hardness needed for hammers and sears. Stainless
steel is most commonly seen in the rear halves of two piece barrels, and
external parts like screws and knobs that look good with a shiny finish." |
| Steel - "A refined version of iron, steel is used in paintguns largely
for components that need to be more durable than aluminum - hammers, valve
bodies, springs, screws, etc. More dense than aluminum, steel is prone
to rust damage if it is not protected by paint, or lubricated with oil
or grease." |
| Stock Class - Old-school paintball. Stock class paintball play is restricted
to using bolt or pump action pistols which hold the paint in a tube mounted
on the gun that is parallel to and touching the barrel. They must be powered
by a disposable 12 gram CO2 cartridge that requires at least three full
turns of the changing mechanism to change. Stock Class tournaments are
meant to revive what tournament paintball was like in its early days. |
| Sup'AirBall - "A brand name of the first widely used inflatable bunker
systems. Often used generically to refer to inflatable bunkers, a field
set up with inflatable bunkers, or games played on that field." |
| Sweet Spotting - "Tuning a regulator or trigger to its sweet spot,
or point of optimal performance. Also practicing shooting from one position
on a field to another, so that one knows at exactly what angle to shoot
in order to have their paint land at a specific spot." |
| Tank - "Either a vehicle used in a scenario game to simulate a tank,
or a cylinder used to store a compressed gas." |
| Thread - "A term used to describe the diameter and pitch of a screw,
bolt or other screw-in interface. 10-32 size screws are commonly used to
attach accessories to the bottom of a paintgun's grip. Their thread size
means that they are a number ten diameter screw with 32 threads per inch." |
| Titanium - "A metal with the atomic number of 22. Titanium has strength
characteristics stronger than steel in many respects, yet it is much less
dense. Titanium parts began appearing early in the new millennium, as affordable
methods of producing them became available (due to its hardness, it is
more difficult to machine than aluminum or steel.) Due to the fact that
it is less common than aluminum, its exotic nature is a point of attraction
to many players who buy titanium accessories." |
| Tombstone - "A low , tombstone shaped bunker." |
| Tourney - Tournament paintball. |
| Tourney Cap - "An anti-cheating device designed to lock a velocity
adjuster, or mode settings of a paintgun to prevent them from being changed
on the field. Most tourney caps can not be unlocked without the use of
tools. For this reason players are usually not allowed to take tools on
the field with them." |
| Trademark - "A method of legally protecting a name used in business.
Trademarks are filed with the Patent and Trademark Office, and require
a trademark search to be certain that a name is unique. A trademark must
be registered in order to enforce it (keep someone else from using the
name.) Enforcing the trademark can cost thousands of dollars or more in
attorney's fees. Owning a registered trademark does not guarantee a win
in court, because someone who can prove they used the name in business
first could have the registered trademark invalidated." |
| Trigger - The part of a paintgun that activates it to fire. |
| Trigger Bounce - "Either physical vibration when a paintgun fires,
or electrical noise when the trigger is activated on an electronic paintgun,
which can cause additional shots to be fired beyond one per trigger pull." |
| Two Finger Trigger - "A trigger which is long enough to accommodate
two fingers. While not common in the early days, two finger triggers have
become standard equipment on most paintguns." |
| Ultimate Judge - "A referee, who is not always on field, whose job
it is to interpret the rules and have the final say in settling disputes
between players and field referees." |
| Velocity - "The speed at which a paintball flies. Velocity is usually
measured in feet per second. Velocities over 300 feet per second are considered
unsafe. Because it varies with paintballs, weather, and paintgun adjustments,
the velocity at which a paintgun is firing must be measured multiple times
per day while in use." |
| Walking a Field - "The process of touring a field before a game to
map it out, look at possible firing lanes, and plan a strategy." |
| Walking a Trigger - Firing quickly by alternating fingers on a two-finger
trigger much like pretending to walk a finger puppet on a tabletop. |
| Walk-On - "Showing up at the paintball field to just play for the day,
without plans of being part of a tournament or organized scenario game,
or necessarily being a member of a specific team. Walk On play comprises
an overwhelming majority of the paintball play at commercial fields around
the world." |
| Wiping - "Removing paint from a hit, in order to continue playing without
anyone noticing that one has been eliminated. Under major tournament rules,
wiping is a 3 for 1 penalty." |
| X-Ball - "A tournament paintball format which uses repeating scores.
Each time a flag is hung, the team which hangs it earns a point. The teams
then reset to play for the next point. The game plays until the time on
the game clock expires." |
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