There are many a new players who come into the sport with the thought in mind that they will become the biggest badass sniper the sport has ever seen, gogging people from hunderds of feet away and being the lone ranger that decides the turn of the battle. Well, Im here to say that as of June 19, 2004, Paintball has yet to have any marker that can do that, nomatter how many upgrades there are on it.
Websters dictionary defines the word snipe as "to shoot at exposed individuals (as of an enemy's forces) from a usually concealed point of vantage" (
http://webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary). This definition has nothing to do with distance, only with concealed positions, meaning it is possible to "Snipe" someone if you are hidden, and take them out.
Paintballs do not travel reliably over long distances, first off, because they are round and filled with liqued, meaning they are more subject to wind and weather conditions. Second, Paintballs very quickly lose speed and fall to the ground. Even on many speedball courses backplayers lob to reach their targets. A Flatline barrel eliminates the need to lob and does extend the effective rang of the marker (minimally though), but only if installed correctly and properly cared for.
Because of the relative short range of markers, scopes tend to be redundant for Paintball. One of the main disadvantages of a scope is "Tunnel Vision", which is when the person is entirely focused in one direction, leaving him heavily exposed for a flanking. The main reason you do not need a scope is because scopes are for hitting people far away, real far away, farther than a paintball gun can shoot. Many markers are also vertical feed, meaning the hopper is in front of the sight rail so you cant use a scope.
With a flatline the accruacy will be the same as any other barrel adn 150 ft plus, with isnt very good. If you are a new player who is thinking about a flatline so you can snipe people from afar, you must drastically rethink the way you are approaching your choice of barrel. I got my flatline because i was sick of lobbing in the woods only to have my balls break on various foilage that wouldnt be in the way if i had a flat trajectory.
If you knew the limitations and true meaning of "sniping" in paintball and still want to "snipe" as in shoot people within normal effective range from a hidden spot, by all means go ahead, ive seen plenty of games where a single person has held back half the team because they couldnt find him and he was picking them off one by one. Turns out this person was about 30 feet away. That is what sniping in paintball is.
Camoflage is another topic for the "sniper". A good guilly suit will not give the "wookie effect" that you can find on many websites. Personally, i would not use a guilly suit because they tend to be good at only one feild, because the bushes at the other ones are a different color or for similar reasons. I would suggest real-tree camoflaged clothin (available at most Bass-Pro Shops and various army supply stores). I also advise some kind of mask cover that will help hide your mask. Many times the mask is what people recognize most on the feild and in the woods. Ive heard that some people have become so accustomed to standard military comflage, so that they can pick it out from among some bushes or trees.
I made this to help better explain the concept of "sniping" and how it relates to paintball. If you have something to add please do so below.
Truth about Sniping in Paintball
