Aim

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten the upper hand in a one-on-one situation, with a less experienced paintball player, because the other player simply didn’t aim his marker.

I remember a scenario game a couple years ago. We were assaulting a fairly well defended wooden fort reasonably close to the enemies HQ. I was in the heat of the fight, peering over a pallet at the fortification, only about 30 yards away. I realized that I was in a pretty good position to make another offensive move. Most of my teammates had followed me, and we had created a half-moon shaped ring around the strategic point. We were really hammering the wood. The sound of 40 players laying down suppression fire is musical bliss when it’s your team playing in the band. God, I love this sport.

The enemy players inside the fort have their heads down since my team is providing such great cover fire. I decide to make a run for a bunker about 15 yards away from the fort. That would put me in front of my team and in a good position to clear out one of the fort’s bunkers. When I am ready to make any aggressive move, I typically choose the “don’t think, just do it” motto.  Not always the best choice, especially because in this particular 36 hour scenario game, I was the General on my team. In my defense, I was calculating the risk/reward and I knew we had to make it into their fort before the enemy respawn or I would have to forgo this mission. I knew we had to move fast and I wanted to lead by example.

I remember that I was wearing football cleats and had a pretty light gear load. I made my frantic dash for the bunker with my gun tucked in my “ready” position. Just as I am about to slide into the relative safety of the bunker, one of the enemy defenders decides he wants to play paintball instead of just being a target. He peaks his head up over the top of the fortification wall.

The two of us have that moment, almost like a sappy romantic comedy, where our eyes meet and there is instant chemistry. The only difference is that our “chemistry” is adrenaline, and our reaction is to shoot each other instead of kissing. From a paintball standpoint, we both react very differently. He swings his gun up over the fort wall in a gang style spray-and-pray methodology. I pull the tank into my shoulder and aim down my sight rail. He fires a couple rounds high and to my left. I fire three rounds directly into his mouth and neck. He raises his gun and starts to walk off the field. I proceed to help my teammates clear the fort and go on to win the scenario. The difference was simple. I aimed.

Because of the point value assigned to me during that scenario game, he could have put almost 2% of his team’s points on the board in that one moment. Shame on me for being so far forward during the assault. Shame on him for not aiming. I know this is a far stretch, but it is possible that his team could have rallied around him, putting me in the morgue. They could have used that as a turning point and possibly won the entire scenario. If he had just managed to land one paintball on my person, he could have won the game.

But he didn’t aim! He didn’t aim because he didn’t practice in a way that required him to aim. He didn’t aim because he wasn’t disciplined enough to react by aiming and then shooting. His reaction was more of a flailing panic. Don’t be this player. Read the rest of this article and then “Practice Practice Practice!” The Navy seals supposedly use 50,000 rounds of ammunition per team member per year. They are such great warriors because they eat, breathe, and sleep proper technique.

Here are some practical tips and drills that will help you develop your personal paintball skills and techniques.

Aiming Techniques

Paintball markers are so inaccurate, most players just spray-and-pray. Some aim with what I call “tracer fire.” They shoot a round and then try to watch it land. Then they adjust their shot. Or they use machine-gun-tracer-fire where they start shooting and then adjust the stream of paintballs. I’ve had teammates use those strategies and have success. I really don’t like any of these methods but at the very least they are aiming in some capacity.  I prefer you follow my guidelines below.

Your Gear

No matter what you do, crappy paintballs and a a crappy marker are going to perform like crap. There is no way around it. I recommend finding out your barrel size and then trying to find some paint that flies reasonably straight. You will know it fits in your barrel if you drop a paintball into your barrel and it goes in but gets stuck. It shouldn’t be hard to put in. It also should just fall straight through. If you are looking to upgrade a stock gun then start with the barrel and then the bolt. I have found a paint brand that works really well with my gear. It costs about 15% more than the other brands but I shoot about 30% less since I am more accurate. Experiment and find one that works for you. If you are required to use Field paint for an event, request that they carry your brand. I’ve had several fields get a couple of cases of my brand since they knew they would have a customer for it.

Paintball Sight

I prefer you pick a “sight” of some kind. It doesn’t need to be a Dot site or a scope. Paintball markers aren’t that accurate. Just use a rail or a screw or something you can line up with a target.

Practice Aiming

It was Mel Gibson’s character in the movie “The Patriot” that said the phrase “Aim small, miss small.” In order to practice aiming, you need a small target. I like to use 20oz or 16oz soft drink bottles.

I collect 10 and set them up at varying distances. I will then give myself a limited number of paintballs and practice shooting at them from the 3 major shooting stances (standing, kneeling and prone). Distances should be something like 20′, 40′, 60′, 80′ and 100′. If you are hitting a 16oz soda bottle at 100′, then you will be able to hit a 180 lb man wearing full gear.

One thing you will notice the next time you play, after you do this drill a couple of times, is that you will start to see small targets about the same size on enemy players. I’ve gotten a lot of kills because someone left a boot barely sticking out from the edge of a tree or bunker. Aiming helps me connect on the first one or two shots before the player can realize his error and adjust.

Aiming Under Pressure

I know a few ways to help a player practice aiming under pressure. A great one is to shoot after you are fatigued. You can do the above aiming drill after you’ve run a 100 yard sprint. Your results will be much worse but you will teach your body to aim as a muscle memory. The goal is to be both fast and accurate, in an automatic sense. When you’ve just run a sprint, it’s harder to slow down and aim. Especially if you’re winded. I like to do this as a two person competition. Two people run the drill at the same time. The first one to hit 3 targets at 3 different distances, after running 100 yards, wins. The competition puts extra pressure on you which helps create muscle memory. You are only as good in real combat as your worst practice run. Make sure your runs are consistent so you can make the other guy walk off the field with the giant paint splotch on his mask.

Another way is to treat the targets like clay pigeons. You turn around. Put your gun in your “ready” position. Take a deep breath. Then spin around, aim, and shoot. I also like to do this from kneeling to standing and vice versa. Spinning seems to mess with you enough to create confusion in your muscles. Forcing yourself to aim creates the muscle memory you want.

Moving and Shooting

It is very common to see guys run across the field, from tree to tree or bunker to bunker and they are just spraying their paint wildly toward the enemy. This isn’t really useful against good players. Sure the noobs will lie down and let you make the move. Experienced players will pop up and take aim. If you’ve ever seen video footage of the military, they are not haphazardly firing as they scramble. They control their movement and they focus on putting rounds on the target. Set up a course where you can walk and shoot. This will greatly improve your skill with your marker and give you an edge over the other guy in the trenches.

Pop Up Shooting

It is also of tremendous benefit for you to practice behind bunkers and trees. Set up targets and then pop out, aim, fire a few rounds, and then take cover. This is how you typically play, so you should practice it. It is also a good opportunity to develop good habits behind the bunker. Don’t put yourself in a position where you can’t return fire. Stay in a ready position behind the obstacle.

Conclusion

I don’t think aiming is enough to make a bad player into a good one. But I do think it’s enough to take a bad player and give them some kills for the day. I would call that moving from bad to okay. It’s a good start.