I want to shoot faster....

It seems that this question will need to be addressed in a number of posts. It's a complex answer that may not be easily addressed with just one post. The thing that I want to start talking about in the first post is why? I've seen question after question about how to get one's marker shooting more than 20 balls per second. Every time, I wonder....Why? Why does someone need to fire at a faster rate than some REAL automatice weapons?

Some of the most feared automatic weapons will shoot at 1000 rounds per minute. That equates to roughly 17 balls per second. If a special forces or navy seal team can work with that rate or less - Why do paintballers need more than that kind of fire power?

I think this boils down to - accuracy by volume or "spray and pray". Rather than address the accuracy issues in paintball, it's easier to just shoot faster. If you can shoot 25 BPS and you're only accurate 10% of the time, a 1 second burst should score a hit. So what's the issue?

First, I've yet to see a marker "legally" hit that rate of fire. Second, who gets to shoot at someone for that long? I think the real remedy would be to improve the accuracy so that the higher rate of fire (ROF) becomes less relevant.

What would I recommend? First, use good paint. You need paintballs that are as similar as possible. Snipers can rely on the fact that each round will have the same flight path as any other. I know that in paintball that is easier said than done but with a higher quality paintball, the variance is much smaller giving you more consistency. So as long as the paintball's flight path is the same (even if its not perfect), you'll be able to improve your accuracy.

Also, the paintball to bore match is crucial. If the paintball is too big, the barrel can cause drag - thus imparting spin - thus inaccuracy. If you get a good paint to bore match, there is little to no spin induced but maximum velocity imparted to the paintball - thus, better accuracy. You can 'overbore' which will reduce the chance of a barrel break but the accuracy is decreased due to the gaps that can occur. Since the paintball is smaller than the barrel, it may or may not affect the trajectory. Again, it's these inaccuracies that seem to lead players to compensate by shooting faster.

If you think I'm not on the right track, have you seen people use pump action markers against you? I have. Why can they stand up to such an overwhelming rate of fire? Accuracy (i.e you don't have it and they do). They usually have honed their skill and marker to increase accuracy. I'm not saying that ROF is bad, but not addressing why you need to shoot so fast will still leave you vulnerable.