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Paintball Snipers

Now, don't get me wrong. I really like Ponytail's site, he has done great work archiving the Cool Guns sections, Mods, etc. etc... However, I have come to disagree with a few areas of his Sniping page. Many of them are very good. Such as the chrono rule for snipers, and suggestion for X-gel paint (still waiting) and his opinion on optics.

I disagree with the way he dubs certain guns, "sniping guns"; one can just as effectively snipe with a Daisy Eagle as an ATS gun. Sniping is, in my opinion, a playing style, not a gun style. A paintball sniper needs to practice stealth, retreat, aim, patience, and common sense. He must pay attention to who appears to be in charge of an opposing team, learn to stay out of sunny spots and use shadows, and have at least three cover areas in his head at all times, in case he needs to make a quick exit, so he can zip to the closest/best one.

Sniping involves so much more than being a "great shot". Camoflauge is actually an element of rather low importance. I'm not saying you should wear hot pink, but you don't need a ghillie suit. A plain normal BDU is sufficient, just use brush and other non-human shaped objects to help you. Stay still. Move slowly, when the wind blows, when people are firing. Don't be afraid to crawl, just do it in decent cover or when you feel confident. Remember, human eyes pick up movement easily. Once, me and two chums sat tight, not moving a muscle, in plain BDU's, myself squatting behind a small bush. A whole team walked by us, and didn't see us. We had our guns cradled in our arms so they wouldn't recognize the shape, looked at the ground so they wouldn't see our lenses, and kept all skin areas covered. When they passed, we rose, and the rest is history. Not one of them even got a shot off. That is the kind of thing I consider to be sniping.

One of the other values of a sniper is his ability to destroy morale. When the other teams captain or big gun man gets gogged and no one knows where from, they all get pretty annoyed. This can get them going for vengeance on the sniper, and they get even more unfocused when they do, which helps out your guys who are good at assaults.

Sniping is by no means restricted to long range. Ask any real (military or law enforcement) sniper, they will tell you half the time the job involves sneaking within spitting range to eliminate a target, not only the legendary half mile high wind low visibility head shots that only happen in the movies.

It aint no gun thing...

-Captain Clay