INFRARED: Airsoft paintballs continue to be a work in progress. After trying three different brands of airsoft paintballs under controlled conditions, my opinion has improved somewhat, though there's still some difficult distance to go before 6mm paintballs become a viable alternative for training or tournament use. If this is your first time here, please read our initial review of "Clean Spots" 6mm paintballs.
I recently received a small sample of newly-developed biodegradeable 6mm paintballs from a company called AIM (I don't know who actually made them; AIM acts as distributor). And since that made three flavors of paintball in my possession, I figured it was time for some tests.
The tests were conducted as follows: five rounds of each brand at seven yards, first with a Marui H&K P7M13 springer (non-hop-up), and then repeated with a Marui Glock 26 GBB (with hop-up). Here's how the tests turned out:
Clean Spots - These are the original 6mm paintballs that I got from England about five or six years ago. These are the ones that gave us a lot of trouble in the mini airsofts. After this series of tests, I think the minis are just harder on BBs than your average airsoft (being gravity-fed AEGs), so paintballs are not a good idea. Upon close inspection, the Clean Spots appear to be fairly round although many do show seams and flaws in the outer casings. The amount of paint inside any given Clean Spot is variable. Some appear full while others can be almost a third empty. Clean Spots fed and fired flawlessly in the P7M13 and nearly so in the G26. The fifth round in the magazine broke under pressure before it even fed into the chamber, leaving the magazine feed lips and follower trimmed in pink. This, I think, was more a function of magazine design than weakness of BB; but as I said before, these paintballs do appear to have flawed construction. The hop-up did not appear to break any paintballs during the firing process. As far as accuracy, at seven yards the five-round group was approximately twelve to fourteen inches across, which is barely acceptable for CQB situations. They don't provide the level of accuracy that standard BBs do. Clean Spots broke reliably on a semi-hard target (standard cardboard box) from both guns. They did not, however, break when fired at about four layers of shirt flannel hanging in front of a door, even when fired at close range. We'll have to try some person-on-person trials to see how they really work.
Omega Super Bright - These were recently purchased from Excess Power Airsoft in Hawaii. Super Brights appear to be of a slightly lower quality than Clean Spots - just by looking at them you can see obvious seams. Some of the paintballs don't appear to be particularly round, either. They fed and fired perfectly in both test airsofts, but when shot from the springer, two of the five didn't hit the cardboard hard enough to burst and they bounced back. When fired at a harder target such as a wall, they worked fine. No barrel bursts (or magazine bursts), even with the hop-up GBB. Accuracy was about the same as with the Clean Spots - around twelve- to fourteen-inch groups. Again, acceptable but not great. Since the Super Brights appear to have a sturdier casing than the Clean Spots, it follows that they would require a harder target in order to burst. Thus, they failed the flannel shirt test.
AIM biodegradeable - These are recently-obtained samples of biodegradeable 6mm paintballs from a company called AIM (Asia International Marketing). The press release accompanying the paintballs states that a special manufacturing process is used to create a seamless casing, and one look confirms that. The appearance of these paintballs indicates a higher quality than the other two; the casings are nice and round. The AIM paintballs fed and fired flawlessly in both test guns, but due to the sturdier construction, neither gun could make the paintballs burst on a cardboard target at seven yards. They burst evenly and reliably against a hard target (such as a wall) even out to fifteen yards, but any softer target usually resulted in the paintballs simply bouncing back toward the shooter. The sturdiness of these paintballs indicates that they might work in an AEG; I'll save that test for a later date. The accuracy of the AIM paintballs was notably improved from the other two brands. The press release says that the casings are more uniform and the paint inside is more consistent, resulting in a more accurate paintball. After my tests, I'm inclined to believe that. Group sizes were cut in half compared to the other two brands of 6mm paintball. The groups were very nearly the same size and gave about the same point of impact as you'd expect from standard plastic BBs. The accuracy and durability of the AIM paintballs would make them my choice for airsoft paintball, especially for anything where rough handling or adverse conditions are possibilities. According to the press release, there are several colors available (we tested purple), and the suggested retail cost on these will be around $8 per 200 - about the same cost as full size paintballs. Lower prices can be had by purchasing at the distributor level, but a minimum purchase of 50,000 paintballs is required. For more information, please contact Ronald Sallon, the president of AIM, at [email protected].
Conclusions: Clean Spots broke the most consistently, but accuracy and durability are problems. As you go across the quality continuum, you have the Super Brights about in the middle with slightly improved durability but lower breakability, and finally the AIM paintballs with good accuracy and durability but even lower breakability. Only person-on-person field tests will give better answers to the breakability questions that I still have, but I think it'll always be a game of compromise - the more uniform and durable you make the paintball, the less likely it is to burst when you want it to. For now, I'll take the AIM paintballs, and aim for a hard target such as the opponent's gun or other tactical gear.
