If you enjoy playing paintball and you want to upgrade your paintball gun to something a little more radical, look into making your next paintball gun an extreme gun.

Extreme guns have features you've often wished your current paintball gun had. Using an extreme gun with the addition of a grenade launcher or a scope will make your next paintball game, whether it is bunkerball or woodsball, a lot more fun.

The Tippman A-5 Custom is a great example of an extreme paintball gun with all of its special features, such as a short barrel Phantom Grenade Launcher and aTri-Rail Scope for deadly accurate sighting. Tippman A-5 paintball gun that has the unique Cyclone Feeding System that is a paintball feeding system that will keep up with you. The faster your gun shoots the paintballs, the faster the feeder works.

Barrel length is always a consideration; make sure that you choose the barrel length for the way you play. If you want your gun to expel paintballs at a faster rate of velocity, go for a shorter barrel, if you want better accuracy in a longer range shot, a longer barrel is for you. This gun is threaded to allow you to quickly switch barrels whenever you like by simply screwing and unscrewing the barrel during field play. You can also add features such as a silencer that is great for woodsball and sniper-style games.

If you're ready to take your paintball game to a new level of fun, make your next paintball gun an extreme gun!

There are some common rules that you should follow when playing paintball. They come in different groups and we'll touch on each set to give you a good overview.

Common Safety Rules
The "big three" rules that you will encounter on almost any field will involve the following: players must wearing goggles and masks at all times when on or within a limited number of feet of the playing field. Second, any paintball marker used by a player may not shoot paintballs that travel faster than 300 feet per second (about 200 MPH), and third, barrel plugs must be in at all times when not in the playing area.

Common Tagging rules
The general rule of thumb is that if a player is marked anywhere on their body and that mark is bigger than a quarter, the player is considered to have been eliminated, unless you've all agreed prior to the game starting that only a particular body part getting marked will count or you are wearing a taped "X" on your jersey and only hitting the mark will get you out. In most cases, a player saying that they were hit even if the paintball didn't break will be enough to eliminate them from the game. Don't be a "wiper". That's a player that has been legitimately marked and has wiped off the paint to keep playing.

Common Rules of Surrender
Some fields will have a rule that if a player is within a 10-foot distance of an opponent who hasn't spotted the fact they've had someone sneak up on them; then the player must demand the opponent's surrender before they may open fire. If the opponent complies, they are simply eliminated. However, some opponents will turn and fire out of surprise. Shooting at distances this close is considered dangerous and should not be done.

After you get into the groove of playing paintball, one of the first upgrades you'll probably make is your form of paintball pack that you're currently using. Especially if you have an automatic loader, you'll find that you can go through paintballs rather quickly; a paintball pack will eliminate the problem of getting caught out on the field with no paintballs left.

An extremely functional model is the REDZ Flex-Tech 414 Paintball Pack which will let you have as few as four paintball Podz that hold 150 paintballs each or you can carry up to six. Additionally the middle compartment of this paintball pouch will carry a 114 ci air tank. This belt is easy to fit as it has a Velcro closure and it is made from lightweight nylon.

Another great item for carrying your paintballs is made my JT and it is the JT Pro Paintball Harness. This harness has been redesigned to be more comfortable and make use of every bit of space. The "Stick-n-Go" system of fitting allows this paintball pack to fit to your body exactly and will be extremely comfortable. It holds 6 pods easily and the pods can be removed with just a simply twice of the wrist. No stopping and unlatching for this pod system.

For the player that needs a little more holding power in the paintball packs. The NXE Pro Pak Plus 3+2+2 Paintball Harness will hold 7 pods and each pod is held in place by an elastic system. If a player needs to insert a new pod into his marker, he simply ejects a new pod and inserts into his gun. This makes for quick reloading if you get in a bind and run out of ammo when you're playing. And those are just a few of the great choices that are available for paintball packs. Now that you know the secrets to getting the most storage out of your paintball packs, you'll never run out of ammo again!

Players as well as people who have never seen a paintball marker hold various misconceptions about the sport of paintball.

Most people think that paintball is all about war and violence. Although paintball players wear camouflage and use guns in their games, verbal abuse much less physical contact is not allowed between players. On a positive note for the game, paintball has been used for close combat training by both law enforcement agencies and anti-terrorist groups.

The markers that are made today are generally not designed to mimic firearms. And "scenario" paintball games seek to re-enact historic wars and battles, not to encourage violence at all.

A very common misconception about paintball is that it is very dangerous. Statistically, more people are injured playing golf and bowling than are injured by playing paintball. The reason is the safety awareness that exists and the fact both the players and paintball fields are militant about enforcing the need to wear protective gear when playing paintball and this has reduced the number of "in play" injuries greatly over the years.

Another misconception is that only the most expensive paintball markers are the best. The best way to choose a gun is to see how it fits your own personal playing style. A $200 gun may be more accurate than a $400 gun for someone else. Only your personal skills will make or break your paintball game and there are so many great gun brands out there, you're sure to find the perfect one for your playing technique.

Woodsball is where the game of paintball started. From using industrial guns that were used to mark trees and cattle to the markers of today, paintball has come a very long way in a very short period of time.

A woodsball game can last all day and as many players as you want can play. It is usually loosely organized and just an all around fun afternoon with your friends. Accuracy in your shots is much more important when playing woodsball, as you are usually looking for someone who is hiding and waiting to mark you.

Scenarioball is a game where the players reenact a particular war or battle from history or they role play a particular scenario. It can be rescuing hostages to protecting the President of some foreign land. Scenarioball relies heavily on the player's ability to stay in their role and normally it's a fairly fast paced game.

Speedball is a faster, more closer-quarters game than woodsball and is played on a field. There are usually bunkers to crawl around behind them and hide. There will be numerous obstacles in the field and they can be useful for hiding behind or your opponent can use them against you and use them to snipe you. One of the sub-games of speedball is called Airball and it is the most popular form of speedball. This game is usually played on a rectangular field with air inflated Nylon "props" or "bunkers". Hyperball is another popular form using Corrugated Piping of different sizes and shapes on a Rectangular field. Both are extremely fast moving games of paintball.