This will be the first in a series of articles debunking long running myths in paintball. As mentioned in your mission statement, we want players to be fully informed about what does or does not effect their game. One of the longest standing myths in paintball is that closed bolt markers are more accurate than those with an open bolt system. This was proven false by the wonderful people over at warpig.com, a perfect time capsule of not only early 2000s paintball but of that era of the internet. Their test was simple, they took a marker that could shoot from either a closed or open position, fired it a bunch, and compared the results. Of course this was not enough for die hard autococker fans and the myth perpetuates to this day.

Strong roots with some ground to stand on

The closed bolt myth has three main sources that I am aware of:

  1. Closed bolt firearms are generally considered more accurate than open bolt. This is not really debated among gun owners or those in the military so it makes sense that people assumed that the same advantages would follow suit for paintball.
  2. Pump markers are nearly all closed bolt, and pump players tend to choose their shots more carefully. Pump players landing so many hits with so little paint led many to believe the markers must be a part of it.
  3. The big one is that in their hay day autocockers were a high end gun. Not only could they handle paint better than many of the less expensive semi auto markers of the era, their owners could also afford better quality paint.

Let me be perfectly clear, no paintball gun is more accurate than another. Some are more consistent, some break paint less, but none are more accurate.