If you’re new to the game of paintball, ‘snap shooting’ is not something you start out with in your bag of tricks.  After you’ve been playing a while, you will start searching for tips on how to get better at paintball.  You will soon learn that the art of snap shooting can make a big difference in your game.  This is an article to learn everything you need to know about snap shooting during a game of paintball; hopefully you will develop your snap shots faster, more accurate and more effective after reading this material. 

The basic idea when shooting at someone during a paintball game is to hit him before he hits you.  This is the purpose of snap shooting.  The process is simple: “snap” out of your bunker, “shoot” a few rounds and “snap” back behind cover before your opponent can react.  This can be simple or complicated – your choice.  Those who make it complicated don’t usually use the maneuver very much and are often eliminated by those who use it often.  Here are a few tips on how to make your snap shot faster and more precise…

Before a game, study the field to determine where good places might be to stage a snapshot.  You need to know where the best cover spots are; the places where opponents will be and your effective range to eliminate them.  You also need to be prepared for the opponent to be doing his field study as well.  When developing a defensive strategy, try to think like your opponent about where he thinks you’re best hiding spots are.  Study the bunkers and field layout to discover where you are vulnerable or where you are least able to pull off a snapshot?

To be effective at snap shooting, you need to be comfortable and ready.  Consider what position you can move the most quickly from.  Is it from your knees, a squat, lying down, or another position?  Practice starting from these positions and exploding out to your aiming point and then back down.  Time yourself from each position to determine your fastest and strongest methods.  Don’t just consider speed, consider fluidity of motion and efficiency of the move.  Wasted noise and energy can be a dead giveaway of your position.

You can also use the snap maneuver without shooting.  Maybe you need to look for a specific target or determine if a teammate has reached his location.  Use the maneuver of snap shooting for more than just shooting your opponent; use it as a way to scan your environment safely.  Be ready, however in case the snap results in a possible shot, TAKE THE SHOT!  If you are sure you’re going to be shooting, start immediately.  Fire a few shots in the direction of your opponent and then get behind cover before he sees you or can react.

In most cases, after you shoot someone in paintball, you listen and watch to confirm an actual hit.  We all want to confirm our hits, but snap shooting the right way will not give you this luxury.  If you are confirming your hits, you’re more likely (in fact, very likely) to get hit rather than confirm you were successful.  SNAP out, SHOOT, and SNAP back in; it’s as simple as that.  If you hit someone, they’ll either be honest enough to call it or have a referee check it and call them out.

Try to be creative when developing your snap shot; don’t restrict yourself to a single maneuver or a single shooting hand.  If your moves become too predictable, you can become an easy target when your opponent figures you out.  You must practice with both hands and from various different positions.  Snap shooting is not difficult, but as soon as you think you have it figured out, you’ll realize you need to learn another shooting position or another way to speed up your snap.

If an experienced paintballer catches on to your snapshot technique, count to ten and do it again from another angle.  Don’t get in a habit of firing a specific number of shots or waiting a specific amount of time between snapshots.  Vary your approach, your timing and your number of shots.  Don’t get caught in this rookie trap!  Learn to recognize the movements of your opponents; constantly evaluate their strategy and try to identify any predictable patterns.  

Practice your snap shooting technique to improve your speed and consistency.  Being good at this move alone can take you very far in most paintball games.  Learn several positions you can spring from to establish your attack; become good at numerous different methods of snap shooting will prove effective over and over again.  Master several ways of snap shooting so you don’t become predictable in your movements – this could prove fatal!  Get the most up to date paintball equipment from ChoicePaintballGuns.com so your gear is as reliable as it can be.