50 cal is weird

Couples night at The Siege. 

Last night was a nice little Valentine's Day event at The Siege: Couples Paintball. It was offered as open play for the hallmark holiday, with a twist! It was offered as low impact for those that aren't into the pain level of 68 cal. Figured it was a good time to get the Mrs to come out and play some ball with me but not have to worry about how much she doesn't like the impact of and speed of regular paintball. So what were we shooting? As the title lead you to believe, 50 cal. 

Awwww, 50 Cal is so adorable!
basicspaintball.com

For the uninitiated, 50 cal is a lower impact projectile that promised the same game as traditional paintball, with less sting.While this is true, there are definitely some ups and downs with this.

Pros:

• Less kinetic energy due to the lower amount of overall mass
• Less sting
• Smaller welts
• Technically more economical
• Lower profile on the marker since the hoppers hold the same amount of rounds
• Less mass also lowers the amount of air used

Cons:

• Range is incredibly limited at the same FPS of 68 cal
• Accuracy is terrible at normal distances
• Breaks rarely happen
• It NEVER caught on into the mainstream

(I think the third bullet point is the product of the previous two...)

Now that I've officially played a whole night of 50 cal, I can be less of a hater and provide an actual opinion...

Because of the limited range and complete loss off accuracy, I had to get right up into people's faces to get eliminations. That's cool and all, but I had to get pretty agg on the other players. Kinda not cool since it was a very laid back and casual night. Even then, ball breaks were pretty limited! Cost of a bag is actually pretty good. A half case of paint was a bag (again size...) and was only $20. This is better than 500 rounds for $15.

99% bounces, 3 real welts

The collage shows all 3 of the "major" welts I got through the night. The one with the towel is on my thigh, towards the back. That was just messing around with my wife and she felt like shooting me point blank. While it still had a bit of sting, the welt was not very prominent. (For the record, she shot me there 3 times!) I've shared how gnarly my welts have gotten in the past and this definitely shows the impact differences between the two styles of play.

So with the mix of 50 cal and a great spread of couples (with a fun split of experience levels) the style of the event outweighed how ridiculous the performance was of the smaller bore. Overall, if you are going to a theme night and want to bring some people to something a little less scary... Go for it and try out some 50 cal, but keep your expectations low and just be there to have fun!