The Art of Pump
by Tom Barnes on Mar 03, 2009
Unless you have been living under a rock or hiding in your bunker the past couple of years, you have likely heard about the massive numbers of players switching to play pump paintball. Why would someone intentionally limit their rate of fire? Before you laugh and flip the page, let me try and explain my decision to you.
I had been playing paintball for several years and I was burning myself out. Playing at the same field and the same games every month was fast becoming boring. I wasn’t getting any better and was frustrated. As I was loading up my blow-back, I happened to see an older guy load his marker. He dropped in ten rounds out of a cigar tube, and screwed a 12 gram powerlet into his brass pistol. Shaking my head, I thought to myself “He won’t be much of a help if he’s on my team, and not much of a threat if he’s not.” Let’s fast forward to the first game of the day. The old guy was on my side and as I played, he faded from my mind. I was doing alright, but got marked out near the opposing team’s base. While walking back to the staging area, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. It’s the old pump player! He briefly takes cover behind a tree, and proceeds to eliminate three opposing players with his stock gun which is older than I am. I stand in shock as he streaks past me, holding the enemies flag aloft and unfurled, the battered, torn and paint-streaked colors flowing out behind him. This incident was at the front of my mind for several days afterward, until I looked up “pump” on a paintball forum. After reading several articles and posts by other pump players, I looked into buying my own.
A pump gun is a paintball marker that does not fire every time you pull the trigger, but must be pumped after every shot to load the ball and cock the marker. A pump marker may have a traditional hopper, or a horizontal “stick feed” which holds significantly fewer rounds. Also, a pump can use a large air tank, or small 12 gram cartridges, which supply fewer shots. Pump markers that use only the horizontal feeds and 12 grams are known as “stock class” markers.
Why would someone play pump, you ask? A pump or stock class paintgun is usually lighter, so a player can move much more quickly without being bogged down by pods of paint and large air tanks. Often the player just wants to challenge himself. Another reason a player switches to pump is money. By playing pump, a player spends much less money on paint fees and air (and can play more often!).
Playing pump is defined by one thing in particular. As a pump or stock class player, you do not have the firepower that your opponents and teammates have. You need to use stealth, cunning, skill and of course accuracy to defeat your opponents. If you make a mistake, you are going to be eliminated. The common (read “sane") player will be using a semi-automatic marker that will be able to spit paint at triple, perhaps even quadruple, the speed that you can. Any opponent you face will have the decided advantage in a one-on-one firefight. Your teammates might not trust you to cover them. The key to playing pump is to make up for the disadvantage you have put yourself in.
A close-in shootout will usually not go your way. To succeed in a game, you often will either work around opponents or eliminate them from farther away. If you happen to end up on the other side of a bunker of a semi-player, the only tactic that can help you is speed and surprise. You need to wrap around that bunker and shoot them (presuming that that is legal, otherwise, offer a surrender). However, be aware that if you miss, you need to cock that gun as fast as humanly possible. They have the ability to shoot and keep shooting, so if they miss the first one they sure won’t miss the next time they pull that trigger. The best way to avoid this situation is to do just that, avoid getting close in with a semi unnecessarily.
During a game several months ago, an opposing player ran up and took cover behind my bunker. We heard each other and saw each other through several cracks. We simultaneously screamed “SURRENDER!” and stuck our guns over the top, and fired. Both of us missed. I rolled and pumped my CCI Phantom, and he kept shooting. The only reason I was not shot out was because the barrel of his gun had snagged on piece of netting. Luckily for me, my teammate heard the enemy player fire, and turned and marked the opposing player. Without this good fortune, though, my missed shot would have certainly meant I would have walked off the field instead of my opponent. Then again, this whole situation could have been avoided if not for one of the worst things that a player can allow, tunnel vision.
Tunnel vision is when a player doesn’t stay aware of their surroundings. I should have been watching for the other team. However, I was shooting at another player, who was holed up tight in his bunker. The first player was able to run right up to my bunker. Had I been keeping aware of my surroundings and watching the other sides of the bunker, I would have been able to stop him before he got halfway there. If he had been paying attention and listened to where my shots were coming from, he would have known I was in that bunker before he got there.
To be a good paintball player, you must always pay attention to your surroundings, and never acquire tunnel vision. As with any other potential mistake, this is even more true when you are playing with a pump. As a general rule, playing pump amplifies your mistakes, and minimizes the effect of your opponents mistakes. You make up for this by not making mistakes.
Being a successful pump player depends on accuracy. You don’t have the firepower to use if your first shot misses. Some people say that pumps are more accurate than semi’s. That is not necessarily true. A paintball will fly on the same path no matter what type of gun it is fired from, given standard conditions. However, using a pump forces the player to develop better accuracy. If a player is walking down a path towards you, and you have the drop on him, you’d better hit him. If you don’t, that player will turn and lay down a withering hail of paint towards you, while running to take cover. From there, you have lost the element of surprise. How do I become accurate you ask? To be accurate, you must know your marker like the back of your hand. You must practice and drill until you are confident that you can hit what you want to hit. If you can hit what you are aiming at consistently, you will be a successful paintball player.
Accuracy in paintball is subjective. Depending on who you ask, you will hear a different opinion on accuracy. Some players believe you can be accurate. Others will tell you that because a paintball is a spherical, liquid filled, yet not-quite-round ball, you cannot shoot a paintball accurately. I fall somewhere in the middle. I believe with a good paint-to-barrel match, and consistent paint, you can get a general idea of where that paintball will fly. This also depends on other variables, like the temperature, humidity, and other environmental conditions. By training with your marker, you get the experience of how the ball will arc, how it will curve, etc. But being paintball, not all balls will shoot the exact same. Whenever accuracy is a crucial part of your game, buying quality paint usually is a very good idea, and will give superior results. However, to compensate for the eventual errant shot, surprise is essential.
Accuracy and stealth go hand in hand. If the other player does not know that you are there, you have time to set up an accurate shot. For a pump player to be effective, they should be able to surprise an opponent. With your marker cocked, paint in the chamber, a bead on the target, and the element of surprise, any player can be a great paintballer. Not letting the opponent know you’re there while you flank him is one of the greatest skills to master in the sport of paintball. Playing pump forces you to become better than your opponent, and makes you understand and gain the element of stealth.
Stealth. That word makes players check their 6 o’clock just hearing the word. If there is a hidden player lying in wait nearby, you don’t stand much of a chance. Moving slowly, wearing a good set of camo, and using the know-how to blend in with the foliage, a player can truly become invisible. Stealth is to a pump player as yeast is to a baker. Without stealth, you will be hopelessly lost against the tide of semi’s that have the gift of firepower to mow you down. But with stealth, you can sneak up on a group of players, tag them out, grab the flag, and disappear again, only to reappear back at your flag station, and win the game. After all, the winner of the first paintball game, Rob White, didn’t fire a single shot. When a player got close, he hid. Being a forester, he quietly grabbed all the flags crawling and sneaking over miles of New Hampshire forests and won the game after two hours. The original players of this fine game were playing a modified game of free-for-all, so they couldn’t rely on teammates. Most games played today are team games, so you do have that capability.
Communicating with your teammates is essential to winning a paintball game. The most important part of teamwork and communication is knowing the number and position of the other team’s players. Your semi-automatic-marker-wielding friends on your team can also be of more help than just a relay to let you know where the other team is. You need to understand that most players will have more firepower at their disposal than you, but that includes the players on your team as well. If you are looking to bump up to another position, ask your team to cover you. They will be able to put out more fire, but with your lighter load, you will be able to move to your next position faster. Using both strengths will assist in your efforts to eliminate the other team.
The biggest complaint that many have with playing pump is that pump markers experience roll-outs from time to time. A roll-out occurs when a paintball in the breach is too small for the barrel, and rolls out onto the ground in between shots. This can be fixed by buying larger paint. This, unbelievably, is becoming harder and harder to find. Some pump markers, like the CCI Phantom, take “detent rings” which are sized to fit the ball. Other pump markers use conventional detents and nubbins, or can use a barrel kit to avoid rollouts. However, as a pump player, a rollout can mean a quick death. Make sure to take the necessary precautions to avoid them. Nothing quite gives the same reaction as a dry-fire, both for your thankful opponent and your disappointed and frantic self.
Playing pump and stock class is not without its annoyances, but not without its hidden tactics either. It also can give you a leg up over the competition, because with the new style of play comes many tricks that one can use to fool and deceive your opponents. Many of these ideas stem from the concept of staying unpredictable. However, a most amusing trick involves conning your opponent into believing that you are unable to return fire. When playing stock class, one of the worst moments on the field is that dreaded time when you must change your 12 grams. It is partly due to the time it takes to attempt the maneuver, but mostly the problem and worry comes originates in the loud and quite audible hiss that escapes when you unscrew the “12’ie” from the marker. This screams out to a smart opponent to move up on you just as much as the “blowback fart”. In fact, it may require you to change your pants, too. If your opponent is aware that you have to change 12 grams every couple dozen shots or so, you can use it to your advantage. A trick many old school players used was to imitate this situation without actually compromising their ability to play. Some even used to use a spare 12 gram changer on the field. Once they were in a firefight with another player, they would put a 12 gram into the spare changer, and screw it in. Of course, all the gas would escape into the atmosphere, and the other player would hear the infamous hiss. Then, foolishly thinking the pump player was reloading, they attempted to rush and bunker him. The crafty old pump player’s marker was still gassed up and loaded, so it was easy to shoot the opponent, now running across the open ground.
Another handy trick is quite similar to the last scheme. Many players know that a stock class marker, or at least a pump with a horizontal stick feed, requires the gun to be pointed down, pumped, and then fired. This is called “rock-and-cock.” What most players do not know, is that when it is held in a position to be fired (AKA horizontally in terms of the barrel), a ball is usually positioned directly over the breech, ready to be loaded. What this means is that a stock class pumper can fire and pump immediately, and a ball will be chambered, ready to fire. An ignorant semi-player who doesn’t know this may snap out after hearing the shot, thinking that another shot will be delayed, at least for a second, which is plenty of time to post up and wait for the pumper to stick his head out again. A pumper can fire, pump, and then quickly shoot the player who stuck his head out. This tactic also stems from staying unpredictable, including those actions that are necessary in playing stock class in this sport, such as reloading, or even pumping. Some markers also include auto-triggers, which allow for an even faster second shot (you still must pump the marker in between).
Hopefully this article helped you in some way. If it influences someone to come out and give pump a shot, all the better! Try not to make some of the mistakes I outlined in the above article. And, if you’re a semi player, hopefully you’ve also learned something from this novel, I mean, article, that you can adapt to your playing style. Maybe you also learned some of the tricks we pumpers love to use, and will give us a run for our money at the next game. Pumpers love a challenge, so see you out on the field.