What hurts more – paintball or airsoft? Well, this is a million dollars questions. It depends on pain tolerance and other aspects, such as distance and wind that affect your shots and pain.

We all know how painful it is to be smacked in the face. But what about airsoft and paintball guns? Which one hurts the most? And how many times do you have to be hit before giving up? Let’s answer all these questions!

Paintball vs Airsoft: Which hurts more and why?

Since paintball tends to leave more of a bruising pain and airsoft is more of stinging pain, it is hard to say which one “hurts more”, but let’s see what difference it makes.

You might be surprised, but according to some experienced players, paintball hurts more.

The average airsoft BB weighs around .20 g, which releases .84 Joules of energy. Normal paintball is about 3 grams in weight, which releases 12.5 Joules of energy.

That’s a significant kinetic energy difference. On the other hand, paintballs have more than ten times the energy of airsoft BBs. As a result, you should know that paintballs will hurt a lot more than airsoft BBs.

No pain, no game

Almost every shot in paintball shot will hurt to some extent, while many airsoft shots will barely register depending on the area you were hit and if it hits gear vs. bare skin. If paintballs ricochet off you, they hurt more, especially if you’re not wearing a helmet. Paintball also results in some severe bruises, just like airsoft.

Why is it so? This is due to the bullet’s larger projectile impulse, which allows it to transfer its energy through multiple layers of clothing. On the other side, airsoft produces more significant injuries.

Although they have a lesser impulse and are thus easily stopped by clothing, their J/mm2 (surface pressure) is substantially higher than in paintball. As a result, you’ll get more serious skin damage from an airsoft gun than you would from a paintball gun.

The conclusion is that paintball is more painful and results in bruising, while airsoft hurts and damages the skin in small regions.