Best Paintball Guns for Self-Defense | Top 3 Choices of 2023

best paintball marker for home-defense
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There’s no doubt that the best weapon for self-defense is a firearm. 

However, if you can’t (or don’t want to) own a firearm, then you’ll have to find another form of weapon to defend yourself and your family. 

Unfortunately, most non-lethal weapons aren’t very practical in a self-defense situation. Pepper spray and tasers can certainly help if used correctly, but other weapons (such as a knife or bat) require you to get up close and personal to the attacker, without providing the same incapacitating effect that pepper spray and tasers can. 

Paintball guns, on the other hand, can offer similar protection to pepper spray without requiring you to get up close and personal to the attacker. All you have to do is shoot pepper balls (instead of paintballs) from a paintball gun and you can temporarily incapacitate an assailant at a distance of up to 150+ feet away. This is due to the pepper spray-like substance inside of pepper balls known as PAVA.

And while PAVA may not offer the same incapacitating effect that oleoresin capsicum spray (pepper spray) can, it’s actually more damaging to the eyes and still plenty powerful enough to temporarily inflict damage to a person’s eyes, nose, mouth, and other more private areas as well.

You can learn more about pepper balls and their effectiveness by reading my article here, or you can scroll further down the page and check out my buyer’s guide to learn more about paintball guns for self and home defense.

For now, though, let’s delve straight into the best paintball guns for self-defense.

Top 5 Paintball Guns for Self-Defense

To make things simple, any magfed paintball gun or pistol that’s capable of shooting fin-shaped projectile rounds (such as First Strike’s) is going to be a great paintball gun for self-home defense.

Why?

Two reasons: 

  1. A paintball magazine will feed pepper balls more reliably than a gravity-fed loader will.
  2. Fin-shaped pepper ball rounds are far more accurate, more powerful, and can travel over twice the distance

The only thing better than a regular magfed marker (or pistol) for self-defense is a magfed marker that shoots over 300 fps (feet per second). The higher velocity will allow your paintball to travel further and reach your target more quickly. Even an extra 50 fps can result in a lot more damage when the pepper ball impacts your target.

So what are the best paintball markers for self-defense?

Find out below.

PepperBall Police Grade VKS Launcher

Best paintball gun for self-defense

The best paintball gun for self-defense is none other than the PepperBall Police Grade VKS Launcher. What makes the VKS Launcher such a great marker for self-home defense is that it has everything a person could ask for. 

For starters, the PepperBall VKS is a magfed paintball gun with the capability to shoot up to 350 fps. The VKS is also equipped to shoot their VXR™ extended-range projectiles, thereby allowing you to shoot an assailant up to 150-feet away. Both of these features allow the VKS Launcher to shoot further and more accurately than any other paintball gun on the market, making it the best paintball gun for self-defense. 

Read More: Top 10 Paintball Markers For the Money

Some of the other features that help the VKS with defending off intruders are an On/Off ASA, an adjustable buttstock with integrated 13CI 3000 HPA tank (best deal on Amazon), and a dual-feed system that allows you to use both an offset loader and a magazine with the simple twist of the end of the barrel.

This means you could switch between using a loader with 180 round pepper balls and a magazine with 10-15 fin-shaped VXR™ projectiles at a moment’s notice. Even though it’s unlikely (and highly expensive) to carry that many pepper balls at one time, it’s still nice to know that the option is available.

To top it all off, the VKS is built to look and function as similar as possible to the real AR-15. The entire paintball gun (except for the stock and magazine) is made from metal and it even comes with quad Picatinny rails, flip-up iron sights, and a functional charging handle (only it’s used to control the On/Off ASA).

And because the PepperBall VKS is the best paintball marker for self-defense, the United States government uses it for their Police departments and law enforcement agencies. So if it’s good enough for Uncle Sam, it’s good enough for you. 

PepperBall TCP Personal Defense Launcher

The best paintball pistol for self-defense is the PepperBall TCP (Tactical Compact Pistol). 

With the TCP you can shoot both regular pepper balls and VXR™ projectiles, giving you the option to shoot at targets up to 150-feet away. The PepperBall PCP is also compact enough to be carried on your waist as long as you have the appropriate belt and holster.

However, due to the compact design of the TCP, you can only carry 6 pepper ball rounds at a time and either an 8-gram Co2 or HPA canister. The PCP does come with an extra 6-round magazine though so at least you’ll have a total of 12 rounds to effectively incapacitate the target. 

Other cool features that come included with the TCP paintball pistol are an undermount rail for adding accessories and a Holsterbelt clip that makes attaching and detaching your paintball pistol to your holster easier than ever.  

If you’re an experienced paintball player then you may feel like you’ve seen the TCP before, and that’s because you have. The PepperBall TCP is the same paintball pistol as the First Strike FSC (First Strike Compact), just with a yellow accessory color to let Police and other law enforcement distinguish the difference between a paintball pistol and an actual firearm. 

Warning: You have to attach a new 8-gram Co2 or N2 cartridge before you can use the TCP paintball pistol. 

PepperBall TCP Personal Defense Launcher, Non-Lethal Semi-Automatic Tactical Combat Pistol, Police...
  • POWERFUL PROTECTION FROM A DISTANCE: The TCP gives you time and distance to get away from a threat. Two projectile options - use the original industry leading round PepeprBall projectiles for a 60 for...
  • NO WAITING PERIOD: PepperBall products require no background check or waiting period.
  • NON LETHAL SELF DEFENSE: The PepperBall TCP is designed to defend lives, while saving lives.

Valken M17

Valken M17 - top marker for home-defense

The Valken M17 is considered one of the best magfed paintball guns for the money

Besides having the capability to shoot both VXR™ projectiles and regular pepper balls, the M17 can also switch from semi-auto to fully automatic with the simple flip of a switch. Full auto is perfect for self-defense as it gives you a little extra firepower that could help you deter an intruder away. Plus, it looks like an actual firearm so that may help deter an intruder away as well.

What’s even more impressive than shooting full auto is shooting full auto as a mechanical paintball gun. This means no annoying batteries to replace or power buttons to press before you can use the marker. However, you will have to reattach the air tank every time you want to use the marker. 

More impressive features that come with the Valken M17 include an 18-round magazine, a polymer AR-style pistol grip, an ambidextrous magazine release, top+quad Picatinny rails, and an adjustable shoulder stock with integrated 13 CI 3000 HPA tank (tank not included).

Helpful Tip
You could invest in an On/Off ASA adaptor to allow you to keep the air tank attached to the marker at all times, although I’m not certain if it’ll work with the adjustable shoulder stock or not. 
Valken M17 Magfed Paintball Marker
  • Tank not included - requires 13ci/3000psi Valken Compressed Air Tank
  • Fires .68 caliber paintballs or First Strike projectiles
  • Semi or fully-automatic mechanical firing modes

How to Choose the Best Paintball Gun for Self-Defense

Here are a few things to consider before buying a paintball gun for self-defense. As long as you properly follow these guidelines below you should avoid wasting your money on a bad purchase.

Let’s get straight to it.

43, 50, or 68 Caliber?

All paintball guns (except those designed to shoot 43 caliber paintballs) can be equipped to shoot pepper balls for self-defense. Whereas if you own a 43 caliber paintball gun you can only shoot rubber balls for self-defense.

However, if you want the best paintball gun for self-defense, then I recommend investing in a regular marker that can shoot 68 caliber paintballs. The advantage of 68 caliber pepper balls over 50 caliber pepper balls is they’ll shoot both further and straighter than their smaller counterparts. This is great for self-defense. 

Now, the next question you need to ask yourself is would you rather shoot pepper balls with a regular paintball gun, a magfed paintball gun, or a paintball pistol? 

Continue reading below to find out what I think is the best option. 

Magfed vs Loader

The main advantage that pepper balls have over regular paintballs is that their shell is made from a far thicker material. This thicker material allows you to keep your pepper balls in a magazine system without having to worry about them being squished over time from the pressure of the spring. 

Regular paintballs, on the other hand, would be squished until the point they were practically unusable in only a simple matter of days. The reason I mention this is because it’s the reason I believe magfed markers and paintball pistols are the best forms of paintball guns for self and home defense

Due to the high price of pepper balls (average costs of $25 for 10), it’s highly unlikely you’re going to fill a loader with more than 10-20 of them at a time. This gives magazines the advantage over loaders as you’ll effectively be able to shoot your pepper balls as fast as you can pull the trigger.

Whereas if you use a gravity-fed loader it’s possible for your loader to jam up while you’re firing your paintball gun. When this happens you’ll have to rapidly shake your marker all around to continue firing. This is NOT GOOD for self-defense.

Electronic vs Mechanical 

If you’re simply buying a paintball gun for home-defense then I’d recommend a mechanical paintball gun. The reason being is you don’t want to have to waste your time pressing a power button as an intruder is breaking down your door. Nor do you want to have to change the battery in your paintball gun.

While it’s highly unlikely for the battery in your marker to die anytime soon if you only use it on rare occasions, but if you use your paintball gun fairly often then it’s undoubtedly going to happen. It’s just a matter of time.

This goes for electronic loaders as well. Could you imagine if someone broke into your home and your paintball gun fired nothing but compressed air?

Let’s avoid that situation by using mech only.

Last update on 2024-03-28 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

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Woodsball player, magfed player, automag owner, paintball sniper. Have played woodsball and scenario paintball (on and off) since 2007 and still loving the game!

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