When paintball first started in New Hampshire, they used to throw paintballs at each other. Then they started using pistols that farmers used to mark trees and livestock. Now, the game has taken a totally different turn. With the creation of military replica paintball rifles, paintball became more of a tactical and strategic game instead of the usual short matches. These paintball rifles resemble the real thing and are frequently used for tactical training exercises by law enforcement.

Paintball rifles have different firing modes. Pump action rifles need to be manually cocked after every shot. The semi-automatic has an automatic cycle bolt that loads the paintball into the chamber after every shot. This frees the user from manually pumping the rifle. Fully automatic rifles continually feed the paintball into the chamber and fire the charges as long as the trigger is pressed, much like machine guns. Some rifles also have a ramping mode, where the gun changes from semi to fully automatic when the trigger is pulled at a specific rate.