Ambidextral Paintballer

The Crucible of Tournament Paintball

Bryan Laughlin, ambidextrous "not even a thought process"

Ambidextrous paintball player, Broc Laughlin

I think there are a few things that tournament paintball can teach you about working under fire that your average woodsball version of paintball cannot. First in woodsball there is nothing to lose, not really anyway. In tournament paintball you are playing for more than just not getting hit. You are trying to win for prestige, prizes, and money and this adds to the stress during a game boosting the adrenaline and fear of losing. I have walked on the field in some games with my legs feeling like jello. This added stress increases the adrenaline and the effects of auditory exclusion and tunnel vision. Second the rate of fire is much higher than what most people in woodsball are able to produce. You have to deal with massive amounts of paint hitting and whizzing past the edge of the bunker. You can hear this and even feel it to some degree.
You must keep a level head, communicate with your teammates, keep your head up to maintain situational awareness; all while working both sides of the bunker as well as the low and high sides and even over the top if the bunker allows it. The name of the game is being so comfortable with both hands so that it is not even a thought process.
I have never been in real combat but in paintball you will have to snap shoot while people are pouring paint at you, you are trying to gain the upper hand and push them put in so you can gain control of the lane or person you’re dueling.
If you have a weak hand and are forced to use it, it will be very difficult to do this without getting hit. Snap shooting needs to be fast, pretty much automatic, fast enough as to not get hit or at least reduce your chances of being hit. As Mark has stated, in Paintball if you want to be competitive there is no choice but to be very proficient at this.
If you watch Paintball tournaments with professionals and you see them in a snap shooting fight, if they are hit, it is on the edge of their mask, hand or gun because that is all that is being exposed. If they were using real guns this would amount to few lethal hits and mostly grazes. I think the photos in this book [The Ambidextral Gunfighter] illustrates these skills well in the firearms world.
Most Sports are a simulated version of some aspect of combat. Paintball is the sport that most closely simulates gunfighting and it provides some important lessons for the real world, military gunfighter.
Bryan LaughlinSemi-pro paintballerProject Appleseed expert "Rifleman"Former Dogs of Worr teammate
Team "We Drink Beer" (2018 Blitz Paintball Championship Series winners)

Matty Marshall brings his pro paintball experience to the shoot house.
GoodStill has a lightening fast snap shot.
Tight to coverGun up through coverChange in elevation during engagementAnticipation of opfor movement
Needs Improvement
Communication with imaginary teammatesAmbidextrous transitions for "optimal use of cover" (scenarios really didn't present opportunity)

Bryan's Escape from Tarkov in-game review of the Desert Tech MDR

Pixel Analysis

Ambidextrous transitions with the "feels like a paintball gun" Desert Tech MDR

LH tight to cover with the BCM RECCE

Mark A Laughlin an Ambidextral Paintballer...Ambidextral Gunfighter.

Poor use of cover shooting right handed out the left side of cover.
76,548 pixels exposed
31,131 Vital Area pixels exposed

Tight to cover shooting left handed out the left side of cover
7,508 pixels exposed
1,605 Vital Area pixels exposed

Pixel Level Analysis

(counting the exposed pixels using GiMP Histogram tool)
10.2 times as much flesh exposed when not shooting ambidextrous.
19.4 times as much Vital Area exposed when not shooting ambidextrous.

This is why, if I had to choose, I'd rather be ambidextrous than have body armor!

AirUps Paintball Bunkers

AirUps supplied AmbGun with a Tall Can paintball bunker to feature in The Ambidextral Gunfighter booklet as well as some videos. Unfortunately during one video shoot a surprise afternoon storm with winds over 70mph pulled all of the anchors and the bunker took off bouncing across the Wyoming badlands. Driving like a maniac I managed to get in front of it at one point but I found myself uselessly standing in the dirt road as the bunker bounced dozens of feet above my head and continued racing across the badlands. I pressed the pursuit for almost ten miles hoping that the bunker would get damaged and deflate so that I could recover it. The AirUps bunker proved too durable as it disappeared out of sight over the horizon. I felt like a little kid watching his treasured helium balloon disappear into the sky.

Injuries in paintball are rare, but they do happen. Make sure you team has a medical kit...if nothing else than for the truly risky part of the game...driving to the tournament.

AmbGun.com is THE ambidextrous gunfighting resource. Why you should become an ambidextrous gunfighter. How you can become an ambidextrous gunfighter. What the ambidextrous gunfighter requires in his equipment.

Ambidextrous "optimal use of cover", optimal use of terrain for steady hold factors.Training the brain so that both the left and right eye can pick up the sighting system. Perfectly mirrored controls for unconscious, bilateral transfer of skill. operation both left and right handed.

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