Paintball & Marbles, question about what could have hit me?

Question

The other night, I was driving and a truck in on coming traffic flashed it's high beams at me and then when they passed shot something into my open drivers side window hitting me in the shoulder. From what the police say, whatever they shot is about the size of a paintball, but couldn't have been one because of the absence of paint (this was after looking at the injury). Another officer commented about marbles being shot out of paintball guns......now my question is, is it possible to shoot marbles out of a paintball gun & does a paintball gun make any noise when shot (I hear a noise right when I was hit)?

Answer 1

You were almost certainly hit with a frozen paintball. Hoodlums freeze paintballs and place them in a thermos bottle so they won't thaw, and then go around shooting out windows and generally creating mayhem with them. I'm suprised that your local law enforcement was not aware of this practice. A marble would have to be the exact caliber size of a paintball to function in the gun, and because of it's greater weight, would not fly nearly as far as a paintball would. It's doubtful that a marble was used. A paintball gun makes a fairly loud "Plop" noise when fired. I'm sorry to hear this happened to you. You might want to inform your local law enforcement that you believe a frozen paintball shooter is on the loose. They can monitor sales of paintballs at local stores and perhaps get a clue as to who the shooter is.

Answer 2

yeah it can shoot marbles out of the barrel or gumballs or anything that fits down the barrel. and the noise they make is just a pop they work off air or CO2 so they really don't make much noise. its also possible that they are just using paintballs and it just didn't break.

Answer 3

Yes paintball guns do make noise.

Answer 4

Yes paintball guns can shoot marbles and they do make noises.

Answer 5

Yea, they shot a marble at you out of a paintball gun. I tried it before and i busted a huge hole in my fence. That's most likely what happened. That must have hurt.

Answer 6

A paintball gun could certainly shoot marbles. The marbles are a bit smaller than a standard paintball so the accuracy of the gun would be affected.

As for hearing a noise, the paintball gun uses compressed gas (air or co2) as the propellant. There will always be at least a slight "pop" as the gas escapes the end of the barrel.