FAYETTEVILLE — Target practice just got a little more exciting for Washington County deputies.
Sgt. Arlo Guthary, the county’s firearms coordinator, said the Sheriff’s Office recently purchased 10 combat paintball and rubber pellet pistols.
The agency purchased seven Real Action Paintball pistols for $1,495, and three Walther P99 Real Action Marker pistols for $494.
Both guns look and feel like the 0.45-caliber pistols deputies usually carry, but instead of bullets they both fire rubber pellets and paintballs.
“It’s pretty fun,” Guthary said. “It’s real cost-effective. Depending on the training we’re doing, we probably save about $20,000 a year.”
At a Glance
Training Tools
Real Action Paintball is a manufacturer and distributor of tactical training and recreational products for military and law enforcement groups with headquarters in Gilroy, Calif. Umarex USA, based in Fort Smith, sells Walther airguns and accessories in North America.
Source: RAP4, Umarex USA
Each gun costs about $200, which is half as much as a regular pistol.
“We shopped around for five to six months until we found the right system,” Guthary said. “When you put the math to it, it’s a no-brainer.”
Bullets costs 40 cents to 49 cents per round, Guthary said, compared with $60 per thousand rubber pellets or $15 per 800 paintballs. The rubber pellets are reusable.
Guthary said the paintballs help deputies determine how accurate they shoot under stress.
“We’re trying to make it as realistic and stressful as we can,” he said. “We have cameras set up on the walls and on some of our guys’ helmets so they can go back and see how they did. It allows them to see if they opened themselves up to any threats.”
Josh Rhodes was one of several deputies who tested out the new equipment Thursday at the department’s tactical training facility.
Rhodes, along with three other deputies, acted out a scenario in which they had to subdue Sgt. Steve Ridenoure, who acted as an armed “bad guy.”
“I got hit in the leg,” Rhodes said. “It feels like someone pinched you.”
Ridenoure said he was shot a couple times during the “force-on-force” training.
Though he’s used regular paintball guns before, Ridenoure described the combat paintballs as “more intense.”
“It’s a little more painful when you get hit, but it’s fun,” he said. “They’re an excellent tool for training. It breaks up the monotony.”
George Young, law enforcement representative for Real Action Paintball company, said combat paintball pistols have better range and accuracy than regular paintball guns.
“With the cost of ammunition going up and the availability going down, a lot of departments are looking for alternative means of training,” he said. “This is one of the cheaper ways to go.”
Jose Medina, a police officer at the Piscataway Police Department in New Jersey and chief executive officer for New Jersey-based Awareness Protective Consultants, said he’s been using combat paintball pistols to train other law enforcement agencies for 12 years.
“Back at my police department, I incorporated paintball guns for stress inoculation and compliance,” he said. “Now, more and more departments are continuing to move toward that trend. It’s 20 times cheaper and overall, you can’t beat it.”
Guthary said Washington County deputies next year will spend eight hours each month conducting in-house tactical training, 16 hours a month on active shooter training and 20 hours a month on rural operations training. He said the department plans to purchase M16 Real Action Paintball guns in 2014.