The short answer to this for 99.9999999% of the paintball players out there is no.  A n2 or compressed paintball air tank is at the min.  3,000 PSI.  Your average home or “shop” air compressor is like 170 PSI.  So there is a big difference there. 170PSI wouldn’t even let your gun cycle once then again shoot.  SAKworldpaintball.com does supply compressor packages they range form $6k-$15k and are custom built per your needs.

If you already have the 3 things you need to fill a CO2 Tank then lets get started.  Filling your own tank is quick and easy. I do recommend wearing a pair of thin gloves because the CO2 tank can get a little cold.
1) Hook up your fill station to your bulk CO2 Siphon tank.

2) Hook up your Paintball CO2 tank (20oz or whatever) to your fill station and place the tank on your digital scale.

3) If your CO2 has some Liquid CO2 left in it drain it completely, this will chill the tank and aid in getting a full CO2 Fill.  Hit the TARE feature on your scale to set the scale to ZERO.  Now skip to step 5.

4) Set your Scale to ZERO by using its TARE feature.  If your CO2 tank was empty pump a few ounces into the tank (watch the scale), then bleed it.  This will cause your paintball co2 tank to chill.  You can not fill a warm CO2 tank fully, this is why you need to chill it by bleeding some CO2 out.  A trick to save CO2 is to stick an empty tank in the freezer for a few hours.  This will chill the tank so you don’t have to waist CO2 to Chill the tank.

5) Once your tank is chilled you can fill the tank completely.  If you have a 20 ounce CO2 tank you can put 20 ounces of CO2 in. If you have a 9 ounce tank then you put 9 ounces of CO2 in.  Ect.  NO NOT OVER FILL YOUR TANK.  IF you over fill your tank, the pressure will build to high in the tank and you will rupture the Burst Disk (safety device which stops you from over filling).  Once the burst disk ruptures all the CO2 in the tank will bleed out.  You will have to replace the burst disk at your local store.

6) Shut off the Bulk CO2 source, disengage the pin valve on the CO2 tank, and bleed the fill line, and your done.

Its pretty easy.  Once you fill a few tanks you should be able to fill a CO2 tank in about 1 minute.

Trouble Shooting:

1) You can not fill the tank completely(only a few ounces go in)!  Answers:  a) You didn’t chill your tank enough.  b) Your bulk CO2 tank is empty/Low c) Your bulk  CO2 tank is not a siphon tank (no dip tube).

If you live out in a remote location and want to fill your own CO2 tanks for paintball, you can, its its pretty easy too! You basically need 3 things.

1) The First item you need is a bulk 50lb CO2 tank. The tank must be a siphon Co2 tank. Siphon meaning it has a long “dip tube” that goes from the valve head all the way down to almost the bottom of the tank. This dip tube sucks up all the liquid CO2 so it can be transfered to your smaller paintball CO2 tank. You can crack open the telephone book and look for a welding supply or gas supply business, they will have these tanks. You usually have to sign up for a 1 year lease (to “rent” the bulk tank) then pay for each fill. Call around because different places will have different lease and fill prices.

2) The second item you need is a CO2 Fill station. SAKworldpaintball.com has a few to choose from. They all will do the trick. If you will be filling a lot of tanks we recommend the Professional or the Deluxe fill station. The Single Lever fill station is very nice too.

3) You need some sort of scale that has a tare feature and that measures ounces. Postal Scales to a good job and are usually available at any office supply store. Make sure you get one that has a nice large platform. They usually run around $40.

Thats it! Once you have those 3 items you are ready to fill your own CO2 Tanks.

The safe answer is no. However its not black and white. Only Tippmann Paintball guns come with a hopper. All other paintball guns you have to purchase a paintball hopper separately. The exception to this rule is if you purchase a pre-packaged paintball gun deal which includes a hopper. The hopper would be specifically listed if it was included.

If your asking your self this question, chances are you do not need a drop forward.  Drop forwards in paintball are really a thing of the past.  Back when N2/HPA paintball tanks first came out they were super huge and super heavy.  When you mounted one on your gun it would really throw off the balance (your gun would point up).  To help balance the paintball gun with the big tank on it, someone thought to off set the tank’s weight by moving the tank toward the center of the gun.  In order to move the tank forward they had to drop the tank down a few inches so it would clear the grip frame.  Thus a drop forward was born.

In todays modern paintball age, big heavy tanks are a thing of the past.  Todays carbon fiber paintball tanks like Crossfire and Nitro Duck are super light so you can mount (screw in) the tank directly to the bottom of the grip frame and your gun will be in pretty good balance as is.  This is why most high in paintball guns like the Planet Eclipse EGO, Angel and even the mid level guns like the Invert Mini do not have a Drop Forward on them.   You might as yourself, “Why do some Spyder Paintball guns have a drop forward on them?”.  The answer is thats the manufacturer trying to get more of your money.  Most kids think they need a Drop Forward so they think they are saving money.  In reality, its the manufacture trying to dazzel you with prettyness.

Of course there are exceptions to every rule, if your that guy who insists on playing with a 114ci tank on your gun then you will need a drop forward.  Some people also like the looks and feel of it.  However, with more and more paintball manufacturers not making drop forwards anymore, its getting harder and harder to find this obsolete piece of equipment.

Please Note:  A drop forward is different than a rail.

So we have been getting a lot of phone calls wondering where people can get replacement Pulse Shells.   The deal with Draxxus’ law suit is they can not sell or distribute Pulse hoppers or parts (including the shells).  However you can send your hopper into Draxxus In Virginia and they will be able to swap the shells out for you (under the warranty).  Their telephone number is (571)-261-3162.  I would call first to see if you need an RMA# or anything like that.  I don’t think you do.  If your sick of your Pulse hopper all together, check out the new Empire Magna Loader (also RF Option) or our full list of paintball hoppers.

We’re not sure there this typo stemmed from, however the Zick Kits are not made out of Titanium, they are made form Stainless Steel. Titanium is way too light of a metal for a hammer (aka Ram). To have that light of a metal you would need to up your operating pressure to make that Ti Ram slam hard enough to open the valve in your ego. They are a few after market manufacturers making a Titanium ram for 07 Ego’s however Planet Eclipse is saying to stay away from them. The extra force needed to open the valve is damaging the Valve Stem in the gun.

What the Zick kit does to reduce kick in the 07 Ego, is it traps air in between the cap and the ram. This air acts as a cushion for the Ram so instead of the ram slamming back into end cap causing kick, the energy is absorbed by the air cushion easing the ram back reducing kick. Once you try it you will notice a pretty big difference in kick.

A 2008 Ego Zick Kit is in the works and will be released for sale soon.

This is a great video on how paintballs are made.  It will make you appreciate how much work and time goes into them.  http://www.buzzhumor.com/videos/2968/How_Paintballs_are_Made.    We have no affiliation with buzz humor the site the paintball video is posted on.

Here’s a little tid-bit of paintball information.  Did you know that the Angel 1 can shoot over 350,000 shots off 1 standard 9 volt battery?  Thats 175 cases of paintballs.  Its pretty amazing how much precision engineering goes into that gun to make it so efficient.  It uses so low voltage that the WDP Angel Master techs and Draxxus (make of the Pulse Hopper) had to work together to get the Pulse RF chip to detect voltage from the Angel 1.  When the RF chip first came out, it couldn’t detect a pulse from the A1.

If you are interested in checking out the new Eclipse Shaft 2 barrel kits you can check them out on ETV.

The kits are highly recommended.

Unified burst disks is a 1 piece safety device for paintball tanks (air or CO2) which prevent them form becoming over pressurized.  They replaced “burst disks” which were a 2 peice system.  We will still refer to the newer unified burst disk as a burst disk.  Co2 tanks have 2 burst disks, N2 tanks will have 2 burst disks.

The burst disk markings can very by manufacturer.  Usually they are 1.8k, 3K, 5k, 7k.  Some manufacturers will mark “operating pressure” on them while others will mark burst pressure.  I belive there is talk now to standardize this.  1.8k=3k, because the 1800 psi pressure marking is operating pressure verses the 3k burst pressure. The 3k is the max pressure it will burst at.  I could burst anywhere from 2200PSI-3000 PSI.  On a normal day outside, a co2 will output 850PSI.
CO2 tanks will have a 1.8k or 3k marking burst disk.

N2 tanks have 2 disks.  1 To prevent the pressure vessel itself (tank) from bring over pressured, the other to protect the gun in case of a regulator failure.  The tank burst disk will be a higher rating, for a 3000PSI tank it will be 5k marking, for a 4500PSI tank it will be a 7k marking.

The n2 regulators burst disk will be the same as a CO2 burst disk marked at 1.8k or 3k.

Of course if you have questions call your tanks manufacturer before you do anything.
When in doubt always replace your burst disk with one of the same marking and never use a higher rated burst disk when you should be using a lower rated one. Thats how accident happen and it could seriously hurt or kill someone.

If you have to replace a burst disk, you do not have to seal the treads with teflon tape or thread sealant.  It will just screw in hand tight with a wrench.  If it leaks a little give it a little extra nudge.  Do not over tighten it.

What’s the difference between a High Pressure paintball tank and a Low Pressure paintball tank?  Well the LP or HP refers to the output pressure of the regulator on your tank.  The Regulator on your tank takes your tanks stored air volume of 3000, or 4500 PSI and lowers it to a useable air pressure for your paintball gun (850 PSI or less).  On a pre set regulator the pressure will be lowered to 800-850 PSI “High Pressure” or less then 450 PSI “Low Pressure”.  There are adjustable tanks out there that allow you to customize the output pressure, usually anywhere form 200-900PSI.

“That’s all fine and dandy, but what tank do I use on my gun?”  That just depends on the guns design and the inline regulator your gun uses. To make things simple for you, read your guns manual to see what type of tank to get.  Angels and the Invert Mini need a low Pressure tank, because their regulators are not designed to accept 800PSI going into them.   

All guns that accept CO2 need a HP tank like Spyder and Tippmann guns, most guns out their will need a HP tank.  Guns like the Ion, Ego, and DM7 can operate with a LP tank however the manufacturer wants you to use a HP tank so their is no chance of shoot downs (your gun not working due to the lack of propellant pressure)

Its pretty easy to figure out what size a compressed air tank is. If your a noob to paintball it could be a little confusing. Let me break it down for you.

The first number is the cubic in of the tank, that’s how large the tank actually is. Usually sizes are 45, 47, 68, 70, 72 and 90. The second number tells you how much air the tank can hold inside read in PSI (ponder per sq. inch), this will read 3000 or 4500. There are 5000psi tanks out there but its more of a gimmick than anything else because most fields will not be able to fill to 5,000 PSI.

So for an example. a 68/3000 holds less air than a 68/4500 becuase the 4500 can hold more air in the same amount of space than a 3000.

Should I use Dow 33 or Dow 55 on my paintball gun? This has been a very common question since the Bob Long Intimidator’s and Smart Parts Impulse has been out. These guns were the first guns to use Dow 33 as a lubricant as opposed to normal paintball gun oil (which is also synthetic) They needed to use a heaver weight lube that didn’t burn up as quickly as oil during the high rates of fire the guns can achieve. Some where along the line some genius said hey I’m using Dow 33 now Dow 55 must be better. So that’s how this question began.

Dow 55 and Dow 33 both have similar properties, however as stated on Dow’s web site, Dow 55 can swell orings slightly. The fact of the matter is you should follow your guns manual.

Tech T just came out with their Gun Sav synthetic lubricant. Its so pose to be a super slick direct replacement to Dow 33, which means you can use it in any gun where Dow 33 is required.

Initially, with the way Tech T was pushing the super slick properties of the Gun Sav, we were concerned that the lube would burn off as quickly as gun oil, and not have the viscosity to continue lubricating a high end paintball gun for the duration of a tournament. To test the new Gun Sav paintball gun lube, and compare it to Dow 33, we developed a very advanced set of procedures. On one pointer I put some Gun Sav on it, on the other hand’s pointer finger i put about the same amount of Dow 33. I then used each thumb respectively and began rubbing the lubes in between my thumb and fingers.

Initially the Sav Lube was much slicker and thinner than the Dow 33. After about 5 min of vigorous rubbing the Gun Sav exhibited the same slickness and consistency as the Dow 33, and held it until the end of the 10 min test. So it is some pretty slick stuff at first and will definitely lube your gun. Although further testing is needed to discover the long term endurance of the Gun Sav however, our results look promising.