How to and How NOT to Fix a Paintball Problem

As I have mentioned in my response to chickenpotguy’s comment, my team is always notorious for having things break. In fact our last season ended early because in the middle of our last tournament of the year, more than half of our equipment went down. So, having my fair share of broken stuff, I am quite versed in different strategies of fixing said broken junk. Here are a few ways how and how not to fix paintball gear.

DO NOTS:
1. Do not just leave it broken! Small leaks can turn into exploding o-rings in time and there is nothing worse that being on the field and hearing your teammate’s gun explode. Lube your marker often and make sure the o-rings are not swelled or shredding.
2. Do not just buy new stuff! This tends to be my biggest problem. While things do get expensive, I just feel that buying new stuff is less of a hassle than sitting down to fix something. WRONG. Buying new stuff just continues the cycle of things breaking. This is why paintball gets too expensive for some people.
3. Do not send it in to the factory right away! Most fixes are very small things that can be solved with a little tweaking. Make sure it is a major problem before having to send it off to the company because no matter how small the problem is, they will most likely ream you for the labor fees (I’m sorry to say).

DOS:
1. Determine what exactly is not working properly. Sometimes failures in the inline reg or LPR can be attributed to too much pressure coming in from your tank. Chopping can be seen by a hopper feeding too quickly or forcefully for the ball detents to bear. So remember, it is not always the gun that is not working properly.
2. Consult your manual immediately. If it does happen to be your gun that is on the fritz, consulting the manual is the single most important thing to do. Now I know you’re saying “Duh”, but most people try to fix a problem without looking at their manual and wonder why the problem gets worse.
3. Ask someone at a local field for help. This one is pretty self-explanatory. Remember, Clocktapus says “Even though they look crazy, they’ve probably had a similar problem.”