HOW TO DECIDE WHAT TYPE OF PAINTBALL TANK TO BUY?

CO2 tanks are inexpensive to buy and fill however it has some trade-offs that may not be worth the short term savings. CO2 provides pressure for paintball guns as it expands to a gas when it leaves the tank. This means that it starts as a liquid Inside the tank and expands into a gas as it enters your paintball gun. The liquid will still enter your gun at some point and wears our your o-rings and internal parts faster. CO2 does not last very long and is very inefficient. An average 12 oz tank will give you about 500-600 shots. Co2 can not keep a constant pressure and will go up or down from 900-1200psi durring a game. This gives you what is called paintball drop-off. Your next shot will not go as far as your first when continuing to fire your paintball gun. If you are using a high or mid range paintball gun CO2 can actually damaged some of the fine valves inside the gun. With this said however there are many paintball makers that run well on co2 and was the norm for many years. Many players start with C02 if it is right for the gun and then switch to compressed (HPA) air.

COMPRESSED AIR TANKS

Compressed air is a much cleaner and more efficient source of propulsion. It can be be used with almost every paintball gun today, and is starting to be a lot more common. The tanks are made of both steel which is now inexpensive or fiberglas that is much lighter and comes in more sizes. If you are serious about paintball or buy a mid or high end paintball gun this would be the best way to go form the start. HPA tanks (high pressure air) or Nitro as it may be called for Nitrogen has a constant pressure eliminating drop off, is not a liquid and will not wear down internal parts.

Many people think that paintball compressed air tanks can be filled with an ordinary air compressor, THEY CAN NOT!!! These paintball tanks use from 3000 p.s.i. to over 4500 p.s.i. They should only be filled by a certified paintball tach, store or field. Most stores use nitrogen however compressed air tanks may take any mix of oxogen and nitrogen. There is no benefit or difference. The main component is that you are using compressed air. NEVER PUT AIR INTO A CO2 TANK OR C02 INTO A HPA TANK!