May 1st Paintball Pictures

[[AK]Faxman]

I had a good time this weekend, but I found the organization to be somewhat lacking. Also, the refs seemed to be somewhat laxadasical, and ill informed of the scenario. I had a good time, and some of the battles were memorable and very much fun. Overall, it was good fun in great weather. I really enjoy the action of the game, followed by the tailgating aspect that follows. It's a perfect mix of paintball busting, and ball busting.

The field had a great gun tech named Bill, who helped both me and the Beast out with our problems free of charge. Friendly and knowlegeable, he quickly addressed and fixed the problem I was having. Which brings me to my lesson learned (Bribo, take note, as we both have the same basic setup):

Early in the morning I chrono tested my gun, and passed at 270 (max velocity was 285). Later, when they tested the guns upon entrance to the scenario, I was shooting at around 310-320, and I could not decrease the velocity even with the dial-a-welt all the way out. So, I chased the gun tech, and he was able to immediately diagnose the problem. It turns out, I was holding the gun with the barrel pointed toward the ground, and the C02 bottle was elevated causing liquid C02 to bleed to the front of the gun. The expansion chamber stopped some of it, but not enough to prevent pooling. This caused a plume of liquid "snow" to fire out of the barrell, causing a velocity spike. You could see the gas expelled out of the barrel, causing the balls to curve wildly, break in the breach, and blow out any number of o-rings. The fix, he said, was to always keep the barrell elevated, or level. He recommended a compressed air tank and a regulator. I'm going to try and get an anti-siphon hose installed in my C02 tank, and see how that works in conjunction with my expansion chamber before I drop money on a regulator/compressed air tank. I'll let you know how it works out. [EDIT: I'm also looking into a remote setup to keep the C02 tank vertical, and off the gun.]

I have some action pictures that I need to get developed, so look for those later in the week.