Posts Tagged ‘Paintball Hopper’
It’s no secret that paintball guns come in many different varieties of shapes, sizes and colors. Quite the contrary to popular belief, the most important factor is not the gun itself, but the “hopper” or loader. This is another word for the storage compartment of the gun, or “marker,” which is where the ammunition is to be properly located.
As many as 40 – 300 paintballs can be stored in a loader at each time. The storage capacity amount is depended on the size of the hopper. In addition, the speed, effectiveness, and reliability of the marker is largely affected by the type of loader. This is particularly true when dealing with mechanized options.
Despite the hundreds of loaders available to the public, they all fall primarily into one of four categories. Those categories are gravity feed, agitating, force feed, and stick feed. While the last mentioned, the stick feed, IS considered another form of loader, it’s not commonly known as a “hopper” like the others mentioned.
Here is a list of the different loader categories, as well as what they each entail.
STICK FEEDS: These are usually associated with guns that feature pumps. They generally are made up of tubes that can contain about two dozen paintballs at once. Most often, stick feeds are parallel. In order to load the next paintball, you need to simply rock the paintball gun forward a bit. There are some guns available that are vertical as opposed to the normal parallel ones, but these are considered less reliable. Horizontal feeds are normally a common requirement for stock paintball game play. The simple concept of stock paintball game play is to enforce certain limitations so that it somewhat resembles the sport as it was originally initiated. However, whether these rules were instilled to actually add challenge or save money is anyone’s guess.
GRAVITY FEEDS: These consist of a large container and feed tube that are both located at the bottom of the paintball gun that is being used. While these hoppers are able to feed over 8 balls a second, they cannot do this on a consistent basis. To make an attempt to do so causes the gun to jam, and even occasionally make the paintballs pile up above the tube. Despite this minor setback, this loader would be ideal for one who is looking for a loader that is easy to use and cost friendly.
AGITATING FEEDS: These loaders are used with the help of a propeller that is located on the inside of the storage compartment. The purpose of the propeller is to prevent the paintballs from jamming the neck of the gun. By doing this, it enables to fun to be fired at a more faster pace than that of gravity or stick feeds.
FORCE FEEDS: These hoppers user spring or belt powered systems to capture paintballs and immediately thereafter force them into the marker. These particular loaders are often found in guns of professional and/or tournament-playing paintballers. Why? The reason is because these are the only guns that are able to keep up with the pace of accelerated game play. Force feed hoppers are constantly being developed, improved on, and advanced as the days go by. In fact, many modernized force feeds provide you with a digital display of exactly how many paintballs remain in the chamber. In addition, some of the newer types use wireless communication to feed the paintballs before the system of the gun has set up the next shot. For the big paintball aficionados out there, this is very much a loader that is in demand because it eliminates misfeeds and increases the speed of the loader as it goes along. Believe it or not, it’d even thought that force feeds may even extend battery life of any digital displays used, as well as minimize any extra work that is usually done by the gun itself. While force feeds and agitating feeds are designed to specifically fire paintballs quickly than others, there is still always the slim chance that these could fail at any time. After all, it is a piece of machinery. The most common circumstances under which this takes place is when the feeds come into direct contact with moisture, though.