A paintball gun stock is a tactical upgrade many paintballers wish to add to their marker. It normally comes as the first upgrade, as many players see it as both an aesthetic and functional upgrade of the tactical kind.

When looking for one, you can find basically 2 types available for sale. These 2 include:

Universal Paintball Stock – a universal stock is one that is designed to fit all markers that have the standard 2 holes underneath the markers grip. If the screw holes are in a straight line then a universal stock will fit your marker.
Gun Specific Paintball Stock – a gun specific stock is made to fit your marker. Popular markers that are commonly used in both avenues of paintball (woods and speedball), often have upgrades such as stocks made specifically for them. Tippmann markers tend to have more options available, while speedball specific markers such as the Dangerous Power do not.

The type of marker you have will play an important role on which type of stock you purchase. While stocks are produced for markers that usually wouldn’t be seen with a stock, such as the Angel and Smart Parts Ion, options usually are thin among other speedball markers. If that is the case then you will most certainly have to get a universal stock.

Within both categories above, there are 2 types of stocks that can be found. These include gas-through stocks, and non-gas-through stocks. Players that wish to keep their tank off of their marker for a lighter setup will want a gas-through stock, while those that want to keep the tank mounted on their marker will want a stock that comes with an integrated asa, or one that allows the asa to still be mounted.

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Without any sort of doubt, filling a CO2 paintball tank is the backbone of paintball, at least the recreational type of the sport. Needless to say, without CO2, millions and millions of recreational paintball players would end up throwing paintballs at one another. With this article, we will at first try to explain how to fill up a CO2 paintball tank, along with offering various tips and tricks to ease your efforts.

First and foremost, you need to check the date on the tank in order to verify that it is not expired. Next, attach the tank to your fill station and drain the tank completely. Wait until you hear no gas coming from the tank.

After doing so, you must hang the tank from your hanging scale and after that re-zero the scale. Your next step would be to close the bleed valve and open the fill tanks in order to fill the CO2 paintball tank. You need to allow the tank to fill to its full capacity or at least about half an ounce under the maximum capacity. When the small tank is full, you must close the fill tanks valve.

You will now need to disengage the tank and bleed the excess CO2 from your hoses. Lastly, remove the tank from the fill station.

This sounds and really is very simple. Here are a few tips and warning that you need to take into consideration before doing the procedure we’ve detailed about.

First of all, if you bleed a tank and no CO2 comes out, there is a big probability that it is empty. In this case, you need to try to fill it just a little bit and then bleed it. Bleeding tanks is essential in the world of recreational paintballing because it indicates how much you have filled the tank and it also chills it. You should know that cold CO2 tanks fill more easily.

Those CO2 tanks that are made out of aluminum should last you about five years or so from the date that is stamped on the tank. Caution with this as they expire the very next day. As far as chromoly CO2 tanks are concerned, you don’t have to worry about an expiration date, you just need to briefly check it out before filling.

A CO2 tank will fill very fast, especially when it is cold enough. Avoid overfilling the tank as it can over-pressurize and burst. In addition, do not replace valves or burst disks on the CO2 paintball tank if you do not know how to properly do this as you could injure yourself or someone else.

Needless to say, never let a CO2 tank near a source of heat because it might become over-pressurized and even blow up.

Lastly, always do a visual inspection of the CO2 tank before filling it. Tape and stickers must be removed for a proper inspection. If things go wrong, you might end up injuring yourself or another player. Better play it by the rules in order to avoid problems.

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I am going to start off this article with a hard hitting line – filling your own tanks, as well as others can be scary as hell if you don’t have the right fill station. I hope you understand how sincere I am about this, as I’ve been there, I’ve seen what can happen when the wrong fill station is used.

Back in the day, when I was running my own paintball field, we would fill peoples tanks for a small sum. It was a pretty sweet deal, in fact, it wasn’t uncommon for us to make a couple hundred bucks a month from doing this – even in the small town we lived in. We’d literally get people from every town around us, and believe me, when you charge nothing – people find you.

Anyway, back to the story. You’ve heard the horror stories, of how entire tanks and canisters explode during filling… well, for me, and this situation, it wasn’t the tank that exploded — it was the fill station.

It was a normal weekend night, and we were filling our tanks before hand in preparation for the busy Saturday we had planned for. I had just gotten back from practice, so I let my brother go ahead and start filling up the tanks. We had a friend over the time, who was with my brother while he was filling. From what I heard, everything was going fine. I was upstairs getting something to eat, and then all of a sudden I heard a loud POW! What followed was a massive hissing sound, as if gas was just pouring out a large hole. Before I could make my way down the stairs into the basement, it stopped.

Apparently, what had happened, was a seal within the fill station had been compromised, and allowed air to escape. The tank’s pressure was so great, that it literally destroyed that seal, causing the loud pop I heard upstairs. Thankfully, while the air was gushing out, the friend that was watching was able to walk over and close the tank (he was a welders son, so he had been around these kinds of things).

While you may think the lesson here is to have an experienced friend nearby while filling tanks — it isn’t. What you really need is a quality fill station. If we were running a legit business, and had that happen while customers present, what would they think? Honestly?

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If you have determined you are going to buy a nitrogen tank then the following procedures will teach you how you can re-fill your own. And what equipment is needed to proceed with the re-fills.

How to fill a nitrogen tank

First of all you can purchase or lease a 20 – 40 lb compressed air tank from a welding supply company. The internet is another option for you to think about.

Next you will need to go out and buy a compressed air fill station. The job of the fill station is to attach your smaller tank to the large bulk tank. These fill stations can be bought on the internet paintball gun stores or paintball marker store in your area.

The fill station gets attached to the bulk tank and the 20 ounce to the other end of the fill station. Make sure your 20 ounce is empty. This can be done by depressing the pin at the top of the 20 ounce. To be certain your 20 ounce is empty, the best thing to do is to make sure there is no hissing sound of the compressed air coming out of your tank.. Keep depressing that pin until the hissing sound stops.

Next you will need a scale. Weigh your empty on the scale. This is another safety measure to make sure your tank is empty. Now when you have determined your tank is empty, set the scale back to zero. Now you will be ready to measure how much compressed air you have filled you tank with.

Now reattach your 20 ounce back to the fill station. Fill up your tank to about one to two ounces under capacity.

Remove your tank and open the bleed value on the fill station to remove any excess air in the hose.

Weight your tank to make sure it is under or at capacity. It is of utmost importance that it is not over capacity. It could BURST.

Here are tips and safety measures

Leasing a bulk tank is cheaper than buying a new one.

You do not need to go out and buy an electronic scale to measure your 20 ounce tank. Go to your local hardware store and buy a fish scale.

CO2 tanks need to be stored exactly as the warnings labels tell you to do. Always do what the warning labels tell you to do.

Never store CO2 tanks near a heater or a boiler as they can overheat and burst.

Always make sure your paintball equipment is clean and in excellent condition. Check and replace O-rings on a regular basis.

Follow these directions and happy paintball playing.

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All paintball markers require a minimum amount of regular maintenance in order to give you years of faithful service. You owe it to yourself and your fellow paintball players to keep your paintball equipment in working order. The specifics vary according to what model marker you have, but there are some basics of marker maintenance that apply pretty much across the board.

The first task isn’t that exciting, but you should do it anyway: read the owners manual for your paintball marker. It will tell you what paintball marker maintenance has to be done regularly, and how often it has to be done. You’ll get a good, basic grounding in how your marker works and how to care for it properly.

Regular oiling is an important part of paintball marker maintenance for most models. To oil your marker, remove the tank and barrel and take the paintballs out of the chamber. You don’t want to get oil on the pellets, because it affects their trajectory. Remove the marker’s hopper and elbow and put a drop or two of oil onto the adapter where the CO2 cartridge or compressed air tank attaches. Spread the oil around to cover the adapter completely. Some people use a toothpick to do this. Put your paintball marker back together again, reinstall the tank, then, without paintballs in the chamber, fire it several times. This ensures that the oil reaches the parts that it needs to.

One part of proper paintball marker maintenance is a simple matter of proper storage. The marker and the paintballs should be stored separately, and you should have a decent case for carrying your paintball marker. Ideally, you should carry your marker disassembled but packed in an organized way so that it is easy to assemble once you get to your paintball match.

Be cautious with the barrel of your paintball marker because if it becomes even the slightest bit bent, it can cause a misfire that can make a pellet burst prematurely and potentially ruin your entire weapon. Keep it away from extreme temperatures, particularly for long term storage. If you were to leave a paintball in the chamber, it could burst when the temperature falls below freezing or when the temperature becomes too hot.

Remember that the sooner you wipe paint off your marker, the easier it will be. While the dried paint on the exterior of your marker is mostly just a cosmetic problem, cleaning burst paintballs from the inside of your marker is a crucial part of paintball marker maintenance.

You should do this after each time you play, thoroughly clean out the insides of your marker before storing it. After you have the routine of maintenance memorized, it’s a good idea to assemble a small tool kit so that you can repair small problems as they happen and prevent small problems from becoming big problems.

Regular paintball marker maintenance is an investment of time more than anything, but it can save you plenty of time and money over the long haul.

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Being able to fill tanks is a service every paintball field and store should offer. If you aren’t a store, and just want the luxury of being able to fill your tanks whenever you want, then that’s fine too. It’s pretty awesome to be able to skip the trips to the store to get tanks filled, especially if the nearest place is an hour a way. Needless to say, teams, players, fields and stores can all enjoy the luxury of having the equipment to fill tanks.

Fill Station – There are different fill stations for HPA and CO2 tanks. You will need to get the appropriate fill station for the type of gas you will using. HPA fill stations are for HPA tanks, and CO2 fill stations are for CO2 tanks. Pretty simple stuff. You can both types for sale, between $30 and $70.

Scale - Having a scale to weigh your tanks as you fill them is important. The last thing you want to do is test the pressure capacity of a 9oz CO2 tank by dumping in 20 – it just isn’t worth it. So play it safe and get yourself a scale. I recommend getting a digital scale, or more specifically a digital postal scale. They are extremely accurate and easy to read.

Large Bulk Fill Tank – Bulk tanks aren’t the easiest to come by, but they aren’t impossible. Welding shops often get a bunch, and are willing to lease out a couple (which is what we did). You can also find bulk CO2 tanks from large suppliers such as AirGas, but be ready to purchase insurance (which is cheap). If you want to fill HPA tanks, you can usually buy a bulk scuba tank on eBay or at a scuba shop, and then just have them fill it up for you.

These 3 things are really the only things you need to fill tanks. Perhaps the most difficult item to get is the bulk fill tank. Sometimes you have to jump through hoops to get one. I personally had to get insurance (which was very affordable) in order to legally possess a 25 pound CO2 tank. However, once you find a reliable supplier, you’re ready to fill, fill, fill!

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