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Currently
you have 2 types of propelant avilable for your marker:
The classic CO2 (carbon dioxide) filled tanks - used
since first days of paintball, avilable in 12 gram cartriges (for sidearms
and stock markers mostly), 4.5 oz small bottle (for pumps mostly) and
then 9oz, 12oz, 16oz and 20oz and even 24oz by Brass Eagle. Advantage
of a CO2 tank is that is it smaller than HPA tank and it cost much less
than a HPA tank.
or
HPA (high pressure air) aka Nitro tanks, fairly new (maybe 8 years old
or so) they come in steel, aluminum or aluminum fiber wrapped bottles,
can be filled with air or nitrogen (NO2) come in three pressure ratings
- 3000 psi, 4500psi and 5000psi and in capacities from 47ci (cubic inches)
to 92ci (if not more).
ONE EXCEPTION (to date) is the Tippman C-3 Pump Marker wich uses completly new technology and is powered by Propane. Yes! you goto Wallmart/K-Mart/Target or your local camping/outdoor store and buy a nice canister of propane and screw it into the marker. The C-3 has an internal combustion chamber in which it burns the gas and uses the fumes to propel the ball.
Using CO2 is not bad, but as you reach higher rates of fire 2 things will happen when playing with co2:
-first: the tank heats up due to rapid volume/weights loss (its all in physics, notice how the tank freezes when it is filled, it will heat up as it is emptied) so the pressure jumps up (and then it falls down) so you get inconsistncy in speed and flight path of the ball,
-second: without the anit-siphon tube in the co2 tank you can start feeding your marker liquid co2 (expansion chamber and/or remote line solves this problem see upgrade info page for more details <link>) liquid co2 can freeze the shell of your paintball and when shot out it will crack in the barrel and you start chopping balls
also because a regulator on a co2 tank is preset to 850 psi the pressure can't really spike much but in low temperatures nothing will prevent your tank from loosing pressure (since co2 in the tank is in liquid form and low temp makes the moleculse contract more), again you can get away with that when using a regulator, my orion operates at 400psi and has an expansion chamber so I can play using co2 when there is 35 deg F outside.
But if you have a stock marker with gass through grip and nothing else in terms of gas management then just fork out the extra $40 and get a HPA tank.
Every tank has a lifespan, the CO2 tanks are good for 5 years from their purchse, the year of production is stamped on the bottle. HPA tanks have either 5 or 3 year lifespan(it depends if they are steel, aluminum/fiber wrapped, or pure carbon/other fiber) and then they have to be hydro tested by the company which made them, the hydro testing is between $20 - 40, if you have an expensive 200 dollar tank its much better to send it every 5 years and pay the $40 and keep using it, CO2 can also be tested but at $20 a bottle is it really worth it?
Above are ACI Crossfire tank, it is 4500psi and 92ci (possibly one of the biggest tanks out there in 2006) Below it is the Kingman Java tank, it is 3000psi and 88ci. |
