Paintball guns are finicky and erratic pieces of equipment. Some guns may be virtually problem-free for years, while some gun may have problems on a daily basis. Or a gun which initially causes no problems at all could unexpectedly become a finicky one.
Many issues with paintball guns are relatively common and may be fixed without a lot of work. These tips are targeted at frequent problems with standard blowback-style paintball guns, such as Spyders and Tippmanns.
Leaking Close to the ASA (Air Supply Adapter)
Carter Brown/Flickr
If you twist in a paintball gun petrol tank and also find there is a substantial amount of air leaking around the air source adapter (ASA) matching, the problem invariably comes from a busted O-ring.
Fix this issue by eliminating the present O-ring (size 015) and replace it with a new one.
Leaking from the Front of the Gun
When air escapes out of the front of the gun below the barrel, the most common reason is that there’s a bad O-ring on the front volumizer.
Simply unscrew the volumizer and replace the O-ring onto the volumizer, place a thin layer of oil or grease onto the O-ring, then replace the volumizer.
Leaking Down the Barrel of the Gun
When air is leaking down the barrel of a paintball gun, the fix is often a bit more difficult, even though there is a possible short-term repair.
It is possible to try to resolve this issue by putting a few drops of oil into the ASA (Air Supply Adapter) of the gun and screw in the tank and check to find out if the problem is fixed. Be aware, though, that this fix will generally only last for a brief time period.
If the rapid fix fails, then the problem probably is caused by a worn cup seal. If that’s the case, you must receive a substitute cup seal for your specific gun and follow the directions on your gun’s manual to replace it.
Gun Doesn’t Recock
A range of distinct problems may prevent a paintball gun from recocking. Address this issue by trying to address the problem with the easiest solution and building up to more complex ones.
The easiest explanation is that the air tank is empty, and the obvious solution is to replace it with a filled tank.
If this is not the issue, make sure that your gun is clean inside and out. If previous paintballs were broken inside the room but were not properly cleaned, then the hammer and bolt might be gummed up and not able to slide correctly. You can resolve this by cleaning out the chamber and making certain that all the internals are properly lubricated.
Paintball guns may also fail to recock whenever there is insufficient pressure on the hammer. You can increase the tension on the hammer. (On Spyder-style guns, the alteration is on the trunk; on Tippmans, it’s on the side) If increasing tension doesn’t solve the issue, you might need to replace the gun’s hammer spring.
Double Firing
Double shooting happens when you pull on the trigger after, and the gun fires two or more times before recocking. Sometimes this happens when the air tank is low; a newly filled tank will take care of that.
You might have to obtain a replacement sear and sear spring and install them following the directions on your gun’s guide.
Paintballs will roll down the barrel if they’re too small for your own barrel or if your ball detent is worn outside.
If you’ve got a large-diameter barrel and small-diameter paintballs, they could roll down.
More commonly, the ball detent is worn out and needs to be replaced. It can be carried out by following the directions unique to the design of your gun.