Understanding The Components of a Paintball Gun

One of the essential parts of a paintball gun is the hopper. The hopper is where your paintballs are stored before you deploy them. Why should you understand how the guns hopper operates? This article will explain that different gun hoppers will produce different results. When it comes to choosing the right paintball gun for your gamming needs, you will have to consider the hopper's ability to meet those requirements.

Imagine your are in an outdoor paintball arena. It's a cold damp drizzly day . Your target is in site. You have a perfect shot lined up. Making this shot will be the difference between winning or losing the game. Your are so close. You can't miss. You take aim, pull the trigger and nothing happens. Your opponent swings around and bang you're out of the game.

Types Of Paintball Gun Hoppers

There are many different types of gun hoppers. Basically, you will have a gun that is either feed based on agitating, force feed or those that work with gravity. These methods are all unique. If you have an agitating or a force feed hopper you may find that your gun won't provide you the security you want. They often fail in the worst of times. This usually caused by your paintball gun's battery getting wet. This stops everything. However, the good thing about these kinds of hoppers is that they offer the highest possible rate of fire. This feature may make up for their downside.

Other hopper variations are available like the Tippman A-5. It has a cyclone feed. This hopper does not require the use of batteries. Instead, it uses a CO2 tank or nitrogen. This kind of paintball gun hopper works by the feeder rotating internally. The feeder then loads the paintball into the breech. This occurs at the moment the bolt clears. This kind of operation makes it a very efficient choice of hoppers.

As for gravity style hoppers, you have the most basic of abilities here. These work by having a 90 degree angle designed into them so that the feed flows perpendicular to the paintball gun. This does not offer the same amount of shots per second, in some cases it may not be worth the cost. Yet, since it does not use batteries to power it, it is less likely to fail in the most importune times.


Choosing the right hopper for your paintball gun is essential. The problem is that with the better technology you also get an increase in price. However, you can find ideal paintball guns that work fairly well for a decent price if you take the time to compare models. You are likely to find the largest selection hopper choices are offered on the web.

Jan Bagchus
Paintball Enthusiast

Paintball,Paintball Guns, Paintball Gun Hoppers