| The paintball hopper, or loader, is the part of the gun | | | | systems can falter and fail to perform properly. |
| that stores the ammo and feeds it into the chamber. | | | | 3. The Gravity-Feed Paintball Hopper |
| The hopper type will greatly affect the speed, reliability | | | | These hoppers are ideal for someone wanting a |
| and weight of the marker. Although there is a wide | | | | cheap, easy to use hopper for their gun. They have a |
| variety of paintball hoppers available on the market, | | | | large container as well as a feed tube. They are able |
| they fall broadly into four main categories: force fed, | | | | to feed more than eight balls per second, but not |
| agitating, gravity fed and stick fed.This article will | | | | necessarily reliably or consistently. They can jam up |
| highlight the differences between the types. | | | | markers and cause paintballs to pile up above the feed |
| 1. The Force- Feed Paint Hopper | | | | tube, which is placed at the bottom. |
| These mechanized hoppers use a sophisticated | | | | 4. The Stick-Feed Loader |
| spring-loaded or belt powered system to force the | | | | These are generally used on pump action guns. Their |
| paintballs into the gun. They are mostly used by | | | | simple tubes can hold about 24 paintballs and run |
| professional players because these innovative | | | | parallel to the gun barrel. You load the paintball by |
| systems can keep up with the speed of play at this | | | | rocking the marker forward. Some stick feeds are |
| level. | | | | vertical to enable gravity feeding, but due to their |
| Some have digital displays to show how many | | | | unreliability, the horizontal types are more popular with |
| paintballs are left in the hopper. Others use wireless | | | | stock paintball players. |
| systems to continue feeding the paintballs before the | | | | The paintball hopper is continually evolving and |
| gun's pneumatic system has begun the next shot | | | | advancing, particularly the more complex types |
| cycle. This system increases the loader's speed and | | | | favoured by tournament playing paintballers. Anything |
| virtually eliminates misfeeds. Battery life is, therefore, | | | | from 40 to 300 paintballs can be held by different |
| extended as the gun doesn't have to work so hard. | | | | loaders. There is a hopper out there for every type of |
| 2. The Agitating Paintball Hopper | | | | player at any level of paintball. |
| These hoppers have a propeller inside the container | | | | Hawksbill Paintball Hawksbill Sports was established by |
| and the small fan blades stop the ammo from blocking | | | | players, for players. Our goal is to give you the |
| the neck of the gun. As with the force-feed hopper, | | | | products you need to enjoy the sport of paintball. We |
| the agitating hopper has a quicker firing pace than a | | | | have low prices and fast shipping and promise the |
| gravity hopper. However, if these loaders come into | | | | best customer service you can find anywhere. |
| contact with moisture, their more sophisticated | | | | |