Safety Tip: The Internet isn’t always right

By Chris DeForge

The paintball industry has never been too good about standardizing qualifications. Unfortunately, the extreme sport nature of the game has attracted some people that do not understand the game, the business, or the industry. During my time working at paintball fields at hanging out at countless more, I’d have to say, that the majority have staff members who are undereducated at best and who are completely ignorant at worst. This is frustrating when it takes on the context of staff members ripping off customers by presenting poor information. However, it takes on an even more critical dynamic in terms of danger. Self proclaimed “gun technicians” do not understand the complexities of gun design and certainly don’t understand air cylinder safety. Misunderstanding of how paintball air systems work can be fatal.

In 2000, a tragic incident helped illustrate the need for tank safety. A 16 year old was unscrewing his CO2 tank from a paintball marker and inadvertently unscrewed the actual bottle from the brass valve. The tank had air and went rocketing away from the valve as soon as it was unscrewed far enough. Unfortunately, the projectile tank killed the player’s mother as it struck her in the head. In 2007, a player was filling a tank attached to his 2006 Planet Eclipse EGO when it exploded, leaving him with terrible burns. In 2015, a man from Charlotte, North Carolina was killed as he tried to repair a leaking CO2 tank with duct tape. While the police station declared it to be a “freak accident”, it was likely ignorance about the tank’s operation that led to the incident.

Paintball is a remarkably safe sport, but we utilize high pressure air systems to accomplish play. Trying to fix a small leak the wrong way can be deadly. Case in point, I recently saw a Facebook thread where a player was asking for help. The bonnet on his high pressure air regulator had worked itself loose. The set screw was clearly unscrewed. The player was using it on a milsim style gun with no on/off ASA. This inherently places a lot of torque on the tank. I gave the proper advice: try to bleed the tank by unscrewing the burst disk or by depressing the pin valve. What resulted after my post were a series of contradictory posts that were potentially deadly. Too many individuals said that the player should screw the tank onto his gun and shoot the excess air out or screw it into an ASA not connected to anything.

If the regulator is partially compromised, placing any additional torque on it is extremely dangerous. While the regulators generally have a lot of threads, one should not play with fate. Realistically though, everyone on the internet is regarded as equally knowledgeable. All of the dumb kids and dumber adults that hang around the pro shop spouting nonsense are now on the internet, producing advice, YouTube videos, and blog posts.

How do you tell if information is reputable? Go through the critical thinking process. Does someone back up their assertion with evidence? Does the individual have a source for the information? Does it make sense? A lot of things in paintball are routinely trumpeted as common sense, but they certainly are not common sense things.

You, the reader, needs to be sharp in this era of the internet. Someone may be standing behind a counter, wearing impressive looking camouflage, or wearing a jersey and carrying an expensive gun, but this does not make them an expert. And when it comes to air tanks, don’t mess with them. Spend the extra money and have a professional do it; you will have peace of mind, you will be uninjured, and you’ll help support the industry. Fifty dollars now is way less expensive than permanent injury and thousands of dollars in medical bills later!

Chris

I've been involved in nearly every facet of paintball and have played for about 14 years. I'm a tournament player who has competed in nearly every possible format, I've been the head gun technician at two fields, I've been a referee, event coordinator, regional paint distributor, and of course, a writer. My main focus is providing accurate information so people can get into the game inexpensively and with realistic knowledge about the game.