Hi all!
Today was my first day playing paintball after 7 years. I went to the local woodsball field, Paintball Adventures in the south of Denver. I had a good time, and played most games with my warped classic Mag. I got lots of compliments on how cool my setup was, but only the refs and a few old timers knew what a Mag was and even fewer knew about the Warp feed. I am glad to report that I still got it (the aim), and that I don't (the lungs).
My buddy used my backup gun, an F1 Illustrator, and at some point I pulled out my Razorback III pump. The guys filling the 7 oz tanks for those two guns were a bit leery of filling 20 year old tanks, but I guess the 2 inch rule still applied.
Now on to my HPA tank. I have a 114ci (I think) 4500psi that was born on 7/00. It is a Carlton tank with a 32 degrees reg, no model number that I could tell. I only paid $100 for it new at a local shop, so I am sure it is not a very fancy reg. Like a good boy I got it hydrotested, locally here in Denver, at a place that a lot of paintballers go to (only $15). It passed.
When I had it filled at the field, it was making some strange noises while getting filled, the guy filling it did not like it at all. Kinda sounded like a toilet whose water shutoff seal was about to go. He filled it, twice, to about 3800 psi.
When I was about done for the day, I proceeded to unscrew the tank and found it extremely hard to unscrew. I had noticed the same thing after some test firing right after I hydro'ed the tank. I really put my back into it and then PSSSSSHHHHHHTTTTT the thing started venting because I had actually unscrewed the reg from the tank. Mind you I was doing this with just my hands, one hand bracing grip/drop forward, and the other twisting the bottle. I guess the safety holes in the threads worked and kept my reg from becoming a bullet and the bottle from becoming a missile. I am just really glad no one got hurt and nothing got damaged.
So who messed up here? Was I supposed to be able to unscrew a bottle with about 3000 psi in it with just my hands? Did the hydrotester do something wrong? Why was the reg so hard to unscrew from my ASA? Once all the air had vented, I unscrewed the bottle, and then the reg was quite easy to unscrew from the ASA. I looked at the to-ASA threads and the very top ones seems a bit damaged, not sure if that is related. Was the reg just putting too much pressure into the ASA, and that is why it was hard to unscrew against the pressure?
Anyway, I will probably put the bottle itself up for sale, I think that there is nothing wrong with it, and it now has a 7/09 hydro date. There is not visible damage on the bottle. How much should I ask for it? What is the cheapest way of shipping such a bottle, and how much does it cost to ship?
I found that with the Warp, giant tank, and hefty classic mag valve and body, the thing just weights too much and I want to get a smaller tank as a start to lightening my setup. Also, even with the biggest drop forward I could find, the giant tank made it impossible to keep the marker tight.
Today was my first day playing paintball after 7 years. I went to the local woodsball field, Paintball Adventures in the south of Denver. I had a good time, and played most games with my warped classic Mag. I got lots of compliments on how cool my setup was, but only the refs and a few old timers knew what a Mag was and even fewer knew about the Warp feed. I am glad to report that I still got it (the aim), and that I don't (the lungs).
My buddy used my backup gun, an F1 Illustrator, and at some point I pulled out my Razorback III pump. The guys filling the 7 oz tanks for those two guns were a bit leery of filling 20 year old tanks, but I guess the 2 inch rule still applied.
Now on to my HPA tank. I have a 114ci (I think) 4500psi that was born on 7/00. It is a Carlton tank with a 32 degrees reg, no model number that I could tell. I only paid $100 for it new at a local shop, so I am sure it is not a very fancy reg. Like a good boy I got it hydrotested, locally here in Denver, at a place that a lot of paintballers go to (only $15). It passed.
When I had it filled at the field, it was making some strange noises while getting filled, the guy filling it did not like it at all. Kinda sounded like a toilet whose water shutoff seal was about to go. He filled it, twice, to about 3800 psi.
When I was about done for the day, I proceeded to unscrew the tank and found it extremely hard to unscrew. I had noticed the same thing after some test firing right after I hydro'ed the tank. I really put my back into it and then PSSSSSHHHHHHTTTTT the thing started venting because I had actually unscrewed the reg from the tank. Mind you I was doing this with just my hands, one hand bracing grip/drop forward, and the other twisting the bottle. I guess the safety holes in the threads worked and kept my reg from becoming a bullet and the bottle from becoming a missile. I am just really glad no one got hurt and nothing got damaged.
So who messed up here? Was I supposed to be able to unscrew a bottle with about 3000 psi in it with just my hands? Did the hydrotester do something wrong? Why was the reg so hard to unscrew from my ASA? Once all the air had vented, I unscrewed the bottle, and then the reg was quite easy to unscrew from the ASA. I looked at the to-ASA threads and the very top ones seems a bit damaged, not sure if that is related. Was the reg just putting too much pressure into the ASA, and that is why it was hard to unscrew against the pressure?
Anyway, I will probably put the bottle itself up for sale, I think that there is nothing wrong with it, and it now has a 7/09 hydro date. There is not visible damage on the bottle. How much should I ask for it? What is the cheapest way of shipping such a bottle, and how much does it cost to ship?
I found that with the Warp, giant tank, and hefty classic mag valve and body, the thing just weights too much and I want to get a smaller tank as a start to lightening my setup. Also, even with the biggest drop forward I could find, the giant tank made it impossible to keep the marker tight.
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