How come #2

[fishmishin]

I have often thought about other peoples gear while at the field. I know all it takes is that one idiot that has no clue to really hurt someone. I have been smacked by a remote while standing in line waiting to fill my tank. The player in front of me hooked his remote up to his tank before filling his tank, which would have been fine if he would have checked his connection. What happens? He starts throwing air in his tank and the remote line blows off and cracks me in the knuckles. It wasn't that bad, but it makes me think about the people around me running around with 4500psi bombs. For example, what if some idiot really doesn't know not to put oil in his fill nipple, and you happen to be the closest one to him when it decides to go BOOM ??

I guess at some point you have to hope that the reffs in the chrony stations aren't idiots as well, and may call someone on their stupidity before it does actually have the chance to cause any damage. I guess best thing we can do for now is be safe ourselves, and try our best to help promote safe game play around us. Oh and make sure to shoot Beemer as much as possible at TB4 J/k Beemer, glad your making it though.

[GoatBoy]

Yup thats exactly what I am saying. Started playing in 86. When did you start playing. To bad you missed it.

Yeah, must have been before my time then.

How was HPA safety handled in '86 at the paintball field?

[d4m4don3]

Yeah, must have been before my time then.

How was HPA safety handled in '86 at the paintball field?

?? It wasn't handled at all? HPA was a later advent.

[Frizzle Fry]

How was HPA safety handled in '86 at the paintball field?

People waited about a decade for Tom to use it in paintball applications, then started doing what we do now. I'll tell you, you did NOT fill a tank at the field from '96 to '04 unless you worked there, were a friend of the owner, or were on a team (and I mean team, not all the "teams" that you see these days).

Not being a player until the early 90s I never witnessed it firsthand, but from what the guys who got me into the sport say, the paintball from 1990 forward has almost NOTHING to do with what was being played back then. I mean, I see a ton of differences between 1993 and now, but apparently what was going on in upstate NY and western MA in the mid-80s was even more alien than that.

[Bigwooly1013]

The thing i find even more odd is that of the 6 different fields i've played at in recent times (since i came out of "retirement") not a single one has ever check the hydro date on any of my tanks before allowing me to start filling them.

Now personally i care about having this stuff inspected and maintained because i value my life and the life of those around me.

It was very unusual to me as well when i started back playing again last year after a 9 year hiatus the whole concept of a fill station for HPA. From the time i started playing in 1996 till the time i packed the equipment away in 2001 i never once went to a field where HPA wasn't filled by someone in the proshop.

Some fields it seems almost taboo to even mention the safety topics relating to HPA or even CO2.

My conclusion on the lack of respect for the gear we use now is that as players we've quit demanding the focus to be on safety and pushed for the sport to be more convenient for us.

If i missed some codewords and am off base here then please disregard my post.

[Frizzle Fry]

I've noticed the same thing as Wooly. Some fields these days are downright annoying with how often they check hydro dates and re-chrono markers, but most I encounter don't check the tank unless it's a big game or event and chrono you once (if at all!) before first game starts. It's sloppy, and it leads to "incidents" that give the sport a bad name.


Recently at Boston Paintball Outdoor, I took the tank cover off my Ninja to get my first fill of the day. The guy filling it didn't check the stamp, but told me that I should buy a tank cover. I responded that I'd taken it off so he could see the hydrotest date, and he looked at me like I was crazy. Granted this kid was probably being conceived around the same time my boots were being stitched, but he was doing all the fills and didn't check a single tank.

This was the day I mentioned in thread #1, where "team" member was filling a 3k tank on a 4.5k station, blew the burst disc, and tossed it on the ground screaming.

[CatoRockwell]

That sucks where you guys are at, I would recommend not attending events that don't emphasize safety. Here in Utah any big event or shop, will A. check the hydro, unless they know you, like me, I'm always in there, so they don't really check anymore. B. They usually fill it.

I will admit there have been several events I have been to where they let me fill my own tank, and while that is convenient, because I know how to safely check my gear, there are several there that it concerns me that they would be allowed to do that. I definitely agree there should be an emphasis on safety, and any event I host will have a trained individual filling tanks.

I can't control what other people do with their property and liberty, but I definitely complain to event staff when I see a 12 year old filling his own tank.

On a slightly different topic, at a lot of pic up games in the last few years I've noticed a lot of people don't even put barrel condoms on their guns when they come off the field I tell people to put a barrel condom on, but after a while I just started wearing my mask off/on the field.