Does anyone still use CO2?

[Buff]

use co2 on my fishy and mag.

[tony3]

Originally posted by Jack & Coke




CO2 is by far the most common air supply used for paintball.

Not everyone shoots l33t $$$ gats which require HPA. You are forgetting about rentals, rec ballers, beginners and intermediate players.

A lot of the fields around here use nitro on their rentals....Mostly everyone I know uses nitro, considering you can find used tanks for around 40-50 bucks and its so much easier to use then co2, no cold...cold is bad...

[Brophog]

Originally posted by Jack & Coke




CO2 is by far the most common air supply used for paintball.

Not everyone shoots l33t $$$ gats which require HPA. You are forgetting about rentals, rec ballers, beginners and intermediate players.

Not to mention experienced players who know how to use CO2 correctly!!

[kevdupuis]

My model 98, stbb's and any pump I have all get fed a steady diet of co2. I use air on my cocker and mags.

[xXHavokXx]

cee ohh what?

[robdamanii]

I have no choice but to...








































They don't make HPA 12 grams

[RTC_LoKi]

I saw major diff as soon as i screwed a hpa bottle in my old spyder. Its much more consistant and no velocity spikes. But dont get me wrong i loved using c02, its cheap, plenty of shots, (cold feels good in ga summer heat ), not as bulky. Im still happy with my hpa bottle even tho i play recball mostly.

[Raven4000SX]

Originally posted by RTC_LoKi
I still use both. I love consistance of n2 but i hate the fact that i need a 2 foot tank to have the fill about equal to a 20oz tank. As of now I only use N2 on my RTC..gotta feed my baby the good stuff.

All you have to do is carry at least two Scuba tanks to get a HPA fill. You don't need a 2 foot tank.

[Jack & Coke]

No doubt HPA delivers better shot-to-shot performance (especially during high ROF strings), however, the question is:

"Does anyone still use CO2?"

Answer = Yes.

Of the total amount of paintball guns in use, the majority are still powered by CO2, not HPA.

[CoolHand]

I agree with Jack.

Around here, when people see an HPA tank their first question is usually something like "Is that a bomb?", or "What the hell is that?"

That said, you can run almost any marker off CO2 if you try hard enough (which I do).

My FreeFlow has never seen anything but CO2, for its entire life. Now, that's not to say that I have a 20oz tank running right into the vert adapter, but it is CO2 powered.

The guys with the high end stuff around here (me included) use HPA tanks (MaxFlo's mostly, but the occasional preset too), but we antisyphon them and fill with CO2. You would be surprised how many shots you can get off a properly regulated 68 CU CO2 tank.

[Jack & Coke]

Originally posted by CoolHand
You would be surprised how many shots you can get off a properly regulated 68 CU CO2 tank.

yep... I remember some people ran with 68 HPA tanks converted over to 68 anti-syphon CO2 tanks, for use with their gas hogging Shockers.

For what it's worth...

Originally posted by Glenn Palmer regarding the comment:


"...HPA will always be more consistent then CO2..."


That, simply, is not true. CO2 will often show better consistency with bad paint because the higher density of CO2 gas is more forgiving of size and shape variations in the ball...

...When handled properly, CO2 will do a good job for anyone and on just about any gun.

About the only time that using CO2 is generally a limitation, is in sub-freezing temperatures and even that can be overcome with the proper hardware and gun setup...

...My setup is 12 oz anti-siphon, on-gun (bottom line)through 2-stage regulation and I'll at least match consistency readings with any thing. About 400 psi input to the gun...

...CO2 gas is simply a better propellant for a paintball than compressed air is.

The higher density of the gas imparts its energy to the ball more efficiently.

A switch from co2 to compressed air will usually require either higher pressures or a longer valve dwell to make up for the difference.

Pretty much the same in any paintgun...

[trains are bad]

IT DEPENDS ON THE MARKER

A low pressure marker will be better to run CO2 on!

Despite what some try to tell me about making blowbacks low pressure, if you run CO2 it can be advantageous to achieve a low operating pressure for it's own sake!

CO2 runs around 800 psi. Problem is if you're shooting a lot the pressure immediately drops. As long as it doesn't drop below your regulated pressure you're feeding the marker you won't even notice it. Therefore the lower your marker operates the more consistent it will be with CO2 in heavy fire conditions.

Mags are one of the hardest things to run on CO2 well. Trust me I know.



I was fighting an uphill battle with this until I realized I'd never be able to lower my operating pressure to as low as my blowbacks.

I just got HPA availablity in my area. Even so I will still probabaly use my tippmann more simply because it is less hassle to fill tanks in my basement for pennies. But I will have a mag for tourneys. Thanks to Butterfingers for hooking me up w/ a tank BTW.

Bottom line is CO2 IS NOT INCONSISTENT when it is used properly. It just has to used properly, and understood, and in some situations (like mags) it just won't work well. But when you say "CO2 is inconsistent" what you're saying is "I don't understand what I'm talking about". It's not that simple.

No doubt HPA delivers better shot-to-shot performance (especially during high ROF strings), however, the question is:

Wrong. It's not that simple.

I saw major diff as soon as i screwed a hpa bottle in my old spyder.

Did you have a regulator on it before?

Mags run on Co2, just not great. Autocockers can be run very well on CO2.

[Jack & Coke]

Re: IT DEPENDS ON THE MARKER

Originally posted by trains are bad


Wrong. It's not that simple.

I'm speaking about:

HPA vs CO2

not

regulated HPA vs. regulated CO2

CO2 has much greater pressure variances than HPA.

If you're going to say "if set-up right" then it's not really a fair performance comparison between the two air sources. The performance gains by regulating CO2 are much greater than the performance gains by regulating HPA.

[davidnj]

Yep.

The xvalved mag and the cocker I own both use n2

Every other marker I own (4 others) use CO2. We have 8 regular players. 6 use N2 on their main gun and 2 use CO2. They all use CO2 on their backups.

At the fields I play at, the majority of people I see use CO2.

[Maffer]

LOTS of people use CO2

I would venture to say that 2/3 of the people still use CO2. YES, 2/3. The reason people think that most people use HPA is because...heck when was the last time you saw CO2 at a tourny? And on the field, everyone's attention is usually drawn to the guy with the big bad elecrto or custom gun, which usually they can afford the expensive tanks.

so I don't have to replace them every 5 years.

News flash! If you take care of your tank, it will last you a lifetime...