As a lot of you know I spent nearly a decade and a half serving in the Armed Forces in a maintainer career field. One thing that was beat into my head on a near constant basis was that the best way to fix things is to prevent them from breaking in the first place. This applies to your paintball gear as well.
Some players obsessively disassemble, clean and maintenance their markers after every game they play. Most of us often don’t have that luxury, so we perform maintenance once every month, or couple of months….once a year, never, or only when there’s a problem.
I fall into the category of about once every month I disassemble, clean and maintenance my markers. An average player can get away with a less periodic maintenance schedule, pre-season, mid-season and post-season maintenance.
As we’re at about the mid-season mark, here are a few things you should do and look at to prevent any mishaps while you’re on the field:
Examine your ASA threads to ensure they aren’t stripped or damaged
Examine your tank threads to ensure they aren’t stripped or damaged
For electronic based markers, replace the batteries!
Disassemble your marker and wipe down all parts and the inside of the marker body
Inspect O-rings for signs of wear or damage, replace as necessary
Re-lubricate your marker with either oil or grease, follow your markers owner’s manual guidelines on this.
Re-assemble and test fire
If you use CO2 for a propellant I strongly urge you to clean your marker more often. CO2 is a dirty gas and leaves behind residue that will eventually build up and gunk up your markers internals. The TiPX is one such example, using CO2 cartridges is a lot of players preferred style of play. A general rule of thumb I follow for my TiPX’s is a full disassembly and cleaning about once every 4-5 games, depending on the level of usage.
If you’re uncomfortable with performing this maintenance yourself, your local field and/or pro-shop offer marker repair services for reasonable prices.
