What's up guys! This is Joel with Punisher's Paintball and today we are here to talk about how to store paintballs properly. If you guys are new to the sport of paintball, one of the popular questions that we get asked is how do you store paintballs so that you can reuse them for a different time?
Let's say that you've got 500 paintballs left over from your day of play and you're looking to do something maybe next week. What do you do to keep them in good condition for next weekend?
First off, when you purchase paintballs they come in a cardboard box that has 4 individual bags of 500 paintballs. These plastic bags are sealed and need to be opened. At the end of your day of play, these bags often get thrown away and are no longer accessible. Even if you do keep them, there are better ways to keep the paint as fresh as possible.
What are the factors that will affect paintballs? In other words, what are we trying to avoid that will affect the integrity of your paintballs. First off, we need to talk about temperature. Temperature is very important. You want to keep paintballs stored around room temperature. Room temperature is going to be somewhere between 68 to 72, 65 to 75°. Keep in mind that the shell of a paintball is gelatin so the hotter that it gets the more it's going to swell. It is prone to humidity and temperature changes because it's basically just a gelatin shell with a different style of fill inside. So with that said, if you are in a cold environment it's going to get more brittle. IT IS COMMON MYTH THAT PAINTBALLS FREEZE! They do not unless you dip them in liquid nitrogen and even then you have like a minute or two to shoot them before they disintegrate. With warmer temperatures, paintballs get more "mushy" and are prone to higher humidity environments. You want to keep them out out of direct sunlight and you want to keep them out of situations where there's massive temperature changes. Some examples of this including storage in your car where they will get hot during the day and chilly during the night. Sunlight can also hit the paintballs when in your car. Another poor place to store your paintballs is the garage, especially on the floor. The garage will also see significant temperature changes throughout the day and night. Humidity in your car or garage will also cause paintballs to swell and become squishy instead of brittle.
So... the proper way to store paintballs is first and foremost if they're in the bags they came in from the paintball manufacturer, keep them that way and do not open the bags! The bags will keep any environmental humidity away from them and should keep them fresh!
If your paintball bags are open from the case you bought, then another option is Ziploc bags. Ziploc gallon bags are a good option because they allow you to zip them shut and shut off outside air. You want to press the air out of the ziploc bag before you seal it.
Another option that we see people doing is storing paintballs in either the empty paintball box that you bought them in or your paintball ball hauler. This option is no good because it exposes the paintballs to outside air. This allows the paint to swell over time and become no good. The paint at the bottom of these boxes can also become very dimpled if they do not swell and cause inaccuracy due to the paintball no longer being perfectly spherical.
So what if you have your own paintball gear and paintball pods and have a lot of paintballs stored in your pods? Well, we suggest either emptying those pods into the ziploc gallon bags OR you can also "burp" your paintballs. Burping paintballs from your pods means to let the top quarter or third of paintballs out of the pod so that they are no longer gently compressed in the pod. This keeps the gelatin shell of paintballs from becoming dimpled from pressure points of other paintballs. Storing your paint in a pod is not the worst idea because you can shut the pod lid so it is not open to room air.
When storing paintballs, every couple of weeks you should rotate your paintballs. Rotating paint is taking a bag of paint and turning it so that the balls are not sitting at point of compression for too long basically is the concept there. This keeps the paint fresher for longer so you can shoot accurately without dimples when you reuse them.
Storing paintballs in a controlled environment is important as we mentioned before. Keeping the paintballs off the ground will help from temperature changes of a cement slab in a poll barn, basement, or garage. The cement is more prone to staying cold or extra warm which will affect the paint.
One last thing to mention before we leave you is that your paint should not be oily when being stored. Oily paint will once again cause swelling and is usually from poor production quality or previous temperature changes. Using a Squirrel Sack is a great option to clean off oil or broken paint and then transfer into a Ziploc bag.
So ideally, paintballs should be stored in air tight bags from either the manufacturer or gallon Ziploc bags are a great option. Keeping paintballs away from temperature and humidity fluctuations will help extend the life of your paintballs until your next day of play. A great location for paintballs is in your house that is around room temperature no matter the weather outside. Keep your paintballs off the ground if it is a cement slab which is more prone to temperature differences. Ideally, a carpeted floor or shelf is a great option for your paintballs.