Has anybody ever purchased spare paintballs on the internet and taken them with them to a paintball day? You can get about 2000 balls on ebay for ~20quid, this would cost loads more at a paintballing venue. 😥

Do all paintball guns use the same diameter balls?

I'd guess that the venue could probably do with all the support you could (afford) to give no?

Why not? It would only be like taking a 24 pack of beer into your local….and that's OK, right?

So I take it that is a no from both of you two then? 😀

I'm trying to organise a stag do and looking at keeping costs down. It could be argued that you take the base package of say 500 balls plus gun, gear, etc for £40, not buy any more balls because money is tight, and ration the balls out. Or if you could get a few more balls for a low price (200 for £2) and have just a little bit more fun?

no there are slightly dif diameter balls although most are the same.

I would imagine the paintball centre would tell you to do one, as its on the balls they actually make an income.

also at £20 for 2000 they will probably be terrible quality=splitting in barrels=not half as much fun

perhaps you could decant some paint into a nice STW hip flask?

Cool, thanks for the feedback Walla.

I can understand the paintball centre not being happy, but this doesn't mean that this isn't something that isn't done widespread. Last time I went I saw several guys returning to their cars between games…. hence the question.

Mr Nutt – good idea. Have you got a STW hipflask I can borrow?? 😉

Hi mate, all balls are .68", in the markers (guns) you'll be using on the site, the size difference will make no difference what so ever, its only when you get down to barrel matching it matters (eg £600+ guns). Just keep the balls warm (ahem!), otherwise they will go brittle and smash everywhere.

I used to play for an english sup air team many moons ago before kids/no money etc! Enjoy.

you know they change the colour of paint they are using on a daily basis to stop this happening…

Don't the colours differ ? Don't you would need to know your teams colours in advance ? (sorry never been paintballing I just assumed each team used different colours)

When I used to play back in the 90's there was a small group of us who used to buy paint together and we never had any problems with taking our own paint with us to sites. But then we usually also bought a new box/es from the site as well, and any paint we were taking with us would have just been the remains from the last time we went somewhere…

To the OP, I'd say that instead of buying from the net, where the quality might well be variable, speak to the site and ask about bulk prices… boxes of 1000+ are a lot cheaper than buying seperate 100's.

I'm sure when I went a few years back, we got a certain amount included, and could either buy more on site or take our own with us.

We ended up paying a small fortune for several boxes of 1000 balls and splitting them between us as none of us was organised to sort some beforehand!

As mentioned before the site makes it's money from the paint bought on site, the paint is all .68 although this will vary a little, the site will probably use a tougher ball designed to be rental customer friendly ie you can be a bit rougher with the marker ( gun) any brittle or poor quality paint will more than likely break in the gun or hopper and lead to you having a bad day due to an inability to shoot back.

I've worked on a succesfull site, And played competitively right up to the higher European ranks and the grass root support is what enables it to happen. Suck up the cost as it's not ever goin to be a cheap day. It'll always be excellent fun though.

Al ( or A.B )

I manage a paintball site and an airsoft site. The paint is the only part of the day we make any money on for the paintball site. Your green fee pays the rent/insurance/gas costs, if we're lucky. That's why paintball games are usually designed for you to use as much paint as possible.
Sites don't allow paint to be brought in so that they can earn something. Also, the paint you have bought may not be suitable for the temperature/weather or may jusyt be old and crappy. Wrong type of paintball or too old can cause jamming/chopping of ball in marker or they simply won't burst on impact.

As mentioned by others, call the site, find out if they will do you a deal in advance on bulk paint.

Airsoft is becoming far more popular now as an alternative, in large part due to cost. (Certainly at our sites anyway) Our rental price includes all ammunition for the day, at £40. (also get kit, lunch etc…) Even without that, 3000 airsoft bbs cost between £7 and £10 retail, so hardly bank breaking.

most places dont allow it,(ive tried)

find out what colour paintballs they use and get some of the same. then when you get there keep it quiet 8)