PaintballX3 Magazine August 2013, PaintballX3 Magazine | Page 126

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it’ll get its chance to go “bang” and maybe send someone home. However, do the players wearing those pods of cool, dry, recently-podded paint then go outside their tent or pit only to go stand in the sun, at the chrono or just outside the net watching games, the heat beating down on their pods and markers? Do the players getting ready to go shoot it out all have speedfeeds on their markers, meaning they have 200-300 paintballs in their hoppers, the paint they’ll use on the all-important breakout, susceptible to that same evil heat and humidity? Swollen, rubbery paintballs in a hopper lead to bounces at the far end at best and, at worst, a jammed hopper that might require breakdown on the field. Leave the markers in the shade for as long as possible and only top off with the cool, dry stuff. That’s the paint that will break from end-to-end allowing a team to get up bodies quickly. If packs simply must be worn to the field two or three games out, throw a towel over the packs or find shade to stand in, or that paint will get rubbery. The big money in paintball always seems to be on the line when the temperature and the humidity are at their highest. Caring for paintballs in the heat is a critical part of winning games, winning matches and winning events. When was the last time you heard a winning team complain about their paint?

even hours at a time, again leading to swelling and bounces. Smart teams will only pod the cool paint, and then as quickly as possible, and they won’t pod more than they need. Piles of filled pods out in the heat will inevitably lead to paintballs sticking together, or worse, melting together, leading to a player trying to pour a bunch of sticky grapes into their hopper. 3. Pre-Game After cool, dry paint has been purchased, cared-for and podded podded, what next? It’s into hoppers, into packs, onto backs and out to the field where at some point

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