Have you ever been playing paintball and realized that you’re out of ammo? You’re just about to make the winning shot, but then… you run out. The worst!
How about if you have a hopper during the game to support you? Is it not like a lifesaver? Yes, but how long can it give backup? How many paintballs does a hopper hold?
Well, usually, a hopper or loader can hold 45 to up to 300 paintballs depending on the hopper brands, types, size, and cost. One more thing, if you use .50 caliber ammo, the hopper can hold 8x than .68 caliber ammo. Yes, paint caliber size also influences the hopper capacity.
Aside from that, you must be aware of the types of hoppers, as well as the number of paintballs required to complete a game. Let’s know in detail below.
What Does a Paintball Hopper Do?
A hopper is one of the four basic paintball gear of a paintball game. Now the question arrives, what does a paintball hopper do which makes it so important?
A paintball hopper is a long device attached to the paintball marker that holds the paintballs to release them into the firing chamber. It’s like a treasure box where all the paintballs are stored and released when indicated. How it works, we will discuss below.
Having an empty hopper means no paintballs are there to fire; you have to reload the hopper to play again. So always keep extra hoppers full of ammo to use whenever you need them.
In short, a paintball hopper is the storage section from where the paintballs are released and shot.
How paintball works depend on what type of hopper it is.
Types of Paintball Hoppers You Must Know
We’ll now talk about the main five types of hoppers.
Gravity-fed
Gravity-fed is the most popular style hopper for paintballing. It’s less expensive and usually used with pump or mechanical paintballs. Any type of paintball player can use a gravity hopper with ease. But it doesn’t perform so well for pro players in tournaments, as it has less paintball capacity and can fire only eight paintballs bps.
Electronic
Electronic loader or hopper is another hopper style that is getting popular day by day, or you can say the first choice for paintballing for every paintball player. It is a battery-operated fast-speed hopper that can fire a minimum of 16 paintballs bps. The more quality gun and hopper you use, the more balls you can fire in a second with precision. Avoid force feeding if you want it to last longer.
Sound-activated
Sound-activated hopper is an excellent hopper system. This kind of hopper can load the gun faster than a gravity feed and even electronic hoppers and shoot up to 20 paintballs bps.
It has a microphone attached to the release mechanism and works by hearing the sound of the last paint you shot. You can use this type of hopper only with electronic markers.
Eye-activated
Eye-activated hoppers are another great example of the paintball revolution. You can see the number of paintballs you have in the paintball loader. This hopper will let the motor know when the tube is full and empty. When it’s full, the motor turns off auto, and when empty, it turns on to let enter a few more paintballs in the tube. This one is also a fast-speed hopper that can shoot up to 20 ammo per second.
Cyclone activated hopper
Don’t go on the name. Just because it is named a cyclone-activated hopper, it doesn’t shoot at cyclone speed. With this hopper, you can shoot around 15 balls per second. But this hopper can ensure perfect paintballs whenever you press the trigger, no broken paintballs, and it never jams. That’s why professionals or aggressive players still prefer this hopper as reliable more than advanced hoppers. It runs gas fuel.
How Many Paintballs Fit in A Hopper?
The number of paintballs that fit in a hopper depends on the size of the paintballs and the size of the hopper you are using. A good paintball hopper should hold around 200 rounds of paintballs, so you don’t have to switch or feed hopper very often in the field.
While some hoppers can hold up to 300 paintballs of .50 caliber, that same size hopper can hold only 50 paintballs of .68 caliber. However, some higher end hoppers are also there that can hold up to 250 paintballs that fit all brands of .68 caliber paintball markers.
If you have been looking forward to paintballing for a long time, you should never invest in a hopper that holds less than 100 paintballs at a time. It will make you run and reload in the middle of the game, and you will miss the fun of paintballing.
Gravity hoppers VS Electronic Hoppers
Now you know about all the paintball gun hopper of the empire, but which is the best paintball hopper? What should you choose to go with, An electronic or either gravity? Let’s take a look into the detailed info on gravity and electronic loaders and decide which one is best.
A gravity hopper is a basic type of paintball hopper on the market that uses gravity to move the paintballs to the gun. While an electronic hopper is a battery powered loader with a built-in speed paddle that moves the ammo in the guns.
Most new players’ first choice is gravity fed hopper, as it’s designed efficiently and cheap, while professionals choose the electronic loader, yet it costs high, as it performs better and faster. Gravity guns can shoot around 8 balls, while an electric hopper can shoot double 16 balls in a second.
In humid weather or wet conditions, most of the time, paintballs in gravity fed hoppers get stuck with each other and don’t deliver perfect shots. While with an electronic paintball hopper, players have accurate shots on time at high speed; paintballs are ready to shoot all the time; just press the trigger, and you get the precious shot each time.
One great advantage of the gravity feed hopper is that it fits all kinds of old guns, whereas the electronic paintball loader doesn’t fit on the typical pump or mechanical guns, only electronic marker.
In the end, if you want better performance, an electronic loader is the best choice all the time, but if you are an entry-level player who just wants to enjoy the game very often, you can go with the affordable gravity fed paintball hopper.
How Many Paintballs Come in a Pack?
Usually, 500 paintballs come in a pack. If you want to buy more, you can purchase a box containing 4 packs (500×4=2000) of paintballs. If you want to get the most bang for your money, you must try purchasing paintballs in large quantities.
Can You Use Any Hopper with A Paintball Gun?
No, you can’t use any hopper with a paintball gun. Especially if it’s low-end or old-model mechanical guns.
This means you can use any hopper with a paintball marker or not, depends on the marker you are using. If your marker is a high-end marker or gun with an adjustable clamping feed neck, any hopper or most of the loader can fit in your gun.
A feed neck on the gun means you have the universal socket for attaching any hopper with your paintball marker.
Do paintball guns come with hoppers?
Yes, paintball guns come with hoppers, but not all guns.
When you invest a good amount of money and purchase a high-end paintball marker, it will come with hoppers and other basic equipment. But if you choose to spend less money and buy only the gun, you won’t get a loader with that.
However, paintball manufacturers are also selling single loaders, so you can buy them additionally; nothing to worry about. Just make sure to check whether it can be attached to your guns or not. Because not all the loaders can fit on all guns.
Should I use a heavy or lightweight hopper?
You should use a lightweight hopper for better comfort.
A heavy hopper is definitely not a good option since you will have to face lots of running, squatting down behind shrubs, hiding behind trees or other obstacles, or even hitting the dirt, and continue it for hours.
If you carry a hopper weighing more than two pounds, the game will be just a struggle for you, no fun at all.
How long will 300 paintballs last?
If you are a beginner-level paintball player, 300 paintballs will last for 3 hours, and if experienced, not more than 2 hours. Because an entry-level player can’t shoot more than 100 paintballs in an hour sport, while a skilled one can finish up to 200 paintballs in an hour. Learn more about how many paintballs you may need in a day here.
Final Verdict
Hoppers are essential paintball equipment for a paintball game. They decide how quickly you can retrieve your ammo and also help you maintain accuracy and focus as well. Furthermore, a good paintball hopper can hold up to 300 paintballs at once. You can try out different types and different brands of hoppers to find the one that suits your needs best.
