How to Stop Paintballs Falling Out of Your Barrel – Step-by-Step Guide

Paintball guns are fun and complicated equipment. A lot of players have their paintball guns for years without ever experiencing any sort of problem, whereas others may require checking and repairing on a regular basis.

One of the most common issue many paintballers face with their paintball gun is paintballs falling out of the barrel. This is without a doubt one of the most annoying things you could encounter, so it is necessary to get this issue fix as soon as possible.

In this in depth article, we are going to explain what causes the barrel to fall out of the panel and how to stop it from happening. We’ll also discuss few other problems that paintball owners may experience.

How to Stop Paintballs Falling Out of Your Barrel

The main reason you might experience paintballs falling out of your barrel is because they are too small or you may have a worn out ball detent. However, if your barrel has a large diameter and you use paintballs with a small diameter, then you might have an issue with the ball falling out.

Another thing is that if the ball detent is worn out, you have a replace it as soon as you can. You should keep in mind that replacing the ball detent will vary base on the model of the paintball gun you are using.

How to Correctly Fix a Worn Out Ball Detent

As mentioned earlier, one of the main reasons why you might be experiencing paintballs falling out of your barrel is because of the worn out ball detent. Here are a few steps that you will need to follow:

1. First thing you will need to do is get the key for your screw size.
2. Once you have the key the next step is to use the key to remove the screws, make sure to remove all screws.
3. Next you will need to remove the backside cover.
4. After that you can expect the sear to pop out of its position.
5. Now you have to remove the receiver part.
6. Now you should be able to see the inside part of the gun.
7. On the left side below of the front bolt, you will see a slot that looks like it has been made for a ball detent. It’s this exact spot you are going to fit your new ball detent.
8. All you have to do is place the new ball detent into the slot. It can be challenging at first so you have to try a few times.
9. Try your best to let it sink into the slot and sit behind the front bold.
10. Now make sure each parts goes back exactly to where they was initially.
11. All you need to do at this point is place back all the screws in their respective places and make sure to tighten each screw properly.

By following this simple step, you should be able to fix the worn ball detent. If the problem isn’t solve after this, then you should keep reading for other possible causes.

Choose the Right Barrel Size For Your Paintballs

Using the wrong barrel size may lead to a lot of problems, including balls rolling out of the barrel. But you should be able to easily solve this issue by simply choosing the right barrel size for your paintballs.

Here are a few tips you can follow:

Know the Different Paintball Sizes

You should keep in mind that there are many different types of paintball sizes available on the market, depending on the manufacturer. You’ll notice a slight difference between each batches. These differences are usually hard to see, which is why a lot of people are confused when it comes to paintball sizes.

Even though the sizes are hard to see, it could make a huge difference between the paintball flying out of the barrel tightly and constantly falling out of the barrel. Another thing you will experience at times is the paintball breaking in the barrel, rendering your paintball gun inaccurate.

Learn More About The Caliber

The term caliber refer to as the measurement of the diameter of the paintball or barrel bore. The caliber is usually measured in either hundredths or even thousandths of an inch. What this means is that 68 caliber is .68 inches or sixty eight hundredths of an inch.

You should also know the internal diameter variations of the gun and barrel. Although most marker on the market today are marked 68 caliber, you will find a lot that are not 68 caliber as well.

The main reason for this is because there are no trade organization that has been fully endorsed or any globally recognized industry currently in place. Over a period of time, there has been a significant change when it comes to the internal diameter of paintball guns. These days you can expect to see barrels with internal diameters that measure .686 to .696.

Understand the Different Paintball Diameter

As mentioned above, there are many different paintball sizes. Although you’ll find many manufacturers that labeled their paintballs as 68 caliber, what they usually do is find a size compromise as they look manufacturer balls that can shoot through many different types of internal diameters that are used today.

Some of the biggest manufacturers today try their best to create paintballs that are too small for bigger guns and too big for smaller guns. If you take the time out to look at paintballs made today, what you will notice is that 68 caliber brands range from .675 to .697. Most of these paintballs normally measure from 68.5 to 69 caliber.

Other Problems You May Experience

Other having having problems with your paintballs falling out of your barrel, you may also experience a few other problems with your paintball gun. Some of these problems include:

Paintball Gun Won’t Recock

One of the most common issue a lot of people face with their paintball gun is recocking. To properly solve this issue, all you have to do is check if the air tank is empty, if that is the problem then all you need to do is get the air tank refilled.

If that’s not the issue, check if your paintball gun is clean inside. If the paintballs have ever broke inside the barrel and were not cleaned properly, then this may cause the bolt and hammer to get stuck in the gummy structure making it unable to move properly. You can easily solve this problem by simply cleaning the chamber and ensuring that all the internal parts are properly lubricated.

If the hammer has inadequate pressure this may lead to the paintball gun not recocking. So try your best to increase the tension on the hammer. If this solution doesn’t fix the issue, then you need to replace the hammer spring.

Double Firing

If you pull the trigger once and you realize the paintball gun fires twice or multiple times at once, you are experiencing a double firing problem that you will need to solve. You are most likely to experience this problem when your air tank is low. All you will need to do is replace the tank with a new one and problem solve.

If you the sear spring is worn out, then you are facing a more serious problem. The sear, which pivots on a tiny pin, catches hold of the bolt when the bolt is push against the hammer. As you can see the sear binds the bolt and hammer together so they move as one. If the sear is worn out, what you have to do is replace the sear or sear spring and install them correctly.

Air Leaking Down the Barrel

When air is leaking from the air tank down the barrel, the repair tends to be a bit more difficult to fix, but there is a short term strategy that you could use.

What you can do is add a few drop of oil into the air source adapter of the paintball gun and fix the air tank. Now you can check if the problem is solved. You should keep in mind that this fix usually last for a short period of time.

If the problem persists after using the oil, then most likely the problem is caused by a worn out cup seal. In this case, you have to invest in a new cup seal that fits the specific gun that you are using. You can simply follow the instructions in the user manual to replace the cup seal.

Conclusion

If your paintballs keep falling out of the barrel, then this may be a case that your paintballs are too small for the barrel, or your gun has a worn out ball detent. Paintballs are available in many different sizes, but the standard size is 68 caliber. It’s very important to get the correct paintball size in order to prevent the paintballs from falling out of your barrel.

Another thing you may want to do is replace the ball detent to see if this solve the problem. The process is relatively simple, but you can use the gun’s user manual to make things much easier. As you can see there are also other paintball related problems such as air leaking down the barrel, paintball gun not recocking as well as double firing.

Related Guide:

• Why Are Paintball Guns Called Markers