The best ways to travel with paintball equipment
It’s terrible to show up to a tournament and discover that your electronic hopper broke during the trip. This fiasco has thrown up games for a lot of teams that weren’t as studious as they should have been when packing. His paintball gear is too valuable to be tossed into a giant, messy duffel bag. Good players pay thousands of dollars for specialized equipment; a dented barrel on a $1500 paintball gun is not taken lightly. The traveling paintball athlete must juggle not only packing the right amount of the right supplies, but also packing them safely and securely. The solution is to choose the right size suitcase for the duration of the trip you are going to make and the equipment you will need. In addition to a specific bag for your marker, there are basically three types/sizes of bags available for sale.
The paintball backpack is comparable in size and shape to school bags or a day pack used by hikers, even though it is specialized for carrying paintball gear. These bags are better for carrying your essential supplies to the field and back, but rarely have enough room to change clothes or even a competition uniform. A paintball backpack is nice to have just to keep your important gear together (but separate from your soft items) when traveling for longer periods of time. Larger duffel bags, known as paintball gear bags, often contain not only your game gear, but also changes of clothing, uniforms, and toiletries. These bags are the best option for multi-day overnight trips and come in different sizes. Some are more equipped for air travel than others, however, they are better at carrying everything you need when driving to an event. When traveling by plane, the best bags to use are paintball bags. They are similar in size to paintball equipment bags, but have hard outer covers or heavy canvas-like fabric. Paintball briefcases offer the best protection for your equipment to be handled safely by an airline.
When shopping for a bag to carry your supplies for travel, it’s best to shop at a paintball store. You can actually use any bag to transport your paintball gear, however not using specialized equipment has the potential to leave you upset and stranded at your event. The main difference between standard backpacks and travel bags and paintball bags is that bags designed for paintball have specialized features. Paintball backpacks, gear bags and briefcases have velcro straps on the inside to secure your supplies and keep them secure during transport. The best paintball gear bags have compartments to help separate clothing and keep dirty or wet supplies from drying out. Paintball travel bags are also comparable in cost to other similar types of standard bags.
It’s also important to realize that certain pieces of equipment may have specific requirements that make them safer to travel with. Your paintball mask, for example, needs to be packaged carefully. Many paintball goggles are made with collapsible plastic surrounding the lens which is often easily deformed when thrown in a bag with everything else. If this happens or your lenses get scratched, you’ll be distracted all day with uncomfortable eye protection and the game won’t be as much fun. The best way to transport a paintball goggle is with a good velvet bag and/or hard goggle case. While this is another piece of luggage to take with you, it’s the best way to store and transport paintball goggles without warping the plastic or scratching the lens.
Transporting your paintball air tank is perhaps the most complicated piece of equipment to plan. If you fly, you can only travel with an empty air tank; you cannot fly with a full compressed air tank as it will turn into a bomb and is illegal. However, you can drive with a full tank of air. The best paintball air tanks are over $200, so even the slightest scratch or dent can be heartbreaking. The best advice is to always carry your empty air tank inside a heavy duty rubber tank cover and then wrap the whole thing in bubble wrap and store it between your changes of clothes or the pant leg of your paintball uniform. The Electronic Hopper is an important piece of equipment that the performance of your weapon will heavily depend on. There aren’t many specific paintball magazine protective covers for sale, however some brands do come with them. It’s best to find the right size plastic container for the safe storage and transportation of your charger, especially if you’ve paid a lot for it. When transporting (and storing), it is best to remove batteries from electronic hoppers to avoid the potential disaster of a leak.
Transporting your paintball gun in a separate case is the smartest way to go. For the most complete protection, a hard case is the best option and will keep your marker safer. Unless you’re using a full-size rifle case, most paintball gun cases are fairly compact and will fit well inside a larger duffel or gear bag. If you don’t have access to a hard case, you can opt for a soft-sided one; however, you should also wrap it in your paintball jersey and/or pants for as much protection as possible. When packing, always separate the barrel from your gun, pack them in padding and preferably together. Some marker barrels have their own carrying case and these are good to use for the safest of travel. If you are flying to a stage woodsball event, it is not recommended to bring a realistic military paintball gun to the airport or on the plane. With all the turmoil in the world and the added security at airports, an authentic replica assault rifle is sure to raise an eyebrow and probably get confiscated.