Any experienced paintball player knows that there is more to paintball gear than your mask, gun, hopper, and air tank. While they may be the bare minimum gear you will need to play, there are quite a few other pieces of equipment and accessories that are a must have for any paintball player.
During my last 20 years of playing paintball I have learned what items can make or break a good day on and off the field. Here are my top 10 must have accessories that any serious paintballer should have.
Table of Contents
Gear Bag
This may sound obvious to some, but every time I go to the field I see at least half of the players making three to four trips from their car just to bring all of their gear to the staging area. This can be easily fixed with a cheap gearbag to carry and store their gear in.
A paintball gear bag helps players safely transport their gear and carry everything at once, saving time and keeping everything organized. You can use a simple backpack, cheap duffel bag, or purpose built paintball gear bag. They also help the player stay organized and help prevent you from forgetting to pack basic gear like tools or barrel swabs.
I myself have 3-4 gear bags full of different gear for different occasions. They range from small duffel bags for basic recball to large rolling bags and footlockers for large scale scenario events.
You don’t need to spend a lot of money on a gear bag, a simple duffel bag like this one on Amazon will store everything you will need both on and off the field. Matter of fact, you may already have one perfect for paintball sitting in your closet right now!
O-Ring Pick
Everyone knows you need to have extra o-rings, oil, grease, and spare parts on hand to keep your paintball gun working, but sometimes those o-rings are in hard to reach spots or are really difficult to remove. This is where o-ring pics come in handy.
O-Ring pics are extremely helpful tools for paintball as you may encounter a hard to reach o-ring or a small part that needs to be moved in a hard to reach spot.
These tools come in handy more than you will realize and I always find myself reaching for one when working on my gear. You can pick up the non marring, plastic versions but I like the stainless steel picks for their durability and rigidity. These two picks on Amazon will be all that you will need for paintball.
Ball Haulers
If you have every tried to fill your hopper or pods from a regular 500 count bag, you probably know what it feels like to need 3 hands. Thankfully, we have ball haulers to make life easier for any player to fill and store their paintballs.
Paintball ball haulers are large jugs designed to both store and easily pour paintballs into hoppers and paintball pods with minimal spills. They are typically made of rigid plastic and store 1000 paintballs at a time.
I have spilled enough paintballs on the ground over the past two decades to keep a large birthday party playing for several hours. But now that I have a few ball haulers I hardly spill any paint in the staging area, saving me plenty of money and frustration over the past few years.
The best value ball hauler on the market is the GxG ball hauler on Amazon, pick up yours by clicking here.
Gun Stand
Have you ever set your paintball gun on the table just to watch the hopper pop open and watch your paint spill all over the table? Or, lean your paintball gun up against your gearbag or box of paint just to watch it slide and slam against the table both scratching the anno and, again, spill the paint? I have many times over and found the best way to fix this is by using a paintball gun stand.
Paintball gun stands help keep your paintball gun held upright, keep the staging table organized, and displays your setup for others to admire.
My favorite gun stands are made by Guru Gun Stands. They are colapsable, come in multiple colors, and are made by a small company here in Florida! Pick up yours by going to GuruGunStands.com.
Paintball Gun Case
If you want to prevent your paintball gun from getting damaged during storage or while loading up for the field, use a paintball gun bag or gun case.
Lots of the more expensive paintball guns come with a protective gun case, but some of us (like me) have custom built paintball guns or just didn’t come with a gun case to begin with.
A paintball gun case is the best way to protect your expensive paintball gun from damage, dirt, and help prolong the life of the o-rings in your gun.
My favorite gun case is made by Inception as it has customizable foam that can be adjusted to fit your paintball gun and can easily fit 2 different paintball guns in the case. Pick yours up on Amazon by clicking here.
Microfiber Cloths or Shop Towels
After each game, it is customary to wipe off any hits and splashes from your mask and gear. Paper towels and rags will get most of the paint off, but by using microfiber cloths or the blue shop towels you can remove all the paint from the lens without scratching them.
Microfiber cloths are extremely useful for cleaning your paintball gear as they are capable of quickly removing the majority of the broken paint from your gear without smearing it everywhere.
There are a ton of different companies that make paintball specific microfiber cloths, but the one with the most designs is Exalt. They have a bunch of cool and fun designs to match your own personality and gear color, click here to pick up yours on Amazon.
Lens Cleaner and Anti-Fog
Even with the best thermal and anti-fog paintball masks on the market, you may experience some fogging or want to make sure your lens is completely clean before the next game. This is where some lens cleaner and anti-fog comes in handy!
All you really need is the spray on lens cleaner/anti-fog shown above, and they can be found affordably on Amazon, like this one. But if you are looking for some quality anti-fog, I suggest using the same stuff that they use for divers. You can find some on Amazon as well, like this one from C-Clear.
Barrel Swab and Squeegee
Lets face it, it doesn’t matter what paintball gun you use, you will break a paintball in the barrel at some point and it will degrade your accuracy until you clean it out. This is easily fixed by having a barrel swab with you on the field to clean the barrel.
Barrel swabs are the best and easiest way to clean out broken paint or dirt from your paintball barrel. These are important tools to keep in your pockets while on the field as they allow you to clean the barrel without taking it off your gun!
My absolute favorite version of the barrel swab is made by Exalt as it not only has a highly absorbent end, but a barrel squeegee on the other side to ensure you have a squeaky clean barrel. You can pick up one on Amazon in a bunch of different colors, click here to check them out.
Tank Thread Protectors
I have had dozens of HPA and CO2 tanks over the past two decades of playing paintball, and I dropped half of them at least once. During the beginning, I would accidentally drop them right on the threaded valve and damage the seal to the point that it was unusable. Now, I have thread protectors on all of my tanks.
Thread protectors screw on to tip of your paintball air tanks regulator or pin valve to help prevent your expensive air tank from becoming useless if part that makes a seal in your paintball gun is damaged.
These are super cheap and the ease of mind that they bring you make them a no brainier to protect your $150 – $200 HPA tank. I like to use the versions that store an extra tank o-ring for easy replacement, like this one on Amazon.
Chronograph
For anyone who tests their gear in the backyard or plays on a private field, you will need a chronograph to measure the velocity of your paintballs when fired. These are not only good to make sure your gear is working properly, but to keep everyone shooting at a safe speed.
A Paintball Chronograph is a device used to measure a paintball guns velocity, ensuring it is firing at a safe speed under 300 feet per second (fps). Some higher end paintball chronographs can also determine how many balls per second (bps) the gun is currently shooting.
My personal favorite paintball specific chronograph is made by Virtue Paintball. It is a portable, chronograph capable of measuring velocity in fps, average bps, and displaying shot consistency (+/- fps). You can pick them up directly from Virtue Paintball by clicking here.
Scuba Tank Fill Station
If you are playing on a private field or are testing equipment at home, you will need a way to refill your HPA tanks. The easiest way to do this is to buy your own scuba tank and HPA fill adapter as shown above.
Your own portable fill station is an extremely useful asset to have for anyone who is serious about paintball. This way you don’t have to worry about not having enough air to test your gear before the big game, you will have a massive supply ready to use at home!
Traditional air compressors are not capable of creating enough pressure match the standard output pressure of 800psi that most paintball tanks normally produce. Plus they can put moisture in the tank, which will cause corrosion and cause your tank to fail the next hydro test.
A scuba tank can be purchased or rented from a local dive shop between $100 to $200 for a standard used tank. Make sure you pick up one with a K type valve and use a fill adapter to fill your HPA tanks with like this one on Amazon.
For more gear recommendations, check out my suggested gear page by clicking the link below:
https://www.paintzapper.com/best-paintball-gear/
For some extra helpful paintball tips and tricks, click the link below to learn to play like a pro!
https://www.paintzapper.com/category/tips-and-tricks/