Chris Schneck

It hurts that a lot of the really cool products for paintball are made in the USA, not that I have anything against the USA, but I really really really hate cross border shipping. Duties are usually arbitrary, UPS / DHL / Fedex often have insane brokerage fees and if somethings wrong and you want to return a product for  repair or replacement it just ads to the already high cost of cross border shipping.

Not long after I bought a Tac 9 Covert rifle package I wanted to add a nice sized red dot sight. The only thing I found that had a large enough field of view AND had see through flip up lens covers was an OpsGear 42mm red dot sight. Not only does it look just badass on top of the weaver sight riser that comes with the Tac 9 Covert, it really helps placing that first shot.

So the time came that one of the flip up lense covers for my 42mm red dot needed to be replaced. I contacted OpsGear directly and to my dismay they don’t carry replacement see through flip up lens covers, they instead recommended that I get in touch with a local sporting goods store. Well, honestly, that’s no help.

With a little searching I discovered that a company named NcStar manufactures an identical 42mm red dot sight, complete with the flip up lens covers that I was looking for. Again there was a catch, they were in the USA, and I hate shipping from the USA. The email I sent to NcStar asking for the location of a Canadian distributor was promptly answered and they handed me over to a fellow in Ontario by the name of James McKay.

Not only was James sympathetic to my situation, he even called his rep at NcStar on my behalf to see if there was anything they could do about my situation. Within 2 weeks James had my replacement flip up lens covers in Canada and on their way to me. The cost of the replacement flip up lens covers was reasonable, the shipping costs were reasonable and James even phoned me to keep me up to date on the status of things.

If youre in Canada don’t hesitate to check out NcStar’s Online Catalogue and Contact James McKay to order. They have quite the selection of optics and accessories for milsim paintballers.

James “Jim” McKay
www.riflescope-shop.com
KJ Sales
255 Pigeon Creek Road
Janetville, Ontario
L0B 1K0

There can actually be several varieties of o-rings made of different substances in your paintball marker, each with its own chemical composition and functional purpose. Most all o-rings in your paintball marker will be made with polyurethane and depending on their function in the paintball marker will contain varying levels of Nitriles.

Polyurethane o-rings will range in colour from a translucent white to a yellow.

Nitrile o-rings are softer and commonly black in colour.

The o-rings that are in the moving parts of your paintball marker ( hammers, bolts & tank o-rings ) are a harder polyurethane. They need to stand up to the constant abrasion of movement, no matter how smooth you think the interior of your marker is there’s always an infinitesimal measurement of friction.

You might also see o-rings noted with a D, as in 70D. The D notes the Shore Durometer rating, which is typically used as a measure of hardness in polymers, elastomers and rubbers. There are several scales of durometer, used for materials with different properties. The two most common scales, using slightly different measurement systems, are the A and D scales. The A scale is for softer plastics, while the D scale is for harder ones.

Unfortunately you cannot simply replace any o-ring in your paintball marker with another o-ring that just happens to be the same diameter. The thickness and composition of the o-ring is essential to the pantball markers functionality. Having one or two complete sets of replacement o-rings specifically designed for your paintball marker on hand is the only way to be safe.

So which lubricants can I use in my paintball marker?

Only use lubricants that are non petroleum based!

Do Use :

1. Silicone Grease
2. Lithium Grease
3. Oil bought from your local paintball store
4. Air Tool Oil ( if you’re in a pinch )

Do NOT Use :

1. WD-40
2. Motor oil
3. Petroleum based grease
4. Anything you would use on a vehicle

Sometimes it’s very handy to be able to communicate your intentions to a teammate  without saying a word. This can be very hard to accomplish if there was no forethought put into the process, as you might very well appear to be just swatting flies or asking  them for the time. Yes there are standardized hand signals floating out there on the Internet, but what good are they if not everyone on your teams understand what your hand flapping means?

The funny version can be found here.

Its best to designate your own set of hand signals, as using a standardized set that is available to everyone will make it possible for players on other teams to also interpret what you are trying to communicate. Dont try and overcomplicate it, unless you play with the same group of people all the time you will again run into the problem of not being understood or miscommunicating your intentions.

Keep the series of hand signals brief, make all hand movements below your shoulders to reduce the chance of being spotted. Here is quick run through of how you might organize a chain of thought :

1. Get your teammate(s) attention - Normally I would just hold my hand about chest height and wave hello until my teamate(s) knew I was trying to say something
2. Outline the situation - Point to an area of interest and describe what it is that is in that direction that everyone should be paying attention to
3. Describe what you intend to do - Pointing again to yourself and where you intend to go, or what you intend to do to address what you pointed out in step #2
4. Describe what you want your teammate(s) to do - Pointing to your teammate(s) and tell them where to go or what you need them to do to back you up in step #3
5. Get confirmation that everything was understood - Make sure everyone is nodding in agreement or gives a thumbs up
6. Take action - Dont hesitate, you probably spent a few precious moments getting this all out, just do it at this point

As long as your entire group is on the same page to what all your hand gestures mean, you should be good to go. If you manage to get the drop on another group of paintballers and they dont see or hear you before you make your move, you have a much greater chance of success.