Paintball

[ljpiller]

It seems like every once in awhile you hear a terrible story about a tank burst weather it be CO2 or HPA. Theres always some controversy over which is safer/better. Theres no doubt that safety gear these days has improved significantly. Masks and protectors are built safer than ever. The fact that there are fields to play on instead of wilderness helps a lot. But have some things become more dangerous?

I cannot think of a time where someone died from a 12 gram Co2. Sure they're smaller and less used these days, but did they ever cause problems? They're contained in a bucket or some form of charger that prevents them turning into a rocket and They don't contain enough to cause "extreme" cases of frost burn.

Whats your thought on this? Are 12grams actually safer than constant air?

[Ir0nExpress]

Probably safer, unless you throw them in a fire or take a hammer and try to hit the end of it.

[pizzaluvr]

I got a giant spray from one and it stung like crap for a few minutes, but didn't cause any permanent bain dramage... At least I don't think it did.

[Phantom Power]

Originally Posted by pizzaluvr

but didn't cause any permanent bain dramage... At least I don't think it did.

You sure ?

12g are safer simply because they mostly remove the human element from the equation. A machine fills them at the factory and, provided the machine is operating correctly, they have the correct amount of CO2 in them all the time. They're disposable, so you can't screw up filling them.

Most of the dangerous situations that occur with tanks, HPA or CO2, come to pass because of something a person did to them. Overfilling a CO2 tank, hooking a 3000psi HPA tank up to a 4500 fill station, putting oil in their fill nipple, accidentally unscrewing the reg from the bottle are all faults of the operator not the tank. Very very rarely does the tank itself fail due to flaws in the material or manufacturing.

I've been working at a paintball field for over 6 years now, and been filling tanks at least that long. You know many burst disks have blown on a tank that I've filled (that I know of) ? Zero.

Yet people come up to the field all the time with blown discs after having had their CO2 tanks filled at the local shop. The difference is that I (and the other refs at my field) use a digital postal scale when filling, and underfill by 1oz while the guy at the local shop just holds them in his hand and cranks the fill station open until they equalize.

[spawnsharks]

Originally Posted by Phantom Power

You sure ?
The difference is that I (and the other refs at my field) use a digital postal scale when filling, and underfill by 1oz while the guy at the local shop just holds them in his hand and cranks the fill station open until they equalize.

Even with a 3.5oz? Just curious.... 2.5oz fill?

[Phantom Power]

No, a 3.5oz I'll usually go to 3.0

[HP_Lovecraft]

I guess 12grams are more dangerous then "refillable" co2 tanks.

The reason being that a 12gram thrown into a fire would likely explode, while a refillable tank would vent when the pressure reached 1800psi.

Likewise, while I've seen a handful of 7oz rockets, I've seen literally HUNDREDS of 12gram rockets.

The problem was those old lever changers mentioned above. In the heat of battle, people would eject there 12grams before they were empty, and have them shoot off like rockets!!
A local team called "Grave Diggers" scared me the most. Most of them used lever changers, and at times it seemed like there was more 12grams in the air then paint (ok, not really).

[russc]

But then again, the amount of gas in a 12gram is pretty small compared to other cylinders. Even with a catastrophic failure, you're looking at serious injury rather than death.

[Tallen702]

I wonder what the burst pressure of the metal seal on a 12G is. If it's about the same as a CO2 tank burst-disk, then I'd say the 12g is definitely safer simply due to the excessive mass-to-pressure ratio. I mean, those suckers are heavy for only holding less than 1/2oz of CO2.

[Al Ray]

I am fairly shure the seal on a 12 gram also acts as a safety burst device.