I’m selling my gun, mask, and accessories on eBay but not my big box of 1,000 paintballs. I left everything out in the garage over the winter, where one can safely assume it dropped well below freezing over the winter.
Would the cold weather do anything to affect them, or should they be good as new? They seem okay, but I haven’t tried to fire them through the gun. They’ve thawed out and seem normal, but I’m wondering about how “sellable” they are. . .
Tripler
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Heh, you might want to test some by simply throwing them. If they bounce once then break, they should be ok.
I stored some paint balls, sealed, for over 2 years in my closet (my lost box of diablo paint) and I used them all up this spring. They had some minor dimples (and some of them burst in the air) but none of them broke in the barrel. They were actually better since they were weaker than normal, all my hits made them burst (I got shot twice, one in the back of the neck, and it didn’t break…ouch).
I don’t think I’d sell them, were I you. They can freeze, and they can thaw, but that’s not what’s really going to be the problem. Letting them sit for any extended period of time can cause them to dimple or flatten on one side. This will greatly impact both their aerodynamic qualities and the integrity of the shells. If they have changed shape at all, chances are they will not shoot straight, as the modification to the shape of the round will cause them to hook. In addition, the dimples or flat spots can affect the airflow around the shot while firing. Coupled with an already brittle shell, the likelihood that your gun will chop the paint when firing increases greatly.
They will definitely not fly as straight. Storing paintballs for a length of time without affecting their performance requires great care, and letting them freeze doesn’t qualify.
But are they sellable? Sure – just set the right price. As long as a good enough deal was cut, I would always buy cheap crap paint to sling at newbies for random pickup games that didn’t matter.
-Terribly common sentiment, and fortunately, quite wrong.
The fill of the typical paintball uses a propylene glycol liquid base, a non- or very-low-toxicity fluid akin to automotive antifreeze. Yes, you can freeze it, but not with a conventional home freezer.
I once played some 'ball at -17°F, which is somewhat colder than your home freezer, and while our paint did “gel” and thicken somewhat, it still broke and simply made a somewhat less “splashy” mark. And this was even on fairly heavy, insulated coats.
“Hard as a bullet”? Sorry, doesn’t happen.
Some very cheap brands of paintball are rumored to use a fish oil base of some sort, which strikes me as perhaps even more resistant to freezing.
As for the OP’s paintballs, stored out in the cold through a couple of freeze/thaw cycles, the paint’s junk. It’s probably good for testing the markers, or just plinking at trees in the backyard, but I wouldn’t want to play a game with 'em.
If you’re selling the stuff, just throw it in at no cost to the buyer, tell 'em they were out in the garage- if nothing else, it’ll be good to just screw around with.
Junk 'em, they’re likely worthless, but as everyone said its more the time you stored them than the freezing though thats bad too. Nothing sucks more than watching your paintballs curve like a pitcher’s slider or break in the barrel.