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: : No, not periodicals. : : What I'm interested in learning, is the reasons behind a hopper. why a hopper? why dont people use clips? I could see soemone useing a hight RoF gun, with a powerful spring to give it 20 bps and the reasons against that (heck make 'em with weaker springs, you can do that too, at 10 bps) but I'm talking use in snipers, and pistols, markers where compactness, and accuracy are paramount, in a sidearm, a heavy metal 10 round tube, is much heavier than a thin plastic clip. and a sniper, where you only need 15-20 rounds, and can swap quick, without a hopper givin' you away. I think that clips make sense, and I hope someone can give me a reason for why hoppers have prevailed. : : As Michael pointed out - most companies go with hoppers for the volume they can hold. : I think the main thing that has kept people away from detachable magazines is the difficulty of inventing one that is practical. Relying on spring pressure alone, there is a problem in that paintballs are not hard like marbles, they can end up deforming under the pressure of a feed spring. In humid Florida weather this is even a problem in the 10 round spring fed tube magazine on my Sidekick. In a scenario game, after each trip on the field, any paint I didn't shoot through it, I have to dump out, because the first two balls have started deforming. : The AT85 uses a chain drive system that advances the paint out of its magazine. The problems there is that the chain must be perfectly synchronized to the paintgun, or there are feed problems, broken paint and a damaged chain. Early on, this was a problem, and it developed a bad reputation for their paintgun even though people using those paintguns now say the problems have been solved. Another drawback is the cost. You can get a pod to reload a hopper for $3-$4. The magazines for the AT85 cost quite a bit more than that. : An even further drawback is size. Paintballs are a lot wider than bullets, and even then the capacities of paintgun hoppers typically dwarf the capacity of magazines on firearms. If you lay out 100 paintballs flat on a table, like they would be in a magazine, you'll see they are pretty good size, especially once you consider adding space for a force feeding mechanism. : An even further concern is that the paintgun would need to be built specifically for the magazine, like the AT-85. : That's not to say that making an effective magazine isn't a good idea, it would just be an uphill battle to get it accepted, and I doubt it would "take over the sport," but like the AT-85, it would probably have it's followers. : See you on the field, : -Bill Mills