I wanted to know if paintball guns wear out, because my son wants to buy one.
Also, I want to know if used paintball guns are reliable? What should I look for when buying used paintball guns?

Paintball guns can potentially last longer than the users can with regular maintenance, same with any machine. Cars can last forever if they’re maintained properly & regularly, for instance. But it’s an odd thing, as most players never really find that out because they either don’t maintain their guns, eventually want a better or different gun, or they just stop playing.

Used paintball guns can be reliable, it depends how the previous owner maintained them. It’s best to buy used guns in person, so you can inspect & test them yourself (provided you knew what to look for). If you order used on ebay or paintball forums, always consult their feedback, get as much details about the condition, etc. If you buy it on Ebay, try to buy via Paypal, as you have a much better chance getting your money back (& faster) if you have to dispute a sale. When ordering on a paintball forum, again, keep tabs on the reviews but also try to research their site activity – good reviews is one thing but if they NEVER do anything else on the site then they’re probably scammers (exceptions are store owners who have pb forum accounts).

As for the guns themselves, you’ll want to know if there are any leaks, any thread damage for anything that screws onto the gun, including barrel, screws, foregrip (or regulator) & feedneck (if applicable – not all feednecks screw on).

You’ll also want to know how much action the gun has seen; how often the person played is one thing but gun usage is actually best calculated by how many paintballs have been shot with it – an example of this would be "I’ve shot 6 cases through it." A case = 2000 paintballs.

Of course, how often they used the gun isn’t as important as how often they’ve done regular maintenance. You’ll want to know how often maintenance was done, specifically how often they relubed the internals/o-rings. The best owners relube their gun after each day’s use, although it’s typical to see people wait a few days (i personally don’t relube it each time but i also know how long my guns can go without regular maintenance – i baby my guns but i don’t spoil them, lol).

Also, always do price comparisons. Used paintball gear is typically worth little more than half their original price as their resale is, for whatever reason, incredibly low. Example: a new Smart Parts Ion, no upgrades, is $150-200. Used Ions WITH upgrades commonly go for $100-ish. So don’t get gouged over the price.

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