How long do co2 cartridges last in paintball guns?

How do paintball CO2 cartridges last for more then one shot?

• I was reading about paintball guns, play airsoft, and I'm a big DIY, so I was looking at the howstuffworks page, and it makes total sense besides I can't seem to understand ...show more

• Answer:

  In order to maximize the amount of shots, the tank contains a higher-pressure gas, which is fed to a regulator. The regulator reduces the pressure some to some more usable pressures. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pressure_regulator If you look at the photo on that page ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Single-stage-regulator.svg ), Basically, high-pressure gas is fed into a pre-chamber and throttled by a valve. On the other side of a valve is a lower-pressure chamber. Note that there is also a spring that "wants" to push open the valve. In the case of deficient pressure in the low-pressure chamber, the spring opens up the valve and high pressure gas enters the chamber. Pressure rises in the low-pressure chamber until the pressure difference between the low-pressure chamber and the diaphragm (force up) exceeds the force exerted by the spring (force down). At this point, the valve closes. High-pressure gas stops entering the low-pressure chamber and the desired pressure is achieved. Say then you shoot a paintball, the pressure will drop again on the low-pressure side, and the pressure fighting the spring is then gone, letting the spring open the valve and let more high-pressure gas back in to raise the pressure. One question you might have is why the valve doesn't slam shut because of the high-pressure gas pushing on the valve. Conceptually, the valve has a chosen area so the pressure difference on that area will not exceed the force exerted by the regulating spring.