A paintball remote is one of the most popular accessories in the game. Popular with woodsball and scenario players who often need to carry large air tanks and many pods of paint, a paintball remote system moves the weight of your tank off the marker and moves it onto your back or waist. They are also popular for players who like the look and feel of a shoulder stock, or have short arms.

Paintball remotes come in several styles. The most popular is a coiled flexible hose. These stretch with your movements, yet retract to stay snug to the body. Older types of remotes were straight stainless steel or nylon hose, both of which were durable but not as flexible. A newer generation of straight hose remotes from Ninja are incredibly thin and flexible, though, for players looking for a lighter weight option.

Paintball remotes have a quick disconnect air fitting. The female end is on the hose and the male end is on the marker. The male fitting can be part of the marker, attached to a gas-through stock, or screwed in the ASA with an ASA to Remote Reducer. There are two types of quick-disconnects on the market. The traditional QD has a spring-loaded barrel on the female end; you pull this down to insert and release the male end fitting. The other type, push-to-connect fittings, simply press into each other to lock in place and a push button instantly releases. The opposite end of the hose has a Universal Fill Adapter (UFA) that screws onto your air tank, with an on/ off knob to release or stop the pressure.

To gas up a marker using a remote properly, you first screw the ASA reducer with male QD fitting into the markers ASA. Then, make sure the on/ off knob on the UFA is screwed all the way out before threading it onto your CO2 or air tank valve. Connect the Female end of the QD to the male end, ensuring that it is on snug and secure. Screw the UFA's on/ off knob down until you feel the hose pressurize, then give it another 1/4 to 1/2 of a turn. Do not keep turning the knob until it stops! Turning the knob all the way can actually cut off the flow by bottoming out the depressing pin or potentially damage the valve. The marker is now ready to fire.

To remove a remote hose from a marker, you must first degas the line. If you do not, the pressure will violently pop the QDs from each other, blowing out the o-ring that can cause eye injury. To properly depressurize, you first need to turn the on/ off knob on the UFA towards the 'off' position until it turns freely. Next, if you do not have a slide check valve in your line (more on this later), then you need to depressurize the line. To do this, you need to remove all the paintballs from your marker, hold it upside down, or whatever procedure is required to not let paintballs feed to the breech, and dry fire the marker until it stutters and stops from no pressure. Now you can safely disconnect the QDs.

To avoid the above procedure and make depressurizing easier you want to get a slide check valve. A slide check is a valve that will stop the flow of pressure and vent downstream. These are really convenient, as they let you quickly remove the hose to set your marker down, free up your hands, etc. Many markers and inline regulators trap a shot or two of air in the gun, though, so don't rely on it as a safety device. Always use your barrel cover!

What Is A Paintball Remote Hose Cover?

Coiled remotes can be hard to clean after getting hit, and can sometimes snag in brush or other pieces of equipment. A remote hose cover slips over the remote, yet allows it to stretch freely. It enhances your camouflage, keeps the coiled hose clean, and prevents it from getting hung up on things.

How To Fix a Paintball Remote

Occasionally the O-rings in a paintball remote need to be replaced. Watch the following videos and Rory will show you how to do that. One helpful hint when using a slide check is to put a drop of synthetic paintball oil on either side of the slide at the start of each game day. This will lubricate the barrel of the slide check and keep the O-rings from getting damaged!