The hopper is an essential part of your paintball gear.  A hopper (also called a ‘loader’) is a small container that fits on top of a paintball gun.  It’s job is to carry and feed/load paintballs into the gun for shooting.  Hoppers come in a variety of shapes and sizes, offering many choices when customizing your marker.  Most beginners use hoppers that are ‘gravity-fed’, while more advanced players often upgrade to electronic ones.

The difference between the two is the paintballs just drop through the neck of the hopper (with the help of gravity!) with gravity-fed; while electronic hoppers have a tiny motor that spins/shoots the balls into the gun at a high speed.  There is also a great price difference between the two; gravity fed hoppers cost between $5-$20 and often come with the purchase of a new paintball gun.  While electronic loaders generally run from $50-$150, they also substantially increase the gun’s rate of fire.  Most hoppers (gravity-fed or electronic) come in a standard size – carrying 200 rounds, and will fit most paintball markers.  The only guns that use a specific sized hopper are the Tippmann A5 and Tippmann X7; these guns have a larger feed mouth and must use a different sized hopper (other than the standard size).

If you use a tactical paintball marker with a scope attached, you may want to consider getting an ‘offset’ hopper.  Hoppers generally sit directly on top of the gun and may obstruct the line of vision for a scope unless its offset.  At ChoicePaintballGuns.com, we carry hoppers that will fit any paintball marker; we have a large selection of gravity-fed and electronic loaders to choose from – all at discount prices.