For many after a day of games and fun, you may have paintballs left over. I know I did after the Spyder Cup. What do you do with them?

Paintballs of today are more environmentally friendly than ones that I shot back in the 80's. In other words, they react to the environment easily and can cause some interesting trajectories if there exposed to the air.

The shells are made of a gelatin mixture that gives its round form. It is basically the same substance that gel caps that you may have taken when ill or have a headache. Paintballs are made in basically the same way. It is 2 halves that are combined together with the fill. This shell will dissolve in water. Actually, it will absorb water before is starts to dissolve. That is why you may find old paintballs that have swelled in size lying around the field. Not a good idea to try and re-use them. High humidity and high temperatures will cause the paintballs to swell in size and cause breaks very easily in barrels.

The paint fill is also water solvable. Most of the modern paintballs contains a mixture of sorbitol and color dye. Some companies also add some wax as a thickener so that it is harder to wipe when your hit. As some of you may know, sorbital is a food sweetener used in candies. That with the combination of the gel cap shell, you can eat them without too much harm. A large consumption of paintballs will more than likely be a laxative effect. Like the shell, it too can also absorb moisture through the shell and cause swelling.

In general, the paintball used today are called .68 caliber. They also used to make .50 and .62 caliber paintballs along with other sizes. For some reason, the .68 caliber paintballs stuck as the standard. Unfortunately, paintballs are never a true round sphere. Because the paintballs are 2 pieces, the paintball is generally larger around the seams and smaller around the non-seamed poles. With this in mind, the .68 is never that exact size and never a true sphere. They actually range from .681 to .696. Sometimes smaller and larger. A manufacturer will be within a certain diameter for their brand of paintballs. Look at my paint chart to see the average sizes for the different manufacturers. Another interesting note is that the range and accuracy is affected.

Now that you know a little about paintballs and how they react to the environment, how do you store left over paintballs? It is best to store them in a dry environment that has a very minimal temperature change. About 60 to 70 degrees is best. Kind of like in a basement. The humidity can be between 40-50%. Also, seal the paintballs inside a plastic bag. Either with a twisty tie or a zip lock. Never freeze paintballs. They do not preserve them any longer. Actually, it may make the shell weaker. A weaker shell means very easy to break inside the barrel. Even just dumping them into the hopper can cause them to break. High temperatures and high humidity will cause them to swell. And lower temperatures will make the paint more brittle. You may keep this in mind when you play. Be aware of the temperature and the humidity. It doesn't take long for the environment to effect the paintballs. Seal what you're not using. In extreme temperatures, change the paintballs from your hopper and pods between every game.

If you see paintballs with dimples or are really malformed, it would be best to throw them out. This is usually cause by improper storage after manufacturing or is old paintballs. How long can you store them? It depends on how the paintballs were made and with what material. It also depends how long they have been in storage after they were made. I generally keep them for no longer than 3 months. Then I throw them out and get myself fresh paint.