Did HPA kill Outlaw Fields?

[SatrNfReak]

Just what title says. Did HPA and low shot count kill Outlaw? I remember a time when i owned 4 20oz tanks and could play a whole day in the woods and dump a case of oaint and still have CO2 left. 20oz tanks were 35-40bux, and our local store filled them for 3bux a piece.... Now i see HPA cost 200bux for a similar shot count tank(68/4500). I could not imagine buying 4 of those....

[trashcollector]

I miss outlaw games

[1snowridr]

I transitioned to scuba tanks the moment they came out. Our outlaw didn't miss a beat.

[sonixr7]

I started making money because of bringing scuba tanks to outlaw games. $10 to fill a scuba tank, 3000psi 80cu. People would give me a few bucks to fill their tank, not even a full fill. Most were people that did not fill their tank the day before or were hoping the store would open early for them.

[shooter311]

When HPA became more of a thing we just switched to Scuba Tanks and refilled in-between games. People who didn't want to shell out for a 4.5kpsi tank would just buy those 48/3k tanks that were prob pretty close to the cost of a 20oz co2.

If you played enough HPA would pay for itself. it was $7 per 20oz co2 fill for us, and $5 for a Scuba tank fill. I'm in Maine so we have local dive shops that would fill the scuba tanks pretty close by.

[Calvin]

I had a 50lb tank, 10 tippmann quick fill 20oz tanks, and used to run our outlaw games 1993 - 2003 or so. It was a wonderful and different time. In alot of ways, I like my modern home field, and the infrastructure it provides. The passion, excitement, and comraderie is not quite the same as the old outlaw days.

[Fossilhead]

I wish more bulk co2 fills were available.
As far as I can tell, the only place I can fill co2 is in the beverage gas industry.

[Hp_lovecraft]

Welding and fire extingisher supply stores were good options for us. They would all do tank exchanges, you just had to make sure they were siphons.,
Hydroponics, and "grow shops" often offer tank exchanges now. Sporting goods, and hardware stores used to offer co2, but thats all gone now.

[gabe]

At least locally it definitely helped slow down outlaw games. We never had anywhere to get HPA fills except the field so it was CO2 only in the woods. A local hardware store would fill CO2 tanks for a few bucks which with a pump was a whole day on a 7oz or a couple 3.5oz tanks.

The other big thing that I think really killed outlaw ball was the downfall of the sporting goods stores carrying paint. Walmart got rid of paint then a couple major sports retailers shut down so now it's online ordering paint or buying it at the field when they're open.

[DocsMachine]

Two things killed outlaw, in my opinion: One is, as Gabe noted, the big-box stores dropping carrying paintball gear. Locally, no one carries any gear, regardless of quality, and the local Wal-Mart has a single case of paint that I'm pretty sure has been in that display cabinet for at least three years now.

The other is property and liability.

When I was starting out, in the pumps and CO2 days, everybody had a section of backwoods or or a piece of property we could use, there were "abandoned" (really, just no-longer-used) gravel pits, remote lots where people had dumped junk cars, etc.

Today, if I wanted to organize a private game? Almost impossible. I know a few people with property, but I can guarantee you they wouldn't let me use it. Any back lot or old gravel pit is well-marked as "no trespassing", and even if you did find a spot, somebody would spot the cars or hear the shooting, and immediately call the police.

Doc.

[TencenT]

Pretty much what Doc describes. Our group just chipped in for refilling scuba tanks and that was the easy part. Finding a place that didn't violate property rights or result in the cops showing up was the hard part.

As for paint, that is still easy to get if you're in a bigger city as you likely have a field that will sell you fresh paint regardless of where you intend to use it.

[gabe]

That is really the tough part now is finding land. Honestly we used to just use public lands and that's probably still fine but now everything has a hiking trail on it. I remember having to occasionally stop a game to let a dog walker safely pass but it was rare.

After some reflection I think the bigger piece is just a lack of interested people. Back in "the day" all of my friends in high school and college were into paintball because it was a big up and coming sport. We could put 8 people together on a whim to go play on a friday night back in the woods. Now I doubt I could put together a half dozen people that would be willing to hike gear back into the woods and play. Heck I doubt I could find that many people with gear to use. The local field gets a dozen regular players but that's kind of the whole paintball community up here. There was an outlaw woodsball page on FB for Alaska but it went quiet and died out a couple years ago.

Really a shame because that is the essence of paintball to me. Speedball is soulless like playing a video game. Getting some friends together with a cooler of beers and playing some woodsball was the peak of my paintball career.

[Cunha]

Its still cheap to get co2 tanks and rent or buy a bulk tank from a welding shop and fill co2 and to rock out in the woods.

[Magageddon]

last outlaw game I played was capital daves stock game in rhode island 4ish years ago, shit maybe 5, I feel old lol. Really cool property, oldschool woodsball feel, lots of wooded new england ground and giant boulders. It was a stockclass game, so logistically easy, 12 grams and left over paint from last time you played and your set for the day. Very memorable game. My buddies down in maryland set up an outlaw field called the welt house and run stock games there. Stock is the best format for outlaw ball in my opinion. I will acknowledge its weather dependent, you alaska guys might have co2 efficiency problems most of the year.

[Chuck E Ducky]

Playing outlaw next weekend. Probably play 2-3x a year outlaw. Mostly stock class / Single shot shenanigans but I own a compressor so we can do light HPA fills.

[DocsMachine]

I will acknowledge its weather dependent, you alaska guys might have co2 efficiency problems most of the year.

-We made it work.



Doc.

[DocsMachine]

Playing outlaw next weekend. Probably play 2-3x a year outlaw. Mostly stock class / Single shot shenanigans but I own a compressor so we can do light HPA fills.

-I have fantasized about trying to get a small local group together for some pump-only games. There have been some people around that played, besides myself, and I like to at least imagine that some of those guys wouldn't mind a game or three a year of some not-frantically-paced play. And yeah, if it came down to it, I could outfit close to a dozen players right now if I had to. (Okay, some of the goggles might not be the best, but... )

But as already noted, there's no place to do it.

I'd have to scout out a location, contact the land owner, and arrange, very probably, a use fee, liability insurance, and an agreement about damage and/or cleanup.

(Which is another thing- age. If a gaggle of 14-18 year olds is out having fun on some property, as long as there's no beer or weed, that's easy to dismiss as "just being kids". As adults, then you start being old enough to be liable, prosecutable for trespassing, and have the money for fines. Such, unfortunately, is the world we live in.

Doc.