MARKER AND LOADER SYNERGY: WHAT REALLY LIMITS YOUR RATE OF FIRE

This article explores what truly impacts the feeding and firing performance of a paintball marker, especially when trying to maximize the Rate of Fire (ROF). We'll look at how both the loader and marker play a role, how performance can be measured, and what players can do to get the most out of their setup.

WHAT ACTUALLY MATTER WHEN TRYING TO SHOOT FAST?

Shooting fast isn’t just about the loader or the gun alone — it’s about how well they work together. When a paintball gun fires, the bolt cycles forward to shoot the ball and then moves back to load the next one. The maximum achievable ROF depends on two key factors:

How long it takes the bolt to complete a full cycle (forward and back)
How long the loader takes to push the next ball into the breech after the bolt clears it

The animation below shows a typical cycle of a paintball marker. It clearly illustrates these two timing elements. Key point: paintballs aren’t fed in a continuous stream — the stack of balls starts and stops with every shot. Both bolt cycle time and feed time are equally important.

WHY DROP TESTS DON'T MATTER?

A common but misleading way to evaluate a loader is the "drop test" — letting it feed balls into a container. This test is almost meaningless for two reasons:

Most modern loaders are programmed to maintain stack tension, which doesn’t happen in a drop test. Without tension, the software doesn’t operate as intended.
Actual feeding happens in short bursts (start/stop cycles), not a continuous stream. A drop test can’t replicate this behavior.

Conclusion: A drop test does not reflect how fast or reliably a loader feeds during real gameplay.

UNDERSTANDING FEED TIME

The critical moment is when the bolt clears the breech and the next paintball starts being pushed down — this is your “Feed Time”. It ends when the paintball is fully seated and ready to fire.

Let’s quickly review some basic math. If you divide one second into 1000 parts, each is called a millisecond (ms). To shoot 20 balls per second (20 BPS), each full cycle (bolt + feed + delay) must complete in 50ms. 1000 ÷ 20 = 50ms

In the animation example, we assume a 50ms cycle representing 20 BPS. The times shown are typical for a high-performance setup — a force-fed loader paired with a fast-cycling gun.

Bolt cycle time: ~20ms
Loader feed time: ~25ms
Eye delay (from paint detection to bolt firing): ~5ms (varies by marker)

Total: 20 + 25 + 5 = 50ms → 20 BPS

MARKETING ROF / BPS

If actual ROF depends on both marker and loader, why do loaders list a BPS rating?

There’s no universal standard but many manufacturers take the fastest peak feed time in milliseconds and calculate how many balls could be fed if the marker had zero cycle time.

Example: If the loader feeds in 25ms: 1000 ÷ 25 = 40 BPS

At CRBN, we prefer to list the peak feed time in milliseconds, as this is the true indicator of loader performance. However, as you’ve seen, that doesn’t mean your marker can shoot at that speed — the bolt still needs time to cycle.

PEAK ROF VS SUSTAINED STRINGS

Another challenge is measuring consistency during longer shot strings. Most loaders rely on gravity to feed paintballs into the tray before force-feeding them. Over time, the bottleneck becomes the tray filling, not the feeding mechanism itself.

To measure consistency, we shoot a 10-ball string with the loader roughly 50% full and measure the time between each shot. A useful metric is the standard deviation — it shows how much variation there is from shot to shot. On the DRV Loader this standard deviation is typically in the 2.5ms range which compared to other loaders is an excellent figure. Many loaders are closer to 10ms.

Note: Paint quality plays a role. Hard, round paint feeds better than soft or dimpled paint.

HOW TO TEST YOUR SETUP'S TRUE CAPABILITIES

To test the actual ROF your setup can handle:

Set your marker to Full Auto
Set the ROF cap (with eyes off) to a starting point that for example 14 BPS.
Turn off the eyes.
Fire 5–10 ball strings. If there are no chops or misfeeds, the setup is keeping up.
Gradually increase the ROF until you get chops or skips.
The highest ROF you can achieve without errors is the maximum practical ROF for your setup.

You may notice the marker display shows a higher peak ROF for a single shot — that’s accurate, but only reflects a single shot, not sustained fire.

HOW TO INCREASE THE ROF?

You have two options:

Improve loader speed
With the CRBN DRV, you can increase the force setting. Paired with high-quality paint, this can improve performance. However, soft paint may compress without feeding any faster.
Tune your marker to cycle faster
Adjust dwell, bolt speed, and other tuning options depending on your marker model.

CONCLUSION

Maximizing your paintball marker’s rate of fire isn’t about just having a fast gun or a high-end loader — it’s about understanding how both components work together in real-world conditions. The cycle time of the marker, the feed time of the loader, and even the delay between the eyes detecting a ball and the bolt firing all contribute to your actual performance.

Drop tests and peak BPS numbers don’t tell the full story. If you want to shoot faster and more consistently, focus on real testing, fine-tune your gear, and use quality paint.

At CRBN, we’re committed to helping players go beyond the marketing claims and truly understand what drives performance on the field.