OFFLINE

Yeah, the title is odd, but I'm in the process of forming a paintball club at my school! Surprisingly, administration doesn't have much of a problem with it, it's more the funding. Besides fund raisers, anyone have any good suggestions so we can get more people playing for less $?

OFFLINE

Get gear used, the site Mcarterbrown can usually help you out, post a WTB there and you can typically get very fast responses.  

Also check local paintball shops, explain what you are doing and see if they are willing to give your group discounts.  I know of a site that sells things for the most part really cheap and has a flat $5 shipping charge regardless of what you buy:

http://www.evpaintball.com/servlet/StoreFront

Best bet for getting stuff from them is calling them as their site is not up too date.  The store they do their online sales is my local store any they are great, the guy Morgan there is excellent in helping people out.

In terms of saving $$$ for propellant, I recommend getting a bunch of cheap Co2 tanks and renting a 50lb Co2 tank with siphon (rent is about $5 a month and $30 per fill).  With a 50lb bulk Co2 tank, a fill station, a scale, and a little training, you can fill your own Co2 tanks and save a lot of $$$.  Average price I have seen for filling Co2 tanks at stores is $.25 an oz, at that price, the 50lb tank (probably 40lbs usable Co2 due to filling process) that's $160 of Co2 at the store price that you could get for about $30 filling yourself.  That kind of savings really adds up over time.

One big thing to have especially if your not going to be playing a an actual field is having a chronograph on hand and even if you will be playing at actual fields, a chrono is still a good piece of equipment to have on hand.

For the most part, all you will need for maintenance is basic tools, a full out roll out kit of hex wrenches can be had to for a few dollars at harbor freight on sale, a bit bottle of air tool oil can lube markers for a long time and its only a few dollars.

OFFLINE

Thanks for that. I never would've thought about doing that with Co2 I'll suggest it at the next meeting.