First of all, ready Hermitt's post, he's hit pretty much everything.
Second, I've flown with about 1000 paintballs once before, about 4 years ago. No problems once I sweet talked the check in lass that they were perfectly harmless. But I still probaly shouldn't have done it
And one broke in a pod once I arrived in my destination
Rubbish, bad idea, and against most airlines regulations, so don't do it. (I never did it again, honest
)
3rd.
My recommondations for taking your hard parts:
I've flown a ton of airlines over the last 6 years with all my gear, both to mainland Europe and the States. There's only a few simples steps you need to take, NO MATTER WHAT AIRLINE YOU FLY WITH.
1. Dissasemble your kit as much as possible in your bag and pack securely in check in luggage. ie. remove bottle from gun, barrel from gun, hopper from gun, battery from gun, and even the HPR if you want.
2. Remove the preset reg/maxflo/adjustable reg from you bottle leaving the bottle free on it's own so you can see inside it and pack securely in your check in luggage.
3. (Optional) Chuck a copy of PGI on the top of your check in luggage so it's the first thing someone would see if the security chaps decide to check it.
4. KEEP YOUR TRAP SHUT WHEN CHECKING IN. Like it has been said, the person checking you in doesn't want the hassle, you don't want the hassle, and there's absolutely no need for the issue to arrise if all your carrying is standard paintball equipment dissasembled to the level stated. Everything is perfectly safe and legal so just be quiet, no matter how excited you are to tell someone your on the way to compete in an International Paintball Tournament even though they really don't care
Works for me anyway.