Paintball feeder

A paintball feeding apparatus comprising:

• a paintball reservoir;
• a housing mounted under the paintball reservoir and defining an inlet opening communicating with the paintball reservoir such that paintballs can move from the paintball reservoir though the inlet opening;
• and the housing defining an outlet opening at a front end thereof adapted to be connected to a paintball gun feed tube, and the housing defining a trough extending rear ward from the outlet opening;
• a right twist auger and a left twist auger rotatably mounted in the housing in a substantially parallel relationship to the trough such that pockets are formed between flights of each auger and above the trough, the pockets configured to receive and maintain a paintball in each pocket such that a line through centers of paintballs in the pockets is substantially parallel to a rotational axis of the augers and aligned with the outlet opening;
• a drive operative to rotate the right twist auger and the left twist auger in opposite directions such that a paintball in a pocket moves in a forward direction, and a drive control operative to activate the drive.

A method of feeding paintballs from a paintball reservoir into a paintball gun feed tube, the method comprising:

• mounting a housing under the paintball reservoir, the housing defining an inlet opening
• communicating with the paintball reservoir and the housing defining an outlet opening at a front end thereof connected to a paintball gun feed tube;
• rotatably mounting a right twist auger and a left twist auger in the housing in a substantially parallel relationship such that the pockets are formed between flights of each auger the pockets configured to receive and maintain a paintball in each pocket such that a line through centers of paintballs in the pockets is substantially parallel to a rotational axis of the auger and aligned with the outlet opening;
• depositing paintballs into the paintball reservoir such that paintballs move from the paintball reservoir though the inlet opening and into the pockets;
• rotating the right twist auger and the left twist auger in opposite directions such that a paintball in a pocket moves in a forward direction such that the augers dispense paintballs through the outlet opening into the paintball gun feed tube, and the augers form empty pockets under a rear end of the inlet opening such that paintballs move from the paintball reservoir into the empty pockets and are carried to the front end of the housing and dispensed through the outlet opening into the paintball gun feed tube.