Patent ID: 7243645

Claim:
A combination paintball gun and paintball loader including a storage hopper for storing a supply of paintballs, the combination comprising: a loader neck formed on the paintball loader for supplying paintballs from the storage hopper; a feed tube formed on the paintball gun for receiving paintballs from the paintball loader; and, a connector portion formed on one of the loader neck and the feed tube, the connector portion having an inner surface, the inner surface of the connector portion having an inner diameter greater than the outer diameter of an outer surface of the other of the loader neck and the feed tube such that the connector portion is configured to selectively receive the other of the loader neck and the feed tube, the connector portion having a plurality of apertures and at least one elastic member around the connector portion wherein the gripping force of the elastic member against the received neck or tube is maximized by sizing the plurality of apertures such that the entire thickness of the at least one elastic member resides inside the internal diameter of the connector portion to frictionally engage the received neck or tube.