When Your Paint Stinks

It's Saturday morning and you roll out of bed, throw your gear in the car, and make it to your favorite field just in time for the first game of the day. Still hurrying, you screw in your tank, pop your hopper on your gun, and then grab a bag of paint from your box. As you rip it opened you are rewarded with a smell somewhere between that of moldy bread and an oily rag. You know the smell, but you may not know what it means.

Most paint will smell when it gets old, but some smelly paint is still good to shoot. Paint can smell strongly because of a cracked ball in the bag (whether or not it has spilled), from some small residue left over from the manufacturing process or because it has been left in the sun and heated up while some brands of paint always have a pungent odor. But, with this smelly warning, it's time to find out if your paint is getting too old.
_{(Photo © 2007 David Muhlestein licensed to About.com, Inc.)}