This tank isn't mine. It's on loan from the vendor because I bought a hand pump, paid for it, then they sold the pump to someone else while I was waiting for the rifle to come in stock. Silly me thought paying for something would reserve the items on the list. As a compromise, the vendor decided to lend me the tank so I can use the rifle. I reluctantly accepted the tank but expressed my lack of knowledge in regards to tank ownership (as in 0 knowledge)
From reading above, it seems like all of the tanks no matter who it comes from has similar issues. I haven't checked the tank today, but when it arrived on my step the carrier placed it on it's side in the hot sun. I suspect, after reading the normalcy of this, that may have caused some of the issues. It has been sitting vertically in my closet since last night.
This is not a tank from CA. The tank was suppose to be full but when it when it showed up empty, wet and with the guage tilted as shown above. I wasn't sure if the package took a hit (no visible damage to the packaging at all) and caused the tank to lose pressure.
Vendor is sending a new valve assembly.... mostly because I think I can get the tank filled at a local paintball shop vs the dive shop that is 30 minutes away. As said above, I knew nothing about tanks and didn't even know that was an issue.