A paintball assembly capable of retaining a paintball in a loading chamber using a paintball catcher is disclosed. The paintball assembly includes a loading chamber, a detent, and a bolt. The loading chamber is coupled to a loading port to receive paintballs. In one embodiment, the detent includes a paintball catcher capable of catching the paintball as it is loaded into the loading chamber. In one example, the paintball catcher is a flexible paintball catcher extending into the loading chamber and is able to catch the paintball and hold it in a predefined position. When a trigger is pulled, the bolt pushes the paintball into a firing chamber while the paintball catcher releases the paintball.