The advantage of the bladder tank is that the final couple of shots still get close to the same range as the first. This is not the case with regular hard tanks.
Draconis: The regulator should prevent the inconsistency, more or less, I thought?
The regulator will only make the first few shots consistent. As soon as your tank pressure drops below the regulated pressure, you're going to have weak shots. The advantage of having a bladder is that you have variable volume but more consistent pressure. Rigid tanks are the opposite, rigid volume but variable pressure. Our blasters are pressure driven, so a bladder would be better in my opinion.
With a rigid tank, you're going to need to pressurize it much higher than you would with a bladder, in order to get the same number of shots. This high over pressure is going to require a regulator to make the first few shots consistent. With a bladder, you can adjust pressure somewhat by banding it, but you don't need a regulator because the pressure will be much lower.
I have a magstrike bladder hooked up to an AT2K tank through the magstrike valve (not totally sure what it's called). I can pressurize the bladder, then press the magstrike valve which fills the tank. Then fire, and press the magstrike valve again which refills it. Fairly basic, but I'm sure you can rig something up with a back pressure tank or other pieces so you're not pressing a button after firin