How to, and should we Determine ROF. (or how to brag.. with the truth)
Rate of fire is determined like any rate. In our case it's number of balls shot over a given duration of time. It's an instantanious measurement.
Given that shooting a paintball gun is a wave action, not a speed, we need to have at least 2 events to determine it's rate.
Now, there are severaly ways we can determine rof. Most of them need a comptuer to be accurate. But here is a way or 3 you can determine your average rate of fire.
My house method, crafted to reduce the reported rate of fire:
Take 80 balls. Put them in the hopper. Stand a LONG ways back from the target. Have a friend, AT the target with a stopwatch. They start timing when the first ball hits, and stops timing when the gun fires it's first dry shot.
Another way you can determine rate of fire is by controling the other variable. Instead of controling the number of balls you can control the time you're allowed to fire. Again start with 80 balls. And remember, you will need to count them when you're done.
have you friend tell you go, and time for 6 secconds. Take 80 minus the number of balls in the gun. (in a cocker add one for the one in the breach) and then divide that number by 6 to get your rate of fire.
Now, electronic rof meters. Like those on the angel, or comptuer programs, or even when you use a sound clip and determine the shortest space between spikes, will all read higher than the methods I described.
Now this does not mean they are wrong. their answer is JUST as valid. And is actually more accurate if your'e looking for peak rof. Average ROF is what I'd use for bragging rights. That's a number you're sure you're able to hit. And if someone brings out something with an electronic rof meter you can really wow them by shooting faster than you claim.
what would be nice is to have a standard. Like... fastest string of 5 shtos to determine what your "official" rate of fire is. Versus the 2 shot method you see on something like an angel. 5 shots is much more real world, without having to account for muscle fatigue.
I'm sorry about this post's subject meandering a bit, but it seemed an apropreate time to post something on the subject of determining rate of fire given the recent threads discussing how fast people can shoot.
