First strike capable automag

[GoatBoy]

[Freedy500]

Just when I think im "custom" or "cool" or "special" you show me up and put me in my place.

That is a beautiful build!

[BTAutoMag]

Awesome

[rukh013]

so nice

[PBLife]

Very cool. Love the concept. Have you test fired it yet?

[need4reebs]

sa weet!!!!!!!!!!

[knownothingmags]

have you seen any possibility of a bigger drum? more like a tommy gun size?

ill see if I can get our printer up and up again.

[OPBN]

Neat concept but as is seems pretty impractical. Reloading time seems to be really high. Have you considered more of a "mag" concept?

[Patron God of Pirates]

I say worry about the practicality later. This is a proof of concept, and a pretty awesome one. I'm sure Goatboy already has a more efficient loading system in mind.

For some reason I would like to see this load like a cap gun. Pump players carry dozens of 10 round tubes. Maybe this could have a 6 round preloaded ring that the player could carry a whole bunch of?

Just musing.

[GoatBoy]

The design was sort of parameterized for # of chambers and bore diameter, with a few "that looks about right"isms thrown in. (Hence why I don’t have outright measurements.) I originally actually started with 5 chambers. So yeah, I could pop one out with x number of chambers, with x possibly being over 9000.

There are lots of variations of how to feed the paint (including a speed-loader like device from the back, a front-loader like on the DRV or that Krotary rifle, and even possibly a q-pod-like device), but in light of my current manufacturing level (level zero), and play style, I decided to stick with a simple, implementable design and just defer to manual dexterity. My reload time currently is dominated by rummaging around in an improperly sized dump pouch for the task. This is a fixable problem. I’m making one of those carriers like I saw on MCB, which I think will work great.

The capacity is a tradeoff against being able to continuously top up combined with low profile. I can literally reload while posted on someone, where I typically have all the time in the world to top up, and this gun I can top up one-handed. I can even top it up while moving.

Magazines are fine and all, but the problem is they require 2 hands to reload once you’ve run them dry. I haven’t seen a magazine based setup where you can reload with one hand. If you try to bring enough mags to not have to worry about it, chances are I will make it to the 50 before you do.

The closest to this is the DAM with a double-mag clip. You can change mags, and then an empty mag is available for reload right in front of you, allowing you to possibly reload, one handed, while posted on your opponents. It’s still not ideal though, and mid-mag changes on paintball guns are currently still a mess. And the DAM is too bulky for front player use. And it’s Not an Automag.

I actually played with the thing today. It took me 2 games to get used to it, but after that I found my rhythm. No problems except for me firing that 6th shot in the first game and getting the 7th shot in the chamber sideways, which I had to fix while in the snake.

[BTAutoMag]

Saw this on PBN

You can make FS rounds do a 90 degree turn, but you'd have to position the mag out the front since they like to make the turn with the noses of the rounds towards the curve...


However, the breach drop bolt of the phantom is NOT well suited for FS rounds. You'd be quite likely to snag on the skirt of the round above the one you are feeding. This is an issue with a lot of the new mag fed semi's, and they just have slightly too big of bolts.

Best to leave the dreams of First Strike sniper shots to the bore drop pumps.

[commander bond]

LUGER or MP18 ... you could have a tpx luger ...

[Grelvire]

have you seen any possibility of a bigger drum? more like a tommy gun size?

ill see if I can get our printer up and up again.

Tommy gun size one would be awesome...................... good job GoatBoy

[2xFast]

That is so awesome!

Any chance of open sourcing the files so others can print their own if you don't plan on making a run?

[GoatBoy]

Hi, I’m GoatBoy, and I’m addicted to FS rounds.





Ran around with FS rounds today. Also tested out some equipment; the FS pez dispensers were still a little tight so I need to loosen them up.

Also managed to break the ends off my impeller paddle, which looks like this:



I had been playing with a broken one without realizing so I was like… well, what happens when I break the rest of them off?

Well, the thing actually still feeds perfectly fine, but goes into free-spin (that’s what causes them to break in the first place) after the 5th shot instead of the 6th shot.

This was not surprising; I figured it was going to happen since the same problem exists with the q-loader impellers, except the plastic they use is even stronger than the photopolymer I used for this one. It’s really a pretty minor deal and there are a number of possible solutions.

Easiest solution is to make one out of metal (or just back it in metal or CF) and be done with it, but I’m batting .125 in getting metal parts made, so I’m going to beef it up a tad and give the nylon a try next.

I’ve also given some thought to releasing the design. What I’ve decided is that I’m waiting on an external trigger event (which I’m not going to divulge). If that trigger happens, I’ll release the source and you guys can take over the thing and do whatever you want.

[Nobody]

why not use an impeller from a Tippmann Cyclone kit? those are while 2 tiered can be found in metal.

[BTAutoMag]

or in a soft pliable version

[GoatBoy]

Oh geez why didn't I think of that.

I'll take a look at the part; I suspect it won't work because of different dimensions and different required part right in the middle, but that's a damn good idea.


Ehh, nope, those paddles are 5-shot and not 6, and they're not the right dimension.

Making 'em out of hard rubber would be fantastic though...

In light of that, maybe I'll 3D print a mold instead of the part itself and mold my own rubber parts...

[Drew_72]

I’ve also given some thought to releasing the design. What I’ve decided is that I’m waiting on an external trigger event (which I’m not going to divulge). If that trigger happens, I’ll release the source and you guys can take over the thing and do whatever you want.

Any updates? I really like the idea of a tight drum for first strikes on one side, small hopper of standard paint on the other. I'd imagine it should be easy to switch between the two with a twist lock.
What style of bolt are you using in your set up?

[GoatBoy]

Yeah, its on the way amidst my myriad side projects. I did a first pass cleanup of files (likely the only cleanup) , made manifest/descriptions and looked at distribution options. The files released will be the FS loader and mag2cocker adapter, in true source (OpenSCAD) form.

[GoatBoy]

Quick update on this... I set the project on the backburner to work on some other stuff, and quite frankly to wait for someone to do my work for me. And it turns out somebody in fact did happen to produce exactly what I was looking for.

I added a planetary gear set on the front of the loader to fix some of the nagging issues that I had on-field. Namely, the gearing allows:

1. Visual confirmation of prewind status, so I can know when I need to actually put more winds in. Not knowing the status seemed to lead to the majority of hijinx on the field.
2. Overdrive so that I don't literally have to wind the full rotations with my hand. It's about maybe a 4:1 ratio or so (actually less; possibly 6:1), so I only rotate the annulus gear less than 1/4 turn to get a full rotation of the output.
3. A rotation limiter to keep it from going into free-spin when empty. Since I now have visual indication and control of the winds, I can put exactly as many winds as I have rounds (more or less), so at the end when there are no more rounds, it will stop rotating. Like there will be a physical limiter installed.
4. Minimal increase in size.

So I retrofitted a v1 into a... v1.5. Note that it's not fully assembled so the bearing slips, but toward the end you get the idea of the overdrive.



Eventually the spring carrier (not shown) will be integrated with the planet carrier, and I need to fix a slight oversight with the annulus...