So Tom Re: Fn303

[Carbon]

did you R&D/design it in conjuction with FN? Or did FN buy the rights to the basic design of the 303 and then applied it to the current working model?

futhermore, what trials and requirements did it have to meet, besides the obvious reliability and ease of use.

[felony]

good post. i am interested as well.

oh, and did the government come to you or did you bring a product to them?

just wondering

dan

[AGD]

FN had nothing to do with the development. We brought it mechanically finished to them and they licensed it from us. They did the plastic housing and the final rework of the chassis and exterior valve.

Originally we were the only group chosen out of about 100 entrants to receive development funding directly from the military. We went through several years of the military testing our stuff and they raised the bar every time. They really wanted something that was as accurate as an M16 at 100 yrds. We had already invested the time (no profit they only paid expenses) so we kept coming back and every time we met their specs.

We were almost ready to go when the General that was behind us was shot in the head by his wife. No general means nothing happens in the military and the project languished. FN came to see a demo we did for the National Guard and thats how it started.

We thought this project was going to take 6 months, it took years and cost me my place in consumer paintball. We now know it took 16 years to get the M1 Garand into popular use in the military. It was a little faster at 15 years for the M16. If I knew that then, I would have skipped the whole thing.

My only consolation is that when my team competes on performance, we win, even against formidable military companies.


International Arms Dealer,

AGD

[Carbon]

International Arms Dealer, woot thnx tom

[ZSigErik]

greast post and thread. ::cheers::

[Blazingace]

That gives whole new meaning to the AO army. I wonder if we could make a tourney legal FN303. Screw rate of fire. One pepper ball is all it would take.

[Muzikman]

Just get it to shoot under 300 fps and it should would. I am trying to get my hands on another one to see if I can get it chornoed down. biggest issue is not the ROF, but the fact that you got 15 shots.

[Evil1]

Are the FN303s hard to get your hands on? How much does one run? Where could one be bought?

[Muzikman]

Yes, very hard to get your hands on one. The MSRP is $900 and as to where one can be purchased...dunno...I got luck with mine and the one Manike has.

[gc82000]

Can someone post a pic? I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks

[Muzikman]

http://www.pol-tec.de/fn303.htm Photos and info...

Some day I'll take some detailed photos. Maybe today...

[Wc Keep]

muzik bring it out to aone.

i would love to get one of those to hang up on the wall. hey tom i told you before my sister for an xmag, now ill take an fn303 for her instead.

[Miscue]

We thought this project was going to take 6 months, it took years and cost me my place in consumer paintball.

But it saves lives - at the cost of missing the paintball fad bus. It's a good trade-off.

Because Quality Makes a Difference.

[SCpoloRicker]

I'll preorder one!

/sorry

Really interesting read. I knew that AGD had been developing equipment for the military, cause I remember my original video...

Was the financial commitment (only paid expenses) because of an expectation for a large contract? Also, how/why did FN pick up the license if AGD's R&D commitment was so high?

Also, /ref: Warpig's loader test with markers thread from a while ago

I took that to read that given a machine pulling the trigger, AIR cycles as fast or faster than any marker. Therefore, higher ROF on electronic markers is the result of added shots via software...

Back to point: It may be better to take pride in your work than to hope for recognition.

Keep up the great work AGD

[aut911]

any idea where I could et some of the finned back halves of the paintballs? I feel like building my own, sniper weapon. It would be pretty cool to have a pump action underneath your normal gun to take out the "out of range" opponents.

I have made my own fins for paintballs and they do work. Just not very well. Aluminum tape work pretty well, but it hardly ever breaks by the time it hits the person or, tree (practice/ R/D).


aut

[splatterbrain]

But it saves lives - at the cost of missing the paintball fad bus. It's a good trade-off.

Because Quality Makes a Difference.
you couldn't have put that better.

[Muzikman]

any idea where I could et some of the finned back halves of the paintballs? I feel like building my own, sniper weapon. It would be pretty cool to have a pump action underneath your normal gun to take out the "out of range" opponents.

I have made my own fins for paintballs and they do work. Just not very well. Aluminum tape work pretty well, but it hardly ever breaks by the time it hits the person or, tree (practice/ R/D).


aut


Problem is that with the light wait paintballs, fins do nothing. The projectile needs to weight quite a bit. There was a thread about this a few months back.

Also, those projectiles are not "paintballs" and that back half just doesn't attach to a ball, it's a plastic projectile where the fins are part of the projectile.

[JimmyBeam]

http://www.pol-tec.de/fushia.jpg

ouch!!!!

would these work from a normal marker?

[Muzikman]

They would, but being almost 3 times the weight of a normal paintball you would have to turn the velocity up REALLY high. Also, you can't seem to buy them. I have been trying for about 6 months now. I really wanna try out my FN303, but do not want to waste the 5 rounds I have.

[JimmyBeam]

i wonder if some kind of rifling, or fins, or whatever you call it, could be added onto a normal paintball. not for everyday play, but just for.....i dunno curiosity's sake

[aut911]

Its too bad it wouldn't work. the whole lightness of paintballs and all.

aut