Paintball Gun is No Toy

[Beemer]

Well at least


the Army's Ultimate Paintball Gun is No Toy. But it is made by the toymakers Lund & Company.

Lund also says that the VVWS should be lower in cost than the older weapon. Lund & Company are toymakers after all, and used to building products to a tighter price specification than military suppliers. The VVWS is certainly not a toy. But if its cheap enough, the technology may well be featured in recreational products, like paintball guns, in the years to come.

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/02/armys-ultimate.html

[Paintslinger99]

didnt tom kaye design that thing?

[michbich]

It says it's the FN303 on 'roids. Hope someone is getting royalties somewhere! Just saying

[Beemer]

The FN303 "paintball gun on steroids" (pictured)

You read it wrong.

[deathbypaint1213]

didnt tom kaye design that thing?

Yes, Tom Kaye helped design the FN303. The valve design of the FN303 is almost the same as a mags.

[Engus]

the only thing different between the fn303 and a normal pb gun is the velocity. Its designed for a higher velocity and heavier rounds. Manike said he was shooting First Strike rounds thru his fn303, but its like 350-400 fps

[hitech]

the only thing different between the fn303 and a normal pb gun is the velocity. Its designed for a higher velocity and heavier rounds.

Actually, the FN303 is designed to fire the heavier (8 gram vrs 3 gram) at the same (300 fps)/

[Smoothice]

Wow.

Sounds like the ION of riot control weapons.

Cheaper, better air consumption, lighter.

Wonder if Smart Parts is linked to Lund & Company?

[Engus]

Actually, the FN303 is designed to fire the heavier (8 gram vrs 3 gram) at the same (300 fps)/

Ok, so Im partially wrong, but when a 3g projectile is used in the fn303 the fps is 350+

[Rudz]

lighter, more efficient, and adjustable velocities with range finder? they didnt specify what they ould use as a propelant, propane? maybe? 500 rounds per tank, how large is the tank? sounds good if the tank is the size of a 13 or 22 ci tank tank.

the range finder sounds cool too, so the weapon changes velocties at variating distances. hmm. i bet that would be something to see. effective range of 150 meters? 492.12 ft!

[Thotograph]

If I read that article correctly they are going to use water(?) for fuel. Yea I wonder about the tank size too. It's not fair to compare the two if the VVWS has a massive 114ci type tank on a remote or whatever. For the FN to get that many rounds on that small a tank thats pretty impressive. IIRC the FN uses a much higher pressure for firing than a mag does. I would think there'd be a way to revise the FN's design to include on the fly velocity adjustment. My guess is that option was left out for redundancy.

In all honesty I'm kinda bummed to read that some massive firm like lund is getting this contract and not a member of the pball industry like PTP, AGD, or even say Tiberius Arms. I'm not in the military but I know for any member who is also a pball player (magger)... they have to get a kick out of wielding something else TK has designed. The fact that they are using combustion rather than expansion means the less lethal weapon systems are migrating away from paintball based platforms. Yet it seems the parallels between our equipment and less lethal launchers will continue to be drawn even if they are soon to have less and less in common.

I doubt the pb industry would adopt a combustion based propulsion method. Sounds like more of a liability than its worth. I know there's the bar-b-que blaster thing by Tippman but seriously who in their right mind shoots one of those

[Enemy]

they didnt specify what they ould use as a propelant, propane? maybe? 500 rounds per tank, how large is the tank? sounds good if the tank is the size of a 13 or 22 ci tank tank

it said it was probably a water to hydrogen conversion then using the hydrogen as the propellant.. sounds really cool and if that technology can be cheapened it will definitely find its way to paintball. But I dont know how they can do that as the automakers are still struggling with a portable version to put into cars and that can weigh alot more than a handheld system.

[Rudz]

also there was that design that was floating around a ways back "e-volt?" that used an electric charge to fire the balls that were held in the stock, or something like that, im too lazy to search for it.

i also would have liked to see tippman, ptp, agd or tib pick up the contract for this, would have been nice, but the super tight tolerances from a toy company would be better...