Re-thinking the scope.

[Patron God of Pirates]

For reasons we all know scopes are rather impractical in paintball. If you did fancy a scope most modern markers place the feed neck right where the scope would go. When head checking in paintball we don't need to view a pinpoint spot which is likely out of breaking range, we need to take in as much information as possible as quickly as possible.

I was watching some video playback from my head mounted Go-Pro last and realized that the hopper is often right in the way. Next year I'll be barrel mounting. But it got me thinking; wouldn't it be great if I could mount the LCD BacPac (which I never use for battery life reasons) on the back of my HALO. Which got me thinking further, wouldn't it be great if I had a force feed hopper built to this purpose.

So I blew apart an old Nikon digital camera that I had. My idea was to mount the camera section to the front of the HALO, the LCD on the back, and the controls on the thumb side of a grip frame. Well it didn't work. The printed ribbon cable was to short to make the run(s). It looked like pretty custom stuff and I was unable to find market available alternatives (but I didn't look very hard).

That said, I still think the idea is worth exploring. The GoPro method is actually the easiest because the BacPac hooks up via mini USB. But I think a built to purpose camera/hopper would be the better (less clunky) solution. It would fill the roles of scope, action camera, and force feed loader all in one.

/RamblingIdeaOnAOBecauseEveryOnceAndAWhileSomebodyT akesTheBallAndRunsWithIt

[cockerpunk]

wasn't penokio or someone already designing a loader with a go-pro in front? or was it machine ....

i seem to remember this being kicked around by a loader company.

[GoatBoy]

There's no real reason for a "scope" to be on the top of the gun. It kind of makes sense for real firearms, and little-to-no sense for paintball guns.

Trying to replicate a real-gun setup with paintball gun ballistics yields hilarious consequences, like literally stacking 3 rails on top of your gun just to account for drop.

[Frizzle Fry]

Trying to replicate a real-gun setup with paintball gun ballistics yields hilarious consequences, like literally stacking 3 rails on top of your gun just to account for drop.

And that's with FirstStrikes.

[Patron God of Pirates]

There's no real reason for a "scope" to be on the top of the gun. It kind of makes sense for real firearms, and little-to-no sense for paintball guns.

Trying to replicate a real-gun setup with paintball gun ballistics yields hilarious consequences, like literally stacking 3 rails on top of your gun just to account for drop.

Agreed. This is why I think a camera equipped with digital zoom and a good sized LCD display makes more sense. It would not really serve the targeting function of a scope, but rather be a scouting tool that doubled as an action cam.