Laser Trigger(LTD) released...

[dahoeb]

"honestly, how often do you see a damn piece of shell or something stuck to the side of your trigger???? tell me that"

actually i see that quite a bit. and if you have a physical trigger, the debris would have to work its way around the outside of the trigger, into the inside, and then behind the trigger to really do anything weird. thats is a less likely of happening than a little dirt or something falling into the little laser holes. just imagine if your diving into a bunker on a sandy or dusty field. dirt getting in there is possible.

[billmi]

No, in an interview with Chuck on WARPIG, he said it was completely legal if set up correctly, kind of like RT's I guess...........

Actually that was an interview with Dave Zinkham, the NPPL scrutineer. In the same show, Chuch talked about the league's future and sanctioning of the IAO.

As for safety....

A trigger guard is going to provide the same protection to an optical trigger as to a mechanical trigger. A purely optical trigger would provide additional safety, in that it can not possible be set off by shock from the paintgun being dropped or impacted, or be adjusted to a point where physical bounce causes a runaway trigger. I would argue that a purely optical trigger would be safer than an electromechanical, or optomechanical trigger.

As for mechanical triggers breaking a beam...
Been done on both the E-Blade and the Angel.

As for purely optical triggers as described, I know of at least one company that's done it in prototype form, and filed a provisional patent in the 1990s, don't know if they completed the patent process on it or not.

As for tournament legality...
Rules will adapt to technology - if there is a demand with enough pull, wording will get changed to allow it (remember when IAO and NPPL dropped the gravity feed requirement purely to allow the Warp Feed?) With current rule wording, I would see problems with requirements for the application and release of force on the trigger, as well as requirements (PSP) that the trigger can only be actuated from a pull that is in a plane parallel to the barrel (can't be triggered by pushing in fron the side.) Of course the PSP 5 man rules say teams get 8 games in the prelims and they haven't done that for all the divisions this season, so you may well see it allowed if the refs consider it to follow the spirit of the rules.

[billmi]

What happens when some peice of shell/debrie flies through the trigger gaurd while playing.

The same thing that happens when a big chunk of shell hits a really sensitive electro-mechanical trigger - the gun will shoot.

[Lohman446]

NPPL rules call for physical movement and specify that the movement of a switch alone is not a trigger pull

[WARPED1]

Actually that was an interview with Dave Zinkham, the NPPL scrutineer. In the same show, Chuch talked about the league's future and sanctioning of the IAO.

Ohhhhhhhhhh, so I got confuzzled. Me like PigTV........................

[TDonovan]

I like the idea of using laser/eyes to shoot a gun, but I do not like this particular idea.

What I would want to see is a trigger with a nice magnetically adjustable pull with a beam that you break to fire the gun. That way you have a legal trigger but avoid the microswitch. I'm not sure how much better it would be in comparison, but I think it'd be interesting to use something other than a microswitch.

[ShaftyMcGee]

umm didnt smart parts patent this? seriously though, i thought they did.

[Lohman446]

umm didnt smart parts pantent this? seriously though, i thought they did.

They patented a touch trigger - basically a button you pushed rather than a trigger

[WARPED1]

I hope they come out with an Ion version.