What Happened to Tippmans Propane Gun?

[LegumeOfTerror]

now thats just plain mean...

also, i would think youd get more than one battery and swap em. that is, if they arnt terribly expensive. i always thought of dewalt power drill batteries when i read about it.

[BigEvil]

I have not heard anything about it in a while, anyone have an update?

AGD

I think people bought these just out of curiosity more than anything. Everyone wanted to see how they worked.

RIght now they are just oddities. It will take some doing to really improve the technology to the point were it can be applied to a modern-style paintball gun. (High ROF, Electro-controled, ect)

Not sure if anyone considered this, but the use of propane as a power source might make the govt take a closer look and classify them as actualy firearms, since combustion is used to propel the paintball.

[LegumeOfTerror]

im pretty sure combustion is used to push a piston that compresses air, and air is still used to fire the paintball. so i guess kinda indirectly uses combustables propel it?

[Jaan]

My friend has a C3 that he plays with at Fox 4 in Upton MA. They never gave him any guff about it as long as he could chrony. He's bringing it to their all pump game on Sept. 30th. I might borrow it for a game to see how well it handles. I also know that PW Paintball in Plainville MA sells them, although I'm not sure how many he's sold.

[MoeMag]

Havent sold 1 in 4 months. Thats saying alot out of AZ's biggest store.

[Doc Nickel]

As I've said before, the C3 was an answer to an unasked question. It has no real purpose, fills no real need, sates no real demand.

Yes, it's interesting, and possibly even groundbreaking technology, but truth be told, as it is, the C3 is pointless.

Pump, in general, is now a small niche market. Yes, it's still popular, even growing again in some places, but SP still sells fifty Ions to every Phantom that gets sold. And I'd bet about five M98s sell for every Ion.

Worse, it's a direct feed gun- most pumps sold these days are Stock Class, or at least can be quickly and easily configured as such. The C3 can't.

Third, the C3 is not a tiny gun. Heck, it'd be huge even if it were a semiauto. The trend these days is smaller, lighter, and more compact; windowed milling, 45 ci "peanut" tanks, and so on. You'd have a hard time selling a gun the size of the C3, even if it were a fast electro.

And last, as interesting as the propane technology is, it's almost entirely unnecessary.

Fifty-Kay out of a tank is way cool, sure, but so what? Any town large enough to have a soda fountain has access to CO2, and it's a rare place that doesn't have some access to HPA or compressed nitrogen. The number of places that might need to use propane instead of either HPA or CO2, while certainly not zero, is still pretty small.

To say nothing of having that sort of efficiency on a pump. The vast majority of pump players won't go through fifty thousand shots over the lifetime of the gun. Most semiauto users that don't go through that much in a year- that's twenty five cases!

It's like having a turbocharged V-12 on a Rascal scooter. It's interesting, but pretty much useless.

Now, that technology/efficiency would be far more useful in a semiauto, of course, except that I kind of doubt we'll see that, considering how the C3 already has a heat issue at "just" four shots per second. Combusting propane produces both heat (naturally) and water vapor, neither of which are kind to a paintball.

The faster you shoot and the more you shoot, the worse both issues get. So I suspect the technology is really not workable for anything but a pump, and at the moment a pump like that really isn't marketable.

Doc.

[iambored]

If you want to hear someones self-imposed burns about the c3 listen to this

and I quote (It is from some store review or pbnation or somethin):

The only reason I bought this piece of junk was for my companies party. You can't even shoot fast. I shot this guy smoken a cigerrette and THE PIECE OF JUNK BLEW UP! Now I've got 2nd degree burns on my hands

Now I figure that it is a pump so no it ain't gonna have +20bps
If you have goggles on you cannot smoke
And if you so close that the propaine doesn't diffuse through the air you are TO CLOSE
And the says he has experience I think

[dahoeb]

that guy sounds like he doesn't know what hes talking about. he bought a pump, and is complaining that "it doesn't even shoot fast". i just quit reading after that.

[eNder159]

As I've said before, the C3 was an answer to an unasked question. It has no real purpose, fills no real need, sates no real demand.

Yes, it's interesting, and possibly even groundbreaking technology, but truth be told, as it is, the C3 is pointless.

Pump, in general, is now a small niche market. Yes, it's still popular, even growing again in some places, but SP still sells fifty Ions to every Phantom that gets sold. And I'd bet about five M98s sell for every Ion.

Worse, it's a direct feed gun- most pumps sold these days are Stock Class, or at least can be quickly and easily configured as such. The C3 can't.

Third, the C3 is not a tiny gun. Heck, it'd be huge even if it were a semiauto. The trend these days is smaller, lighter, and more compact; windowed milling, 45 ci "peanut" tanks, and so on. You'd have a hard time selling a gun the size of the C3, even if it were a fast electro.

And last, as interesting as the propane technology is, it's almost entirely unnecessary.

Fifty-Kay out of a tank is way cool, sure, but so what? Any town large enough to have a soda fountain has access to CO2, and it's a rare place that doesn't have some access to HPA or compressed nitrogen. The number of places that might need to use propane instead of either HPA or CO2, while certainly not zero, is still pretty small.

To say nothing of having that sort of efficiency on a pump. The vast majority of pump players won't go through fifty thousand shots over the lifetime of the gun. Most semiauto users that don't go through that much in a year- that's twenty five cases!

It's like having a turbocharged V-12 on a Rascal scooter. It's interesting, but pretty much useless.

Now, that technology/efficiency would be far more useful in a semiauto, of course, except that I kind of doubt we'll see that, considering how the C3 already has a heat issue at "just" four shots per second. Combusting propane produces both heat (naturally) and water vapor, neither of which are kind to a paintball.

The faster you shoot and the more you shoot, the worse both issues get. So I suspect the technology is really not workable for anything but a pump, and at the moment a pump like that really isn't marketable.

Doc.

/endThread

[SCpoloRicker]

/endThread

While Doc certainly is a valid opinion, I disagree. Specifically, due to the scenario marketplace.

[Arstron]

If somone can make a semi auto that can run off of these propane tanks, I could see it taking off.

http://blbikeshop.com/itemdetails.cfm?catalogId=39&id=5348

[Doc Nickel]

While Doc certainly is a valid opinion, I disagree. Specifically, due to the scenario marketplace.

-A scenario marketplace which has been ignoring the gun in droves.

Scenario games and players are based more around "lookalike" markers and quasi-roleplaying, than the C3's single benefit of a long-lasting tank. In the scenario market, too, semiautos are the rule, pumps the rather rare exception.

In any case, my opinion is irrelevant- the market, the buyers, have already spoken. There is no demand for the gun, and it is not selling.

Now, if Tippmann can solve the heat and moisture issues, make it work as a relatively fast semiauto (minimum of 8BPS, 12 would be better from a a marketing standpoint) and stuff it into a package at least half the size of the current gun, they'd have something.

They may be able to do the latter two, but the heat and moisture are inherent properties of the propellant, and may not be solvable.

Doc.

[BigEvil]

They may be able to do the latter two, but the heat and moisture are inherent properties of the propellant, and may not be solvable.

Doc.

QFT - next thing they will have a semi-auto with a water jacket on it.

[craltal]

-A scenario marketplace which has been ignoring the gun in droves.

Scenario games and players are based more around "lookalike" markers and quasi-roleplaying, than the C3's single benefit of a long-lasting tank. In the scenario market, too, semiautos are the rule, pumps the rather rare exception.

In any case, my opinion is irrelevant- the market, the buyers, have already spoken. There is no demand for the gun, and it is not selling.

Now, if Tippmann can solve the heat and moisture issues, make it work as a relatively fast semiauto (minimum of 8BPS, 12 would be better from a a marketing standpoint) and stuff it into a package at least half the size of the current gun, they'd have something.

They may be able to do the latter two, but the heat and moisture are inherent properties of the propellant, and may not be solvable.

Doc.

i agree with you that the "scenario marketplace" has spoken and ignored this gun and they usually LOVE tippmann guns. the only positive thing i can see would be turning around after a day of play, taking the tank off your gun and firing up the grill for dinner.

[Doc Nickel]

QFT - next thing they will have a semi-auto with a water jacket on it.

-Nope. That would cause the water vapor to condense into droplets on the inside of the barrel.

That's why the C3 has that funky plastic/carbon-fiber barrel; it doesn't transfer heat as well as aluminum or stainless, and so minimizes condensation.

That's also, I believe, why the gun didn't come with Tippman/A5 or 'Cocker threading- so players wouldn't/can't use a metal barrel.

Doc.