riflemen

[MINIMAG4LIFE]

As an avid bullet reloader, I've been playing with this idea in my head. Anyone who is familiar with modern munitions knows how bullets work. Why couldnt the same concept work with a paintball? Make a case for a paintball using the .45 ACP bullet as a refernce. Then using twelve gauge primers to launch the Paintball, possibly adding powder to the round to increase fps. By doing this actions of modern weapons could be cloned and modified to fire these rounds. Surely the cycle rate would greatly change, compared to a pnuematic marker. As well as making reloading faster and the gun lighter. You could link these rounds, like a machine gun. Make high capacity drum magazines, as well as 30 and 50 rnd bananna magazines. Of course they would be reloadable, so you would probably want a brass catcher, to catch spent rounds as they expell from the gun. For those worried about hot gasses burning the ball a small piece of fabric or flame resistant paper could act as a wadding. By using the right action and springs I believe you could make a paintball " firearm"

[FalconGuy016]

I think it would be impractical. It would probably be way, way to expensive. And the powder and primers adds a whole new level of saftey issues

[bjjb99]

This has been done, though the shells were plastic instead of brass. Here's a URL with a brief description of the marker:

http://www.paintball-guns.com/gunfaq.html

Click the one labeled "Model 85 (Para Ordanance)". I got to fire one back in the mid to late 1908s, and its accuracy was absolutely horrible. They were banned from most local fields because there was no way to adjust the velocity down from its 400-ish fps. Even if the velocity could be adjusted, it was notoriously inconsistent. Shot to shot velocity changes of +/- 30 fps were fairly common... no doubt a contributor to its accuracy "issues."

Back then, folks stuck with the SMG-60 if they wanted full-auto.

BJJB

[tat2dhillbilly]

simunition

check out the following data

http://www.snctec.com/about/simunition/simunition.asp

This is used by dod forces in counterterroism traing.

[Wat]

already is one

There is a chinese company that makes a replica of the colt m4. It fires 40ish caliber paintballs in brass or plastic cases loaded in a magazine.

I can't seem to find the link for one. Biggest problem is the odd paintball size and from the net i've heard it has questionable build quality.

[Coaster]

wow.. i think this is a great idea(compressed gas, not power). Even if it was not consistent back when it was created, how consistent were semi-auto paintball guns in the 1980s? About adjusting the velocity, that could be done a number of ways, one including a longer barrel..

[oldsoldier]

Like it was said, they use simunition, which is pretty much the same thing. The only problems with a paint round are distance and accuracy. Both of which are naturally inherent in regular firearms. For MOUT (or CQB, same thing, but we shoot EVERYONE in MOUT), it would work for room clearing, etc. The short distances. However, it is SOP to light up a house with machine guns from a distance, right before an assault. If they could get around these simple problems, I would much rather be shot with these, as opposed to using MILES gear.

[edweird]

although the cost issue if very high with this ... but in airsoft they use a sim 40MM grenade to hold up to 30 airsoft pellets behind basicly 8 to 10 miniature airsoft single shot chambers all triggered with a strike valve located in the primer hole

its costly but possible to adapt this for a smaller paintball, in say a 40 cal sized casing with recesed and rechargable valve in the primer hole, and im sure ya would be mad every time you couldnt track down the ejected dispensers (brass) that you paid so much for.

its impracticable but possible

[cris8762]

ah yes, one of my dad's friends works with the police in my area (he has done SWAT, narcotics, undercover, etc.) and he told me about how they practiced with simunition a lot, it worked well but it hurt like hell to get hit!

[pbpancho]

not to mention the fact that a primer or charge probably would not produce enough force to recock the gun, it would have to be a pump.

[MasterYoda]

The military uses a system like you are talking about. It may have been mentioned in the posts above, but I believe the round is a .38 cal paintball with a sabot. It utillizes the same weapon system, say a Berretta 92FS or a HK MP-5 A2. From what I have heard, one just has to change the barrel to one that is specially made for this particular round. Guns with a longer action probably require some kind of additional adapter similar to those used to convert the AR style rifles from .223 to .22LR.

[Hasty8]

A few points

There is already a few types of munitions like that which you propose, the most famous is called "Simunitions" (Sim from Simutaltion and Munition from Ammunition) The only problem with these is taht first off, they are used for tactical training and hurt like heck. These buggers truly do pack one heck of a whallop.

Second, by adding more powder to increase fps you also increase the pressure acting on that specific spot of the paintball. In order to deal with these you have two choices. LEssen the grain count of each round or increase the thinkness of the shell.

If you lessen the garin count you risk a lowering of overall distance and greatly reduced terminal object vwlocity and with a thicker shell you risk greater terminal object vlocity and increase weight.

Also, the gunpowder is substantially more expensive then HPA or even CO2 and gunpowder is a hassle to have to clean. Nowadays after a game I can just wipe down my marker and save it for next week unless it got truly grody, which would then require a full break down. With gunpowder you can expect to do a serious cleaning everytime you use it, even if it's just a few rounds.

Yet another point. Weight. Any metallic casing will invariably be substantially heavier then the standard gelatin capsule.

I remeber reading a while back, I believe in FaceFull that ADG was in the theory stages of a conical, fin stabilized paint"bullet" for LE and Military use. This would be the best of both worlds, using an air power supply and actual "clips".