Just a thought... accuracy

[osiris]

Ok...

I've been busy coding up a programming language for one of my projects but in the back of my mind has been this idea.
I want to run it past the folks here because I don't have the time to persue it and it might have some value. So...

While I have not been following the thread of late, I've read much of it. My understanding is that rifled barrels do not improve accuracy because the paint ball has a fluid center. Reasonable enough, just try to spin an egg (not hard boiled) on it's end and watch what happens. Now try the same stunt with a hard boiled egg... Hmmm...

Now I know there is precious little water in a paint ball *BUT* if one adds gelatin to water, one gets something akin to an hard boiled egg.

Thus I ask the question, "Is there not some sort of stiffening agent, some gelatin, as it were, which could be added to the fill of a paint ball to eliminate the problem mentioned above." Maybe even a rethinking of the ingredients of a paint ball?" I believe that we have established a projectile with the same (or nearly the same) specifice gravity as what we now use but which has a solid middle is more accurate, right?

We do not seem to see any vendors interested in other shapes, so why not interest the paint ball vendors in the possiblity of a semi-solid fill? Would this not improve accuracy in rifled barrels?

-m-

[Crimson_Turkey]

If you could get the RPM's to 6000 it would work.

A semi-solid fill would create the problem of pain though. The fluid inside does spin though, the flatline barrel proved this.

I did some tests with pills and airsoft paintballs. a pill shape shot through a rifled barrel is more accurate than a sphere. MUCH more, better range too. A drum feed would work for today's spray/pray habits too.

[Wat]

Its not just that the fill is liquid but that the paintball is a sphere. Unless properly weighted and shaped, most objects have a tendency to tumble in the highest drag possible manner. Rifling puts a spin along the axis of flight and creates a gyroscope like effect helping the projectile fly in the most aerodynamic orientation. It keeps footballs and bullets from wobbling or tumbling. But a paintball is ideally a sphere and there's no preferred orientation.

Now old muskets did fire lead balls and rifling did improve its accuracy. But the balls were soft metals and would be deformed when loaded and fired. They may have started off as spheres but they didn't leave the barrel as spheres and thus rifling helped.

[SLICEnDICE]

Ball spin

I think those hammerhead guys need to read the info posted here in deep blue. They claim that there rifled barels spin the ball and make it more accurete. I wish I had more time to talk to them at the IAO about it. It's all about the marketing.

[hitech]

The basic premise is off. Spinning a paintball at "low" RPMs does not affect its trajectory. Why? Because the paintball is being pulled around by vortex shedding. Read this to find out why. Warning, it is long.

[SnarlBuckle]

I've seen some thicker paint and it seems to work well with a flatline, but that was smooth shelled paint and I think it would be worth while to try some with a rough shell against some say RPS Premium paintballs or something else with a rough shell, but thin paint. They make paintballs with thick paitn so that people can't wipe it off as easily and it sticks to your clothes.

would the cylindrical shape of a hypothetical paintbullet hurt more or would the spin make the shell seperate and disperse the impact? now there's a question for Tom.