rof and accuracy

[Minimag4me]

i am doing a project for school and i need resorces for this question but there are none, if there are any reputitable people in paintball(like tom or someone who owns a field or store) that i can quote and use their reply for a rescorce

im putting this in deep blue because i need reputible people(like people that deep blue was origionally ment for)

the question is "does rate of fire affect accuracy?"

for example a benchmounted mag using varios different speed bursts(like 5 shotburst at 2 bps to 5 shot burst at 10 bps) will the different rof affect accuracy

[headcase]

You would be right, but he is talking about a stationary, mounted marker, so your not making adjustments when firing.

To answer the original question, it can...it all depends on what consistency can be acheived within the firing system. If all your paint is fresh and round with good bore fit, and your marker isn't moving, and assuming that the weather is favorable to this type of test, the only other factor is the velocity, and how constant it is. If you are firing +/- 1 over the chrono, it will be much more accurate than firing +/- 10, with everything else constant. So if there are restrictions in your air system, you starve the valve under rapid fire, which causes loss of velocity, which will cause shootdown and loss of accuracy.


Later
SSDD

[Minimag4me]

foo- the same # of paintballs are coming out of the gun from each burst, im talking about grouping accuracy not volume because the volume would be the same

headcase or anyone- do you know if more paint going through the barrel quicker(not like velocity wise but rof wise) will affect the shot to shot acuracy(maybe air from the previous shot hasnt all escaped and will affect accuracy at high rof's?)

anyone have any input im missing or can add anything?

[headcase]

Sorry can't help you here, I wouldn't think that in would make a huge change, from shot to shot as the ball has to displace air no matter if it is a single shot, or part of a string. But really I don't know.

GoodLuck
Later
SSDD

[AGD]

This is a poorly understood area in paintball and I can not give you an answer with any authority. Having said that, tests over the years give a hint that faster firing rates produce smaller groups. It could be each ball is moving through the turbulence of the one before it and that helps some how or the guns are more consistent at higher speeds.

It needs more research.

AGD

[Minimag4me]

very interesting thank you tom

[kilaueakid]

They call it drafting in NASCAR

[constantairhead]

ROF on the playing field does effect your chance of getting a hit. but to my mind it has more to do with tactics than physics. Its the difference between using a rifle and a machine gun. A rifle is designed to put 1 shot exactly where you want it (depending upon your ability). Where as a machinegun is designed to put a lot of rounds in a designated area. Different situations require different solutions to achieve accuracy. If your opponent is unaware that your are targeting him then taking 1 shot just right is more accurate than ripping a dozen rounds in his general direction. On the other hand if you are sweetspotting a player running to a new bunker you want to put as many rounds in the air as possible. This is because the chance of a hit is quite low so you are increasing your chance of a hit thru volume. In reality you actually want your gun to be slightly less accurate with a higher rate of fire. If your first shot doesn't hit him, having a dozen rounds hit within a inch of the first probably isn't going to help the situation much either. Sort of an interesting anecdote I have heard but don't know the validity of is that in the early 70's the barrels on the 50 caliber machine guns used by the Canadian army were to accurate. they were actually reworked to provide less accuracy and more spread on the rounds to increase the amount of damage they can do.

[clockworkmiller]

From what I understand about physics, accuracy can be severaly effected by many things. A small gust of wind can throw bullets off mark by a few feet, simply because the mass of the object is so small that it is easily effected by outside forces. For a paintball, this includedes a small vaccum created by the paintball in front of it.

A paintball, when flying out of a marker, leaves a wake, as does any other object moving through the air. As the paintball moves forward, it creats a short vacuum behind it that is quickly filled with more air. If the paintball is flying perfectly round, then the air would apply equal pressure on all sides, and therefor not have any affect on something traveling within that wake, but would make it more difficult for something to leave. Therefore, we can assume that the closer one paintball is to another in flight, the harder it is to be affected by outside forces, and will remain relatively consistant with the other paintballs.

A way of thinking about this is a line of jetskis. As the first on moves in a set direction, each jetski follows at an interval later. The second jetski finda that it is much easier to travel directly behind the jetski in front of him, and any attempt to cross the wake is met with resistance. Assuming the jetskis could not power themselves on their own, they would find it difficult, if not impossible, to leave the wake of the jetski in front of them. The closer he gets to the jetski in front of him, the tighter the wake is, and the less mobility he has. However, if he is far anough behind, the wake dissapears and the jetski is free to move on its own.

Thats the best way to explain it to you. Tom is right, from a theorietical standpoint, a faster firing rate should produce more consistant results.

Remember, dont confuse consistancy with accuracy.

[Minimag4me]

i really like that jetski thing, thank you everyone for the replys

[Minimag4me]

headcase and clockwork miller if you are on can you guys please pm or post your first and last name so i can use your posts as research, thanks

[LaW]

Interesting post here: I didn't really read the replies but will later but was thinking that with rof on a stationary marker I'd think accuracy would be affect by the consistency of your tank and at what fps each paintball is coming out at like a +3/-3 difference in fps each shot...

[clockworkmiller]

Lloyd Miller

thanks, anything else you need?

[splat11756]

If its stionary i think it affects it. It makes it better. The ball infront of it the others breaks the winf. it also allows you to shoot farther. an example of this is a pack off geese the one flying in the front uses more energy to fly than the ones towards the back.

[Smoken]

That brings about an interesting point. If a paintball can "draft" (conserve energy by eliminating some wind resistance) would that mean that the second, third, etc. balls could travel farther than the first if they are fired in rapid enough succession?