Blue or Orange... DECIDE!

[Savage]

Projectiles and chambering are most of what I already have the capability to do well. I'll be getting a hold of my old paintball gun in a week or so, and soon after I'll ask around and see what it would take to get a barrel or three machined. Test a few different sized and weighted rounds, combined with different length/twist barrels, to find the most accurate, safest combination. After that, find an engineer and some investors, really.

My main design flaw is that it's very tedious to make a valve between the gas expansion chamber and the gas source. The only options there are: Use a piston system (which I want to avoid), or use an electronic system (which I also want to avoid) or have a very mechanically complex linkage between most triggers and the gas system (again, bad). I could make it slightly easier on myself to work with, say, an M4/M16 receiver, or any other carbine out there, instead of trying to cram it all in a chinese type 88, but the lack of cool points is putting me off.

Plus, my tech skills are highly lacking. I could make rounds with little difficulty, or make polymer/plastic shells for the outside of a gun, but I couldn't machine a polygonal barrel, or a bolt, or a linkage, or any of the pieces that hold them together and make them work.

[SinfulPain]

What kind of smooth coating did your old ones have? I've been casually designing an 'airsoft' sniper rifle that fires, essentially, .25" nerf rockets. Is there any kind of smooth coating out there that 's cheap enough to be used on a disposable round, but flexible enough to flex on impact to minimize damage to the target (and crush and deliver a chalk charge, like a screwhead-sized 40mm training grenade).

Are you talking about something similar to these?

http://www.rap4.com/store/paintball/rap ... ag-of-2000

I wonder if they have any increase in range/accuracy over regular 6mm rounds.

[Savage]

To an extent, yes. An easily disposed, (biodegradeable,) casing, plus the rear of the fins will be cupped to catch the maximum gas expansion. The dimentions I was thinking were closer to a .270 bullet, however. Approximately .25" thick, and either .60" or .90" in length (Will be testing many, MANY combinations. This just seems to be the best size and weight to provide maximum range and consistency, without dumping much of any energy into the target.) Possibly with a fragmenting cap filled with a tiny powder charge. Plus, colored rounds. Thinking brown bodies, with blue fins. Both sneaky and tracer.