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This device attaches onto a paintball marker and displays the angle that the gun must be held to lob paintballs onto a target.
To accomplish this, the device contains a rangefinder, a wind gauge, an angle sensor (ie gyro), an angle readout (ie a red dot scope on the side of the marker that swivels
downward so the user sees the target in the scope when the marker is aimed upward at the correct angle) and a computer chip.
The user aims the marker at whatever the target is hiding behind, then presses a button. The computer chip reads the distance to the target, wind speed, and angle to target relative to horizontal, and already knows the muzzle velocity, size and weight of paintballs leaving the marker. From this information, it calculates the angle that the balls must be launched at in order to hit the target and swivels the red dot scope to the correct angle.
The user raises the marker to the correct angle, then fires. Paintballs arc upward to many feet in the air, then splatter back to earth on and near the target.
Paintball Statistics (size, weight)
http://home.comcast...all/paintstats.html
[sninctown, Jul 13 2009]
Terminal Velocity Calculator
http://www.grc.nasa...airplane/termv.html
[sninctown, Jul 13 2009]
[link]
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[norm], googling "paintball mortar" yields paintball mortars designed for launching paint grenades. I have updated the summary to make it clear that I am proposing an aiming device that helps someone use a regular marker like a mortar. |
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i don't like the idea of having an expensive
piece of electronic sensory equipment
sitting on the barrel of my marker. |
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the weight of the paint and the muzzle
velocity isn't precise enough for this to
work. paint shell strength and thickness
depend on the brand, and muzzle velocity
can change during a game. i don't want to
spend a couple thousand bucks on a
marker. if i did, i'd have an angel marker. |
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In a high arc, for a close target, at standard paintball muzzle velocities, the ball is going to have to travel hundreds of feet up, then back down again (I can't do the math, but start with 300 fps). At standard paintball accuracy, you haven't a hope in hell of hitting anything at that range (say a thousand feet of travel). Other problems include wind variation with altitude and time (the ball is going to be up there a while). The ball will probably be falling back at less than 50 fpm, based on its weight and shape, so it will be in the air even longer, be even less accurate, and not be likely to break open on impact. Oh, and if you are playing indoors, you are going to hit the roof. |
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If you want to use your regular gun as a paintball mortar, you are going to have to be able to selectively REDUCE the muzzle velocity of the marker. Good luck getting that past the refs. |
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As for aiming, get two teammates to watch the fall of your shots, and call corrections to you. "That's how we did it back in my day. We didn't wish for things we couldn't build." |
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[Later] Just after writing this, I saw the Mythbusters episode dealing with bullets fired straight up into the air. That might make things clearer than my writing. |
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Perhaps something along the lines of a rifle grenade? The sort that sits over the muzzle and either traps a fired shot, or is propelled by a dry firing of the gun (in this case, marker). a simpler way than using a separate mortar device. |
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Otherwise your accuracy will be horrendous. |
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[+]Great idea, but you do tend to get a feeling of how high to shoot. |
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some kind of delayed detonation perhaps, so you could get it to burst over the target without relying on a ballistic shot: a paintball's density is *much* less than that of a (real) mortar shell; it's more affected by wind. |
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The only times I've tried this, the paintballs were lost in the clouds and/or fell down really slowly. Calculation bears this out: |
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What is the terminal velocity of a standard paintball?
(see links for sources)
Assumptions are:
Weight: 3.2g
Diameter: 0.68in
Area: 0.36in^2
Cd for a sphere: 0.47 (assuming laminar flow; turbulent flow will have Cd of 0.1 or less)
Density of air: 1.2 kg/m^3
Plug in to terminal velocity equation:
V = ((2*W)/ (Cd*rho*A))^0.5
Throw it all into Google Calculator...
sqrt((2*(3.2g*(earth gravity))) / (0.47*(1.2kg/m^3) *(0.36inch^2)) |
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Result: 21.9m/sec or 72ft/sec |
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Anyone want to check whether the Cd is realistic? If it is, a falling paintball will be too slow to break, and this idea is halfbaked. |
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