*NOTE* Inspired by 21 Quests comments on paintball planes.

Paintball was started on the basis of making a military warfare simulation. It has come a fair way with companies even making replicas of real firearms for use in paintball, but they have always been missing one thing. They miss out on magazines and always have those stupid looking hoppers on top of them which must be held upright to load properly. My idea is to have a cartridge with a coloured soap slug in the flange. A small opening in the rear where the primer would usually be to allow the gas to expel the slug. Mounted inside the cartridges they could be loaded into magazines to be spring fed or even belts which would free up the space above the marker for iron sights or scopes. This would also allow them to be fired from any angle. The soap rounds would be able to be moulded into whatever shape the maker wishes, they could make them more aerodynamic. Regular paintballs are shocking in wind and terribly inaccurate over 25-30 metres. They would also be biodegradeable *sp*. I'm guessing these would be cheaper to manufacture as well. To make them cheaper you could even use fired centrefire shells from other real guns. People could even reload and cast their own ammunition at home as real hunters commonly do. The soap rounds would be alot easier to wash off as well. The idea of having empty cartidges spraying out the side of my marker when I'm making a charge is getting my adrenaline going. There is also the fact that propane markers are now out on the market making it possible to even have muzzle flashes! If this doesn't make mil-sim players happy then nothing will.

Someone mentioned that the military uses soap rounds for training purposes. They do have them, they're called Simunition. They are kinda different to my idea though because they still use gunpowder and are not reusable. I'm ready for the fishbones. Hehe.

Please be gentle as this is my first idea I've posted on here. I love this site. :)
-- FunkyMunky, Feb 28 2006

RAP4 http://rap4.com/
Check out the operation video on the "Products" page. [JRH517, Feb 28 2006]

FunkyMunky's link as a link http://www.simunition.com/
no charge for this service, seeing as fm loves us so much. [po, Mar 02 2006]

Being hit by a soap round can't be very different from being hit by the plastic bullets the police sometimes use to dispel rioters - bloody painful. Can't you find something ballistic that will truly have a soft impact?

Also, using cartridge cases, while adding an air of realism, will only add to the litter on paintball sites.

Nevertheless, I think this idea might have some legs when it comes to converting regular/historical firearms to use as paintball guns, for historical reenactments and the like.
-- DrCurry, Feb 28 2006


why not just have paintball tube clips that have springs that force the paintballs into the gun? using real paintballs
-- Slaith, Feb 28 2006


//Paintball was started on the basis of making a military warfare simulation.//
I was always told that paintball was started as a way for forestry workers to quickly mark trees, but given a marker that looked like a gun, which shot relatively harmless projectiles, the foresters were unable to resist "marking" their co-workers. This, of course, turned into the first pickup game of pump woodsball. Things just took off from there.
-- Freefall, Feb 28 2006


This is already baked. I remember seeing a very realistic M16 variant, maybe an M4, that was a special type of paint gun, for use in training. The gun took short pistol-sized cartridges that loaded into a magazine. The "bullets" had a small bb of paint at the end, and when a shot was fired the bb was propelled out of the barrel, and the casing was ejected out to the side. It looked like lots of fun. Very expensive as I recall. I'm looking for a link.
-- JRH517, Feb 28 2006


Could you make an attachment which would simulate the screams of the wounded?
-- bungston, Mar 01 2006


// Also, using cartridge cases, while adding an air of realism, will only add to the litter on paintball sites. //

As I wrote above, the cartridges will be reusable. So pick them up and reload them.

// why not just have paintball tube clips that have springs that force the paintballs into the gun? using real paintballs //

That has already been done but it looks stupid and is awkard to reload.

// This is already baked. I remember seeing a very realistic M16 variant, maybe an M4, that was a special type of paint gun, for use in training. The gun took short pistol-sized cartridges that loaded into a magazine. The "bullets" had a small bb of paint at the end, and when a shot was fired the bb was propelled out of the barrel, and the casing was ejected out to the side. It looked like lots of fun. Very expensive as I recall. I'm looking for a link. //

I checked this out too. Try www.simunition.com. They aren't replicas, they are the real thing with quick changable parts to fire their rounds.

// Being hit by a soap round can't be very different from being hit by the plastic bullets the police sometimes use to dispel rioters - bloody painful. Can't you find something ballistic that will truly have a soft impact? //

Yeah well I figured thin lined soap would be best to be able to be reloaded at home. Not a solid soap slug, that would hurt alot. Thin lined soap with paint filling would be best. Which would save on manufacturing costs. The soap rounds wouldn't hurt too much more, remember it is still only gas powered. The simunition rounds still use gunpower powered rounds which make them expensive and fire at alot higher velocity.
-- FunkyMunky, Mar 01 2006


There are a few items that do what you suggest... Google SMG68 for a rare and interesting paintball gun that uses proper magazines. If you're after a paintgun which ejects spent cartridges as you fire, talk to the airsoft community. They have exactly what you're looking for there, firing small paintballs.

I'm with [Freefall] on the origins of paintball, too.
-- david_scothern, Mar 01 2006


Or just look at my link. David Sco., airsoft is not exactly what Funky Munkey is talking about, airsoft guns are great replicas, but do not eject shells.
-- JRH517, Mar 01 2006


That link was great. It blows my idea out of the water. It's just a pity that they don't use lookalike shells as well. That video is great. The amount of detail they put into the RAP-4 is amazing! It needs the cocking mechanism on the side though. The RAP-4 combined with the PEP technology of the Tippmann C-3 would be the ultimate simulation paintball marker.
-- FunkyMunky, Mar 02 2006


To tell the truth, it was the RAP4 AK47 I had in mind when writing. I thought it was 6mm calibre (airsoft).
-- david_scothern, Mar 02 2006


Foam that softens and grows when exposed to air? I don't know how you might do it, but it's worth a shot. It might be fired as a compact, barrel small ball of foam, and then grow as it passes through the air, guarenteeing a accurate shot for at least half way to the target.
-- EvilPickels, Mar 02 2006



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