Army's Ultimate Paintball Gun is No Toy
By David Hambling
The plan to turn toy rocket technology into new weapon for the U.S. Army is racing ahead. Last year, we looked at a proposal from toymakers Lund & Company Invention to use their know how to build a Variable Velocity Weapon System (VVWS). The idea was that by varying the muzzle velocity, the same gun could fire crowd-control impact rounds or lethal high-velocity bullets. Now, the program has been refined into what might be the ultimate non-lethal paintball gun.
The company has received a $723,109 contract to mature their technology and build a weapon that's supposed to be a significant improvement over one of the main non-lethal weapons used by the U.S. military and law enforcement today.
The FN303 "paintball gun on steroids" (pictured) can fire pepper spray, paint, and non-lethal impact rounds -- making it awfully useful for keeping crowds in check. Soldiers and cops rate it very highly. But it's got some problems at longer ranges. And in America, it still suffers from image problems after the death of Victoria Snelgrove, who died after being hit in the eye by an FN303 round in a disturbance after the Boston Red Sox won the World Series. The version of the VVWS currently being developed would be a purely non-lethal replacement for the FN303. The key advantage is the ability to vary the muzzle velocity; no details have been released, but this may be controlled automatically by a laser rangefinder. At short ranges, it will have a low muzzle velocity, ensuring the impact is safe; but the speed can also be increased to extend the maximum range beyond what can currently be achieved.
The VVWS will have a maximum range of 150 meters, compared to a range of 50 meters for the FN303 for point targets. Longer ranges are sometimes quoted for the FN303 but these seem to refer to using it to deliver volleys of "pepperball" rounds to saturate an area with a cloud of PAVA pepper powder. The military do not use this type of ammunition, being confined to impact rounds which, unlike paintballs, are hard and shatter on impact. (Paintball-type rounds are also available for marking with washable or indelible dye).
The VVWS will be able to fire five hundred shots on a single fuel canister, compared to a hundred and ten for the FN303. Note that this is fuel rather than compressed air; Lund's rockets use an ingenious method of electrolyzing water to produce hydrogen gas. The exact propulsion method for the VVWS has not been disclosed.
"Tremendous progress is being made," CEO Bruce Lund told Danger Room, although he was not at liberty to give many details. "We have reduced the unit to a portable hand carried second-generation Beta model and are ready for preliminary field tests."
The VVWS will also be lighter than the five-pound FN303. The motive for this is likely to be the need for an under-barrel version that can be attached to an M4 carbine. An under-barrel version of the FN303 has already been fielded - taking us back to the original set-up of having both lethal and nonlethal options easily to hand.
However, the VVWS will still suffer the same limitation of any kinetic weapon; during riots in detention centers, Iraqi prisoners have been known to use mattresses as shields which is going to block most non-lethal rounds. (The beam from the Active Denial System might go through though).
Lund also says that the VVWS should be lower in cost than the older weapon. Lund & Company are toymakers after all, and used to building products to a tighter price specification than military suppliers. The VVWS is certainly not a toy. But if its cheap enough, the technology may well be featured in recreational products, like paintball guns, in the years to come.
April, 2006 So you want to get the fastest gun available and shoot 22 balls a second? I know what you’re thinking - 22 balls a second will make you a better player, right?
You see those guys on ESPN with their Ego’s blazin, and you want in. That’s cool – let me break it down for you in mathematical terms.
A Long Time Ago...about, 15 to 300 years ago, cattle ranchers and forest rangers required a quick and easy way of identifing the cows that needed to be felled, and the trees that needed to be slaughtered. Hand marking each item was time consuming and boring.
Nel-Spot 007 the first marker line
The idea of using gas to project a capsule filled with marking gel proved interesting and efficient. Marking trees which barely move and cows that stand still can only be so much fun.
Rumor has it a couple of bored Forest Rangers got to drinking some Labatts. One thing led to another, someone mentioned the other's mother, and got shot with a capsule of paint for his troubles - the birth of "Capsule War".
Crossman produced the first marker the NEL-Spot 707, in 1965
Back in the 70's there were NO X-Boxes, no GameBoy, no computers, no internet, only three major sports and in most households, only three TV channels.
You had to get up off the couch to change the channel. Imagine.
When I was a kid, we shot BB Guns and arrows with bows at each other. Good Lord!
I digress.
One day, some 11 years later, a bunch of old guys were sitting around talking about Survival. Who could survive a 'hunt".
Have you ever seen that movie with Ice Tea?
The one where a bunch of white, red-neckish business guys invite a "from the hood brother" out for a "hunting" trip? (Surviving the Game, 1999)
That's what I picture whenever I hear this story:
"In June of 1981, 12 friends went into the New Hampshire woods with Daisy markers, oil-based paint, and shop goggles. They played a game in which the goal was to capture each player's flag - 12 flags in all. The winner (Ritchie White) captured all 12 flags and never fired a single shot."
Never fired a shot.
I shoot 9 pods a game, and there is only one flag to get. How much fun could running around the woods collecting flags and not shooting even a cow be?
Once again, I digress.
So now we've got people running around the woods with shop glasses and tree markers. By 1982 the first outdoor paintball field was created, pump guns go rule, 12 oz.'s of gas and 10 shots.
Well, pump guns started to be mass-produced. Players were getting good at shooting and playing in the woods. Paintball took on the image of a "War Game". Camouflage, army boots, green, green, green and informally organized outings were the only way to play the game.
Bud Orr's First Nelspot Conversion.
State-of-the-Art in the early 1980s.
The pump gun allowed a ball to be placed in the breach and then propelled out the barrel whenever the operator slid the "pump" back and forth and pulled the trigger.
This pump action loaded the paintball and cocked the system making it ready to fire.
Thanks to Bud, the AutoCocker broke the game open - wide open.
The AutoCocker boiled the complicated cocking procedure down to a trigger pull.
Then the electros really hit, very fast, lots of volume and not that much accuracy - relative to the AutoCocker.
Games were still in the woods for the most part, but in Corona, California, at SC Village (Strategic Command) a thing called a "hyper-ball" field was created. Again, the sport opened up. Now the fields were smaller, the guns faster and the obstacles completely man-made.
Around the year 2001, the sport had been through a good deal of growing pains. Manufactures were just getting to the "big-time". Dye would soon be into the new digs in San Diego, Worr was moving to their new place, Brass Eagle bought JT - more and more people started playing the game of Paintball. The Olympics and TV were "just a year away".
AutoCockers ruled, and I purchased my first gun, a right feed AutoCocker.
The tournament scene heated up as well.
Lots of events started appearing at the local, national and the global levels, including 1,000's of players. Yet, the growth of paintball can really be seen in the number of recreation players; scenario games exist that include up to 2,000 players in one game.
Today, changes occur every 90 days. Guns can get up to 22 balls out a second, and you can hit what you aim at. The fields are much smaller, games quicker. The sport is struggling to be more spectator friendly. And a TV deal is in the works, whatever that means. Some players are getting paid to play…but not many.
By the time you read this article, something has happened in our sport - one league has joined another, a new marker is on the market, and Nike is making jerseys (just kidding)
The sport is still young and anyone can make their mark - get out there and paint!
Greg Walters
Team Ambush
Paintball history timeline:
1970
James Hale of Daisy Manufacturing, patented what would become the first consumer, paintball gun. This original paintgun was manufactured and used for marking trees and cattle, and was later sold for paintball use under the Nelson name.
May 1981
The History of Paintball began in New Hampshire. The principal creators were Bob Gurnsey, a sporting goods retailer; Hayes Noel, a stockbroker, and Charles Gaines, a writer.
June 27, 1981
The first game was played. The game had 12 competitors against each other in a capture the flag game using Nel-spot 007 pistols. One of the most interesting facts about the paintball game was that the winner, Ritchie White won without firing a single shot!
The first people that played the game are:
Lionel Atwill - Writer and author of the first official book on paintball
Ken Barrett - Venture Capitalist
Bob Carlson - Trauma Surgeon
Joe Drinon - Stockbroker
Charles Gaines - Writer
Jerome Gary - Film Producer
Bob Gurnsey - Sports Products
Bob Jones - Novelist
Hayes Noel - Stock and Options Trader
Carl Sandquist - Contracting Estimator
Ronnie Simkins - Farmer
Ritchie White - Forester
April 1982
Caleb Strong one of the current owners of PMI Northeast opened the first outdoor paintball field in Rochester, New York.
1982
Charles Gaines marketed paintball as the National Survival Game (NSG). PMI (Pursuit Marketing Inc.), was founded to market and distribute paintball products. Articles about the first game, written by the first players, were published in Sports Illustrated and other national publications. Paintball started in Australia under the name "Skirmish Games."
Nov 1984
The first indoor playing field opened in Buffalo N.Y., by Caleb Strong.
1985
The first indoor paintball playing field opened up in England.
1988
IPPA (International Paintball Players Association) was founded as a non-profit association dedicated to the education, growth and safety of the sport of paintball.
1991
Paintball begins in France, Denmark and other countries in Europe.
1992-1993
NPPL (National Professional Paintball League) was founded and the NPPL Pro-Am Series started with paintball tournaments in Reno, New York, Boston, and other cities around the U.S.
1993
ESPN filmed and aired PCRI's NPPL "DC Cup" in Washington D.C. suburb, Bowie, Maryland. This was the first time ESPN covered the game of paintball.
1994
Warpig introduced the first Internet paintball site.
1996
ESPN and Paintball Sports produced and aired the ESPN World Championships of Paintball from Orlando, Florida.
1996
Paintball playing fields, stores and tournaments can now be found in Canada, the United States, Australia, England, Scotland, Denmark, France, Holland, Germany, Austria, Ireland, Belgium, Greece, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Africa, Russia, New Zealand, Brazil, Venezuela, Israel, Korea, Thailand and the Philippines.
1998
Focus International staged the largest indoor paintball tournament ever in the Skydome in Toronto, Canada. PCRI, Airgun Designs, and Worr Game Products produced the first and largest to this date, technical certification conference to train paintball store and field owners on teching their paintguns.
