Golf Ball What if Projectile?

[boyntonstu]

I was thinking of building a golf ball gun and I quickly learned about the barrel problem.

I then learned about sleeving a cut 2" PVC into a 2" pipe.

Then the light bulb went off?

Why cut a barrel to fit for a ball instead of cutting the ball to fit a barrel?

Why not machine the golf ball into a cylinder with rounded ends.

IOW Just grind down a golf ball until it fits a standard copper or PVC pipe?

A cylindrical golf ball should be a better slug like projectile than a ball.

Thinking out loud.

BoyntonStu

[/url]

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

A cylindrical golf ball should be a better slug like projectile than a ball.

A straight walled cylinder will begin to tumble the minute it leaves the muzzle unless you have a rifled barrel... in my opinion it's better to do a bit of work on the barrel once than on the projectiles every time you want to fire.

[Technician1002]

A cylindrical golf ball should be a better slug like projectile than a ball.

A straight walled cylinder will begin to tumble the minute it leaves the muzzle unless you have a rifled barrel... in my opinion it's better to do a bit of work on the barrel once than on the projectiles every time you want to fire.

I would rather polish one barrel instead of all the golf balls I will lose. After playing with some of the numbers for a larger barrel and valve, I'm more inclined to make a recoverable sabot for a 3 inch barrel. GGDT is promising some serious FPS with a light sabot at 200 PSI. I may have more than one way to reach SOS with a golf ball.

[AngryChauncey]

The only thing that I can think of that would fly better than a golf ball out of a cannon is a rocket with fins. Definitely the barrel work.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

The only thing that I can think of that would fly better than a golf ball out of a cannon is a rocket with fins.

You need to think a little harder then, a spherical object of medium density is far from being one of the best projectiles around

[AngryChauncey]

The only thing that I can think of that would fly better than a golf ball out of a cannon is a rocket with fins.

You need to think a little harder then, a spherical object of medium density is far from being one of the best projectiles around

I guess I was thinking more about consistency.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

I guess I was thinking more about consistency

Assuming any spin imparted in the barrel is regular, that much is probably true.

[CS]

Not sure where you live, but are you sure you cannot get 1.5" class 200/ SDR-21? Fits golfballs like a dream, like you woke up from a nightmare of jamming one pipe inside the other.

[AngryChauncey]

I had to order it online. It is well worth the price of paying shipping.

[jor2daje]

it pretty easy to make golfballs fit normal sch40 1.5" pvc, here is an instructable on how, it works great, the crappier the ball the better because some of the nicer balls are rubber band balls on the inside.

[Technician1002]

Has anyone played with GGDT to see the difference a 3 inch barrel and sabot compares to a GB barrel for launching golf balls. I'm thinking on skipping a GB barrel on my new cannon and simply using a sabot to launch golf balls. I like the possible acceleration with a light sabot. I'll need to clock some to see if a 2.5 or 3 inch barrel will work best on the 2.5 inch valve.

[MrCrowley]

Has anyone played with GGDT to see the difference a 3 inch barrel and sabot compares to a GB barrel for launching golf balls

You can't configure GGDT for sabots unfortunately.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

You can't configure GGDT for sabots unfortunately.

What's there to configure, if you know the weight of your projecilte+sabot? Assuming a well designed sabot with a clean separation, there's no reason why the projectile should lose velocity.

[Technician1002]

Has anyone played with GGDT to see the difference a 3 inch barrel and sabot compares to a GB barrel for launching golf balls

You can't configure GGDT for sabots unfortunately.

Think of a slightly heavier golf ball 3 inches wide so it fits and seals a 3 inch barrel..

[MrCrowley]

Has anyone played with GGDT to see the difference a 3 inch barrel and sabot compares to a GB barrel for launching golf balls

You can't configure GGDT for sabots unfortunately.

Think of a slightly heavier golf ball 3 inches wide so it fits and seals a 3 inch barrel..

Well two things that would be affected would be range and muzzle energy (weight of the sabot will change that), but would be easily fixable if you just re-scale the gun without the sabot and 3" barrel but with performance that sees it get the same muzzle velocity (and your original questions notes 'difference' not simply muzzle velocity, I would say range and muzzle energy falls under 'difference').

It'd be interesting if GGDT had a tool for velocity drop of the projectile once it left the barrel, such as detailing the loss in velocity over a certain range.