Paintball gun plans - Comments please?

[Pete Zaria]

I haven't built a pneumatic in awhile, and a friend's birthday is coming up. He has a constant problem with raccoons and possums destroying his yard. He's shot at them with an airsoft gun, which didn't deter them. His wife won't let him kill them (My first suggestion was a .22), so I was kicking around the idea of building him a nice, single-shot pneumatic paintball gun. A paintball at 125psi should deter the 'coons, and if not, freeze the paintballs first

So here's my idea:



- Excuse the sloppy drawing, I did this in about 5 minutes in Visio. It's not really drawn to scale, though it's close except for the handles and sight tube. The barrel would also be much longer, obviously.
Edit: I just noticed I messed up and put a 1" - 3/4" bushing in the wrong spot in that drawing - it should be after the valve, not before it. Ignore that. heh.

The chamber would be 2", 1" elbows and 1" modified sprinkler, blowgun inside a saddle T type handle, with another handle up front. PSI gauge and schrader tapped into the end cap. All of NSF-PW sch40 PVC.

That part is all nice and simple.
The parts I'm not so sure about are my sight mechanism (see below) and the breech loader. Do they make repair couplings for 3/4" CPVC? If not, any other ideas on a simple-ish breech loader for paintballs?

My idea for a sight, I think, is very cool.
The drawing contains a side-view of one of the wooden barrel supports. They would have a 1"-1.5" hole cut in the center of them. A piece of 1/2" or so PVC will run through them, and several screws will be used to center and adjust this "sight tube", which will contain a laser pointer with the button contained in the front grip. This sight could be easily adjusted using the screws, and should not be easily knocked out of alignment.

I'd use hose clamps to attach the barrel supports and handles, and then paint the whole thing black.

The silencer would just be out of 1.5" or so PVC. I'd drill holes in the 3/4" CPVC, and fill the space between the barrel and silencer tube with steel wool or cotton batting. I've made this type of silencer before and achieved significant sound reduction. It also looks kickass.

I figure a decent bike pump could get a 2"x12" chamber upto 125psi in a reasonable amount of time... am I off on this? He doesn't have a compressor. I suppose a decent 12v compressor could be used for a chamber this small.

Thanks for any input, guys!

Peace,
Pete Zaria.

[FeLeX]

Unless its a high presure stirup pump its not gona get it to 125 psi. I have bought the same mini air compressor that was used in LOKI cannon and it works awesome. It fills up my new cannon that I built for the competition to 110 psi under 20 seconds.

I think that the gun itself will look kind of out of proportion. If you dont care much about copying and if you are good at wood Id recomend making coke bottle rifle that boogieman made awhile ago. He pumps his coke bottle to 100 psi and PBs shoot at 520 fps. I am pretty sure youve heard of it.

Over all I like the design, its just that it seems like and over kill to me. I mean all that just to make racoons go away. If you have $60~ to spend I would get him this http://www.airgunsbbguns.com/Crosman_13 ... o1377p.htm.
I got one and it is just awesome+inexpensive. Ive killed many squirels with it and it has never failed on me!

[A-98]

looks good, but i find that inlines are easier/ less clumsy to aim.

and i find that a chamber of that size will fill fast with a decent sized track pump.

[Pete Zaria]

Unless its a high presure stirup pump its not gona get it to 125 psi. I have bought the same mini air compressor that was used in LOKI cannon and it works awesome. It fills up my new cannon that I built for the competition to 110 psi under 20 seconds.

I think that the gun itself will look kind of out of proportion. If you dont care much about copying and if you are good at wood Id recomend making coke bottle rifle that boogieman made awhile ago. He pumps his coke bottle to 100 psi and PBs shoot at 520 fps. I am pretty sure youve heard of it.

Over all I like the design, its just that it seems like and over kill to me. I mean all that just to make racoons go away. If you have $60~ to spend I would get him this http://www.airgunsbbguns.com/Crosman_13 ... o1377p.htm.
I got one and it is just awesome+inexpensive. Ive killed many squirels with it and it has never failed on me!

You could be right about the bike pump, a nice 12v compressor is probably the answer.

I'll consider something a little more ghetto - but I like to do things right the first time, and putting 110psi in a coke bottle near my face repeatedly isn't high on my to-do list. This design probably is overkill, but it would last a long time, and it'd look uber-clean.

As to the air pistol, I offered to loan him one - but his wife won't let him kill the damn things.

Nice effort at racking up posts

looks good, but i find that inlines are easier/ less clumsy to aim.

and i find that a chamber of that size will fill fast with a decent sized track pump.

Thanks. The only reason I prefer the over/under layout is that it allows for a nicer C:B ratio without making the gun 6' long. Since it will have an adjustable laser sight, I don't think it will be awkward to aim.

Any comments/ideas about my adjustable laser sight idea?

Peace,
Pete Zaria.

[FeLeX]

Lawl Pete I can assure you I am not trying to rack up posts. I will definatly be able to get 50 by May 1st, I am just trying to help.

Do you not like coaxiles? I was just wondering because you seem like a very experinced spudder and you are going to use a sprinkler valve. Maybe its just me, I like power and a clean/realistic looking design. And actualy now that I look at it the design you have is actualy going to look good. Post the cannon after you are done, I want to see how it looks.

[Pete Zaria]

@FeLeX
I didn't mean to insult you with the "racking up posts" comment, I actually meant something more along the lines of, "if you're trying to rack up the 50 posts, you're doing a great job - being helpful instead of posting useless $hit like most of the other noobs". I appreciate the input.

I would build a coaxial piston valve launcher if this was for myself but it's for my good friend's birthday. Not only would it be really cool and a great conversation piece, but it'd get rid of his raccoon problem I also didn't want to spend that much money or time to build a coaxial or piston valve setup. He's a good friend, but not THAT good.

I think it'd look sweet painted black with a cool silencer, etc... anyway.

Peace,
Pete Zaria.

[FeLeX]

Hehe you didnt insult me, not at all. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Did you find the link to that mini compressor I was talking about?

[ShowNoMercy]

But on a more relevant note, have you given any thought to perhaps a .40 caliber barrel and use the darts for that? That way you could say that you are using paintballs and instead subsitute darts.

[judgment_arms]

Humm… looks good, the laser is point less though (no pun intended), unless it’s rifled you not going to be putting the round on the pretty red dot, it’ll just get in the way. Tell you friend to get .25cal lead airgun balls and shoot them like buck shot a load of one .495dia. round ball, and four .25cal lead airgun balls would be a nice load, the good ol’ buck and ball, or if you can get really close two to three .495dia. round balls.
You can forget the sprinkler valve, you going to need all the power you can muster, I’d use a piston valve. Well your at it use SCH40 PVC, and choke it.
Crap after typing this I saw, “his wife won’t let him kill ‘em”… have him tell his wife that SHE can pay for the damages out of her spendin’ money or let him dispatch them and cut there loses. Don’t know what to tell you other than, if he don’t kill ‘em they’re going to keep coming back. You could use live traps and take ‘em to the animal shelter, but they’d just put ‘em down, his wife don’t want him to kill ‘em though…

[Pete Zaria]

@judgment_arms,
You're probably right about the laser, but being a single-shot weapon, it needs a decent sight. He also says he can get within 25ft of the 'coons without scaring them off. From 25ft I think he can hit them with a paintball. I'll bench clamp the gun and try to tune the laser sight as close to the average point of impact as I can.
Buckshot is a great idea, if he wanted to kill them. I think you're right about talking his wife into it... or just not telling her

Any ideas/comments on the laser sight system, and/or a paintball breech loader anyone?? Thanks!


Peace,
Pete Zaria.

[ShowNoMercy]

How about something like this, http://www.spudfiles.com/forums/viewtop ... 329&#68329 ? That isnt exactly how you wanted yours but you could easily modify that setup to fit yours.

[jrrdw]

Disclaimer -- this post may be offencesive to women and children!!!

Well, you ask for our comments, (drum roll please) -- TITS man just TITS ! I've been thinking of ways to make hand held cannons like these total...ummmmm...self contained, with like air pump in chamber, or something like that, anyway i think this design is just well, Tits !

[Pete Zaria]

Disclaimer -- this post may be offencesive to women and children!!!

Well, you ask for our comments, (drum roll please) -- TITS man just TITS ! I've been thinking of ways to make hand held cannons like these total...ummmmm...self contained, with like air pump in chamber, or something like that, anyway i think this design is just well, Tits !

I'm glad you like it (I think....). A track or stirrup pump could easily be attached to the side of the chamber, or maybe worked into the design between the chamber and barrel. Let me know if you decide to give it a try

@ShowNoMercy
Thanks for the idea on the breech loader but I don't want anything bulky, I was thinking single-shot. Maybe just a T on the barrel with a ball valve or something. I'll try to find a repair coupling for 3/4" CPVC.

Peace,
Pete Zaria.

[judgment_arms]

I said it once; I’ll say it again, if you don’t kill them coons they ARE coming back. If you use the scattergun approach the laser’s okay, I suppose, it may scare the coon away, temporarily of course, all you need is a shotgun bead.


***pacifists and those offended by hunting stop reading here ***
My grandma had a couple of coon that were tearing up her bird feeders, we, my dad and I, shot them numerous times with a pellet gun, (approximately 450-550fps with Gamo rockets [9. something grains]) from less than ten yards and the next night they’d be back.

You know, screw the airgun, light it up with that twenty-two, coons and possum are tuff little bugers. May I suggest Agula’s <sp> triple-Ses (sniper sub-sonic) or Federal’s #510 loads or Spitfires, or CCI’s Stingers? Don’t use a .17HMR or that cursed .17mach2, it probably won’t even feel it; the .17HMR travels so fast that it’ll actually cartelize the wound.
***pacifists can begin reading now***

[joannaardway]

Disclaimer -- this post may be offencesive to women and children!!!

Well, you've not offended me, so now we just need to worry about any children.

I agree with judgement_arms to a certain extent. Most things come back unless you are really insistent that they don't.

My younger brother used to take pot shots at squirrels in the garden with a fishing catapult (Normally missing). No long-term effects - they'd be back within a quarter of a hour occasionally.
They'd be away for longer if grapes were fired near them from a BV air cannon (probably because of the bang!), but again - they were never repelled for long.

You're not going to solve that little dilemma without licence to kill.