The first is obviously bad because paintballs hit people. And a pointy tip would impact on a smaller surface area and would cause more damage to the skin. That don't work. Next, the elongation. This is the next best solution because the rounded tip has the same impact characteristics as a standard ball (ignoring the additional weight of the elongation. And lastly the teardrop. this is the best solution as it will have the lowest coefficient of drag, minimal increase in weight and the same impact area to maintain the same energy distribution as a regular paintball.

 



Now, on to higher accuracy. The easiest way to increase the accuracy of a BULLET (not necessarily a ball) is to induce spin. This is why rifle barrels have rifling. I believe principal will similarly increase the accuracy of a paintbullet. But what about the liquid fill, you ask?!? You are very correct. The liquid within the paintball will cause the spin to cease soon after leaving te barrel. I have three solutions/points on this. 1) the ball only has to spin for under 1 sec. The ball isn't going to be flying longer than that. 2) the additional mass at the rear of the paintbullet will allow the spin to last longer because of the increased mass. Hopefully long enough to hit its target. And 3) angled fins located on the back side of the paintbullet that will allow the flow of air to keep the paintbullet spinning.

So, in the end, a perfect paintbullet would have a teardrop shaped Paintbullet with angled fins to induce spin.

 

But cause of manufacturing difficulties and the fact that you need to have a certain about of area to stabilize the fins, I have gone with a hybrid shape. Part elongated and part teardrop.

 



Now, there are now a couple issue that come up. One is the increase of mass because of the tail section and fins. Next it the loading of a bullet shaped projectile. Three, the material that the tail section is made of. Since E=1/2 MV^2 (kinetic energy), increasing the mass will increase the Energy of the projectile. A regular paintball is around 3g (.003Kg), and with a speed is 280 fps (92m/s), we get a total kinetic energy of 1/2 (.003)(92)^2 = 12.7 joules. So if out tail section adds 1g of weight, in order to maintain the same impact force, we have to limit the MAX FPS to 240fps. So, in order for this to be useful, the accuracy will have to be pretty damn good!!! And remember the teardrop shape will allow the bullet to MAINTAIN its velocity better than a ball. Which mean you will actually hit a target FASTER at longer distances. At least, that's the theory. And of course, if you have a very accurate paintbullet, I would hope the you would aim for a player's pack or buttock instead of their head!!!!

So, on to loading. For any player that has read this much is probably willing to sacrifice volume for pin-point accuracy. The only way I know to load these babies is with a magazine type loader. You're not going to have a 200 round hopper will with these. That's just the way it is. But maybe if these actually catch on and some other marker manufacturer will come up with a way to do it. We'll see.

Lastly, and most importantly, I need to come up with a material to use for the tail section. Ideally, and hopefully eventually, I can have a paintball manufacturer to make the entire paintbullet using the same technique as a paintball. Once I know this design works, I'll pursue that. In the mean time, I need a material to use that is strong enough to be fired out of a marker, but soft enough to not hurt anyone when hit. There are quite a few materials that are avail on the market. Everything from silicon rubber to a soft PVC plastic. Right now I have plans to use a platinum cored silicon rubber mix. Its very similar in harness to a paintball shell, yet is also hypoallergenic. It will be good enough for testing.

TESTING COMING SOON!!!! But here are a few pics of the final product

 

Well, the testing is complete. And are the Scientific results.

THEY STINK!!! Sorry to say, but I tried smooth barrels, rifled barrels, high pressure, low pressure, high velocity, low velocity, and every other variable I could do. Even tried open and closed bolt. On every shot, one of two things happened. They either zip on all kinds of crazy directions, or just tumbled in the air and fell to the ground.

I'm pretty bummed, but that sometimes happens. I'm not saying that a Paintbullet can't be done, but the direction I was headed doesn't seem to be the right way. Maybe in the future, I'll think up another way to do it.