airsoft wepons

This might sound like a odd question but has any one tried air soft weapons systems? and if so are there any advantages over the standard pneumatic set up?

 

The idea has been tossed around before. There are two main problems I see with using something like an AEG in our boats:

1: Complexity. There is enough stuff to break/have fail already, adding an AEG motor+gearbox+etc for each firing cannon would be a nightmare of wiring and expensive components that don't like water.

2: Size. My G&G M4's gearbox takes up the entire receiver/pistol grip area of the gun. I'd hate to have to squeeze 3-4 of them in your average WW1 BB/BC.

An AEG will produce enough power to punch holes in balsa, and I'm sure you could replace the trigger mechanism with something like the firing boards in common usage, the real question is will it be worth it over the standard CO2/solenoid system? Only way to find out would be to try.

 

Interestingly enough, we tried this the weekend before last. Tugboat fired his airsoft pistol at the 1/8" armor of my Gascoigne, and it didn't even leave a mark. Not a hole, not a dent, not even a scratch on the paint. Like any good science, we tried it several times and found no new marks.

The fact is the 7mm plastic BBs from airsoft just don't have the mass to carry the energy to penetrate heavy balsa. If memory serves, even the metal airsoft pellets are about 10 times lighter than a 1/4" steel ball bearing. You might have more success with the thin 1/32" balsa, but you won't be able to score hits below the waterline to sink an opponent.

Also, as mentioned before, the size and complexity are significant problems to overcome.

 

I was walking threw walmart last nite and was wondering when I saw the airsoft guns thank you for the anser

 

Gascan, you forgot about another experiment we did several years ago. Remember when we were trying to determine maximum effective range of different caliber rounds? We also tried loading 6mm airsoft pellets in the cannon. At short range, fired from a Big Gun cannon, the 6mm airsoft pellets were able to penetrate even 1/8" balsa. However, their effectiveness and accuracy dropped off rapidly as range increased. the ball bearings we use, although traveling at a much lower velocity, was able to penetrate 1/8" balsa out to 50+ feet, and were much more accurate. Also, those rounds were fired from a Big Gun cannon. To get comparable muzzle velocity, you'd probably need a high-powered airsoft gun with a stronger spring, a long and tight-tolerance barrel, and lots of other upgrades. Not the sort of thing you'd find at a Wal-mart.

 

Just wanted to chime in. Tugboat, sounds like you were using a spring powered pistol. These are very low powered. The standard airsoft 6mm bb's are .20 grams. The spring powered guns are usually 200FPS shooting a lighter cheaper .12 gram bb

If i were to go about doing this. I would grab a Gas non-blowback pistol. 350-400fps with the standard bb's. Tighter barrels and upgrade parts will up the performance even more.

Then you could buy some heavy "sniper" weight bb's to slow it down, increase the mass and accuracy.

The nice thing about a NBB pistol is that you can pretty much dremel off all of the parts that are not part of the action to make it smaller. No electronic parts. Some do use CO2.

My airsoft guns have dented old car doors and have a range of just about 55yards ( the distance to my backyard fence), yes yards .

Once i get some balsa for my build, ill test this out and report back.

 

Found some 1/4" balsa to use as a test.
The pistol shoots around 320fps, with the light bb.
1st shot, Point blank.


2nd shot, 10FT:


Of course this is with no paint or the silkspan. However this is still a low powered gun. There is potenial here.
The Fixed slide pistols usually go for around $40 and up from there. If they were used, you could techinicly get rid of the entire CO2 setup, and just use the pistols magazine and internal gas supply. Servo to pull the trigger.
Doubt you could get triples in a turret, But maybe duels. One advantage i would see over a actual air cannon is that they are very reliable. No tweaking.
I would actually need to get into big gun in order to wanna try this

 

None for gas powered pistols no.

However there are things called AEP's. Which is a pistol sized AEG.
The rifles we use have enough room for aftermarket microprocessors, Rof control, burst, semi only, all the cool stuff.


The electic pistols are the destroyers of the airsoft world. Very cramped inside, small gearbox and the battery was a 500-700mah 7.2V under the barrel.
If you decided to Hook up some of the Go-kart batteries you guys use on your ships, you could power a gun for days.

Another downside is the velocity. The one i had a few years back did about 250FPS. There are upgrade parts. 300fps is possible. The range on them is still very good due to the design of the barrel and the hop system.

The magazines are actually little clips that go up into the magwell, usually 30-50round. Ive seen people TIG weld them together to hold more.



I will find something that shoots at around 250FPS, do another Balsa test, and check back again.


NOTE: Be carefull if you wanna go the AEP route. There are alot of low priced electric pistols at walmart or ebay. They are not actual AEP grade. They are horrible

 

Well i was not able to source any sub 300FPS pistols or rifles. What ill do, is take my gas gun out on a cold day, and shoot at the balsa from about 50feet. That should lower the velocity to mimic a lower power.

The duel turrets would be defenately feasable for two striped down Aep's next to eachother.

 

There are ways around that. For gas guns, you can change nozzle sizes, gas type (CO2, "green gas" aka propane/silicone,duster), or valve spring stiffness on the magazines. Electric guns you change the internal spring.

Also, the same pistol in the above test on the 1/4" balsa, also It blew a hole through 1/32 marine plywood.
In order to get through 1/8" or less balsa. Im sure that 285fps is more then enough.

Now the test would be which gun to get. Which would could be trimmed down to size the most. Fun!

My cruiser is getting closer to being armed. Ill see if i can snag some pistols to try out, and report back again.

 

I think the size is the main issue here. Also has anybody thought to see if the shot "floats"? I am not one to complain about picking up my trash, spent 26 years in the army learning how to do that, but I would not look forward to the idea of having to walk around a lake after a battle not to mention NATS, and pick up thousands of little plastic balls..... If they sink, then we have the issue of having them remain in a pond for 500 years..... the bb's we use now will rust out and disappear.