The same purpose as rifleing.....

... But using a different method. Rifling doesn't work because the rifling only spins the shell and not the liquid fill, right? Kindof like a glass of water. Spin the glass and the water doesn't move. You may also notice that it takes very, very little side to side or circular movement to get the water spinning very fast. My idea would be kindof like the Flatline only it would produce the spiraling type spin that rifling would attempt to get. Get it? The only problem would be keeping the paintball facing the same direction so that the spinning would be even, which is what I'm working on. Also, I mentioned the Flatline above. It wouldn't really be like the Flatline, it would just use the method of moving the whole paintball to produce spin, thats all. It would also, hopefully, be more accurate then the Flatline. Of course, improving accuracy is the whole point of rifling so I would hope so.

The one and only idea that I have already thought of to keep the paintball facing the same direction would be to change the shape of it, but I have read here that bullet shaped paintballs is not something to mention, so I guess I wont. Although, a short explenation as to why it shouldn't be mentioned would be great. And feel free to critisize my idea if you see any flaws. I'm sure there are a couple there.

Edited by stealthy2

Ok, go get a cup of water. It may help to see if it has ice in it. Now, pretend that the bottom of the cup is the front of the paintball. I know that the "front" probably wouldn't stay the front the whole way down the barrel, just pretend it would. Ok, not spin the cup like the rifling on the barrel would spin it. Don't move the cup in any direction except for down because that would be the direction it would move if it was a paintball going down a rifled barrel. Now look at the ice water in the cup as its spinning. Isn't moving much is it? Thats why rifling doesn't work. Rifling only spins the shell, not the liquid fill, and the shell doesn't have enough mass for rifling to have much, if any, effect on it. Now, don't pour that glass of water out yet. Take the same glass of water. Now, start to move the glass in a circular motion, but not spinning it. Just by moving it slowly and for not very long you can get the ice water to spin very fast. The liquid core of a paintball is what would need to spin for the idea behind rifling to work. This would get the liquid core spinning. Of course paintball fill is thicker, so it might not spin as much. But as fast as you can get water spinning with as little of force as you can, I wouldn't doubt that you can get a paintball spinning fast enough to have possitive effects.

its not that the liquid paint isnt moving, though that is a problem. the thing is, even if you did get your barrel to work, would be the centrifugal forces. all paintballs vary in size, weight, and density. the smallest air bubble in a paintball would cause something spinning at those kinds of speeds to lose control. i guess the smartest thing to do to increase accuracy and range would be to angle your shots. its what i do.

if you get it to go side to side around in the barrel, after it leaves the barrel, it will not continue to stay on that straight path, it will fly off in the direction it was going when it leaves the barrel

stealthy2 wrote: Ok, go get a cup of water. It may help to see if it has ice in it. Now, pretend that the bottom of the cup is the front of the paintball. I know that the "front" probably wouldn't stay the front the whole way down the barrel, just pretend it would. Ok, not spin the cup like the rifling on the barrel would spin it. Don't move the cup in any direction except for down because that would be the direction it would move if it was a paintball going down a rifled barrel. Now look at the ice water in the cup as its spinning. Isn't moving much is it? Thats why rifling doesn't work. Rifling only spins the shell, not the liquid fill, and the shell doesn't have enough mass for rifling to have much, if any, effect on it. Now, don't pour that glass of water out yet. Take the same glass of water. Now, start to move the glass in a circular motion, but not spinning it. Just by moving it slowly and for not very long you can get the ice water to spin very fast. The liquid core of a paintball is what would need to spin for the idea behind rifling to work. This would get the liquid core spinning. Of course paintball fill is thicker, so it might not spin as much. But as fast as you can get water spinning with as little of force as you can, I wouldn't doubt that you can get a paintball spinning fast enough to have possitive effects.

Yeah, but paint inside of a paintball (especially higher grade paintballs) is thicker than water which would give it the tendency to cling to the spinning shell.

Although I have an arguement for practically every one of you besides DeTrevni, I do not wish to argue about it. I belive that DeTrevnis post pretty much sums it all up, and that is why there is no point in arguing about any of the other theories or arguments. Thank you for sharing your opinions.

I agree with Enos, a paintball spins perfectly fine (I spin mine on a glass desk even).

DeTrevni, consider these points:

• If there is air in a paintball (which there often is) it will occupy the space where there is no liquid (which makes it an air bubble).
• Inertia is a resistance to change in motion (acceleration, or negative acceleration).
• The mass of a material (or density) determines it's inertia with heavy materials having a greater inertia than lighter materials
• Liquid is denser (and heavier than air) therefore it has a higher inertia than the air.
• Centrifugal force (caused by spinning a material) causes denser materials to move further outward than the lighter materials (this is how a centriruge works).
• Therefore, the forward acceleration will cause the liquid to settle towards the back of the paintball, while the spinning will pull the liquid out to the sides.  This leaves only one spot for the air to exist- the front, dead center.

A speherical object can benefit from rifling.  The first rifled barrels fired the classic ball.  This showed enough promise to make rifled barrels highly sought after by sharpshooters.  If this first stage didn't show enough promise, it would've been abandoned (kinda like how the mass paintball community has given up on them).

However, the problem with paintball is due to the fact that paintballs are not perfect spheres (at least 99% of the time), and they all have a seam (some considerably worse than others), that varies in position from shot to shot.

What I'm trying to find out is how perfect do the balls need to be, to benefit from rifling.  For example with well-matched, minimally seamed, very well rounded, paint, in a rifled barrel, what kind of improvement you could get.  The problem I have is that the best rounded, and minimally seamed paint I've come across is Evil and it's consistantly too small for my armson.

Spherical ammunition, yes, but not paintballs. They are not near as round as most mustket balls where. They are deffinatly not as size consistant as musket balls. They where not the same material, which, yes, does make a difference. Their weight was destributed A LOT more evenly.

Kindof. More of a corkscrew, but modified. It would have to be tuned just right so that it would spin and not slosh. The more thought I put into it the more I don't think it would work as I had hoped. It would corkscrew just enough to get it spinning then it would be streight for just a little bit so that it would leave the barrel spinning, but going streight.

Edited by stealthy2

I was thinking about that but I don't think it would work very well. First of all, it would probably be more expincive to make them that way. Secondly, it would just add more and more strength to the paintball and they would become hard to break. It might work toward a more accurate shot, but its worthless if it doesn't break.