RogueDAWG.com
M203 and M79 Paintball Grenades
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This page is to describe the technique I employ using the
Sun Project Co., Ltd M203RIS 40MM grenade launcher and the
Craft Apple Works
M79 40MM grenade launcher in paintball scenario games.
I purchased the M203 from a airsoft dealer in the USA and The M79 from
WarGame Club
of Hong Kong. I do want to say that a lot of paintball
fields won't let you play with then because of
insurance restrictions, but you can use them in private games. These launchers look as real as can be.
The barrel are made of plastic, they can be upgraded to metal barrels.
But the plastic works just fine. both are breech loaders and take several different manufactures 40MM shells
that shoot 6MM bb's in different load sizes, from 6 bb's to 108+ bb's per shot. You can get 6MM paintball's
from
Palco Marketing
in a couple of colors, red and blue. Using them at a
regular paintball field is a touch and go situation,
they don't make a big enough mark to count someone out
in a game when the general rule of a
quarter size mark is the min. size to be counted out. So this is my attempt to create a launched paintball grenade.
First I'll tell you the results I obtained using items
available from Walgreen's drug stores,
your friendly neighborhood K-Mart, Wal-mart's and Family Dollar
stores.
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Ammunition
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Balloon's.
The cheaper the better! You want a thin walled latex balloon to burst on impact the first time for
the best results. I have bought balloons from my local king Soopers grocery store made from a company called
National Latex Company of Ashland, Ohio that didn't burst even after being fired a 100 feet in the air
hitting a hot asphalt road bouncing and being run over by a car! I found balloons sold under the name of
Splash Sports Waterbombs by
Imperial Toy Corporation
of Los Angeles, CA. It contains 200 waterballoons w/ water filler for $2.99. you'll need the water filler to
fill it with paint. These are very small
balloons only 2 in.long X 3/4 in. wide. any bigger and they
won't expand enough to burst filled with 1oz. of paint.
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Paint.
Master Mine Venom Washable power pre-mix paint for $4.95 from
Majorpaintball. They make the
Master Mine land mine and Venom paint mix. The package makes 30 to 40 oz of mix but you can push it to over 50 oz
or more to refill bladder hand grenades and my launched grenades. Just add warm water and shake.
Well almost, to get the best homogenized mix and yield I mix it up in a blender and store it in a 1 liter pop bottle. The
first batch I made, I got klumps of paint mix that clogged up the paint injector. (More about the paint
injector later). If you know of a paint recipe please
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Propulsion.
GB-Tech
40 MM Gas powered grenade.
$80.00. These Grenade's will launch a paint balloon approx.
125 feet @ 45° angle less the higher or lower you go.
The M68 Thunder Grenade will travel much farther!
they even make a great "THUMP" when fired!
Everybody know's there's incoming when you hear it.
they use green gas 1000ml can for $10 to $20, as the propellant or use Co2 with the Gas Charger from RAP.
They are charged just like you fill up a butane lighter.
You can't just load up a paint balloon and then the grenade in the breech and pull the trigger,
you'll just get a expensive paint sprayer, you have to put the paint balloon in a sabot
(pronounced say-bo) first to protect it during the launch and create a seal in the barrel.
The sabot is easy to make from a 3oz. bathroom Dixie cup with a little modification.
To make one first you cut the lip off the cup, than make 4 cuts down
the side of the cup, then you fold each flap about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch inward to hold the balloon in during
transport. This way the cup protects the balloon and makes a good seal around the inside of the barrel. the
bottom of the cup is just right, to slide down the barrel without binding. Also you need to spray the inside
of the barrel with silicone spray to reduce the friction on the sabot. As soon as the sabot leaves the barrel
it will open up, falls in front of you and the balloon keeps traveling towards it target in a nice gentle
arch..... than SPLATT! someone is covered in lime green paint and you have a smile on your face from ear to ear
ready to do it again.
UPDATE! You can now get CO2 powered M68 Thunder Grenades from Real Action Paintball
CO2 Gas Charger
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Construction
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Making the paint balloons is fairly easy. You need a way to inject your paint into the balloons.
I use a 35CC syringe, Brand name Monoject. It holds about 1 1/4 oz. of paint,
but you only need a little more than 1oz. of paint to fill the balloon to it correct size to fit the barrel.
You have to be able to make a fairly tight seal with the balloon around the injector tip.
You can't use a syringe needle because:
1st: IT'S DANGEROUS!! DON'T DO IT!
2nd: You can't get the paint thru.
The paint doesn't completely dissolve and it will clog the narrow passage.
Find something that fit the balloon and the syringe.
The water filler that comes with the balloons is designed to attach to a garden hose
but will fit nicely on the end of the syringe and than seal it with rubber cement.
(Using rubber cement will allow you to remove the filler tip later if needed to)
The deluxe water filler that comes with some packages
(the deluxe water filler has a on/off valve that won't allow the injector to fit snugly)
wont fit to the syringe without a little modification.
you will have to cut the tip of the injector off to get a snug fit.
After you have made the injector you need to find a measuring device to
make sure you don't make the paint balloon too big for the barrel.
I found a small cosmetic bottle from
The Container Store
4 oz. Flip-Spout Bottle Translucent Item # 176051 with the top cut off is perfect.
If you make it too big they get jammed in your barrel when fired or friction severely reduces you max. range.
(you don't need a teammate covered in lime green paint in the bunker in front of you, You just might get fragged!)
After you've filled up the balloon with paint, grab the balloon and gently allow any trapped air in the balloon to
escape and tie it off. I than place the paint balloon inside a glass bowl filled with water while I make
the rest to see if they have any small leaks. if they do have a leak just take the balloon and squeeze the paint back
into your paint mix container and throw out the bad balloon. Don't try to use the balloon, it will just explode
in the barrel when you launch it.
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Deployment
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M203 M79 at 100 FPS enough said.
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