Pirate paintball

[Black Jack]

I just want opinions. Good, bad, or otherwise. Could be fun.

[Matusalem]

As pirates, we would be require to fire no more than 3 shots per minute then mark up our opponents with paint-slathered bamboo sticks instead of real cutlasses. HAHAHAHAHAH!

FYI, you are dealing with the flintlock crowd here.

[Capn_Enigma]

Normally, paintball is rapid fire. If you slow down the cadence to shall we say one ball per minute per weapon, then it would be realistic... and boring to death.

But you could always enhance things by throwing your weapon after firing it or turn it around and club your adversary with the butt.

So in short- not a good idea.

[Patrick Hand]

Take off the hopper, so you have to load each paintball manualy into the gun, and then fire.....

It might be fun to play with a time or two..... but you will probably go back to semi-auto real quick......

[Zephaniah W Nash]

Which is why, for Halloween, we're planning a paintball zombie outbreak.

Split about half the participants into survivors and zombies, give the zombies paint-covered gloves and give the survivors a limited supply of ammo (with more scattered about in unlikely places, just like a video game).

You get a paint handprint on you, you have to become a zombie. Can't shoot the zombies in the head, of course, so we're thinking a limited target area on the chest.

May be fun, may be a bust, but I will post the results...

[Silkie McDonough]

Do the zombies get to actually think? Thought their brains were mush? (I am from Pittsburgh and have NEVER seen a George Romero film. )

Limited area around the body because you want to be able to shoot the zombies from behind also.

[blackjohn]

I just want opinions. Good, bad, or otherwise. Could be fun.

I've been talking about this one lately, though I don't remember if I mentioned it here, or on the Pirate Brethren forum, or just in speaking with friends. I believe I have figured out a way to do it, though I'm not sure it is actually worth doing, as it would be rather pricey. My idea is to arm each participant with one of the first generation single shot paintball pistols, and a fencing sword. The catch is, in order for this to work, you'd have to find a first generation paintball pistol, which I'm not sure are still being made, and... an expensive plexiglass visor fencing mask.

[Capt. Sterling]

Not to mention paint that will wash out of your kit...

[Silkie McDonough]

Thank you Captain! I was wondering when THAT subject would finally come up.

[michaelsbagley]

Having played a great deal of paintball in the past (I got so into it for a time, I bought myself and still have a fairly high end paint gun). I have never had a problem with washing the paint out of any clothing I ever wore.

That being said, I mostly wore darker colours, and it was also almost always a cotton knit fabric, and never linen or wool. How the paint would affect those fabrics couuld be different from how it reacts to cotton.

Now taking a dip into my memory, I think most paint balls (this is what I was told when I played which was at least 5 or more years ago) are filled with linseed oil with mild colourants (not staying, but bright). Whether that is true (or was ever true) and whether that still holds is another matter entirely.

Some of the guys I used to run with did on occassion wear a white or light grey cotton knit sweatshirt... and they never had any trouble getting the paint out of their clothes either, for what that is worth.

Hope this might have helped shed some light on the matter.

Edit: I always used common sense and put my clothes in the wash upon getting home as well, so prompt cleaning may have been a factor in my luck of never having stained any of my clothes.

[blackjohn]

Not to mention paint that will wash out of your kit...

It would require specialized kit. As I said, it could be done, for a price. Not worth it, imho.

[Zephaniah W Nash]

Do the zombies get to actually think?

They would have to think, or just get friends that can't think too well...

Personally, I prefer shambling, non-thinking zombies in movies -- but unless you get people who really want to play the part, you'd have to go with the remake Dawn of the Dead zombies: fast-moving, and at least semi-intelligent.

Or, require the rapid downing of five shots of rum when you become a zombie. That would have its' own set of problems too, I think.

[Rusty Barrels]

Sounds good, does anyone know where I can get 2 1/4" dia. paint balls that will hold up in a cannon?

[michaelsbagley]

Sounds good, does anyone know where I can get 2 1/4" dia. paint balls that will hold up in a cannon?

I think the better question is where you can find someone that would let you fire such a thing at them?

It's something I sure would like to see..... as long as there was a paramedic there to clean up the mess after..... and the poor victim didn;t have any permanent damage done to them.

[Littleneckhalfshell]

"Sounds good, does anyone know where I can get 2 1/4" dia. paint balls that will hold up in a cannon?"

They have paint ball grenades, maybe you could just fire a blank and toss the grenade to simulate grape shot?

Anyway, I had brought up the idea of single shot paint ball flintlock replicas some time ago, because here in NJ, even flintlocks are considered to require extensive licensing.

However, what exactly is a "first generation" single shot, paint ball pistol? I don't think I am familiar with such a beast. How does it load? since I guess it does not have a hopper like the ones I am familiar with. Is it really necessary to have a "first generation" or could you just make a plug for the port where the hopper usually sits?

I think the idea has merit in that you would really HAVE a battle, not just play acting. 'hey, you, you fall in the first volley, and then the rest of us take the wall.....' There really could be defenders (spanish) and the pirates attacking the town, or outpost. I know black powder smells and looks a lot nicer, but

for tactics and the actual feel of getting shot... well, you know you feel it when you get hit with a paintball.

[Black Jack]

Tough crowd to please. I recently prototyped a paintball gun that looks like a flintlock blunderbuss. Its a single shot kinda deal, no hopper. I should be getting the first of them tomorrow. Should have pics. up by the end of the weekend. I plan on selling them on ebay for starters just to see how they do. We'll see.

[Littleneckhalfshell]

yeah, sort of got raked over the coals when I posted to the thread "MBS Georgian Pistol Parts Set" in Plunder back in April '07 on the idea of a paintball flintlock pistol. If you can do a blunderbuss, what about a pistol? Personally I like the idea of Paintball, single shot, replicas. If you only had the small CO2 along with the paintballs having to be loaded single shot, it would make it somewhat realistic.

Would love to see your prototype.

[Black Jack]

I hear you. I should specify that I did not design my own pneumatic mechanism. I took a gun and cut off the feed tube and the handle leaving the trigger mechanism intact. What I did was spend a couple of weeks sculpting a housing to fit snugly around the stripped down gun. The whole thing looks about 90% believable. There is a hole in the top of the barrel for loading, the cocking mechanism in the rear is fairly low profile, and a port in the underside for a remote hose. I figured you could hide that up your sleeve or something.

Did you make a pistol? I've been thinking about it for years, but mostly just a pipe dream. Who knows, if these are well recieved maybe a pistol next.

[blackjohn]

However, what exactly is a "first generation" single shot, paint ball pistol? I don't think I am familiar with such a beast. How does it load? since I guess it does not have a hopper like the ones I am familiar with. Is it really necessary to have a "first generation" or could you just make a plug for the port where the hopper usually sits?

I'm not expert in paintball guns (I have a friend who is, however) but as I recall, something like 20 years ago when I first heard of it and saw a paintgun, it was a pistol, which, if memory serves, had a manual cocking lever along the top of side of the barrel, and a co2 cartridge inside the grip. It was loaded by opening the bolt, moving it forward, inserting a ball, the closing it back up.

But I tell ya, it was a loooooong time ago, and memory fades over time, so I could be totally wrong on this. I tried searching for them on the net, but didn't really have the time to do an exhaustive search.

I like all of your ideas, however, and look forward to seeing what you come up with!

[Black Jack]

You're rite about the old paint guns. Problem is the air feed. I've never seen a period firearm with a modern pistol grip. I mean the angle is all wrong.

[blackjohn]

Honestly, for this, for me at least, period correct isn't such a big deal. I was just looking for some semi-period fun.

[Capt. Galvon St.Paul]

I once played a scenario similar to this idea. I forget what it was called, but we could only remove one ball from our pouch, load, and fire at a time. The idea was more Revolutionary War based, but the musket idea can transfer over pretty well.

It was two teams of 5 lined up at arms length in a swamp, a good distance apart(enough so that even relatively accurate guns have to be fired with a little arc). You couldn't move from your spot, only drop down on one knee.

It sounds kinda slow, but it's REALLY interesting since you can't move. And it's funny as hell when the annoying rich kid with the expensive marker can no longer spray-n-pray at the insane speed his electronic, automatic, bullcrap setting allow him to fire at. Takes the smug right out of ya, lol.

To make it about as accurate as a period pistol, you could rule in that players can use only cheapo, WalMart, Brass-Eagle Talon(or whatever the modern equivalent is...) markers.

One thing I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to try was open-water paintball. Musket rules, only in row-boats or canoes. No hiding, no trickery, just boat-to-boat warfare...

[Aedon]

As to the "feel" of a real battle, I agree.

I have attempted similar fights with cheap (read: $10 - $20 from Walmart) guns. No hopper, limited ammo supply, and honestly, not a lot of creeping about. In my experiences, it can be done easily without the kit. The rub came in formulating a piratical enough scenario since period kit was a no go.

In one instance, the pirates loaded into a canoe and attempted to take a small "fort" we used for paintball anyway back in the swamp. Lots of fun, but it takes a certain atmosphere to go properly pirateish.

My two cents,

Aed

[LadyBarbossa]

I think it would be absolute fun!

Come on, mates! Stop thinking like a dull, overgrown adult and think like a kid on how much fun it was (despite the arguments) to play war. Shooting at each other but no one was seriously hurt or killed. Unless you did something stupid, but that was a rarity.

I saw online that some paintball place had made a pirate ship for their course. It was pretty basic, but cool!

I think it would be mighty fun to have pirate paintball. Or even Colonial paintball. Any type of war before 1800 done paintball style would be awesome!

Mates! I'd go for it! If something like this was near me & had fellows nearby willing to do something like this.. hell, I'd jump at the opportunity in a heartbeat!

~Lady B

[Black Jack]

Thanks for all of your input and interest. Unfortunatly I won't have pics. up till Wed.